BY TOM HOOKE
Copyright is held by the author.
WHEN THINGS weren’t working, Gabe slapped the desk. Tevin and Jared had noticed he did it almost always in the same place, and under the right lighting, marks from his palm and fingertips were starting to show on the surface.
“Gabe, come on,” Jared told him. “Let’s keep at it for half an hour and see where we’re at.”
“In half an hour we’ll be just where we are now,” Gabe said. He placed one hand one the long, white desk, the other on his hip, and sighed. “I can’t believe we’ve lost it.”
“Hey, hey!” Tevin stood up. “Look at the screen.” He pointed to one of the six large monitors mounted on the wall before them. “We haven’t lost anything. It’s stupid you’d even say that.”
Jared cleared his throat.
Tevin lowered his eyes, then his voice. “That came out wrong.”
“No, you’re right,” Gabe rubbed either side of his mouth, “this is nonsense I’m talking. Where do you want to run the next scan?”
“Along the rock face. If something came out of that door, it’d most likely go straight into the rock and work its way along.”
“It’d most likely die,” Jared said. “OK, let’s run it. Might take a while before we find a trace.”
“Agreed, but I don’t think any of us are in a rush to be anywhere else.” Tevin looked at the two men with whom he’d found the vessel.
“Actually,” Jared said, “Christie has football training at eight and I’m taking . . .”
“Jesus,” Gabe said, smiling and shaking his head. “She still at the academy?”
“Yeah, she’s really enjoying her football at the minute. Can’t decide whether she wants to be a goalie or a winger.” Jared leaned over in his chair, creaking its spine slightly. “Is Gemma still doing her hockey?”
“Mhm,” Tevin took a sip of water. “She’s captain now.”
There was an interval of quiet after that. Fatherhood was a subject Jared and Tevin usually talked about away from Gabe. It had been that way for months, since his little girl, Lexi, went out one night and never came home.
The quiet was picked up by all. Tevin Apologized.
“Not at all,” Gabe replied with a sad smile. “I’m always happy to hear about how the girls are doing.”
Jared and Tevin winced inwardly.
“So — back to where we were.” Jared rescued them from the depths of discomfort. “Two miles south?”
“Two miles south,” Tevin confirmed.
Jared pushed the stick to the right, and the image on screen four began to move. The wall ahead of them was arranged with six seventy-inch monitors split into two rows of three. The top row showed pages of statistics. Screen four showed what their camera saw, five was switched off, and six was playing an old snooker game. The camera trailed along the bed of the ocean, capturing the bubbling water and clouds of sediment that rose up and scattered.
They moved away from the crash site, where the large, grey vessel had smashed into the rock. They had been searching the seabed for evidence of a Megalodon shark off the coast of China, and when the dish-shaped craft first appeared in the distance, they thought they had maybe found it.
“How far along are we now?” Tevin asked.
“Coming in at half a mile,” Jared told him.
Still, they’d seen little more than the outer face of the rock. All three watched intensely until they came across a large slope in the seabed.
“What the hell?” Gabe scowled. “I thought we’d hit the lowest point in our permitted search area.”
“What is that?” Tevin said.
“Not the only anomaly,” said Jared, moving on. “It’s the rock that’s bothering me.”
Tevin snatched up the dossier sent to them by the Chinese government and flicked through the pages. “That’s meant to go on for another three miles.”
From what the camera showed, the massive slab of rock (towering a hundred and eighty-two metres from the seabed) abruptly cut off in line with where the seabed began to dip. Jared rotated the camera.
“Push forward,” Tevin said. “Whoa.” Jared had paused at the edge of the flat. “Swing left and right.”
When Jared did so, he exposed that the dip extended either side of the camera as far as the eye could see. No blemishes in the earth, either. A clean break, like a giant shovel had been driven in and lugged everything out.
“I’ll try leaning forward,” he said. The camera tilted in the direction of the slope.
“China?” Jared said, looking again at the men either side of him.
“Must be,” Gabe said, puzzled.
“That’s some technology, to be getting rid of land like that,” Tevin added, a hint of scepticism in his voice.
“Tell me about it. Here I was thinking it was impressive we could get a camera this deep.”
“I’m not so sure this was China. Keep moving forward.”
Jared pushed on. The Crawler, a state-of-the-art lens set on four hydro-powered legs which moved two at a time like a sprinting dog in slow-motion. It fired a torch ahead, however there was nothing to bounce the light off. Barely a ripple in the water.
“Megalodon?” Gabe suggested.
“I’m not counting on it,” Tevin said. “Why are you slowing down?”
“The camera isn’t meant to go this deep,” Jared told him.
“We’re onto something here.”
“What if it breaks?”
“We already have everything backed up.”
“There’s no way we’re letting the Crawler take any damage,” Gabe said. “Or letting China think we’re spying on them.”
“It’s not China,” Tevin responded with a smirk.
“How can we know that?”
“Well if it’s China then they’ll have to explain why the landscape is nothing like the drawings they gave us. Keep going.”
They rolled further down the slope.
“We’re out of our jurisdiction now,” Jared sighed. “We’re trespassing, Tevin.”
The machine’s audio picked up a whining sound. It was coming from the hydraulics.
WARNING! MAX WATER PRESSURE! Flashed up on Screen Three
“Keep going?” Jared raised an eyebrow at Tevin.
“Just stop there,” Gabe said, not taking his eyes off the screen. “No further.”
The camera halted.
“Extremely peculiar.” Tevin shook his head slowly. He scoffed and looked at the two gents to his left.
“This isn’t natural. The earth’s been removed.”
The lens showed about a foot of the seabed before them, and the rest was swallowed in darkness.
“Rotate again.” After a few seconds, Tevin repeated, “Rotate.”
“I can’t,” Jared said.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean it’s stuck.”
The whining sound rose briefly, then there was a cracking sound like a metal can being crushed. The camera shook, and then the screen went black. Tevin, Jared and Gabe watched for a few moments.
“Oh no,” Gabe said.
“Water pressure.” Jared spoke solemnly. “We’ve broken it.”
“Are you sure?” Tevin said.
“What else would it be?”
Tevin looked at Gabe. “There was nothing down there.”
“Well, we were technically trespassing,” Gabe told him. “Maybe somebody found out we’ve breached their jurisdiction and decided to kick us out. That could have been an EMP that shut off the device.”
“No, sounds like something got broken beyond repair,” Jared commented.
“Madness,” Tevin said, a little quieter. “Never seen anything like it. It was like a massive trough had been dug down there, wasn’t it?”
Jared nodded with a mouthful of tea sipped from his FC Barcelona mug.
“What could it be for?” Gabe said, arms folded and leaning on the desk. “Nukes?”
“Looked big enough,” Jared said. He leaned back in his chair and interlocked his fingers behind his head.
“Who’s going to spill the beans when we get asked about the camera?”
“That’s on me, gents,” Tevin said, rising his phone out of his pocket. “I’ll call him now. Directors need to know about the dossier information not matching our footage.”
Tevin’s phone was on his ear when screen six showing the old snooker game went white.
Tevin nodded to it, frowning. “Look.”
Jared and Gabe set their attention on the screen. Jared tapped at a few keys. Nothing happened.
“Let me move the cursor onto it.”
The cursor simply leapt over the screen six from five, appearing again on four.
“What?” He banged the mouse twice on the desk, gave it a shake, but his cursor still ignored the white screen as if it wasn’t there.
From the screen’s centre, a black spot appeared, germinating into a thin line that made its way horizontally across to the edges. Upon touching the edges, it vanished.
Tevin’s phone was in his pocket now.
Moments later, black text appeared before them.
Hello there.
Jared went rigid in his chair, eyes darting to the cameras on the walls, as did Gabe’s. Tevin hadn’t stopped smirking.
Gabe wheezed a broken laugh. “What is this?”
“Someone knows we’re spying on them,” Tevin said. “Say something, Jared.”
Jared stared at him. “Say what?”
Tevin squinted. “Anything.”
“Hold on,” Gabe said. “If we’ve been caught trespa —”
“We haven’t,” Tevin said. “We all know where that message came from.”
“We don’t know that.”
Jared looked at Tevin, who gestured to the screen.
Jared sighed. “All right, then.”
“We shouldn’t,” Gabe warned.
Hello Jared typed on the keyboard. His text appeared in red below the black.
“I can’t believe this,” he said.
The reply, again black: Are Tevin Homeland, Jared Cork and Gabriel Winters in the room?
Tevin’s smile deepened. Sweat appeared above Jared’s brow.
“I’m really not enjoying myself here,” He announced.
“This is bloody strange,” Gabe said. “Unless someone from IT is having us on, no one should be able to hack this system.”
“I’m not replying to this. We’d best leave this for somebody else to look at.”
Tevin leaned over him, his hand hovering above the keyboard.
“What are you doing?” Jared gently clasped his wrist.
“Let go,” Tevin told him.
When his hand was freed, he tapped three keys and hit enter.
Yes
Jared scowled. “Bad idea.”
“We’ll see.”
Black: How did you find it?
“Find what?” Gabe said. His voice seemed to echo.
As if they’d heard him, the mystery scribe clarified: The vessel
“So, they know about that as well,” Jared said. “Don’t tell them anything, Tev.”
But Tevin’s hand was already drifting about the keyboard. This time, Jared grabbed it with a snap. “I mean it. We have no idea who this is.”
“I think there’s a reason they got in touch.”
“No, I’m calling the programmers.” Jared pulled out his phone.
“Wait! Don’t call them. Not yet.”
‘Why.”
“Just — bear with me.”
Jared pocketed his phone with unhidden reluctance.
Red: We were scanning a new area of the seabed. Am I speaking to the owner of the crashed vessel?
Black: Yes
Tevin shot them an innocent smile. Gabe’s skin looked drawn against his bones. The chair he leaned on appeared to be doing as much as his legs as far as keeping him upright.
“This is ridiculous,” said Jared. “This is probably some dick trying to make us look stupid.” But his arms were back to being folded, and didn’t straighten, or reach out in protest as Tevin tapped on the keyboard again.
Red: When did you arrive on earth?
Black: Months ago
Red: What was the date?
Black: January 8th
Red: Where are you from?
Black: It’s complicated
“Ah,” Jared said, waving a finger at the screen. “Now we’re getting to the bottom of it. This idiot’s running out of ideas.”
Red: What do you mean, “It’s complicated”?
Black: Wouldn’t you rather know how I contacted you?
Tevin paused, rubbing his chin. His eyes rolled over to Jared. “Well?”
Jared looked at Gabe.
“I want to know how they did it,” Gabe shrugged. “Whoever it is.”
With a slow, apathetic blink and an equally dormant wave of his hand, Jared confirmed, “Might as well.”
Red: Pray tell
Black: I felt it when you were searching for my vessel. I felt you searching for me
Red: How?
Black: It’s complicated
Red: Can you tell us something that isn’t?
Black: Difficult to explain, but I am linked to my vessel. It’s part of me. If it detects a stimulus, I feel it
Red: Did you destroy our camera?
Black: No
Red: Are you sure?
Black: I interfered with it so I could have your attention
Tevin’s Fingers drummed on the desk.
Red: You were explaining how you contacted us
Black: Yes I was. When I felt you searching for me I came searching for you
“Someone grab the popcorn,” Jared muttered.
Red: How did you search?
Black: I reached out to the signals that were coming close to my vessel
Red: Those signals are encrypted
Black: Calling me a liar?
Red: Those signals aren’t directly linked to our comms, which are also encrypted
Black: Different signals. Same database
Red: So you hacked the entire database just from a signal that came near your vessel?
Black: Wasn’t hard. Watch this
From the door behind them came a swoosh and a click they hadn’t heard since the terrorist attack scare the building had been subject to eighteen months earlier. That door was 200 millimetres of steel and reinforced to withstand shotgun and grenade blasts. In short, they were going nowhere. Then the fire alarm sounded.
“Oh!” Jared yelled, toppling his chair over as he bashed into Gabe, whose body had up until then been rigid.
The alarm died away after a couple of rings, but Jared was already yanking at the door on the far side. “We’re locked in!” He called.
“You’re being toyed with,” Tevin called from his seat.
Black: Gotcha
“Don’t look so bloody content,” Jared said, sitting down.
As his bottom hit the seat, the door he’d been pulling at clicked again. Jared turned and glared, offended. He felt Tevin’s hand on his shoulder. “Stay. We’ve found something here.”
Red: Can I ask you some more questions?
Black: Yes
Red: Do you have a name?
Black: Not one that you’d understand
Red: Meaning? It’s complicated?
Black: Human mouth can’t pronounce it
Jared fell against the backrest of his chair and slapped the desk in Gabe’s usual spot.
Red: Can you spell it out for us?
Black: Not with a human keyboard
“Shall I ask if it’s an alien?”
“Ask if they can send a picture,” Jared said. “A nude one, preferably.”
Gabe scoffed.
Red: So you are an alien?
Black: Alien as they come
Red: Where from
Black: You haven’t found it yet. And won’t for a while
Red: A galaxy far, far away?
Black: Correct
Red: What do you call your home planet?
Black: Again. Human keyboard doesn’t allow
Tevin looked intrigued for a second.
Red: How old are you?
Black: Old. For your people. Young for mine
Red: How many years?
Black: Lots
“There’s no point with this,” Jared said. “This could be the empress of Mars, it’s no use if we can’t get a straight answer.”
Black: Sorry, you must be getting frustrated. My planet has revolved around the nearest bright star six times since I was born. Earth has revolved around the sun eighty-five times since
Red: Why did you contact us?
Black: I have a message
Red: I’m all ears
Black: Not yet. Ask me some more questions
Gabe said, “Maybe we should stop this. Either we’re being made to look stupid or we’re really talking to someone . . . really powerful.”
Red: Why did you come to earth?
Black: Didn’t mean to. My vessel had a fault. Got caught in the gravity field
Red: Did you land right where we found you?
Black: No
Red: Where did you land?
Black: Where China and Vietnam Pornhub
Black: *Border. Autocorrect
The three men shared a weak laugh.
“Pornhub!” Jared cried, holding his arms up. “Aliens watching porn — couldn’t write it!”
Red: At least we know how you’ve been keeping busy
Black: Haha
Red: What happened when you entered the earth’s atmosphere
Black: Not much until I hit the water
Red: Was there anyone else on board?
Black: Just me
Red: What happened when you hit the water
Black: Sank. Panicked. We don’t have water at home. We don’t have liquid
Red: Can you show us what you look like?
Black: No
Red: Why?
Black: Safety
Red: Yours or ours?
Black: Send you mad
Tevin squinted, his face a picture of inquisition. Gabe was frowning.
“You’re still treating them like they could be some alien,” Jared said, flapping his hands.
Tevin shot a look back his way. “How can you say that? We’ve found a UFO underwater, and whoever we’re talking to knows all about it.”
“We don’t know what we found, because you got our camera destroyed!”
Red: Who else knows about the vessel?
Black: No one else could find it except you
Red: You let us
Black: 🙂
Red: You created the trench?
Black: I panicked
Black: Never experienced water before. Lost control of myself. I destroyed some of the seabed
Red: That’s why that trench is there?
Black: Yes
Red: How did you do it?
Black: Incineration
Red: Underwater?
Black: Easier than you might think. If you know how
Red: And no one detected it?
Black: Except you
Red: Again, you let us. Why?
Black: Don’t you want to know where I went next?
Red: OK
“Stop.” Jared’s hand squeezed Tevin’s wrist with intent. He was looking down at the table and taking deep breaths. “Tevin, stop. I’ve had enough of this.”
“You’re starting to believe it, aren’t you?”
Jared looked over. Tevin stared, willing conformity.
“What’s wrong with you?” Jared implored. “Why do you need this?”
“How many people can say they’ve met an alien?”
“They’ve been toying with us. This’ll turn out to be a ruse.”
“Well, let’s follow it up. Worst comes to worst, you can say I told you so.”
“I’ll do more than that.”
Red: Where did you go next?
Black: I came to England
Red: Are you still in England?
Tevin’s fingers had drummed over the keys before he’d even processed the question.
Black: No
Red: Why did you leave?
Black: They found me
Red: Americans?
Black: Americans
Red: How did they trace you?
Black: Organic energy
Red: They picked up a sample when you entered the atmosphere and followed it
Black: I tried to disguise my energy output. But they were ready for me
Red: Well you did obliterate half the seabed in China
Black: They didn’t find that. Only you
The two seated gents raised an eyebrow at each other.
“Go on, then,” Jared said, nodding to the keyboard.
“Starting to enjoy yourself,” said Tevin with a grin.
Red: Tell us about your time in England
Black: I came to England and disguised myself as a child
Red: Where did you stay?
Black: I stayed with a family
Red: You were adopted?
Black: Yes. And. No
A sigh from the typist. “Blood from a stone.”
Red: Explain
Black: They adopted me. Because I convinced them I was theirs
Red: Explain
Black: I tampered with their memories. My adoptive parents thought they were my biological parents
Red: Surely somebody noticed?
Black: I altered many memories
Red: What are you?
Black: Lonely. Human love is so strong
Red: Why did you contact us?
Black: When the Americans came. They drove me away. I want to be back home
Red: You want our help? You want us to fix your vessel?
Black: I want to say I’m sorry. I didn’t want to go. It wasn’t safe for human family
Red: You’re not making sense
. . .
. . .
. . .
Black: I want to pass on my message
Red: Go right ahead
Black: My message is for Gabriel Winters
“Gabe?” Tevin whispered, swamped in disbelief.
Black: Is Gabriel Winters listening?
They looked. He gulped, and nodded.
Red: He is
Black swooped in from the top and bottom of the screen, wiping everything. Now, screen four, connected to the crawler crane, came back to life.
A tearful, smiling little girl was holding it up to her face. She was setting it up somewhere outdoors. Behind her, a sea or ocean stretched out to the horizon. The Crawler cancelled wind noise, but the breeze still whipped her hair. The girl could have been no older than 11.
“I’m going to come home, Dad,” she said through a hopeful smirk. “I miss you.”
Screen four went dark again, leaving them in silence.
Tevin and Jared slowly turned to Gabe.
“Lexi,” he breathed.
***
Tom is a Graduate Construction Engineer from Leicester, England. He won the Henrietta Branford competition whenhe was eight, and had his first short story published when he was 10. He balances writing with his construction career, as well as his hobbies of fitness and learning new languages. He enjoys writing science fiction and suspense, and has previously had suspenseful short stories published, however his favourite genres revolve around adventure, coming of age and great friendships.