by Andrew Gates
She heard him unzip the jacket, take it off and set it down on the armrest with the cap. He let out a sigh of relief as if he had just felt comfortable for the first time in hours.
“You don’t look so good yourself, Sara,” he said. “Maybe you should do the same.”
“Is this just a way for you to see me without my clothes on?” she asked.
Damien chuckled. She imagined a great big grin on his face.
“Not at all. If you could see yourself you’d agree with me. There’s no sense bluffing, Captain. You don’t have to act professional to impress me. It’s not like I’m going to report you. Plus who the fuck would care anyway? Like the officers would even give a shit,” he replied.
Putting up with Damien’s sass was one thing but his choice of words was another. Sara was never a big fan of foul language. It was uncultured and uncivilized. This was the Navy, not a gang.
“Point taken, Damien, but I could do without the expletives. Let’s just do that for my sake, okay?” she responded, giving up with trying to be professional at this point.
“Deal,” he said. “300 meters by the way. We’ve just crossed the line.”
Sara glanced at the altimeter. He was right. This was unexplored territory from here on out.
“We’re setting our own line now,” she added.
Taking Damien’s advice, she removed her cap and set it beside her. She reached back and undid her tight bun, letting her sweaty government-black hair fall down over her pale, flour colored face. She quickly brushed it aside so she could see and unzipped her jacket.
“I see you’ve taken my advice,” said Damien happily.
She removed her gloves and placed them into her jacket pocket and then removed the entire jacket altogether, revealing her grey tank top pressed tightly against her body thanks to all the sweat.
“Wow! Now there’s something to look at!” Damien added enthusiastically.
She felt his eyes on her, annoyed. She was a fit 30-year-old Navy woman with Italian ancestry. Even here, far away from civilization, she was still not safe from men’s taunts.
“I don’t need this from you right now, Damien. How old are you?” she asked.
“What? No, not that, Captain. Look!” She heard him lean forward in his chair behind her as if he was pointing forward.
That was when Sara saw it too. Damien was not watching her, but rather a small glimmer of white light through the window. Finally, something to see in the darkness.
Sara quickly glanced down at the monitor, studying the motion sensor. Nothing was detected. Whatever she saw was too far away. She looked over at the sonar instead.
“Do you know what it is?” Damien asked.
“I don’t know. It’s too far away for the motion sensor.”
The sonar started to ping. One ping. Then another. Then another. An image began to fill up on the screen. It was small, probably nothing worth worrying about, but certainly bigger than a fish.
“Whatever it is, it looks closer through the window than it does on the screen,” he said.
Sara looked up at the window again. He was right. Whatever it was, the light seemed to be right in front of them. But according to the reading, this object was over 200 meters away.
“Should we be using passive sonar?” Damien asked.
“Active sonar is fine. I doubt it’s hostile. We’re too far from the other stations. Nobody would attack us out here.”
Damien adjusted in his seat again. She could hear the foam pressing up against the heavy weight of his body as he leaned forward.
“But what if you’re wrong?” he asked. “When’s the last time we’ve heard any word from the other two stations? Maybe they’re out here. Maybe they’ve been watching us up here this whole time. What if we’ve just been sitting right below these little fuckers?”
She turned and made eye contact with her co-pilot, her dark black eyes piercing his light ones. Sara did not have time for his paranoia and nonsense.
“What did I say about the expletives, Damien?” she asked with a stern tone of voice.
Damien leaned back again and ran his fingers through his short hair. He exhaled and nodded his head.
“Yes, yes, sorry,” he replied. He hated being silenced like this. Sara could sense the frustration in his voice, but she needed to maintain a level of leadership and control.
Sara turned around again and studied the monitors once more. They were moving closer and closer to the mysterious object. She returned her attention to the window. As they neared, the light grew brighter and brighter. She could start to make out its shape from here: a perfect sphere.
“We’re at 250 meters below sea level. Let’s watch it,” Damien said, bringing Sara’s focus back to the altimeter.
They were rising too quickly. The captain was letting this mysterious object distract her from her job. She was surprised she had not noticed the change in pressure.
“Let’s stay at this level for a while,” she said. “Keep it at 250.”
“Roger that.”
Sara waved her hand in front of the touch screen monitor to her right to wake it up. Lights flickered on. She tapped the icon for the Meganet and waited as the program loaded.
“What are you doing?” Damien asked, watching her.
“I’m loading up the Meganet. We need to contact the station, tell them about this orb,” she responded.
The mission was supposed to be simple: to test the new sub prototype at 200 meters below sea level. This was one for the scientists, not the Navy. But the engineers had no sailors, only designers. Sara and Damien were never supposed to find anything up here, especially not mysterious glowing orbs.
It only took a few moments for the program to load. The sub had its own direct connection to the Meganet in case of emergency. As the program’s icons loaded up, Sara typed in the code to her commander in charge.
“It’s giving off a lot of heat,” Damien said, distracting Sara from the program. “I’m reading water temperatures coming from the orb at 500 degrees Celsius. Whatever that is, it’s boiling the ocean water.”
“Generating steam on the surface,” Sara stated to herself under her breath.
After a few moments of dialing, the image of Commander Grey appeared on screen. A fitting name for a man in his 50’s whose hair and beard had long turned grey. He resembled the ideal military man. He had a strong, wise face and always looked sure of himself. He stared back at Sara through the camera, surprised to be getting her call.
“Captain Gessetti,” the commander said, standing tall in his polished white uniform. Sara suddenly remembered that she had removed her own uniform. She hoped he would not mind, but rather doubted it.
“Commander Grey, hold on while I move your image to the main screen.”
Sara darkened the glass window in front of her and activated the digital projection, expanding the images from the touchscreen monitor onto the surface of the window. His face now lit up the entire cabin of the sub like an omnipotent god.
“That’s better. Now I can see you more clearly,” she said, looking up at him.
Commander Grey nodded and studied the inside of the cabin, most likely taking note of his two pilots out of uniform.
“What is this about, Captain?” he asked.
Before Sara could continue, Damien cut in and responded.
“Sir, we’ve reached 250 feet below sea level just outside of the Puerto Rico Trench. But we’ve encountered something. Some sort of unidentified object,” he said.
Commander Grey appeared annoyed.
“I asked your commander, not you, Saljov. You’re supposed to be ascending to 200 meters and returning. This is not meant to be an exploratory mission.”
Sara looked back at Damien and gave him an annoyed expression, then turned and faced the projection of her commander again.
“I apologize for Saljov’s interruption, sir, but he is right about the object. This object we discovered is concerning. It appears to be an orb of light an
d it is giving off extraordinary levels of heat, boiling the water around it. I can only predict this unidentified object must be manmade. I can’t think of anything natural that gives off that much energy. How do you want us to proceed?” she replied, hoping that she got the message across while still behaving appropriately.
“Does the object appear hostile?” asked the commander.
“We have it in our sights through the window, sir,” Damien added, out of turn once again.
“On screen,” the commander requested.
Sara tapped the appropriate buttons to flip the camera around so that Commander Grey saw the same thing that they did. At this point the orb was so close that its bright light was almost blinding.
“Okay Captain, flip it back before we both go blind.”
Sara flipped the camera again and the commander’s face filled up the screen.
“Well that’s certainly something,” replied Grey. “Get as close to it as you can and take a scan. Proceed with caution and report back to us once you’re finished. I want this kept top secret. You understand? Your orders have changed. Get in, scan the device and report back to us. This is now a scouting mission. The scientists can test their depths later.”
“Roger that,” Sara replied.
“Roger,” added Damien.
“Oh and Sara, try to display some professionalism. Just because you’re far from home base doesn’t mean you can swim around in your bra. This is the Navy, not a colored zone.”
And with Grey’s final words, the screen went blank as he hung up. She knew he would say something about the uniform, but was surprised he referred to a tank top as a bra. Sara turned off the digital projection and the touchscreen monitor with it. The light from the orb came into the window once again, casting shadows every which way inside the sub.
The captain had to hold her left hand up above her eyes just to see forward. She turned towards the window controls and searched for a button she never expected to use. As she reached up and pressed it, she began to feel even hotter.
So this is where all that damn heat was coming from.
As her fingers left the button, a light shield came down and covered the front of the window, making it much easier to see. Ironic. Just a few moments ago she welcomed the light, but now she wanted nothing more than to return to the darkness.
Whatever it was, it was the brightest thing she had ever seen. It must be artificial, she thought. There was nothing she knew of in nature that could produce such light. Perhaps Damien had been right. Is it a device from another station? If so, what is it doing here so close to the Atlantic Station? Too many questions, not enough answers.
She glanced down at her instruments. They were nearing the object. Only 70 meters away now. It appeared massive through the glass in front of them but it was hard to tell what was solid and what was simply light.
While she focused on steering the craft, she quickly turned back and looked at her co-pilot.
“Run a scan on the object while I get us close. See how big it is,” she said.
Sara pulled back on the yoke, raising the nose of the craft. The scanner was on the bottom of the sub. If they wanted any intel on the object, they needed to be right on top of it. The sudden change in angle caused her to become a bit dizzy at first but she shook it off and stared straight forward, using the window’s visibility to guide her.
“I’ve got it,” Damien responded. “Didn’t take long. The object is surprisingly small. Only two meters across in all directions. It’s a perfect sphere. Honestly this is pretty fucking weird.” He quickly caught himself. “Oh, sorry about the expletive, Captain.”
“No, don’t worry about it, Damien. You’re right. It is pretty weird,” she answered. At last they could agree on something.
The black surface of the yoke began to get warm. Sara let go for a few seconds and placed her hands back on the controls again. When she placed them back on, she noticed the controls had already grown significantly warmer, almost burning her hand.
“It’s going to get really hot in here,” she warned. “Better put some gloves on.”
She turned back to her jacket again and pulled the gloves out of her pocket, quickly putting them on one by one.
“Already on it,” Damien answered from behind her. She could hear him doing the same.
They were quickly closing in on the object. As they looked out the window, it appeared as if they were already on top of it now. A vast sea of light lit up underneath them like nothing any of them had ever seen before.
“How close are we to the center of this light?” she asked.
“The object is still a few meters ahead. We’re almost there.”
Sara checked the altimeter. 220 meters below sea level. They were so close to reaching the assigned altitude. They might be able to accomplish both tasks at the same time.
Whatever this object was, it was odd that it was so high up and close to the surface. As far as Sara was aware, no one had journeyed this far up in years.
And why is it heating the water? It must be used for steam, she told herself again. But she tried to put these thoughts out of her mind. These were merely suppositions. She was part of the Navy, not a scientist. It was her job to act, not to question.
“Focus, Sara,” she told herself out loud.
“What was that?” asked Damien.
Sara did not realize she had spoken aloud. She quickly put her hand over her mouth, embarrassed.
“Nothing. How close are we?” she replied.
The vessel continued forward. It seemed like an eternity.
“Almost there… almost there… and… now. Okay, full stop. We’ve reached the object. We are directly above it,” Damien responded as he monitored the data in front of him.
Sara brought the sub to a full stop and wiped the sweat from her face as it poured down into her dark eyes.
“Okay. Begin the scan.”
There were a few seconds of silence followed by the sounds of button pressing. As Damien began the scan, Sara waited and stared out into the vast light below them. Now that it was safe to look at through the light shield, she studied it closely.
Growing up, she had heard stories of a world of light filling an endless ocean where each step brought you closer and closer to a great fiery ball of whiteness. There, one could go up forever and never come down. One could stand in a great field of green, staring up into the colorless void above them. And if you stood for too long, the light of the sea above the water would darken your skin with colors of brown or red.
She did not know if these stories were true. Many people had debated the topic for years. Every scientist and historian had their own opinion on the matter. But she chose to believe the stories. The idea always pleased her. She liked knowing that there was another sea out there, one with no top. She liked knowing that the world above was bigger than the one she had known. If this small orb below her was just a taste of the great orb in the sea above the water, then she could not imagine the beauty of what lied above.
“It’s so beautiful,” she said.
“What’s that?” Damien asked.
She felt transfixed by the light. She wondered if Damien felt the same.
“The light,” she said. “Have you ever seen anything like it?”
“I haven’t,” Damien replied. “That’s the point. That’s why we’re scanning this thing. Speaking of which, it’s scanning now. Results should be coming in shortly.”
Apparently he did not share her enthusiasm.
Suddenly there was a great noise below them. So far the object had remained relatively soundless, but now it was like a powerful engine starting up.
“Do you hear that?” she asked.
“No life signs detected. It’s definitely artificial though. It’s just a big battery producing heat. That’s all it’s doing. The heat seems to be moving directly upward in some sort of artificial channel or current. Our sub must be off to the side, just barely out of the path of the channel. The real he
at seems to be relatively contained to the surface of the object and to the channel. At its hottest points, it’s coming in at 800 degrees Celsius,” he replied, reading the data and ignoring her question. Suddenly he leaned forward in his chair and his tone of voice changed. He sounded more rushed now, more urgent. “But it’s moving now. I think the scan must’ve woken it up,” Damien said.
“What’s moving? The current?” she asked.
“No Captain. The orb! It’s changing.”
The sound grew louder.
Sara looked down at the readings. Sure enough the orb was changing shape. A small hole or cavern seemed to be opening on its surface. Whatever it was, it was hollow.
“Something is opening up,” she said as she watched the data on the screen.
“We should get out of here,” Damien responded. “To hell with the scan.”
Sara turned and glared at him. She had been glad that he had focused for a moment but it seemed his paranoia had returned. This was the last thing she needed right now. They were Navy, not cautious scientists. They had their orders.
“We stay and finish the job, Damien. Hold it together for a few more seconds. The scan is almost done. We can do this and reach 200 meters. We can complete both assignments and be out,” she replied, keeping him in his place.
But this time, he did not submit.
“Sara, are you mad? This thing is changing. What is in that door? What is coming out?” he asked.
Right as the words left Damien’s lips, Sara looked down into the sea of light and made out an object emerging from the hole. It was dark, whatever it was, and the contrast made it easy to see the shape of the object as it emerged. It was an object she had seen before, and one that she did not wish to see right now.
“It’s a muzzle!” she screamed. “The orb has activated a weapon!”
“Energy readings are picking up,” Damien responded. “I mean, more than they already were. I think our scan activated its defense systems.”
Sara grabbed the yoke firmly with two hands and increased speed, propelling the vessel forward.
“Evasive maneuvers!” she hollered. “We’re getting out of here!”