Towering undersea mountains stood proud and tall to the south, west and distant north of them, a half ring of protective granite rising klicks high into the ocean. To the east was an endless impossible nothingness, a yawning chasm in the ocean floor stretching beyond visibility. A ravine, an abyss larger than the Grand Canyon of the Ute Nation and the Marianas Trench in the Philippines combined. It was like looking over the edge of the universe and straight into hell.