If they send you down in the Iron Lung, they don’t give a fuck if you come back, or if the sub comes back, because it’s a pile of garbage and you’re a piece of shit. You come back with photos, great. You sit down there and suffocate quietly, even better. But if they send the SM-8 down, one of the scientists is piloting, and they all expect them to return.

 And now, the SM-8 is in the blood ocean in pieces. No, not “hit a rock” pieces, or “sprung a leak” pieces. It looks like something tore it up. And the weirdest thing is that nobody else seems surprised. We might have found the first planetary life since the rapture, and they’re acting like it’s no big deal.

I know you’re next in line for realization in the Iron Lung, and usually that means you won’t be seeing the stars again. But they don’t have an SM-8 anymore. They have 3 burner subs, and a lot of curiosity about AT-5. And maybe that means you have a chance.