CHAPTER 1: Far from Shore
The research vessel mapping the seafloor detected unusual surface features hundreds of kilometers from the present shoreline. The area lay hundreds of meters deep and, at first glance, appeared to consist only of broad stretches of flat seafloor.
Duru sat in front of the monitor at her workstation. While adding the sonar records to the map, she had noticed a long trace running through the surveyed plain and paused the image there. Keeping one hand on the mouse, she pulled the notebook on the desk toward her with the other. After writing down the location and depth, she opened the rest of the image.
Arın and Kutay were also working in the ship’s research room. Arın was examining the completed survey areas, while Kutay was monitoring the placement of new records on the map. The trace becoming clear on Duru’s screen extended beyond the area surveyed during the ship’s latest pass.
“Arın, look here,” Duru said. “This line continues in the previous record, too.”
Arın approached the desk. Duru opened the two records side by side and removed the boundary between them to join the images.
A detailed examination of the sonar images drew attention to several long channels. They did not look like randomly formed fissures. Some curved for kilometers and joined smaller channels.
Arın pointed to where the main channel curved. Duru moved the cursor to the spot he indicated. One of the narrow branches joined the wide channel there. A little farther on, there was another junction.
“It isn’t just a straight depression,” Arın said. “Let’s see which directions the branches come from, too.”
Kutay got up from his desk and joined them. When Duru zoomed out, all three could see the distribution of the channels across the plain. Some traces that had appeared disconnected at close range joined in the wider view.
Duru marked them on the map. She stopped marking where the channel extended into an area that had not yet been surveyed. Arın pulled up the empty chair beside the desk and sat down.
The researchers first considered that these features might be ancient riverbeds formed when sea level was lower. Shorelines were known to have extended much farther out during glacial periods, and ancient land surfaces could subsequently have been submerged.
“I’m noting the possibility of an ancient riverbed,” Duru said.
Arın lowered his head and examined one of the small branches on the screen.
“Let’s keep the surrounding surface on the same map,” he said. “An image of the bed alone won’t be enough.”
Kutay opened the survey plan in front of them. After showing the area covered by the current passes, he pointed to the blank side of the map. The channels Duru had found continued in that direction. They expanded the survey area and began examining the surrounding plains as well.
As new records arrived, Duru updated the map. Arın remained at the desk. When the continuation of a channel cut off in the previous image appeared, they checked the junction together. Kutay monitored the boundaries of the added areas.
As the survey area expanded, they realized that the long stretches of flat terrain were not solely natural landforms. In some areas, parallel lines and regular boundaries appeared. Some did not resemble natural erosion patterns.
Duru added a new marker beside those she had placed for the channels. Then she turned the display toward Arın.
“The lines here are parallel,” she said.
Arın looked first at the marked section, then at its surroundings. Kutay also put the survey plan on the desk and approached the screen. The curves of the channels and the regular boundaries on the plain could be distinguished in the same image.
“Zoom in on that edge,” Arın said.
Duru enlarged the image. The general direction of the lines was visible, but the details along the edges were not clear enough. Kutay marked the section to be surveyed in greater detail on the map. Duru kept the first record open for comparison.
The team switched to higher-resolution sonar scans. The new images showed formations recurring at set intervals along the edges of some plains. This pattern was the first sign suggesting human activity.
When Duru opened the new image, she moved her chair closer to the desk. She followed the edge that had been indistinct in the first record. Pausing briefly at each recurring formation, she marked their locations.
“It continues here, too,” she said.
Arın looked where Duru pointed. Then he asked her to open the previous image beside it. While Kutay checked the areas covered by the two scans, Duru displayed the same section in two separate windows.
The three examined the images without speaking for a while. At first, Duru’s notebook had contained only the locations of the long channels. Now parallel lines, regular boundaries, and formations recurring at set intervals had been added to the same page.
“Let’s record the possibility of human activity, too,” Arın said.
Duru wrote her note. Kutay highlighted the section under examination on the survey plan. In their subsequent work, they would follow not only the channels but also the area containing these regular formations.
The investigation was no longer examining only an ancient shoreline.
Far beneath the sea, traces of a place where people might once have lived on land were beginning to emerge.
