[Original Novel] Pressure: First Encounter, Part 4

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Her first inkling that something was amiss came minutes later when the seafloor rose into view. Leonard, or rather dream Leonard, entered a slow approach towards a shadowy mass. Around it bright spots speckled the seafloor where magma boiled up through fissures from the molten core.

Whatever it was, assuming the thermal vents were roughly the same size as those she'd seen in her briefing video, the mass was huge. In that moment, well before the fuzzy black mass took on a recognizable shape, she knew. Her spine stiffened. Her tongue withdrew into her throat as if to choke her.

There on the screen, just as it was in Leonard's mind, appeared the massive body she'd seen on the imager. No longer crudely represented by glowing green silhouette, but rendered by Leonard's mind in a clarity which increased with each passing second. She tried to bolt for the door, to bring Eliot in and show him, but found that her body would move only in small increments and not as commanded.

She murmured in distress, unable to take her eyes off the screen. Closer and closer, ever increasing detail, impossible anatomy and skin which left unresolved the question as to whether it was dormant or deceased.

The same mottled grey flesh she had seen in the sub. The same translucent quality, the same dark grey patches. The same face. Just then, a pair of arms came into view. As if Leonard, within his dream, had thought to gaze at his own hands for reassurance that everything around him was real.

Only, they weren't leonard's hands. Distended, skeletal grey limbs swayed in the currents before her, a tangled mess of long thin bones at the end of either. The same hands, or poor imitation of hands, that she'd seen in the trench. Of course, of all the stupid assumptions. This perspective wasn't Leonard's. It wasn't even Leonard's dream.

"I think what we're dealing with is something like a criminal." Light from the monitor flickered across Eliot and Nathan's faces as they watched the recording of Leonard's dream. "So this really came out of Leo's head, huh?" Angie sighed. "You're not listening. I don't think it evolved here."

Nathan snorted. "No shit". On the monitor the last of the dream played out, with a clear view of the creature's body just before the pair of pale, bony hands came into view. "It uses us as relays because it can't get a signal up through the water. That's why they put it here, to keep it from reaching anyone."

A faint beep sounded as the recording looped back to the beginning. The men seemed unsurprised by the footage, yet it was proving a chore to convince them of the obvious. "Who, Angie? Who put it here?" Fair question. "I don't have an answer for that. But something put it deep underwater to prevent it from contacting intelligent life. Probably long before there was any on Earth. And there's another one like it on Europa."

It felt bizarre to be speaking so matter of factly about alien life. If it was alien. Every so often they glanced at each other, as if hoping someone would restore sanity to the discussion. 'Of course it's not alien', they'd say, everyone would laugh and they could get down to the business of discussing what it might actually be within sensible constraints. But nobody spoke up. There would be no such easy out.

Instead, Eliot asked a question Angie hadn't anticipated. "What happens if they contact each other? Like, an unbroken connection between here and Europa. What if they connect?" They sat quietly, the hull still dripping around them.

Eventually someone would have to repair the dehumidifier. For the time being nobody budged. All four hunched over the kitchen table, picking at their oatmeal, silently contemplating what had been said.

Nathan's session came next. Anxiety kept him wide awake for a good thirty minutes or so, but whiskey and warm blankets did the trick and soon his dreams were playing out before their eyes. All were aware on some level of the intimacy of it, each in turn exposing the contents of their subconscious to the rest.

On the screen before them laid the long gash of the Marianas trench. The trench walls receded into darkness, but one could vaguely make out a moving form. Side to side it swayed as it grew in size, a dark blob silhouetted against the blackness of the abyss. Soon the shape resolved itself.

It was the creature, slowly and strenuously climbing the trench wall. Angie gasped and began to stand, but Eliot gripped her shoulder and gestured for her to keep watching. The black fog gave way to grey. As the image widened, it became clear that 'dream Nathan' was on the surface, standing on an endless foggy beach.

The sand was littered with seaweed, bits of wood and decaying jellyfish.

Soon a silhouette appeared out to sea. Impossibly huge, and unmistakably humanoid. Each step seemed labored, its asymmetrical body struggling to locomote out of water.

Dozens gathered on the beach alongside Nate. Then hundreds. Then seemingly thousands, crowding the shoreline as far as the eye could see in either direction. They left their homes, businesses, even cars in the middle of the road as though struck by a shared epiphany. The shambling mass halted, still shrouded in fog.

Suddenly a pair of long, narrow eye slits lit up in a deep, piercing red. Beams of this sickly red light shone forth through the fog and swept over the gathered masses. Their bodies quivered, then quaked, but did not collapse. Those nearest Nathan began gibbering. Then a loud, low pitched hum sounded.

It had a powerful impact, even through the computer’s speakers. Something about it gripped Angie's heart. Everyone on the beach calmly did an about face, and marched back towards their coastal town. In the distance the figure resumed its slow march to shore. The hum grew louder as it approached, from a muted groan to a blaring monotonous din.

"I'd just rather not." Of the three, Angie figured Eliot for the bravest. But she was hardly objective, and after witnessing Leonard and Nathan's dreams it was difficult to fault his hesitation.

"We all saw the body, but obviously none of us could've experienced what was in those dreams. And I refuse to believe any of that came from Leo or Nate. It's coming from outside." He glanced over Angie's shoulder, probably not in the precise direction of the trench but his meaning was received.

"The body in the trench. Sleeping, or dead? If it were decaying, the fish would eat it." A brief silence. "Would you?" She was in no mood to appreciate the joke. All around them the hull dripped, and it was beginning to stink.

The central table was now their neutral ground, planning center, someplace to touch base and make sure everything they'd seen and heard in the past hour actually happened. Nobody was forthcoming with a plan, and tension continued to accumulate. Eliot spoke first. "There's the Belusarius."

Was he now the defacto leader? Nobody seemed surprised that he was the first to suggest a course of action. Took his sweet time, though. "What's the Belusarius?" Next to Angie, Leonard fiddled with a smartpad, then handed it to her. On its screen, a sprawling complex of pressure vessels and tunnels sitting on supports of varying lengths slowly rotated in glowing green relief.

"Wait, this...this really exists? This is down here? Where is it?" The Argyro slid into view just next to it. A mere speck by comparison. "Little over a mile from here, further down the trench." Angie visibly spasmed. "They built a CITY down here?? There’s going to be THOUSANDS of people living right next to...Oh god, I...I can't breathe..."

Eliot reflexively steadied her. "Not thousands. Six, maybe seven hundred. And it's not complete yet, it'll be running a skeletal crew. Officially it doesn't exist. I wouldn't know either if not for a buddy of mine on security detail. I figure we should head over and warn them." Angie began to regain her composure.

"We have to, given what we know. But before we send anyone over, I really want to see what the machine makes of your dreams." He was already halfway to the docking collar. "No time. We'll do that when we get back. Leo, Nate, prep the Rat Tail." The two exchanged worried glances with Angie, but complied.

"We really gonna let him reach the Belusarius?" Nate leaned on Angie as she brought up the Rat Tail's control interface on the terminal. All three were huddled together in the cupola, watching the bulbous vessel glide slowly away from the docking collar.

"Of course not. It must think we're idiots. The Belusarius is the closest population of humans outside the Argyro. We won't let it surface, so it's on to plan B." Onscreen, a blueprint of the Rat Tail overlapped a layout of the relays dotted along the ocean floor. "What if you're wrong? What if that's Eliot in there and we kill him? And how are we gonna get topside if you...?"

Angie shook her head. "I'm not going to destroy the sub, just cripple the propulsion. We'll still be able to ride it up once we figure out what we're going to do about you know what, but it won't be able to reach the Belusarius. I'll make sure of that."

With a few keystrokes, green icons representing the relays lit up and began to rotate. Outside the emitters quietly came into alignment, targeting the Rat Tail's battery pods. "Each laser is only a few kilowatts. Alone, none of them could do much damage. But together..."

She clicked on the slowly moving dot representing the sub, and the icons went red. Outside, hundreds of blinding green beams pierced the darkness and the spot where they converged erupted with burning electrolyte, bubbles and molten metal. A dimmer beam of the same type shot back to the Argyro, and 'Eliot' appeared onscreen.

"Angie! What's going on out there? I'm losing power, and...and I think I have a hull breach!" Nate and Leo looked sincerely worried. Angie just sat back and smirked. "Yeah, I bet you're really fuckin' worried. Maybe you should come on back to the Argyro."

His expression underwent a subtle change that did not escape their notice. "No, I'd...I think I can make it the rest of the way." In that moment any remaining doubt left them. Whatever that was aboard the Rat Tail, it wasn't Eliot.

Leo whispered to Angie, "What happens if he's hurt? Does it also hurt the...the thing? Could we kill it?" Angie responded coldly, without taking her gaze off of the screen. "No, I don't think so. We're all seeing this, right? But we're wide awake. It's not a hallucination or a dream, whatever's happening to us has progressed to some new stage. Now it can make us all see the same thing at the same time. Or it can replicate us, I don't know. What we do know is, that's not Eliot in there, just some kind of projection or doppleganger. That's why he wouldn't use the machine. That's why he was in such a hurry to get to the Belusarius. This will be hard to watch, but remember, that's not him."

Onscreen Eliot looked confused and frantic. He'd been right about the hull breach; an inch or so of water sloshed around his feet. "What are you talking about? Why are you...I'm right here! Don't talk about me like I'm not here! The Rat Tail is...I think the scrubber shut off. Air pressure's building up, so is CO2."

Angie leaned in and grinned smugly. "Like I said, bring the sub back so we can patch it up." Eliot went from frantic to furious in a split second. "You did this, didn't you? You fired on me. You crazy bitch! I'm going to put all of this in a report when I make it to the Belusarius."

She remained deadpan, and with a small movement of her index finger the relay icons once again turned red. "No Eliot, you won't."

Blue-green beams lit up the abyss, and battery pod two exploded in a glowing, foamy mess of chemicals and melted steel. Eliot's screams came in garbled as the sub's laser comm system faltered.

She knew backup power would keep the basics running, but they'd need to bring in the sub manually using the newt suits. Onscreen Nathan howled and writhed as the water rose past his waist. A voice completely unlike his, impossibly deep and hoarse resonated through the spherical cabin: "Release...me...." All three looked on dispassionately.

"Releeaaaaassseee......mmmmeeeeeeeeee....." his voice reached through the terminal and shook the walls around them. The water was now at his chest. The cockpit lights flickered, and in between those flickers Eliot was briefly visible in his true form.

The pale, sickly creature Angie recalled from the sub incident thrashed in perfect synch with its illusory human counterpart and the two men watching gasped. Just as the water rose to his neck, the cabin lights went out completely. It took several seconds for the meager backup battery to kick in. When the red emergency lights came on the cockpit was empty.

"You sure fucked up the Rat Tail. Hope it can be salvaged." The trio emerged one by one from the cupola, their relief palpable. "If that's our biggest problem we're in good shape." Leo looked concerned. Pre-empting his question, Angie swung open the hatch to the bunk room.

There on the bed, asleep and oblivious to everything that had just transpired, was Eliot. "How did you know?" Angie smiled. "I didn't. I only remembered he was in here after that thing in the sub vanished." Nate ran one hand over his hair, and whistled. "Reckon it blocked the memory?" Laughter.

"Could be, could be. Or maybe I'm just a ditz. I do remember now, Eliot slipped past me as I was on my way to the kitchen. Said he'd put on the electrode cap and wait for me." Eliot's eyelids fluttered. All three gathered around him, and as he slowly regained consciousness he asked the natural question.

"What are you all so happy about? Did I miss something?" Angie squeezed his arm, Nate averted his eyes and Leo let out a low whistle. "Man, you...you could say that. Real glad to see you though." Understandably this confused Eliot, as he'd gone to sleep not an hour ago and it didn't occur to him that they might've forgotten where he was.

"Well whatever. Did you get anything good with the machine?" In all the excitement they'd forgotten about the dream imager. It should've been running the entire time, and sure enough when prompted it began to play back the most recent recording.

A barren wasteland stretched out before them, partially engulfed by a rolling fog. The soil was dry and peppered with rocks. Save for the tangled remains of long dead trees there were no signs of life. Angie and the others huddled tensely around the display, but for most of a minute nothing happened. Then, as in the last recording, a silhouette appeared in the mist.

At first it was easily mistaken for a quadruped, but as the form approached it was clear that the massive creature was the same one they’d seen before on a much larger scale. The bioform crawled very slowly and with no small amount of effort, suggesting perhaps that it couldn’t support its own weight on two legs at this size.

With each ponderous advance the ground shook, and as each claw came down it sunk deeply into the soil even though at close range it appeared firm and rocky. The familiar bone-rattling hum reverberated through the air, and its eyes opened.

The hazy red beam swept the landscape like a prison spotlight.

Everywhere it fell upon a ruined building it lingered, waiting for unseen prey to emerge. A jarring transition followed, suddenly the view was not of the surface but a network of caves. Various angular buildings hung by cables from the cavern roof, linked by walkways which jostled with traffic as figures in strange uniforms made frantic preparations.

Just then, the caverns shook with a low hum recognizable as the sound of the bellowing creature far above. Small rocks came loose and showered the buildings which rung briefly like bells on impact. One figure shouted to a group in an adjacent structure in some guttural language unlike any known to Angie or the others.

Having apparently understood it as a command, the uniformed figures toggled a series of switches on a crude, unfurnished console before them and in response a great aperture in the ground yawned such that once fully ajar a missile could be seen rising from it.

It was halfway recognizable as an ICBM except that the design was unusually ornate and geometric. The fins terminated in sharp points and protruded at a severe upward angle. Six of them completed the weapon’s frightening radial symmetry at four points along the fuselage. Once elevated into full view it was truly a sight to behold.

The view again became hazy. When it cleared, the new cavern it depicted was even larger than the first. Hospital beds of a strange design filled the dimly lit chamber, arranged in concentric circles around a tremendous metal shaft.

The few unoccupied beds afforded a better view of their strange curvilinear metal frames dotted with blinking red lights, whereas the lights on occupied beds glowed a steady green. Each patient, if indeed they were patients, wore a skull cap comprised of electrodes and was hooked into machinery integrated into the frame.

Beyond that, the beds were themselves networked with a writhing mass of cables strung along the ceiling, all leading to a large steel pillar at the very center of the room. There was little opportunity to reflect on what purpose it might serve as a moment later a violent tremor sprinkled the networked dreamers with dust and pebbles from the cavern ceiling.

Overhead lights flickered, a few bulbs burst in a shower of sparks, and frantic voices rang out. Some grand project was near execution and the sense of urgency could be felt through the screen.

On the surface, the creature had begun to dig. The sheer weight of the thing made its work easy, as even while walking it had to struggle not to embed itself too far into the earth.

The excavation was swift, as although the creature’s movements were ponderous it displaced so much in the way of rock and soil with each motion of its gargantuan claw that by the time the missile launched it had visibly unearthed the uppermost point of the subterranean complex.

Mangled steel shielding shone through even as the creature continued to dig around it. Overhead, the exhaust plume of the rocket glowed a brilliant pink hue. The lower stage separated and fell away. Then the next stage jettisoned, and finally the payload sprang forth and unfolded into an angular metal blossom.

For a moment it simply hung in the air, not quite motionless but rather at the point where it was running out of upward momentum and preparing to fall. What came next was pure insanity.

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^{Stay Tuned for Part 5!}