Deepsea spelunking

Paddle mulls it over one more time.

The peculiar Oviraptor, a feathery fella of a kind she hasn’t seen before, insisted for her to swim deep and far into submerged cave systems to find trinkets and curiosities for his shop. He babbled on as he told of his profession as a merchant, what kinds of things he sold and traded and bartered away. His plans to expand and how wonderful it would be to get a few helpful claws, wings and webbed feet involved in his pursuit-

It was just a little much for the atopo who knew him only as a stranger. Although the shopkeeper is well known on the isles, quite popular even, the atopo seemingly has evaded his presence and wasn’t in the clear of his reputation.

It’s true one could find many relics and scraps in deeper waters and her snout is practically made to dig and sift through waterlogged sand and silt, she wasn’t too convinced. She likes her waters open and wide, no ceiling in sight. Her body is long and sleek, and seems perfect to slide and crawl through narrow corridors- that she had to admit- but just the thought of the mere possibility of her getting stuck with no way to turn around made Paddle shudder.

She didn’t give the merchant a decisive answer but he was nothing but encouraging and more than eager to meet again once she found something to show. Oh well-

Even with doubts and a hint of fear swirling in her mind like circling sharks, she found herself at the maw of such a cave. Hovering in the clear coastal waters, swaying lightly with the waves, as if waiting for the right moment to dive in, she merely stared into the claustrophobic space before her.

What if she turned around and sifted through the shallows instead? Would the oviraptor even notice if she brought him something not from the caves? He didn’t look like a swimmer, so he likely couldn’t tell the difference between debris dug from the sand and some odd trinket snatched from some unexplored cave. She could just grab anything, maybe a scrap of intricate wood carving or a particularly shiny shell-

No. This won’t do. She can’t just lie to or deceive someone who seems so trusting and enthusiastic. He believes she can do it.

With a decisive nod Paddle shakes the uncertainty off of her skin. Unfrozen from her stasis, she practically leapt upwards to the surface to take one big breath just to venture into the depths once again.

It’s not like the caves are that perilous and void of life. Fish still swim in and out as they please (before Paddle's presence startled them anyway) and she hasn’t heard of anyone drowning in such a cave just yet. Let alone some aquatic critter just as her. This is her element, she can do this.

Eels wind their way between the rocky walls and crevices for shelter as the atopo reluctantly enters the cave. The walls around her feel naked without the familiar kelp and long seagrass she is used to slide past.

Paddles knew the deeper she went the darker it would get, but she didn’t quite expect it to dim so fast as she proceeded. Of course light would have a hard time following the turns and curves of these tunnels. Scanning the floors and walls for anything worth taking is made harder with each turn she makes.

Rocks, debris, metal scraps, lost nets, wood, shells, a crab or two- neat things to collect but all these things just aren’t that interesting. All these things could be found on the shores and any other place along the coast. She needs some sort of cave treasure or something. Not mediocre knick-knacks.

The longer she stays here the more her nerves urge her to take a breath. To turn tail and leave. The atopos quills bristle and movements turn frantic, while she looks and scans the wall, the floor, the ceiling. Nothing, nothing of note.

Oh, why did she agree to this? Well- she didn’t exactly, but she didn’t decline this little request either. Why did she want to be nice and do it anyway? The caves are luckily not as narrow as she anticipated and leave room for her to roam, but that didn’t help her mind to calm.

Rocks, wood, shells, metal, rocks, wood, shells, metal, rocks- It’s nauseating!

Suddenly she stops.

A curious thing, bright in colour even in these dank depths catches her eye and she freezes. As two reflective lenses peer back at her, at first she believed she has been spotted by a shark

But as nothing happened, not a single move, she looked a little closer.

The creature- at least she thinks its a creature- was still and unresponsive. The bright colour gives way to the black skin underneath as if its scales had been ripped off. Odd round fins protrude from its sides- ones missing. Red, blue and black tendrils stick out of its broken body like stiff innards from cracks and holes. Is it really a creature? If it is, it’s deceased and perhaps has been a very long time.

Paddle couldn’t help but get curious about what this thing might be. Giving it a little shove with her snout here and there, unearthing it from the silt, even taking a reluctant bite, she confirms that it truly isn’t alive. It has a hard shell, with hints of algae growth. It’s made of metal- no. Something flexible but also brittle. She can’t really decide if it’s sturdy or fragile.

She hasn’t ever seen something like this. Maybe this is just what the oviraptor wanted. Some sort of curiosity, something unknown and strange. Although, she isn’t sure if an ancient corpse would tune him happy.

If she just knew the creatures that once built these, for the same purpose she came here for. If she just knew these little robots were once made to explore and retrieve samples from these very caves.

It might be ironic, or just a little sad, that this little electronic “creature” now became one of these samples to be retrieved back to the surface.

Paddle wasn’t really eager to carry remains in her mouth all the way back out of the cave, which luckily wasn’t that much of a maze as she feared, so she swooped the plastic and metal creature up with her front limbs and held it in her clutches against her chest; Practically hugging the strange dead animal.

Swimming out of the cave felt like she had spent ages in the dark caverns and was finally free. A wave of relief washed over her. She did it! She ventured down into the caves and found something unique to bring back. A treasure!

Craning her neck to look down to her chest, she saw the broken drone look back at her, with these oddly lifely orbs she interpreted as eyes. If its hull wasn’t broken, if it wasn’t so cold and still, she could believe it would swim away into the open sea again the moment she let it go.

But it wasn’t alive. It was just some sort of… construct. Some sort of statue or craft, she finally observed.

For a moment she didn’t want to let it go, but Paddle knows how it probably didn’t want to go back in the dank cave. Neither does she.

She hopes the oviraptor appreciates this little thing and takes care of it as she made her was back to the shore with this little souvenir.

(1266 words according to Google Docs)