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The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/googlyeyes93 on 2024-09-09 22:21:50+00:00.
A couple of weeks passed without incident. I got deep into my research, taking water samples, testing the amount of micro-organisms and other boring science shit that I know nobody reading this cares about. I was starting to get more familiar with the rig and those on it, though it was taking some getting used to.
Flam was… well, Flam. He was a weird dude, extremely neurotic and always seemed like he was spaced out. Shannon was uptight as hell, usually more likely to bitch at anyone in range than be anywhere near helpful. Hap was nice, though I think he kept trying to awkwardly hit on me without realizing I wasn’t too interested in men. Can’t say I blame him though, it gets lonely out here.
Sandy ended up being one of my greatest comforts out on the cold ocean. In the evenings we would sit out on the platform, watching waves pass by as the sun set on the horizon. Despite everything I had seen out here so far, it was calming, almost serene when it looked like this. I was just losing myself in the sunset, gazing off into the distance when suddenly a skunky smell hit me, almost knocking me back to my college days.
”How did you get weed out here?” I asked, turning to look at her lighting up a joint. All she did was laugh at me.
”Why, you a cop now?” She said back. We passed it back and forth, laughing as the plant took more of an effect. At some point Shannon walked out, though all she could do was be disapproving and tell us that we shouldn’t be doing that here. Sandy’s retort made me laugh even harder, “We’re on maritime law, babe. Nothing illegal out here.”
Shannon only shook her head, looking directly at me before walking down to the living quarters, “Remember we’re taking a dive tomorrow morning. I don’t want you fucked up when we go down.”
I saluted, giving a stiff ‘Aye, cap’n’ as she walked off in a huff.
”Nervous about going down there?” Sandy asked me now, getting serious again.
”A little. I know we’re not going too deep for this one, but it’s still a little terrifying, y’know?” I replied, looking out at the reflecting sun as it dipped below the horizon line. In a little over twelve hours I would be taking our small submersible down to the Twilight zone, almost two thousand meters to see what kind of organic life is down there. I might have been a little excited, because there was always the possibility of discovering some new species. Wonder if they would name it after me…
Sandy and I shot the shit for a while longer before finally heading to bed, Hoping to get some at least decent sleep before reaching the dark depths.
I slept fitfully that night, in fear of what we may find down there. I hadn’t seen the giants again, but that giant eye through the porthole the other day was still haunting me every time I tried to close my eyes. All I could hear was its voice, telling me to join them in the depths.
After one of the worst nights of sleep I’ve ever had, we started loading in. The submersible was cramped, with stale air being pumped through for ventilation that left me sweating. Flam and I went down together, with Shannon and Hap staying back up with Sandy as our comms. The only window was at the very front, a small porthole with an incredibly limited view of only what was directly ahead. Maybe the worst part was that other than the console lights and a couple of low red accent lights to see by, this thing was completely dark. I felt like I was crammed into a can, and my claustrophobia was… not doing well.
The descent was fine, nothing out of the ordinary at least. We went in phases to be safe, dropping a few hundred meters at a time before stopping for a few minutes, making sure there weren’t any issues with the submersible. I kept looking over at the small hatch that we clambered in through, a bulkhead and multiple thick seals keeping us from the massive pressure outside. Every damn creak this thing made as we descended I expected to be liquefied where I sat, lost forever to the depths outside. Even in the stuffy air of the sub, I was getting a chill.
”Approaching 1500 meters.” Shannon’s voice coming over the small radio, “Reaching target depth in about five minutes.”
”Thank you.” Flam said, flipping a couple of switches and pushing the shift further. I don’t know if that’s what it was, but it looked like there was a flightstick installed to control this thing. Better than an xbox controller, but still…. “Ellie, turn on the outside cameras please.”
”Copy that.” I said, flipping around buttons in front of me. The three screens in front of me flashed on, eight different feeds popping up. We had wide-angle cameras on the port and starboard side, one at the top and bottom of each end of the sub. All the corners were coverd, giving us a full view of everything within our radius. “Cameras on, powering on lights.”
The lights outside came on, flooding the ocean darkness around us. Despite the output of the lights, strong enough to light a damn fire back on land if you left it on for too long, we were only able to pierce the abyss so far before losing sight. That was when I saw movement right off the edge of our front starboard camera. My heart skipped a beat, amazed we found something already as we had barely reached depth at this point.
”There’s something out in front. Go forward toward starboard.” I told Flam, trying to study what was there just at the edge of our visibility. Flam moved us forward, slowly so as not to scare whatever it was off. Unfortunately whatever it was dashed off, but on the screen as it ran away, it almost looked humanoid, dashing off like an olympic swimmer. “You see that?”
”Yes, it’s much faster than us though.” Flam said, still pushing the flightstick down, propelling us deeper. “Still not there yet.”
”Uh. We’re at two thousand, Flam. Think we’re deep enough for what we’re after.” I said, looking over at him with anxiety rising. “How much is this thing rated for?”
”Five thousand meters.” He replied, muttering some sort of calculations under his breath while still descending. “I know we’ll find it…”
”Shannon, Flam is going even deeper.” I said, breathless into my radio. My heartbeat was picking up, tension rising as Flam didn’t even react to my message. “Any idea what’s going on?”
”Flam, where are you going?” Shannon asked, concern rising in her voice. “You need to come back to target depth. We haven’t done prep for a deeper dive right now.”
”We’ll come back up quickly. I just need to check something.” Flam muttered again, flipping the radio off so Shannon couldn’t interject.
”Woah, okay. Flam, we need to go back up. You’re not thinking straight.” I said, moving forward to flip the walkie back on. He smacked my hand away, turning with a wild eye reflecting the intense red light of the cabin. I almost fell back from just how much he startled me. Flam may have been a little odd, but usually he was a gentle person, more awkward and introverted than anything. “Flam, what the fuck are you doing?”
”They told me I’m welcome in the depths.” He said, turning back to the small window and looking out ahead. “I have to see them.”
”Okay, that’s not a good idea, man. Come on, you take monitors, I’ll take pilot. Let’s switch.” I said, moving to take the console. I felt a sharp pain in my arm, looking over to see he had stabbed me with a lab scalpel he had smuggled on board.
”I have to see them.” He reiterated. “The last place uncorrupted by humans. They’re waiting for us.”
He pulled the scalpel from my arm, pointing it at me in warning before turning back to the console. I fell back to the floor, clutching the wound and trying to stem the bleeding. Thinking quick, just trying to live while I still could, I tore my shirt off and wrapped it around the wound, pulling my makeshift tourniquet tight.
”Stop. Take this privilege.” Flam was shouting back to me now, voice getting higher and more raving mad with every second that passed. “They’ve promised to show me knowledge that humans could only dream of, things that we’ve had questions for thousands of years! You would pass up this kind of opportunity?!”
“Yes! We’re going to fucking die down here you idiot!” I was shouting again. The monitors were flickering, cameras unable to sustain integrity at the increasing depths without proper protection. I could hear the hull clanging as it bent and expanded, trying to keep integrity in the crushing abyss. “Flam, what the fuck has gotten into you!”
”Shhhh look!” He said, pointing through the front window now. Beyond him, I could see something in the distance, coming into view better as we got closer.
“What the hell is this?” I was looking downard, our submersible pointed toward the depths as he cut off our lights, plunging us into complete darkness. My eyes took a moment, unable to cut through the most complete, terrifying void of nothing I’ve ever seen. Suddenly something far below us started to glow, starting faint but getting brighter and brighter as it spread, soon covering the entire sea floor. Cracks and veins ran through the light, all meeting in one central point, flowing towards a deep, dark chasm it circled around.
My first thought was bioluminescent microorganisms, because we find that all the time on in the abyssal zone. This though, had to be far too large. It would comprise miles and miles of organisms, all glowing in time with each other before stopping at this one, deep, pit. It was going fu...
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