the dive 11 +4 HOURS, 28 MINUTES | −10904 METERS There’s hardly time to celebrate the success of the sidescan’s operation before the bottom of Challenger Deep is upon Dawn and Victor. As the seafloor rises up to meet the Limiting Factor, they are greeted by a shiny, green, cylindrical object. “What is that?” asks Dawn, excitedly. “It looks like a light saber!” As they get closer to the object, they realize it’s no natural formation. “It’s a freaking bottle,” says Victor, with dismay in his voice. Indeed, it’s a beer bottle, with the label intact. Victor’s seen evidence of human life down here before—mainly gnarled cables, probably left behind by previous deployments of scientific vehicles—but it never fails to serve as a dispiriting reminder that human activity is affecting even the remotest spots on the globe. The sidescan sonar prototype developed by Deep Ocean Search that was attached to the bottom of the Limiting Factor. Dawn smiles and gives a thumbs-up over success in getting live data from the prototype sidescan.
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