So, for another bit based on a somewhat obscure bit of history...
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Wiggling, Minato gave a grunt as he slowly slipped through the hole and into the metal encasement that he would spend the next few hours in. Finally, he fully entered the suit and sighed a bit in relief before he placed his arms into the ones for the suit. Him and the various helpers all went though various checks of the mobility of said limbs, as well as his legs. With a final nod, he grinned a bit, “Okay, put her on.”
Various sailors nodded as they lifted the top composed of magnesium over his head and fitted it to the seal before completely sealing it. For the next few minutes, they checked the seals to make sure that they were all in place before nodding and giving a thumbs up to the windows in the helmet, something that got a nod back from Minato. Turning on the radio, he cleared his throat, “Radio check, this is Shusseboro-1, please come in.”
Moments later, there was a crackle before a voice answered him, “{This is Mothership to Shusseboro-1, we’re reading you loud and clear. Are you ready?}”
Chuckling, Minato shook his head even though they could not see him, “I am ready for dive, over. Both to do this.” He could feel the crane lift his heavy suit off the deck and then over the side until waves were blow him. As it began to be lowered, he hummed as his feet began to sink under the water, “I ever tell you that my Haha-ue was an Ama? And from a long line of such?”
Over the radio he could hear chuckling, “{Hai, every time you go down. Though I doubt that your Haha-ue ever dived so deep.}”
Grin on his face, Minato laughed as the water closed over the helmet, “You never know! But perhaps I will see Ryuujin’s palace this dive.”
That got him snorts and he continued to chat as the suit sank deeper and deeper beneath the waves. Looking at his depth gauge, he cleared his throat. “One hundred meters...” A few minutes later, he nodded, “Now at one hundred and fifty meters...” Finally, Minato felt his feet touch the seabed and he nodded, “Two hundred and ten meters.” Slowly, he moved around, looking though his small window out onto the dim world in front of him, “This is Shussebo-1, I am now on the seafloor. Proceeding to survey and I’ll try to find an outcrop for samples.”
As he walked, plumes rising from his feet with each heavy step, the radio crackled, “{So, how long do you think it will be before they start building the tunnel? We’ve been doing a lot of survey work after all and getting samples.}”
Only shrugging, Minato hummed, “No idea, probably years away though. But after this we’ll either get started in surveying the sea floor between Hokkaido and Sakhalin. Or maybe the Tsushima Strait for that tunnel they’re always talking about. But know one thing?”
The radio crackled a bit, “{What?}”
A laugh escaped Minato as he shook his head, noting some of the fish swimming past, “When we get back to shore, I’ll be having a drink in honour of Peress-San. Because these suits are a gift from the Kami!”
In return, he got an answering laugh as he continued his work of surveying the seafloor for a future tunnel between Honshū and Hokkaido...