VONYIUS

Mission Log – NSS Thalassa

Operator: DR. MAIRA ELLEN, Computational Oceanographer

Mission Sector: M-03, Antarctic Ocean

Maira: Departure date: August 5, 2026, 07:00.

Maira: Engines online. Clear skies. Sea state: calm.

Maira: Captain Winterson gave the usual speech. Routine.

Maira: Ten crew members. Mostly researchers. Not a single civilian.

Maira: We set sail from Base Borealis, 14 km from the ice shelf edge.

Maira: Destination: Sector M-03. Latitude 78.9°S, Longitude 141.6°W.

Maira: Seismic echoes were detected there with no visible source.

Maira: Magnetic field fluctuations too. It’s attracting migratory birds.

Maira: Strange. A dead zone that shouldn’t draw anything.

Maira: I’m in charge of the logging module. Everything I write is archived.

Maira: First 6 hours without incident.

Maira: We passed icebergs—sleeping giants.

Maira: Sonar picked up a mass at 320 meters deep. Doesn’t match rock signatures.

Maira: Likely a krill swarm, according to Nelson (marine biology).

Maira: But it wasn’t moving.

Maira: I left it out of the report. Didn’t seem relevant.

Maira: Satellite comms are stable for now.

Maira: The ship’s AI, WATCHER, requested periodic calibration.

Maira: At dinner, they spoke of Sector M-03 like it was a ghost story.

Maira: Jensen (geologist) says there’s an “acoustic dead zone” on the seafloor.

Maira: Where even echoes don’t return.

Maira: The crew laughed, but the tension was palpable.