12:20 Hours. NOAA Regional Lab.
Elena didn't waste time watching the MC disappear into the dark. "He's gone. Winch operator, commence retrieval. Get that ROV out of the water before we lose the signal."
The mechanical grind of the winch echoed through the ship's hull. On the monitors, the depth gauge began to wind down from 1,500 meters. The ROV rose steadily, its lights cutting through the murky mid-water layers while the pressurized canister safely held the metallic skin flakes and the glowing polymer "blood."
13:30 Hours. The Recovery.
The ROV broke the surface, bobbing in the Pacific swells. The ship's heavy-duty crane swung out over the starboard side. The deck crew, wearing high-visibility gear, used long poles to guide the recovery hook into the ROV's lift point.
With a loud, metallic clack, the connection was secured. The crane hoisted the several-ton titanium machine out of the water and swung it onto the deck.
13:45 Hours. Transport to the Lab.
The deck crew secured the ROV onto a heavy-duty hydraulic dolly. They wheeled the massive machine through the ship's wide, pressurized bay doors and directly into the integrated wet lab.
Once inside, Aris didn't even wait for the ROV to be hosed down. He used specialized tongs to extract the titanium collection canister from the ROV's storage rack and moved it into the hyperbaric glovebox.
14:15 Hours. Initial Scans.
"The plates are bio-metallic," Aris said, staring at the electron microscope feed. "High-density iron and sulfur reinforcement. But look at the fluid."
Elena watched the thermal sensors. The crimson fluid—the organic "solder"—was pulsating inside the containment unit. Even though the ROV had traveled through 4°C water for over an hour, the fluid was still generating heat.
"It's holding at 85°C," Elena noted, tapping the screen. "It's not just blood. It's an energy lattice."