FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Assuming the integrity of my helmet didn't fail, and I don't implode, I'd live long enough to suffocate when my oxygen supply ran dry. Here I was stranded alone in the Atlantic Ocean, 1296 meters deep, and some hundreds maybe thousands of miles from the nearest coastline… and the pinging stopped… I. Am. A. Dead. Man. I told myself this, just to make sure it was really hitting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I turned from the novel I was reading, Moby Dick, as loud banging erupted on my door. The sound reverberated through the thin metal walls and into the bed I sat on. A familiar voice followed almost immediately after.

“Hey Mikey!" The sound had no problems bleeding through the closed door. The voice belonged to my commander. With the way the words carried themselves, it wasn't a greeting. Rather it was more so of a, 'Hey, get your ass up right now!' kind of thing.

I had a feeling I knew why he had paid me a visit; it likely regarded my role for our imminent mission.

I'm not really a part of the Navy, not in the traditional sense anyways. Rather I am a systems operator for the Navy. To put it in simple terms, I sit behind a computer while braver men keep the seas clear of any hazards. Nevertheless, I found myself on the recon submarine named the U.S. Mariner roughly a month ago. Ever since then I've just been reviewing data we had collected throughout the rotation. Today we have a new mission though, scouting.

Yesterday we detected very out of place seismic data along the line of a long decommissioned Transatlantic communications cable. As the closest ship in the vicinity, we were tasked to check out the situation by higher ups. For me personally, they want me to dive down to the cables and look them over. They figure as a systems operator I'd be best equipped to assess the situation and come up with a diagnosis of the problem.

I sprang from my seated position on my bed and shot myself towards the door. Not wanting to leave my commander waiting, I didn't bother putting a shirt on before opening the door.

My commander spoke before I had a chance to fully open the door, already speaking as the door hinges creaked. “Put on your base layers and meet at the moon pool, we're only a few klicks out." He stood at attention, arms behind his back. He wore classic navy attire, all black save for the iconic white cap. He also sported a few pendants across his pecs signifying his standing and accomplishments. As a systems operator, I wasn't one of his military lackeys, directly speaking, so I didn't have to follow exact procedures when speaking to officers and such or being spoken to for that matter. Still, he had my respect, and so did the Navy as my employers.

“Yes sir." I replied, not quite enthused, but also not without emotion. My commander nodded before turning away. I shut the door and placed a bookmark where my thumb had rested. I set my book on my shelf of other things which included a picture of my parents, a model of the U.S. Mariner, and a few smaller items such as my watch and a deck of cards. From there I swiftly changed into my diving base layers that I was provided with. This consisted of a brief-like under layer, compression sleeveless, and spandex bodysuit that wrapped around just below the knees, and just past the elbows. After ensuring I had only what I needed, I reopened my cabin door and left the room. I navigated past tables, through corridors, and down ladders as I progressed to the moon pool. I gave a head nod to a fellow compatriot who stood at the door to the room, he let me in without a fuss.

I don't know exactly how a moonpool works, only the room needs to be airtight, so the water level of the pool remains unchanged. This being the case I had to pass through a smaller room that kept the internal pressures equal while also sealing off the body of the submarine and the moon pool entirely. I call it the “airlock" as that's what it most resembled to me. Once the first door of the airlock closed, the other ahead of me opened.

Upon entering I noticed the commander speaking on the phone line to the bridge, I waited for him to finish. He waved an arm to the far wall at the crush-suit, signaling that I should begin to don the suit. I walked the length of the elliptical room, dark blueish-green water calmly resting beyond the bounds of the railing. I sat down at one of the provided benches, a technician stood nearby ready to help when called upon. I figured she was the one too open the inner door as we were the only three in the room.

The commander hung up the phone before turning to me, “The captain says we're good to go, sonars are clear and the seaglide is charged. Take good care of that crush-suit, will you?"

With advancements in technology, special deep-sea dive suits had been developed that could survive crush depths, hence the name crush-suit. Even better, as a side effect of their structural integrity, they are automatically pressurized, eliminating the possibility of decompression sickness. How humans designed such competent dive gear I do not understand, I just know that they work. Considering they're designed for such extreme conditions, they are incredibly expensive to produce, therefore the Navy only possesses one per vessel. So when the commander asked me to take good care of the suit, he meant it. I nodded my understanding to him.

The commander nodded to the technician before leaving the room, and she returned the gesture. She then grabbed at the shoulders of the suit on the wall and placed it over my arms. The suit was a dark brown, the fabric was very tough and resisted movement. It also weighed a ton leaving me somewhat surprised at the technician's ease in removing the suit from the wall. It had black reinforcement fabric over the joints, and as a whole disconnected at the torso. As I put on the suit, the technician moved to swing a retractable arm from the wall. At the arms end was a seaglide, a meter long handheld underwater propeller. The technician made it so that the seaglide rested suspended over the water, ready to be dropped at a moment's notice.

I finished putting on the body of the suit, already I felt twice as heavy still without the oxygen tanks. The technician came back over and checked the seals on the suit at the ankles where the flippers were, then the waist and neck. When satisfied she hooked up the oxygen tanks and communication line to the suit. The last checkout was to throw on the helmet which didn't take long. If anything, connecting the air hose from the tanks to the helmet took longer. The helmet itself was bronze colored and clearly reinforced, but not quite as rotund as the old dive helmets, more streamlined so to speak.

Once all geared up the technician dropped the seaglide into the water with a sizeable splash, what it lacked in size, it made up for in density. I crept to the edge of the moon pool. Still in the belly of the sub the water pressure was more or less similar to surface level. But I knew as soon as I would dive a few meters the pressure would skyrocket, nothing the suit couldn't handle of course.

I was fairly calm, or at least I told myself I was calm. Intense psychological training is a must for submariners. I knew I would be okay not feeling claustrophobic in the suit, especially so as it was my lifeline. Still, the thought of being alone at such depth unnerved me. The particular portion of the cable I readied to look over sat roughly 800 meters (2625 ft) deep and ran along a continental slope. At this depth, sunlight is detectable by machines, not so much humans; so the water I will be swimming into would be pitch black. It would be me, the crush-suit, my seaglide, and the abyss below.

I returned from my brief trance and focused back in on the murky water at my feet, the ends of my flippers hung idly just above the water line. I felt a pat on my shoulder, I turned with moderate difficulty in the stiff suit. The hand belonged to the technician, she gave me a thumbs up, it was go-time! My tanks were secure, my communications line was connected, and the power line to the seaglide was in place. It didn't matter how nervous I felt, I was going in. I took a breath, breathing in the synthetic oxygen mixture supplied by the tanks, and jumped in.

I sank a few feet before resurfacing to grab the seaglide. I waited for the sloshing water on my visor to fall away. The seaglides steering wheel resembled that of a yoke on an airplane with a small screen in the middle. The screen relayed the camera feed that the seaglide picked up. I gripped at the yoke and turned on the pilot light. Following that, I laid out and pushed in on the yoke, I could hear the engine motor whine. I descended a few meters, enough to clear the lower walls of the sub. Now fully in the water, the whine of the engine dampened into a whir from the surrounding water. I pulled on the yoke to turn out from the belly of the sub out into the open water. I startled myself slightly when I actually did leave the outer walls of the sub, the darkness was absolute, save the very minimal particles that drifted into the light from the seaglide. I angled the seaglide straight down so I would be able to swim under the crest of the sub and onto where the cable lay.

While traversing my curious surroundings I familiarized myself with the seaglides movement controls. I could pull in with my left arm or push forwards with my right to turn left. Same deal when turning right. I could slow down by pulling both arms in and accelerate by pushing both arms out. Finally, I could dive by pulling up, and ascend by pulling down.

I rounded the bend of the underside of the sub, from there I could see the cable in question with the aid of spotlights provided by the sub. It didn't offer much light, but enough for me to see it. Plus, once I got closer, the seaglides light, along with the flashlight on my helmet would be more than sufficient to diagnose the condition of the cable.

I entered into the light from the sub, and a moment after words came through from my helmet. “Hey Mikey, if you can hear me give me a barrel roll!" The voice belonged to the captain rather than my commander. Funny enough, his vocal disposition seemed to be more playful and relaxed than my commanders despite ranking higher.

I had to think about the controls of the seaglide for a moment so I could teach myself how to roll over. I figured by turning the yoke like it was a steering wheel might do the trick. Sure enough, I was able to perform a barrel roll with ease. I could hear the captain laugh over the microphone. “Great work Mikey! We've got the camera feed and you're in our sights. You're about 50 meters out, so keep at it."

I returned a laugh to the captain, “You know, I could've just said I could hear you loud and clear." Hopefully the communications line on my end worked.

“Sure, but where's the fun in that?" His voice was as playful as before. I imagine he was only doing so to put me more at ease. I mean, I'm a systems operator, not a deep sea-diver. I smiled, he was right, doing a barrel roll was significantly more fun than a dry reply. For a moment, I didn't feel so alone out over the void.

I reached the cable after maybe a minute, the light from my seaglide became the prominent source of light over the submarine at my back. Immediately I could see the problem with the cable. A whole chunk of it was missing! I positioned the seaglide so the light and camera faced the break in the line. I slowed to a stop, the whir of the propellors ceased and I was met with silence. I entered the camera's field of view as I approached the cable, rather, what was left of it.

The cable looked as if it had a chunk taken out of it. The dirt and sand it laid on was dug into a well-sized divot and sparkled in the light. I ran my hand in the sand, looking over its reflective properties. Turns out, some of the sand I was picking up was not sand, but actually little bits of glass. I let the fragments fall through my fingers back into the divot. I swam a meter over to one of the ends of the cable. Its end was exposed to the water, and I could see the interior metal cables had been frayed in all directions. The outer blue covering of the cable was pushed back and looked to be charred black.

What the hell is this? I thought to myself. “You seeing this?" I asked no one in particular.

I got a reply almost instantly, “Yes, we see it." The captain's voice returned to a more professional level. “What can you make of it?"

“It's a good thing this cable was already decommissioned, this thing surely wouldn't work now. Unless this cable was decommissioned because it was prone to spontaneously combusting, which I find unlikely, then my diagnosis is foul play. It looks like a damn bomb went off down here! The lines are completely severed, no data would be able to traverse this cable!" My voice rose with concern at the tail end of the statement.

There was silence for a moment followed by ambient background mumbling. I chose not to wait for a reply as my curiosity took over, “I'm going to look over more of the cable to know for sure." I was met with more silence. Even if they told me not to venture off, I feel I wouldn't have listened at this point. I reached for the seaglide and angled its light to shine down the length of one end of the cable. More of the cable came into my field of view with the help of the seaglide as the submarines spotlights only shone on the cables point of interest. The cable down the way looked undisturbed. I swung the seaglide down the other side of the cable, here I noticed something curious.

As soon as the seaglides light reached a distant point on the cable, a small red blinking started up on the line. The blinking light was slow and drawn out, it sat far enough to be well outside of the light cone from the sub. I pressed in on the yoke and propelled myself to the blinking light, it took maybe ten seconds to get there. The light was attached to a small contraption that was constructed around the cable. It was green with an external box-like structure sticking out of it. I could hear the faintest beeping that synced up with the frequency of the flashing light. It was at that moment I really hoped I was wrong in my diagnosis. I couldn't help but let out an audible, “What the fuck is that?" I made sure the seaglide camera had the object in frame.

My coms line crackled with garbled speech that I could just barely make out, “Mikey get back now!"

Holy shit, it was a bomb, and I just armed it by shining light on it, didn't I?

I turned the seaglide with incredible speed. I pushed in as hard as I could on the yoke once I was lined up with the sub. I heard the engines of the submarine groan loudly as the turbines spooled up, far outmatching the tiny whirring of the seaglide. It was clear we weren't going to wait around to know for sure whether or not my diagnosis was correct. I turned to face the device as I neared the sub, its blinking frequency had greatly increased and stuck out like a sore thumb against the black of the water. I didn't know how much time I had to get to the moon pool, I just knew I was booking it.

I rounded the crest of the vessel and saw the guide lights to the moon pool. The device behind me now fully left my line of sight; I was going to make it!... That was until a bright light flashed below my feet and an accompanying shockwave slammed the body of the submarine against my frame knocking me unconscious instantly.

Ping-Ring---Beep!

_ _ I groggily opened my eyes to a natural sensory deprivation chamber, startling myself at not being able to immediately understand my surroundings. My head ached and my ears rang with a soft hum. I looked around… nothing. There was no light or sign of the U.S. Mariner at all.

Ping-Ring---Beep!

_ _

_ _ There was the sound I woke up to again. A loud and long ping coupled with a softer ringing, both of which softened before a final beep popped by my ear. It was the ships sonar, or another ships, nevertheless I was on someone's map. I pressed into my comms line, “Hello? Are you receiving me?"

Static.

I began to panic a bit more. Once again to be sure, “Is anyone out there!?"

Like before… nothing. Dozens of questions began to fill my mind. Where am I? Where is the Mariner? What happened? Are they okay? Am… I… okay…?

_ _ My mind raced into action to answer at least some of them. I felt weight in my left hand, and based on the grip at which I held onto it I figured it must be the seaglide. Even in the dark I confirmed this when I could feel the button for the pilot light. I pressed it, but it did not power on. I swung my free hand to the flashlight to my helmet, turning it on. Luckily for me it powered on without any trouble. I scanned my surroundings, again nothing, but now I could see what was going on with the seaglide and myself for that matter.

I looked over my suit, its integrity looked to be intact with no visible abrasions in the fabric. I suppose I should have known that, as any tear in the suit would result in my own implosion. I found the gauges on my forearm; they would be the real determining factor of how dire my situation was. My oxygen tank read that I had 15 minutes based on its remaining volume. If I controlled my breathing, I could probably squeak out some more time. That's not great, but not terrible, I can work with that. Next, I found my depth gauge… it read a number not so optimistic.

1284 meters! And dropping! I cursed a few times within my helmet, so much for not panicking. I looked up, there I saw two disconnected hoses, one running to my suit, the other running to the seaglide. The one to my suit was the communications line, so it made sense why static was the only thing I could hear. The line running to the seaglide was its power line, now lacking power it couldn't keep itself stable and was sinking. By extension, I was sinking too having been holding onto it. Even as an inanimate object completely useless to me now, it pained me to drop it. My heart sank with the seaglide as it fell deeper and deeper, eventually slipping past the furthest point light from my flashlight could reach. This was only about a meter or two past my feet as the flashlight wasn't particularly powerful. By the time I let go of the seaglide and stopped sinking, I had fallen another twelve meters. To make matters worse, light bounced off the glass that covered the gauge back into the visor of my helmet, revealing a small crack in the glass of the helmet.

Assuming the integrity of my helmet held, and I didn't implode, I'd live long enough to asphyxiate when my oxygen supply inevitably ran dry. Here I was stranded alone in the Atlantic Ocean, 1296 meters deep, and some hundreds maybe thousands of miles from the nearest coastline… and the pinging stopped… I. Am. A. Dead. Man. I told myself, just to make sure it was really hitting.

For a moment I thought about swimming for the surface, but quickly dismissed the thought as it would already be cutting it close without the suit, with the suit I would just drain oxygen at an unrecoverable rate. So instead, I just sat idly, keeping myself calm, trying not to burn though my oxygen supply too quickly. I stilled myself whilst I closed my eyes in thought. I thought back on the life I lived and the choices I made that led me to where I was now. Though, doing so made me feel small and fleeting; of which I preferred not to feel right now. I decided that thinking of nothing was best, choosing to listen to my quiet breaths instead.

After maybe a minute of doing that, I heard an odd noise somewhere around me. At first, I thought it to be the sonar returning, but it sounded more like a soft chirp. I looked around my surroundings, contorting to look left, right, up, and… down. Below my feel a curious yellow light danced in the depths. It swayed back and forth, twinkling ever so slightly as it did. My heart rate began to rise again. Eventually the light partitioned into four segments, performing the same dance it did as a single light. Before I realized what was going on, the lights increased in brightness, it became apparent that whatever those speckles of light belonged to was actively approaching me. I turned off the flashlight on my helmet, hoping to disappear from whatever it could be. In response to turning off my light, the lights below me faded away.

I floated anxiously while intently staring at where the lights once were. What was that? I waited another moment, perhaps I was imagining things? Barely a second after thinking this, dozens of faint white lights began swirling around me. They were barely noticeable, only sticking out in the pure darkness of the water, and evenly spaced. Unlike the yellow lights that oscillated slowly, these smaller white lights danced erratically around me. There seemed to be some structure that would occasionally eclipse a few of the speckles at a time. They circled around me, eventually stacking in layers. Their movement slowed, coming to a full stop. I watched in both awe and fear as the many dozens, potentially hundreds of lights encapsulated the water around me entirely. They would periodically fade out and in, disappearing before reappearing again.

I refused to move, staying silent in the process. I held by breath as something eclipsed a large portion of the lights. The four yellow lights suddenly reappeared just outside of my visor; I could hear a soft hum find its way into my ears. The lights now no longer performed their choreographed dance, now they hung suspended in the water, drifting ever so slightly in no direction in particular. They sat there a moment before drifting upwards as something fully obscured my vision. The something in question had moved its way between me and the blinking white lights, leaving none visible, just darkness once more. Nothing happened for a moment as I remembered I had to breathe. I exhaled sharply while my arm found the flashlight at my helmet. I hesitated, trying to build up the courage to turn on the light. I clicked on the light; nothing could prepare me for what I saw next.

Just outside of my visor, sat a gargantuan unmoving, unblinking eye. I only stayed still long enough to watch the pupil of the eye dilate in response to the light before sharply turning around and attempting to swim away. I kicked hard up to the point I rammed headfirst into an invisible wall ahead of me. This invisible wall sat between two of the soft white lights. Considering the white lights were everywhere, the wall was likely everywhere leaving me trapped. I turned slowly back to the monstrous eye. Having now widened my field of view, a second eye came into the frame, or I assumed it to be a second one. Having backed away slightly, the light from my helmet didn't penetrate the water as well. The gargantuan eyes, while still monstrous, were reduced to light catching orbs. They watched my struggles in unison. The eyes turned, as did the four yellow lights, hinting that they belonged to the same structure. As the structure rotated the pupils remained locked in on me, and the hanging lights streaked across my visor. Two more light catching orbs came into frame opposite of the other two. This thing had four eyes! I was now facing head on with whatever creature from hell lay before me. Two eyes to my left, four lights of unknown origin in the middle, and two more on the right. The four suspended yellow lights began to glow to a bright yellow; I felt the region behind my eyes suddenly grow warm. My eyes hazed and ears rang as a voice echoed in my head, one not received by my ears.

What. Are. You?

---

** ** I swear I could literally feel the feminine sounding voice reverberate throughout my skull; it held an unmistakable lilt.

What?

Perhaps I had burnt through my oxygen more quickly than I realized and was beginning to hallucinate. I looked down at my oxygen gauge, by extension removing the light from those beastly orbs. The sensor concluded I was still breathing oxygen. I blinked a couple times to ensure it. My head felt fuzzy again. I looked back up to where the eyes had been, something more appalling had now entered the light cone of my flashlight.

Curious, I've never seen anything like you before.

Had my mind not been clouded I surely would've been more freaked at what I saw before me. Maybe an arm's length away was the beginning of a super-naturally proportioned head. It was so massive that the light from my helmet was only able to see from the tip of its mouth to where the eyes sunk into its head, the rest of its head and body remained hidden away by the darkness of the water. What of its head I did see resembled that of a moray eel, but morays are nowhere near this size! I continued to look over the creature in disbelief; At the crest of its mouth, I spotted four tendrils that floated upwards to the four yellow lights, they were actively dimming as I looked at them. My mind unclouded as their light faded.

I was still convinced I was hallucinating, I needed to know if what I was seeing was real.

Perhaps foolishly I stuck out my right arm, I watched the shadow my hand created slowly creep along the black skin of the creature. With bated breath I watched the detail in the shadow become finer and finer until I could feel the fabric of the suit press into my hand, contact.

Holy shit…

The damn thing was real! Did this mean the voice in my head was the creature attempting to communicate with me?! I looked up, wide-eyed. For the first time the creature's eyes had shifted. They flickered between staring in through my visor, and where my hand pressed into its upper lip. Eventually it settled onto me, the lights from its tendrils began to glow once more. I hastily withdrew my hand from its flesh, nervous as what to expect next. Perhaps there was another outcome I had not originally predicted; being killed by a sea monster of unknown proportions. I saw no scenario where I came out alive; I didn't want to implode, nor did I wish to suffocate. The more I thought it over, the more I convinced myself I would die at the hands of this creature. Again, my head felt fuzzy. I felt a sudden urge to speak out. While trembling, I said in a whisper, “Get it over with."

I am unsure what prompted me to say such a thing. The statement was purely rhetorical, simply just talking to myself. In my haze I heard the voice in my head once more…

Get what over with?

… My blood ran cold. It could hear that? I hesitated, unsure of what to say. What does this thing mean? Is it not going to kill me?

Why would I do this? Its voice filled with concern.

My blood chilled further than it ever had before, it could read my thoughts as well! I froze in awe. Again, we were back to staring at one another. The haziness in my mind fully faded away and was immediately replaced by an overwhelming and foreign emotion to me; One that made my eyes water.

I was nearly shaking just trying to find the right words to say. I blinked away the tears that tried to fall. In a mouses voice I pleaded to the monster, “Help…Me..." Was it my bravery or fear that prompted my plea? Or perhaps it was the small sliver of hope I now had, now that I wasn't so alone?

…Please.

The 'please' wasn't spoken, but based on what the creature had shown me, the message likely got through. I looked down at my oxygen gauge again, the needle was beginning to touch the red. I looked back up, the creature sat motionless once more, there was no glowing in its tendrils, it seemed to be weighing its options.

“I'll die if you don't!" This I said aloud in a yell. The creature's tendrils then began to glow, and the now familiar fuzziness washed over my brain.

Why do you say this?

“I'm running out of oxygen to breathe, soon I'll suffocate."

I see, what is it that I can do to prevent this?

Again, I found myself falling into despair. I don't know. I hadn't the faintest clue how it could help, I was hoping it would have some idea. As I sat in thought, the tendrils in front of me began to glow differently this time. They quickly surpassed the bright yellow from a moment ago and now shone with a piercing white light. They were so bright my eyes were forced shut; I had four small eye-floaters burned into my retinas. My head went from fuzzy to spinning, like it would after a night of drinking. I could feel my eyes roll up into my head as my body grew warm. The soft hum in my ears turned to the ringing like that of tinnitus. I felt the need to black out. I swear I could feel what I can only describe as pulses of energy shooting through my brain in waves. Not painful, but not entirely pleasant either. What was this creature doing to me!? As the sensory overload peaked, I was able to fight off the need to fall unconscious. My body recovered to some resemblance of normalcy, but not before I was left panting and on the brink of sweating from the experience. Through my eyelids I could see the tendrils had stopped their blinding fury. I opened my eyes, as expected, the tendrils no longer expelled the white light, yet they hadn't dimmed entirely either.

I will help you…

I could feel the imaginary weight on my shoulders falling away. What the creature did or saw just then that had convinced it to help me I did not know, but I was thankful it did. The creature continued before I had a chance to speak.

…Turn off your light.

Without thinking I pulled my arm to my head, finding the switch without trouble. I hesitated before pressing it though. Why? Again, a rhetorical question to myself.

Put your faith in me, you don't have much of a choice not to.

The tone in the statement was not demanding, it was clearly trying to sound comforting. Still, the phrase itself made me shiver. I swallowed; I suppose it was right. I'd run out of air in five minutes, maybe stay awake at most for another two. The only thing I could do was to put my faith in this creature, so that maybe I'd come out of this alive. I pressed in on the button, a soft click could be heard as the creature disappeared before my eyes. The only hint that it remained were the four dimming yellow tendrils. The fuzzy feeling behind my eyes fully dissipated.

I had no clue what the creature had in store for me, I sat still in the water, looking up at those tendrils. They stood motionless for a second before I could visibly see them beginning to move above me. The four lights drifted over my head, eventually so far that they became eclipsed by what I presumed to be the underside of the creature. With the lights no longer in view I looked down off to the side. Curiously, a blackness was moving through the water, blocking out the soft white lights that encompassed me. It drifted left to right, taking out a multitude of those lights one by one. Above me was blackness, the water to my sides grew darker and darker… I looked down, blackness. I turned around 180 degrees; there I could still see many of the tiny white lights. Although now, the blackness was creeping both up and down, destined to meet in the middle.

Oh shit.

In a panic I found my flashlight and clicked it on. A few meters ahead of me were the white teeth and grey-colored gums of the creature closing around me.

“Wait!" I cried out as I swam as hard as I could to the cascading teeth hoping to slip by them before they sealed me away. It didn't matter, however. Well before I reached the calcium spires the great lips beyond them clamped shut.

“NO!"

I turned away, by extension shining my light down into its cavernous maw. Dozens of teeth lined the grey flesh at my sides. Ahead of me an equally grey serpentine tongue rested at the bed of the cavern. I followed its form, surely enough at its base sat the quivering entrance to its throat. I heard a groan; the opening ahead of me began to enlarge. The water began to pull against my feet.

It was eating me alive!

I tuned in to swim away but the current was so strong that I had no chance to find a handhold of any kind. Just outside of my visor I could see myself racing past its tongue, I thrashed out violently, trying desperately to stop or at least slow my descent in some way. I watched in horror as the black void beneath me caught my fall, embracing me in a full body vice grip. I lurched towards the direction of my feet as an audible gulp echoed around me. I found myself pinned against the flesh of its throat, surely moving to its stomach. I had just one thought.

Why?

The fuzziness in my head returned.

It's okay… you'll be okay.

The voice was nothing but reassuring. I relaxed a bit, ceasing my thrashing in favor of occasional struggles; resisting was futile anyways. I focused on the rippling flesh just past my visor. Between the contractions I would see the slick grey flesh of its throat muscles in the light of my flashlight. The flesh's movement was slow and steady, and the water surrounding me allowed for a streamlined descent. Soon my fall nearly stopped as my feet pressed through a wall of flesh, my body followed through. I came crashing down into a chamber filled with the water, roughly waist high, that had accompanied me on my journey to the beast's stomach. I stood upright, my feet sinking into the spongy flesh from my own weight.

My light shone into the water at my feet, there I noticed something curious beginning to happen. The grey flesh glistened frivolously in the light, quickly brightening. I turned off my flashlight. The flesh surrounding my feet began to glow a brilliant yellow. Soon the light crept along the stomach lining beneath the water, along the walls, and even over my head. New colors joined the initial yellow: neon greens, sky blues, and rosy pinks all scattered along the flesh. In maybe ten seconds, the chamber went from a devoid pit to an oasis of color. Even the water I stood in began to shine a soft blue when touching something other than water. I nearly forgot I was in a stomach with how awestricken I had become.

I turned, hoping to find the entrance back into the throat. I could see it a few strides away, between magnificent circular patterns of light that helped to outline the passage, it was now completely sealed shut. Nothing coming in… nothing going out. I felt a twinge of fear before it was replaced by haze of the brain.

No harm will come to you.

It spoke so confidentially. How can you be so sure, I am in your stomach.

I have probed your mind, learning what it is you require to survive. I have purged my insides of any ills to you, replacing it with the oxygen you require.

I looked at my gauge. The glowing flesh above me proving me with more than enough light to see past the glass covering. The needle now sat dangerously in the red. This creature could of course be lying, I could very well still suffocate, just now in the stomach of a monster. Or the creature that had just eaten me could be my savior. A nervous pit in my stomach had formed. I reached for my helmet, twisting, and pulling hard on it. A sharp hiss could be heard as the seal was broken. With a deep breath I fully removed the helmet from my head, letting it drop into the water with dazzling splash of sparkling blue water. I held my breath, not yet wanting to learn if the air was breathable. My lungs quickly began to ache.

Trust in me… please.

Its voice was begging me to listen. I released the air in my lungs, quickly replacing it with the air that surrounded me. I took many more breaths of the somewhat stale air, but at this point I didn't care how pure it may be. The fire in my lungs subsided. All I knew now was that I was breathing… and I was alive. How this creature was able to do such a thing was beyond me. It was this revelation that gave me enough hope to believe that I may actually make it out alive.

Forgive me for doubting you, you may have just saved my life, thank you.

Your apologies and thanks are not required. You were scared, I understand. What is most important to me is how I can continue to ensure your survival.

I pondered for a moment; I have to find the Mariner. The thought was to myself, but I quickly realized there may be no such thing as 'myself' for a while.

What is this 'Mariner?'

_ _ How could I best describe this? I wondered. I spoke aloud, the stomach was surprisingly anechoic, “It's like a fish…" It knew what a fish was, right? Of course it did! It ate those things, probably. Does that make me a fish? I was rambling in my own head. I snapped out of internal argument, not wanting to tangent any further. “… Made of metal. It's very large, it has a few dozen others like me inside of it." Maybe I should rephrase. “Well, to me it's large." I felt the chamber around me vibrate a little before stopping, did it laugh?

There are more like you?

_ _ For whatever reason I hesitated slightly, like I was betraying humanity by outing us to this creature. “Y-yes, quite a few actually."

I see, and the Mariner is where?

_ _ “It's uh- er." I didn't actually know for sure. “There's a cable along a slope, and there's a break in it. It looks like it's been ripped away." I feared this may not be much help to the creature. My mind suddenly numbed like it did when she supposedly probed my mind. My eyes rolled as the color around me began fading. I could faintly feel myself toppling over. Then the overpowering stimuli retreated, I was still falling over, however. With a heavy splash, most in part from the suit I still wore, I cascaded into the colorful water. I arched to keep my head from submerging, “Could you give me a heads up before you do that again?"

Is it unpleasant?

_ _ It didn't hurt, but it did feel weird; like someone was palming my brain. Not pleasant or unpleasant, just foreign. “No, its fine, it just dazes me that's all.

I was unaware, I will warn you should the need arise. Although, now I know what your Mariner looks like, as well as the cable.

_ _ Always speaking so eloquently. “From looking into my mind?"

Yes…

_ _ Fair enough.

_ …I will look for this cable and the Mariner. I am unsure of its location, but I will find it, I promise. _

_ _ Its words were more than enough for me. Any haziness in my head or ringing in my ears fully subsided, hinting that it was no longer focused on conversing with me. I stood back up, immediately feeling sluggish from the weight of the suit. Now no longer fully submerged in water the suit began to drag on my shoulders. I removed the suit in its entirety. I let the removed relics drift atop the water alongside me. I found myself a stomach wall to sit and lean against. The sea water rose just past my shoulders as I fully sat down. It was like resting in an extremely oversized bathtub.

With the numbness in my senses now fully detached of me, I could get a better feel of my surroundings. The soft flesh at my back contorted slightly, yet it easily kept me upright. I could feel the heat from the walls radiating through the compressions that I wore. From there faint splashes of water could be heard as the creature's external movement displaced the water on occasion. Between those splashes I could not only hear but feel the pumps of a great heartbeat. Its rhythm had such a great volume that the still water touching the stomach walls would ripple.

I rested like this for a while, or it felt like a while. Of all the dials and gauges on the arm of my dive suit, a clock was not one of them. I spent my free time studying the patternless marking on the stomach wall. They did a fine job keeping me distracted. Eventually though after an undetermined time, my head again felt fuzzy. I could feel myself having the need to pass out, a drowsiness not caused by fatigue. It resembled the feeling of falling asleep under anesthesia. I did not resist the urge to succumb to sleep.

As quickly as it began, it ended. I was snapped out of slumber by an invading warmth within my head.

_ I have located the cable based on how you saw it. But I do not see this Mariner…_

I shot upright to again read my depth gauge, 810 meters. A sudden fear crept over me. Even if she had found the sub, I was still inside a scary looking sea creature that would surely be met with hostility to the others. I couldn't really put my suit back on to brave the crushing depths as I doubted if could hold my breath long enough. How will I actually make it out?

“What do you see?" I was still optimistic.

_ See for yourself._

** ** My head began to spin, this time really spin. I felt like by mind was being ripped from my body. My vision faded only to be replaced by a vibrant cacophony of color. A sparkling vignette outlined my changing point of view. The intense wave subsided as suddenly I could see the cable as I did before. No doubt this was the same part too. There was an unmistakable piece missing. Funny enough though, also in my field of vision, was another equally substantial shearing of the cable. The piece of missing cable looked eerily similar to the original, donning burnt ends and missing soil beneath it. Realization fell over me, it was an explosion that compromised the line. It was the same explosion that knocked me out and left me floating through the abyss. I thought of the Mariner, was it destroyed?

The creature I resided in turned her head, looking around the water, there was no sign of it. Either the sub was destroyed, and its components had drifted away, or they survived long enough to leave me dead. Either way, I would not be saved today. I fell back against its stomach in despair, the sight the creature bestowed on me quickly fading back to normalcy.

I'm sorry.

_ _ The voice rang softly in my head filled with empathy.

What would you like me to do now?

_ _ “ My only chance of survival now is to be found on the surface, maybe that's where the Mariner has gone." I said, the hope still fleeting from my voice. No reply came to me, I waited patiently in silence.

I have never been to the surface, What's it like?

_ _ Was she scared? I thought to myself. In faint selfishness I responded, hoping to entice her to continue her rescue effort of mine. “It's unlike anything you will have ever seen. There are floating islands and flying fish that sift through the air as if it were the water you swim in now." I almost felt philosophical with such a response. Hopefully by defining birds as flying fish she may feel a sense of connection. I waited for her response.

_I will take us there. I will wake you when I make it there, though again it may take some time. _

_ _ Wake me? Was she the one who put me to sleep?

I got my question answered as the anesthetic properties from what seemed like just a minute ago returned. I thought about refuting, but the words that escaped my throat came out slurred and muted. Again, I was put to sleep in a matter of seconds. This time was no different from the first as I woke up instantaneously. If it weren't for my very obvious change in surroundings, I would've doubted the legitimacy of my sleep.

When I woke, I noticed the expansive stomach was not sprawled out to my sides in one long horizontal tunnel, but rather drawn out above me in a lengthy vertical tube. After coming more to, I noticed I was floating on my back in the water, the lights lining its stomach undulated slowly above me, swaying softly from side to side. At the very end I could see the circular pattern that marked the throat entrance.

_ I have been at the surface a while now; I have not seen the Mariner._

My heart sank. The fuzzy feeling did not leave.

_Though, there is something else here that I am unsure of, it is quite large. _

** ** I kicked myself upright, my head fell below the water line as I realized the water was deep enough to where I couldn't stand on the stomach floor. I resurfaced and found a wall where I placed my palm against it for stability. The flesh was just as slick and smooth as before, though this time I did notice my hands were exceptionally pruned. My circle of focus returned to what she had said.

“What is it that you see?" I asked her.

I figured no verbal response would come as the haze in my mind vanished. Though a response did come, albeit in another form.

I felt the stomach I swam against begin to shift around. I felt my back sliding up against the stomach lining as the water level around me began to rise. The water line guided me towards the circular pattern that signified the opening of the creature's throat. The stomach groaned loudly as it continued to decrease the volume around me. I drew in a deep breath as I was forced underwater upon reaching the familiar passage. The busy noises of her inner workings quickly dampened like that of an anechoic chamber. My head crashed into the soft flesh, with the aid of the water surrounding me, penetration back into its esophagus was nearly effortless. Once again, I found myself bound by the flesh of her throat, this time the sensations of flesh rippling over my skin was more prominent now lacking the dive suit.

The creature's heartbeat fell past me as I continued to travel upwards. After being in a submarine for many months, and within the bowels of this creature for a few hours, I sincerely hoped I would be returning to the familiar blue skies I so longed for. As the thought escaped me, I felt a pressure form against my head, I readied to take a breath. As the pressure released, a vortex of water cascaded against my head. Had her throat not actively had been expelling me, I'm sure the force would've sent me right back down. I forced my mouth shut as not to accidentally draw in water as the vortex subsided. I shot open my eyes in the saline water, quickly I found the surface illuminated by the sky and swam to it. I truly never thought I'd see it again.

As I resurfaced, I gasped in a breath of the fresh air. No longer was I forced to breathe in the artificial air of the oxygen tanks and a stomach. I wiped my eyes and was faced with the setting sun. Brilliant hues of red and orange streaked across the sky. The sun itself was just a small ball of soft yellow light, its reflection danced across the dark blue water in front of me. I turned, ready to face the leviathan that saved me.

As I turned, I saw her head resting along the water line, leaving her upper jaw and eyes out of the water. Immediately upon seeing only the size of her head I was taken aback; its size was so unbelievably supernatural it alone would already be one of the world's largest creatures. My jaw dropped and breath caught in my throat.

Her glossy black skin reflected the dying light of the sun as it was coated in a thin layer of sea water. I looked at her outstretched tendrils that slouched off to the sides under their weight now affected by gravity. Her great eyes, all four of them, were scanning the sky, taking in the beautiful array of color. The bulbs at the ends of her tendrils brightened, much dimmer now outside of the water, my head fuzzed.

It's beautiful. I have never seen so much color before.

I stared at the sky with her for a moment before again becoming mesmerized at her form. I dipped my head underwater, I wanted to see how much bigger she actually was. As I opened my eyes and focused in, shrugging off the slight irritation of water against my eyes, I watched a blurry figure snake its way down into the infinite depths. Its length was so large that it completely disappeared into the blue depths where the light from the sunset was unable to reach. If a blue whale was around 50 feet, this creature was at least 150 feet long, likely longer as that's about as far I could see its body before blending in with the deeper water.

Is that thing like the Mariner?

I pulled my head up rubbed the water from my eyes: I noticed she was now looking off to the side. I followed the stare, plastered against the dimming sky, looked to be a large vessel on the surface. After squinting my eyes, I could tell it was a U.S. aircraft carrier. My heart leapt, I was saved!

Well… almost.

The vessel was currently angled to the side, showing off either its port or starboard side, I could not tell at such a distance. There would be no way I could catch up to the ship, not without help.

I turned back to her, “Can you take me closer…? So, they will see me."

Without saying a word, she parted her great jaws once more. As they spread, a riptide formed at my feet as the cavern filled with water. I did not resist her efforts of shoving me in her mouth again, in fact I welcomed it. I drew in a breath as the current acted like an oversized waterslide, sliding me past her teeth. I hadn't had the chance to tell since most of her head had been submerged underwater, but each tooth looked to be at my height, nearly six feet long! They looked glassy and semi-transparent in the shimmering water. A creature out of many people's nightmares, yet here I was without fear. I still felt the need to pinch myself to confirm if what was happening was real or not.

As I spilled past her grey gums I was welcomed with a spongey mass against my back. The mass drove upwards and pinned me against her upper palate, holding me in place. I could feel up become down as she purged her mouth of water, filling it with air. Before all the water could escape, I noticed the dive suit had accompanied me outside of the creature's stomach. An idea occurred to me just then. Using my free arm, I grabbed the dive suit and yanked the depth gauge from the fabric. With the gauge in hand, I let the rest of the suit fall past the creatures' teeth and into the ocean. Hopefully my commander, if he were still alive, wouldn't be too upset I didn't hold onto the expensive dive suit. And to be honest, I didn't care what he might have thought. The light around me faded to darkness as her jaws shut, I could feel her gargantuan head dive underwater.

_ _ With one check pinned against the roof of her mouth, and the other against her tongue, I had just enough room to muster out a statement, “Leave me in the path of the ship, they will find me."

A small chirp resounded around me, telling me she understood, the warmth in my head faded. A steady rise and fall accompanied us both as she steered us towards the carrier. I tried to calm myself, but the excitement and reality of being saved was becoming very real. With the anticipation bubbling through my system, the short swim to the path of the vessel took no time. The darkness yielded to dim lighting from above my head, water rushed in around me. Very carefully my savior eased the force of her tongue and allowed me to float in the water. I eyed the carrier behind me, maybe a half mile away, I turned to the leviathan.

“You must go, if they see you, they may hurt you."

A soft groan rippled through the water; I could feel the water vibrate against my chest. I placed my hand against her snout and swam to her eyes on one side.

“Thank you, you have saved me, and I am forever grateful. Now please, you must not be seen."

Her great two eyes on the side nearest me closed as she pushed into my palm ever so slightly. The gesture lasted a moment before the eyes opened and she dove beneath the surface. I too dipped my head underwater as her blurry figure crept deeper and deeper into the blue abyss. Once satisfied she would not be immediately seen, I resurfaced in search of the sun. The sun maybe had a few minutes at most before it dipped below the horizon, I needed to act fast.

I hoisted the gauge above the waterline and angled the glass between the sun and carrier. Truthfully with how dim the sun was I wasn't sure there'd be enough light to hail the

ship, still I needed to try. I keenly maneuvered the gauge in varying wars, trying to cast light onto the ship. I did this for maybe a minute until for a split second I saw an orange streak paste itself onto the silver metal, moments after a spotlight came on. My heart soared!

The light scouted the waters in front of me before they made their way to where I sat in the water. I had never been so happy to be blinded. As I shielded my eyes with an arm, a roaring horn cried out over the water, they had visual on me!

In the following minutes I could hear the groans of the ship's mighty engines as they slowed the vessel down, I watched as a small boat along its port side drop into the water. Like a game dog on a hunt, it eagerly cut through the remaining 500 or so feet to me. A figure with an outstretched arm silhouetted the darkening sky. I grabbed his arm and was flung into the bed of the boat with two other men. One steering the vessel, and the other catching me as I fell. Even before an introduction, they were throwing a blanket over me and offering me water. I hadn't even realized it, but I was parched, I downed the entire plastic bottle.

As I placed the empty bottle down, I couldn't help but feel their bemused stares. They looked at me like I was a ghost. They were clearly American, so I was a little scared as to why they looked at me in such a way. “What?" I asked them. So much for a friendly greeting, I thought to myself.

The man who pulled me in called out from behind me, “What's your name?"

“Mikey… Michael Owens, Sir."

The one captaining the small ship brought a radio over their mouth, “We've got him; and sir… you're not going to believe this." The men around me offered knowing glances towards one another. Clearly, they knew something I didn't. The rest of the ride to the carrier was done in silence. I noticed as we crept closer more men made their way to the edge of the carrier like I was a damn celebrity. Eventually the ship we were in was raised to the runway level where a vast majority of men crowded, I noticed that whatever jet launches were planned were clearly postponed.

Two new men helped me out of the small ship, A man cut through the crowd ahead of me. He wore attire telling me he was in charge. I readied to salute, though before I could he was already dismissing the gesture.

“At ease son, why don't you follow me to some place we can talk." His voice was gruffer than that of my commander on the Mariner. He turned to his men, “Back to work gentlemen, lets give our guest some space!"

I followed him as bodies around me slowly returned to their tasks, but not without sharing a final glance back at me. Hopefully the captain I followed would answer my many forming questions. We navigated the carrier into some obscurely labeled room. He offered a chair for me to sit, two well dressed men joined in at his side as he too sat.

“Mr. Owens, tell me, how in the hell are you alive?"

I wasn't prepared for such a question as I didn't think I would immediately be interrogated. I paused a moment to look around. Really, I was just buying myself time to come up with something believable that didn't involve a man-eating sea leviathan. “I- er… It's all a little fuzzy, I don't remember really."

“What's the last thing you remember?" The captain asked, palms clasped as his forearms rested on the table.

“There was a bright light, an explosion, I think. The Mariner collided with me." The well-being of the Mariner jumped to the front of my mind. “The Mariner! Did it-"

The captain waved his arm idly, “The Mariner is gone. It survived long enough to send out an SOS and the video feed from your seaglide as low frequency radio waves. Unfortunately, the hull integrity was compromised. It ascended roughly 100 meters before it imploded. There are no expected survivors… well… there were no expected survivors." He paused to give me a moment to understand the severity of the event. My body went numb, my family must think I'm dead. He continued, “Son do you know what day it is?"

I focused, shaking the dread that had fallen over me. I recalled the sun setting just moments ago, so it was still the day of. “Tuesday." I replied.

The captain looked over at one of his lackeys before looking back at me. “It's Friday, You've been presumed dead since Tuesday night."

Despite the situation, one thing came to my mind more than any other. I was inside that creature for three days!? It felt like two hours at most. Was it when I was put to sleep?

“We had you on radar for a while until you completely disappeared, the estimated oxygen supply you had would've been exhausted mere minutes later. The thing is, our guys never saw you resurface either within that time either. You'll have to forgive my men for looking like you as if you were a ghost, but I think they really thought you were one." He concluded his speech with a ginger laugh, trying desperately to ease the tense situation. I paid no mind to the poorly timed joke.

He asked one last time, this time more serious-like, “You don't remember anything?"

I just looked at him and shook my head in silence. I was still in disbelief.

“That's alright lad, I'm sure you're still quite shaken up. We will chat again tomorrow. If you remember something let me know." He stood and made way for the door.

“What was the thing that caused the explosion?" I asked quickly before he could clear the doorframe.

He looked back with a hand on the door, “Well the video feed from your seaglide got the whole thing up until the bang. It was an old decommissioned soviet bomb. We think the original cut in the line was also an explosion which was likely planted to disrupt communications during the Cold War era if needed. We also think another bomb was planted a few meters down as a backup just in case the first one failed. This other bomb was of course the one that blew up next to you and the Mariner. We're not sure what caused the first bomb to explode, but after examination of the video feed, the second one was triggered by a light sensor. There was nothing you could've done to prepare for that, so don't even think about beating yourself up about it. It's a miracle you survived the initial blast, and my only explanation for you popping up in front of us is divine intervention. I'd suggest you buy a lottery ticket when you get home."

Home.

I sat in wonder, hopefully my family didn't start planning my funeral yet. “Does my family know I'm okay?"

“Well actually there was never a public statement regarding the situation, only a few select vessels in the area knew you disappeared. This unfortunately has politics written all over it, so those you talk to, don't mention anything right now.

I sat back in my chair, both physically and mentally exhausted.

The captain gave a final remark, “Why don't you grab a bite to eat and get some rest." With that he left, likely returning to his 'captainly' duties.

For the next hour or so I did just that. I grabbed some fish from the galley, today's picking was snapper, which I enjoyed quite a bit. It was obviously fresh and well prepared by the chef. It was seasoned with some international spices I wasn't familiar with; I made a mental note to return and ask about the spices. After that I ventured to a hastily developed room on a lower deck, it had a small circular window that peered a few feet above the water line.

I didn't even bother showering before jumping into bed. I simply threw off the wetsuit and into my boxers only, which had stayed dried throughout. My mouth felt gross from lacking a toothbrush, nevertheless I was willing to deal with it for the night. As my head hit the pillow, I rolled over to the small window to stare out into the ocean. I thought back to all that transpired. More than likely, I would take my story to my grave. Both as I didn't want any more attention than I already had, and for my fear of the creature's safety. No doubt she would become a primary target for all the Marine hunters and poachers. Whether their intentions were good or bad, none deserved to know.

Did I deserve to know?

I shrugged off my feelings of selfishness. Plus, if I ever mentioned the leviathan talked telepathically to me then ate me to keep me alive, I'd be put in a mental hospital. If the creature ever became discovered by humanity, it would not be from me; That I was sure of.

I watched the black water reflect the ships lights from above. The way the light refracted of the water was mesmerizing. It was as if I was caught in a trance and being lulled to sleep. I nearly shut my eyes all together until several white lights swirled around in the water, clearly different from the carriers lighting. I rolled onto my back, convincing myself what I saw was in my head.

C'mon Mikey! It's one thing to pretend you're not crazy, let's not actually be crazy now!

I closed my eyes and focused solely on falling asleep. Curious thing though, as I closed my eyes, I noticed four small eye-floaters. This was particularly odd as I had been in a dark room for at least the past twenty minutes. I rubbed my eyes, but the pattern on the back of my eyelids grew more detailed. I felt this warmth fall over my head and behind my eyes. Lying down in bed I felt as if I had just consumed a large amount of alcohol.

I'm sorry about your friends, but you are safe now. If you ever need saving again, I'll be there.

The feeling of drunkenness yielded to sobriety. I turned to the small window, just the darkness of the night cast against the equally black water. Through retreating in some far-off distance was this snake of bioluminescence light. No doubt it was her, giving me her farewell.

I felt a phantom tugging feeling on my heart. It felt as if a part of me was being dragged away with her, like a piece of my soul was forever embedded within her. All the while a part of my own conscious felt as if she too left a segment of her being behind with me. Something unspoken told me we were now forever intertwined. A mixed bag of feelings surged over me: fear, content, uncertainty, comfort. But ultimately, another feeling triumphed above them all… completeness.

The four orbs seared into my eyelids faded into oblivion, and I fell asleep.