“I’m telling you, we’ve been up and down this section three times. There’s nothing down here but coral and fish,” a frustrated voice explains over the speaker in the Hangar’s command center.

Xander huffs out a breath, throwing his hands in the air. “Well, it must be somewhere. Shipwrecks don’t just disappear.”

I put a hand on Xander’s shoulder. “Why don’t you take a breather? You’ve been at this all day.”

“Hey, Xander, have you heard from navigations? Something’s up.” Nathan clicks into the system on the computer monitor in front of him.

Xander squints at Nathan’s screen. “No GPS? That’s odd.”

“Yeah, and the ship’s CELNAV is registering a slight shift in star positions.” Nathan drums his thumbs on the desk. “Could be a glitch in the system, though.”

Xander sighs and walks to the coffee station set up in the corner of the room.

I glance at Sophie as her mouth opens on a yawn. Stretching in my chair, I listen to the friendly banter coming out of the overhead speakers as Green Team continues its search.

“What the fuck was that?” A startled voice cuts through the space, and we all pause. A thump echoes through the speaker. “Did you see that?”

Another frightened voice answers. “Yeah. I couldn’t make it out, though.”

“What’s going on?” Xander insists.

Someone screams on the other end and an alarm blares in the background.

Xander and Nathan share a look. “Green team? Can you hear me?”

“Oh, my god. What is-“ Silence fills the space as the line goes dead.

“Green Goblin? Do you read me?” Xander tries again.

Nathan exhales. “I think we lost them.”

“Fuck!” Xander storms out.

Sophie gasps beside me. “What do we do?”

“I’m going down.” Xander stalks back into the room. “Get every team available and willing.”

Nathan jumps to his feet. “Are you out of your mind?”

“Probably, but someone has to investigate.” Xander cups the back of his neck.

Nathan stares at the ceiling. “Why don’t we send some ROVs down first? It beats going in blind.”

“You’re right.” Xander rubs a hand across his face. “That’s a better plan.”

Nathan claps him on the back. “I’ll have Max deploy the subs. You get the feed ready.”

“Thanks, man.” Xander wanders to one of the room’s monitors.

I take a seat next to him. “We’ll figure this out.”

“I wish we had eyes in that sub, Em.” Xander swallows. “Maybe we’d have a better idea of what happened.”

I nod, knowing the team’s captain had forgotten to grab their camera gear. Again. “I’m sorry.”

Xander shrugs.

“And we’re off,” Nathan exclaims. He plops down at another monitor beside Xander. “We got two in the water. Let’s hope these bad boys find something.”

A heavy silence descends as we watch the camera of both subs plunge into the abyss of the trench, the depth meter ticking out every hundred feet.

“We’re approaching their last known location now.” Nathan calls out.

Sophie chews on her lower lip. “It’s really dark.”

A shadow moves passed camera one, disappearing in a blink. Camera two vibrates, sending a stream of white bubbles across the lens.

More movement on camera one has us gasping. “Is that an eyeball?”

“Jesus. It’s bigger than the camera.” I note as the eye slides off camera and the footage cuts off. Camera two follows along with it.

Xander frowns. “What happened?”

Nathan checks the feed. “I think we just lost the ROVs.”

“Damn it!” Xander slams a fist on the desk.

Sophie fidgets in her seat. “Maybe whatever that creature is caused them to crash?”

Nathan shrugs. “It’s probable.”

“Now can I go down?” Xander eyes Nathan.

Nathan sighs. “Fine. But I’m going with you.”

“Me too.” I chew my thumbnail, trying to bite away my nerves.

Sophie grabs my hand. “And me.”

Xander looks at us for a long moment before nodding. “Alright. Let’s do this.”

We head into the Hangar as Max readies the Hydra, her familiar hull shining in the fluorescents. Two identical deep-water subs stand ready at her side, their crews already donning their gears for the mission.

“Thanks for coming.” Xander calls everyone’s attention. “As some of you may have heard, we lost contact with Green Goblin two hours ago. We also lost two investigating ROVs. This trip is completely voluntary. We don’t know what we’re dealing with down there. But if you all are ready and willing, let’s head out.”

***

I breathe deep, calming breaths as we plunge into nothingness. The soft glow of the Hydra offers a small reprieve from the heaviness in my chest.

“We’re arriving at the ROV’s location.” Xander adjusts his headset.

I glance at our depth. Nineteen thousand, nine hundred feet.

Nathan flicks a couple of switches and the water around us lights up. “Spotlights on.”

“Stay alert, guys. Let me know if you see any signs of the ROV or Green Goblin.” Xander says over the radio.

Our sonar system beeps. Nathan scans the frequency. “Got an unidentified object coming in hot and it’s big.”

“Already?” I frown.

Nathan nods. “Could be our lights.”

“Blue Banshee and Red Reaper are also picking up the USO on sonar.” Xander informs the room.

Sophie grimaces. “Let’s hope it’s friendly.”

“We’re about to find out.” Nathan pans the spotlights across our line of sight. A dark figure passes in the distance.

Sophie screams as Red Reaper somersaults in front of us.

“Did y’all see that?” Red’s Captain asks over the transmission. “It was huge!”

“Shit,” Xander swears. “Negative. Are you guys okay?”

“Just a little queasy.” Red confirms.

“Maybe we should head up now?” Nathan pans the lights once more. “I don’t want that thing near us.”

Xander nods. “Alright, back to base.”

Screams echo through the radio as spotlights dance through the dark water. Multiple large shapes dart in and out of sight.

“Red Reaper, Blue Banshee respond.” Xander calls out.

“This is Red Reaper. I don’t have eyes on Blue Banshee.”

Xander stares into the abyss. “Blue Banshee, please respond. Are you there?”

A large silhouette shudders in my periphery. “Holy Shit. What is that?”

Long tendrils wrap around Blue Banshee’s hull. Beams of light flicker through the twisting arms illuminating an enormous, elongated body. The crew continues to scream over the com.

Sophie chokes on a sob. “That’s a giant squid.”

Editor: Shannon Hensley