And yet another „Transmission from Pandora“ ... :roll:
The events begin about one year after the colony on Pandora was es-
tablished, and the first victims are the colony's trained dolphins. Most
of them become confused and agitated, they ignore their trainers' com-
mands and often disappear for hours, returning exhausted and some-
times obviously frustrated or even aggressive. The colony's dolphineers
have to stop both the ongoing training program and the dolphins' use for
the aquafarming.
The next victims are the seafloor mining drones, who become as unre-
liable as the dolphins and begin to act strangely, often in direct contra-
diction to the orders they reveice through the remote control network.
The production of the seafloor mines declines dramatically, and all com-
plicated operations and especially the use of explosives have to be stop-
ped.
Then the Mumbler is heard for the first time, a monotonous human voice
on the sonarcom network that constantly mumbles in some unknown lan-
guage. It works almost like a kind of sonar jammer designed to make
sonar communication annoying and sometimes even impossible, especi-
ally over long ranges, where the permanent mumbling often drowns out
the weak sonar communication signals.
The source of all these problems, the Mumbler, is a small native creatu-
re, a species of sirens who inhabit the sea floor. The Mumblers attract
their prey with sonic mimicry, by repeating the sounds produced by their
potential victims.
The first sounds the Mumblers copy are those of the dolphins, so the dol-
phins try in vain to search for their distant relatives who call for them.
However, the Mumblers live in a depth the dolphins cannot reach. Then
the Mumblers turn to the remote control signals used for the mining dro-
nes, producing lots of nonsensical command signals that bring seafloor
mining almost to a halt. And finally the Mumblers discover the sonarcom
network, and begin to mimic its signals, close enough to the sound of hu-
man speech, but without any meaning.
The only way to put an end to this strange attack on the colony is to iden-
tify all the Mumblers near the colony and to remove or kill them. How-
ever, this is easier said then done, because the Mumblers live deep down
on the sea floor, they are rather small and well camouflaged, and they
stop their signals and hide whenever something bigger than their usual
prey comes near them - and there are many Mumblers down there ...
The events begin about one year after the colony on Pandora was es-
tablished, and the first victims are the colony's trained dolphins. Most
of them become confused and agitated, they ignore their trainers' com-
mands and often disappear for hours, returning exhausted and some-
times obviously frustrated or even aggressive. The colony's dolphineers
have to stop both the ongoing training program and the dolphins' use for
the aquafarming.
The next victims are the seafloor mining drones, who become as unre-
liable as the dolphins and begin to act strangely, often in direct contra-
diction to the orders they reveice through the remote control network.
The production of the seafloor mines declines dramatically, and all com-
plicated operations and especially the use of explosives have to be stop-
ped.
Then the Mumbler is heard for the first time, a monotonous human voice
on the sonarcom network that constantly mumbles in some unknown lan-
guage. It works almost like a kind of sonar jammer designed to make
sonar communication annoying and sometimes even impossible, especi-
ally over long ranges, where the permanent mumbling often drowns out
the weak sonar communication signals.
The source of all these problems, the Mumbler, is a small native creatu-
re, a species of sirens who inhabit the sea floor. The Mumblers attract
their prey with sonic mimicry, by repeating the sounds produced by their
potential victims.
The first sounds the Mumblers copy are those of the dolphins, so the dol-
phins try in vain to search for their distant relatives who call for them.
However, the Mumblers live in a depth the dolphins cannot reach. Then
the Mumblers turn to the remote control signals used for the mining dro-
nes, producing lots of nonsensical command signals that bring seafloor
mining almost to a halt. And finally the Mumblers discover the sonarcom
network, and begin to mimic its signals, close enough to the sound of hu-
man speech, but without any meaning.
The only way to put an end to this strange attack on the colony is to iden-
tify all the Mumblers near the colony and to remove or kill them. How-
ever, this is easier said then done, because the Mumblers live deep down
on the sea floor, they are rather small and well camouflaged, and they
stop their signals and hide whenever something bigger than their usual
prey comes near them - and there are many Mumblers down there ...
