"Of course. You couldn't very well drill with bullets or some other projectile, could you?" ....could you? It was only then that he realized that this was going to be an opportunity wasted.

It seemed that Darkleer managed to clear the hole without his help. Unsurprisingly, the roots of the coral resembled, well, a root structure. More interestingly, there appeared to be synthetic wiring woven in, looking almost like natural root hairs.

"My Coral Metering Device is still attached to the main body," Luckily he'd had the foresight to make it waterproof. "I can measure any energy signatures remotely. That should give us an indication as to whether our repairs are succeeding or not."