Skrib always enjoyed his trips to the primary gorge. The warmth of the water and the abundance of life made him feel more alive. As a researcher Skrib knew that this feeling grew out of the fact that this was the natural habitat of his kind. In the gorges heat from the vents and light from the glowing rocks made life possible. The minerals in the water fed the plants that they cultivated and consumed. He had lived at the research facility most of his adult life. Heat and light were provided by technology, but it was not the same. They had holes in the rock that served as artificial heat vents and chemical reactions to provide light. But it was not the same as the gorges. Somehow Skrib felt better when he was once again swimming in the home waters. The waters seemed to shimmer in the heat of the gorge as he swam. The plants on the banks waved in the nutrient rich water of the heat vents. It was almost enough to make up for his apprehension about the meeting about to take place.

When he reached the dwelling of the Matriarch, he stopped for a minuet and his tentacles floated out in front of him as he proceeded through the entrance to the meeting cave. The assistant in the waiting chamber moved her tentacles formally when she asked Skrib who he was. After leaving and returning she motioned that the Matriarch would see him.

Skrib proceeded through the opening making sure that he remained close to the floor to show respect. Once he reached the center of the room he spread his tentacles out on the floor respectfully and then humbly pulled them back under his body. The assistant on the right motioned to the Matriarch, �This is the researcher you asked about.�

The Matriarch turned to Skrib and motioning slowly and thoughtfully, �I was interested in some of the reports I have received about your research. Especially some of your conclusions. You say that the waters have,� her tentacles hung in the water then moved very slowly, �a ceiling?�

Skrib paused to catch his thoughts as they raced through years of research then he responded, but could not help moving his tentacles excitedly, �Yes mame, that is right. The waters appear to have a ceiling!� An elderly advisor who sat to the side began motioning energetically, �And just how did you come to this conclusion?� Instinctively Skrib drew his tentacles in like a child being questioned about some breach of household protocol. But he motioned, �I used sonar waves. It was almost by accident. I was working on using it to detect schools of creatures that live in the dark waters and was having some success, but then I kept getting an echo which always had the same delay.�

�Forgive this old Matriarch�s ignorance,� she interrupted, �but what is this ... sonar?� Skrib turned back to the Matriarch, �It is sound waves. Sound is a transmission of vibrations in the water. When an object moves suddenly you can see a disturbance in the waters. Sound is a disturbance of as much higher frequency that one cannot see in the movement in the waters.� The elder advisor interrupted, �We have been using this sound research to develop a means of communicating over large distanced and, like Skrib said, to detect object in the darkness. It might even have navigational uses.� Skrib returned the advisor�s favor and stole the explanation back from him, �We have discovered that some animals that live in the darkness between the gorges where the research center is use these vibrations to navigate and find food. We live near the fissures and see by the light of the glowing rocks. These other creatures bounce sound waves off of objects and detect them without light. We thought that this could help us find food in the dark waters. But I kept getting an echo at a set delay which I calculate to be about 153 travel lengths.�

�Mame,� the advisor once again interjected, �These findings are very dubious. To predict a distance is even more dubious. The transmission of the waves of sound are easily changed by the denseness of the waters and their mineral content. That is what we have had trouble using them for long distance transmissions and for anything other than short range object detection. It is possible that this ceiling is merely a layer of mineral rich water.�

�Perhaps,� queried the Matriarch, �this disruption by densities and mineral contents explains why you say that this ceiling seems to have cracks in it?� �Yes,� responded Skrib trying not to move his tentacles too excitedly as he motioned, �I discovered this consistent echo, but occasionally it would weaken and then strengthen again.�

The advisor almost jumped off his tentacles, �Mame, we have known about this echo phenomenon for a long time we have even considered using it to send sonar transmissions over mountains or into deep fissures.�

The Matriarch turned on her tentacles to face the advisor directly and her motions became larger. �You mean you have known about this phenomenon and you have not bothered to even ask what causes it?� The advisor drew his tentacles under him like a chastised child. The Matriarch motioned directly to Skrib ignoring the rest of the room, �What do you think this ceiling might be made of?� Skrib, a little intimidated by the direct question, considered responding simply �I don�t know� but he knew he should tell all that he thought. �I believe it is made out of water.� He could see the disbelief in the postures of the advisors so he quickly added, �But not water like this. Water that is like rock.� Several advisors waved their tentacles mockingly at him as if he had made some preposterous claim like �the cosmos is round� or something the like. But Skrib when on, �We know that rock can flow like water. When it comes out of a fissure in the rock, but when it cools it turns hard. The cooler it gets the harder it gets. We also know that the further one gets from the fissures the colder the waters get. It is possible that at some point the waters turn solid as well.�

The logic seemed to quiet the scoffers for the moment, but Skrib went on, moving his words more carefully, he delved deeper into his theory. �Our most revered researches have observed that the cosmos has repeating patterns and balance. Like our tentacles. All evenly distributed. Like the rings in a tube worm. Even the four nodes of our nervous system show balance. We know that when you drill beneath the surface of the rock it gets hotter. That is how facilities like the research facility can exist away from any natural heat source. We also know that if you drill deep enough you find rock that is hot enough that if flows like water, but it is topped by a crust of hard rock. I propose that the flowing waters around us are also topped by water like rock. Do you see the symmetry? If this is how the cosmos is, then the cracks in the ceiling of the waters are like the fissures in the hard rock.�

Skrib stopped as he realized he had floated above some of the advisors heads and that his tentacles were extended at full length by the speech. He also realized that someone might ask �and what do you think this realm �above the waters� is made of?� and he would have to say �bubbles.� That was a response that would certainly draw ridicule.

Before someone could ask a pointed question an advisor from the other side of the room motioned for attention. �This young researcher now pretends to make broad statements about the nature of the cosmos based on the observation of one phenomenon? He ...�

The Matriarch silenced the detractor with one broad motion of her tentacle. �This young researcher has tried to explain a phenomenon that none of you have even give a second thought and his explanation has far reaching implications for our understanding of the cosmos. His explanation is logical enough that others will ask the same question even if we order him to cease his speculation. We need to seek a way to test this understanding. Do you have a suggestion?� she motioned to Skrib.

�I suggest we ascend to the barrier and see for ourselves.� Several of the advisors jiggled their tentacles in laughter. �No, I am serious.� One of the laughing advisors motioned between laughs, �And how do you intend to do that? Even our best athletes could never go one hundredth of the distance you suggest because the waters become too thin to breath and too cold to stay alive?� Skrib turned and responded quickly, �I suggest creating a metal and glass sphere that will hold enough water for one with a portable chemical heater and pumps that would keep the pressure high enough in the sphere.� Another advisor motioned for attention, �And how do you propose that we make such a heavy machine ascend to this barrier?� Skrib saw it coming. If he said �bubbles� they would all laugh so he launched into and explanation before giving his answer. �We all know that certain chemical reactions produce bubbles. We also know that these bubbles rise at a rapid rate. I propose that we capture these bubbles in large bags to make the sphere ascend. This is a technology we have already used. In my experiments I sent small object on ascensions at the end of known lengths of rope so that I could measure the sonar echoes from them. It is the same idea only on a larger scale. Theoretically these bags of bubbles could make the sphere ascent to the barrier and test my theory. Incidentally these reactions that produce the bubbles also produce heat and they can serve the purpose of heating the sphere as well lifting it.�

The room was still as everyone took in what had been explained. Then one of the still advisors slowly motioned. �It could work, but� his tentacles hung in the water, �it would consume many of our resources. Should we expend so much on answering a cosmological question? Shouldn�t we use our resources to help produce more food, to lengthen life, to extract useful materials from the rock and the waters? And who will get in this sphere to ascend into the darkness of the waters above?� �I will,� responded Skrib, �It must be someone who knows how to use the sonar to measure distance. It must be someone who is young and strong and someone who understands and can control the chemical reactions that produce the heat and bubbles that will lift the sphere. We don�t know what the sphere might encounter so it needs to be someone who knows the theory behind the sphere enough to improvise if necessary.�

The Matriarch rose above the heads of the advisors and floated in the waters as she extended her tentacles. Everyone knew the decision had been made but none knew what it was. �If we had not established a research facility in the darkness between the fissures you would not know about this sonar and it�s possible use in finding food in the darkness of the waters. We don�t know what this barrier is. It may be nothing or it may be an opening into a new realm. We don�t know what might be above the waters if there is such a place. There might be food or medicine or materials we have not dreamed of. We will support the production of the sphere to ascend to the ceiling of the waters and see if this realm �above the waters� exists.�

Skrib looked around inside the sphere at the controls and gauges. He thought about the hours of tests to find the chemical reactions that produces the most bubbles and heat for the mass. He thought about the fact that the tanks of chemicals in the floor could explode if he were careless or if they ruptured. He looked at the gauges that measure temperature and pressure inside the sphere and outside of it and he thought of the prospect of suddenly finding himself in low pressure and low temperature water. What if the seals on the sphere don�t hold? What would he find if he made it to the realm above the waters? The time had come for all those tests to be put together.

Skrib reached over with his tentacle and began the reaction that would fill the bags with bubbles. He watched out the windows as the bags began to rise and expand. Once they were out of the way he would see his coworkers watching from a distance. After a few minuets Skrib felt the sphere lift off the rock and his ascension had begun. Once he was on his way he began the sonar to measure the distance to the barrier.

The hours passed as Skrib monitored the reactions and the sonar echoes. The pump was keeping the pressure high enough in the sphere but it was starting to get cold since he turned off the reaction to conserve fuel and keep the rate of ascent manageable.

After a period of over one work and rest cycle the ceiling began to approach. Skrib could tell from the rate at which the echoes were coming that he was ascending too fast. He release some of the bubbles from the bags to slow his ascent. After another hour the echoes were coming almost on top of the signal sent. At that point Skrib looked out the small window on the top of the Sphere and he thought he could see a light in the darkness. As he got closer to the barrier the light grew. By the time Skrib reached the barrier the light was coming from the barrier in all directions. Then the balloons hit the barrier. It was solid just as Skrib predicted! But what was beyond it.

Skrib looked at the barrier for hours then he saw a place of exceptional light off in the distance. He used a fin attached to the sphere to slowly move it over the to opening. When he arrive he realized that this light was coming from a fissure. Here was his opportunity. A chance to move above the waters!

When he had moved under the fissure Skrib quickly turned up the bubbles and the bags above the sphere moved up through the fissure. Skrib quickly turned off the pump and opened the valve from the reserve water tanks. This would seal him off from whatever it was that existed in the realm above the waters. Before rising completely through the fissure he used a mechanical tentacle on the outside of the Sphere to scrape off some of the material from the barrier and place it in a sample container. It is were really water as he thought, it would warm up in the sample container and flow again.

The bags and the top half of the sphere rose above the surface of the waters. Skrib looked out the window and saw the most extraordinary sight. The realm was a place of light and darkness. Most of it was completely black but there where tiny bright points of light. After staring amazed at this realm of lights Skrib realized that his upward motion had ceased. Perhaps if the bubbles that lifted him above the waters were made of the same material as this new realm, then their power to lift ended at the boundary. Then he noticed that the bags were standing up in whatever this new realm and the ropes were taunt. Maybe they could still lift him but with less strength.

Skrib took stock of the amount of chemicals he had left and what he needed for a controlled decent and decided to try an experiment. He opened up the valves to the chemicals and produced as much bubbles as he could safely. The bags expanded and pulled that the sphere. Then slowly it rose out of the water and above the barrier into the new realm above the waters. Skrib quickly checked all his gages. The temperature was much lower outside and the pressure was almost nonexistent. Even at the bottom this new realm the pressure was less than at the top of the waters! The pressure was remaining the same inside the sphere and the added chemical reactions used to make the bubbles had warmed the sphere considerably.

Skrib was so involved in the condition of the Sphere that he had risen several lengths before he looked out the windows. Off in all directions there was white water like rock. He thought that if it were black it would look just like the rocks at the bottom of the waters. Was this just another part of the balance. The rocks that made a barrier between the flowing rock and the flowing water were black now the barrier between the flowing water and the flowing bubbles was white: the exact opposite!

Skrib moved to look out the other side and that is when he saw it. A large sphere floating in the blackness above the waters. It had bands of color going around it and rings that seemed to shimmer encirling it. Part of the orb and its rings was not illuminated but Skrib could still make out the full outline of the orb. In fact the shadow cast by the orb on its rings confirmed the roundness of the bright object. It didn�t appear to be moving but just hanging there in the blackness.

Skrib stared at the huge orb of colored rings then he realized that he had drifted. He was no longer above the fissure! He could no longer simply let bubbles out of the bag and expect to descend into the waters. If he tried that here he might hit the barrier of hard water and be stuck. His only hope was another fissure. He looked off in the direction that he was moving using a magnifying scope and saw the opportunity he needed approaching slowly. He let out a little gas to begin his descent. He was drifting faster and would need to be almost at the level of the barrier to drop into the fissure.

Skrib kept watching out the small window using the position of the fissure to gauge his descent rate. At the end the far wall of the fissure seemed to be approaching faster than he liked. He would hit the wall before descending into he waters again. Skrib only hoped that impact would not imperil the containment of the sphere.

When the sphere hit the wall the bags kept going and was starting to pull the sphere back up the wall. That is when he decided to release some of the bags and the sphere fell into the waters and began to descend. The decent was slow but Skrib knew he had plenty of time now that he could pump water from the waters to maintain pressure in the Sphere.

As Skrib began the long descent back home he took stock of all he had seen. What were those points of light in the darkness. And what was the huge orb with the colored rings and how would he describe it to the others and would they believe him. Certainly others would come to see and verify what he had found perhaps even a base would be created in the realm above the waters and were there any creatures that lived in this new realm. Could anything live with no pressure to allow breathing and no heat. He had seen things that even he had never dreamed of. What more wonderful things existed in that blackness with the points of light. And, the thought hung in his mind half formed before it took mass: Was there something above the bubbles?