《Ocean's Void》
chapter 1
"Can you hear me, Captain?"
"Loud and clear, Aiden. Report your progress towards the mission site."
"Two miles until I reach my destination, sir."
"Understood. Any complications along the way?"
"Nothing, except occasional water currents and jumps in pressure."
"How much do we have before the contact with you is cut short?"
"Around half a mile, sir."
"Remember to inform us right before you go dark. Understand?"
"Yes, sir."
"Anything more to report?"
"I would like to ask a question, sir."
"Yes, Aiden"
"Are we sure that the signal came directly from this location? For the entire journey, I hadn''t stumbled on a single piece of evidence that could prove the existence of anything capable of emitting such a thing from this depth."
"Are you questioning my sources, Aiden?"
"No, sir! I''m just not sure that anything of value could be found this deep into the ocean."
"You don''t have to worry yourself. Your only job is to investigate the source and inform us about your findings. You don''t have to do any deeper searches if this proves to be of value, our team of more specialized personnel will continue in your place. I believe you were informed of this before your departure, am I wrong?"
"No, sir."
"Then don''t think more of it. We will expect another report in twenty four-hours. If you fail to inform us on time, your payment for this project will be lowered. Good luck."
CONNECTION TERMINATED
Aiden straps the projector back on his belt and secures it to prevent the possibility of it being stolen by the current. From the other side, he pulls out the holographic map of the ocean floor. Looking at it, he can confirm that he should not face any more significant obstacles on the way, except some small hills, but it should not prove much of a trouble. He puts down the map and continues further towards his goal.
Looking around himself, he tries to pinpoint any landmarks that could allow him to navigate easier in this environment, but unfortunately he is surrounded by all encompassing darkness, illuminated only by the headlamp attached to his diving suit. Seeing no point in this, he just walks onwards to deal with the mission as soon as possible.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
The only interesting things on this depths are occasional ocean critters and few metal pieces left over by destroyed machinery, planes and sunken ships. Another consequences of pointless war, as if humanity didn''t learn from its previous mistakes. This war is one of the reasons why Aiden is the only person sent to complete this task. Of course not including plain lack of personnel and crippled finances from general destruction of the surface. What is the point of bombarding the cities, if all citizens moved under the sea. Just to prove themselves?
It took half an hour for Aiden to approach the null zone. Quickly sending the message to people above him, to inform them of incoming lack of possible contact with him, until further notice. After it, he installs the appropiate gear, allowing him to continue his dangerous journey, such as strong wire and pulling system. Looking down the cliff, leading to almost never ending abyss, he adjusts all of his equipment required to survive down the drop, strapping it closer to himself, and jumps.
Under normal circumstances he wouldn''t dare do such an act, but unfortunately Aiden was on extremely tight schedule. Every minute wasted can lead to other nations learning of the source of the signal. That''s why he didn''t even get a diving vehicle, to be prepared as fast as possible. Thankfully, they managed to equip him with gear of higher grade than normal, otherwise he wouldn''t survive even a second of this dubious adventure.
The drop finally leads him down the path, landing a little less gently than recommended. He connects the end of the wire with another installation, planted by him, which frees him from any restrains. Looking again on the map he finds out that he needs only a few more minutes to reach his destination, even though the map for this area is undetailed, for no human has ever stepped a foot in here. But Aiden doesn''t take much joy from this fact, because his job constantly requires him to explore never before seen lands. It only puts more risks on him than necessary. Surprisingly, looking towards the location he is still unable to see the source. Unusual, because by now he should see at least some kind of light emmited by it. It could also be hidden behing something, or burried inside the ground. Not wasting any more time he once again walks towards it.
Coming closer, it turns out that it was indeed hidden behind a small hill. Climbing to the top of it he gazes onto the sight before him. From his location it looks like some kind of facility of unknown design. Large, oval like shapes made out of steel linked together by series of long tunnels, seemingly never ending upon the horizon. Most of the shapes are linked by at least three of the pathways, with the exception of the one directly before Aiden. It is only connected to the rest of the building by a single path, leaving space for massive metal door that faces the diver. After taking a few more astonished glances upon the station, he tries to come closer towards the one obvious entry. He notices a set of buttons on the right of it, labeled by simple symbols, likely telling their function. Aiden concludes that the one with the circle on it is responsible for opening them, so without further ado, he tries to activate it.
To his suprise, even though the doors are covered by a layer of growths, they open without any issue. The diver takes a cautious step inside of the building. Looking around he sees another mechanism, likely used for decompressing the gateway and allowing further access to the facility. To test it out he once again touches the most likely button, and to his delight it once again works. Doors behind him close, he can hear mechanisms working behind the walls, and water level slowly lowers, until there is no more of it inside the room. After the process is done Aiden can hear the second door opening before him.
After a few moments of hesitation he finally steps inside.
chapter 2
What greeted his sight was an extremely long hallway, so long that even with his flashlight he wasn''t able to see the end of it. Above him were things that could only be identified as some kind of light system, but it seemed that it didn''t have enough power to be active. Or maybe it just wasn''t turned on. Aiden wasn''t able to test that, because there wasn''t a single thing that would even remotely resemble a light switch. Along the walls of this corridor many doors were located, almost all of them closed, but the first one on his left was slightly ajar. They looked like a simple double doors, often present in labs and professional facilities, with mechanisms similar to card readers on their right.
Firstly he decided to scan the atmosphere for any traces of harmful substances, or lacks of subelements in it. It came back with no negative reaction, or even a sight of anything dangerous. The weird thing was that there wasn''t a trace of any virus or bacteria, as if the entire area was completely sterile, even after the diver brought with himself oceanic microbes. Did the chamber disinfected him after he came here? But it still should be near impossible to get rid of all the nano organisms inside the area seemingly previously inhabitated by living beings.
Aiden decided to investigate the only opened door, to gather more information about this place. Looking into a gap he could see some sort of a working place, with steel desk, a computer on top of it and drawers installed on its side. Strangely enough, it was almost identical to other offices in cities of his hometown. The same simplistic design, the same structure, even the same kind of computer. To his knowledge no one managed to build anything this deep into the ocean. He should know, because it was Aiden''s job to surveil any location for potential new habitats and areas where enemy cities were located. On this depth it should be impossible to create a self sustainable structure, even with current technology. So how could something like this even exist at the first place?
To check for more answers he decided to pry open the door. Taking a hold of the gap he used a bit of his strenght to further expand it. They opened up with less resistance than he thought. Taking a step in the first thing he did was to check if the computer still had power inside of its spare batteries. They didn''t. No matter what he did he could not active the device, which once again was unusual, because they were specifically made to survive for at least a decade without use and external power.
Taking a small risk he used some of the energy inside of his suit to power it. Almost immediately the computer came back to live. Unfortunately, it turned out that during the blackout almost all of the data went missing. The only information that he managed to scavenge were useless strips of data logs and notes. Surprisingly, all of it was written in his native language. How is that even possible?Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Aiden began to suspect that the mission regarding this place wasn''t meant as a reconnaissance, but rather a rescue mission of this facility. Why didn''t they inform him of it? Is there something so important that even he wasn''t privy to the information?
Inside of the lockers he managed to pull out a single keycard and an identifier. On both of these objects the identity of their last owner was written. Someone called Dave Schwarz, presumably an IT specialist tasked with maintaining the database. The largest thing placed on those cards was a single number, namely ''3''. Except that there was nothing more that could help Aiden with understanding this situation, or learning of about this location, so he exited the room.
Currently he was met with two choices, one is to continue to investigate what happened and risk learning something he shouldn''t, or exit the station and inform the higher ups of the status of the building.
Aiden decided to continue his research in hopes that he could find a more specific information regarding what exactly happened here, to minimize the risks of future expeditions to this place.
His next course of action was to try to enter the next locked room. This time it wasn''t as easy as before, but he managed to dig into the space between doors, using his suits power, and forced it to open. Insides were much the same as before, with only difference being that the desk inside had all of its drawers removed from their casings. Once again checking for power, the computer didn''t turn on. Thankfully, Aiden took with him the spare battery from the last room and plugged inside this one.
This time however there was literally nothing on the device. No data, no logs, it''s like someone wiped it clear, instead of simple data corruption. He didn''t even manage to find anything about the previous occupant of this office.
Trying his luck several more times Aiden was able to only gather a few more identifiers and keys. In not a single one of them was any trace of living being, not even mold or small critters. Even with datalogs he wasn''t able to puzzle out what happened, or even when it happened. As if something got rid of any evidence and witness. Along the way he was also testing if any of the devices had any power left in them, or if any of the switches were still functional. He was left with nothing, no energy left in any structure.
Why would nothing in this place have power? Previously when he entered this place the outside doors were still functioning. Is it that only a part of the infrastructure was destroyed by some means or something happened that limited the amount of systems active? Or maybe...
With sudden panic Aiden run towards the exit to the facility with all the power he could muster. Not looking around him, only focusing on this simple task, he didn''t waste even a second to test his theory. When he finally reached his destination he immediately hit the button responsible for the activation of the chamber.
But nothing happened.
He tried it again and again, each time more desperate than before, but no matter how much he tried, how strong he hit the button, it didn''t react a single bit. No sound from the mechanisms operating the door, no pumps responsible for water level, no response to any of his struggles.
He was stuck here, and something locked him away.
chapter 3
"NO, NO, NO!!!" - Aiden''s voice reverberated through the whole chamber he was standing in and carried on to the rest of the facility. His voice full of anguish and terror. Who wouldn''d be scared if you understood that something trapped you at the bottom of the ocean, with no obvious possibilities of escape?
He trashed around the room for several more minutes, trying everything just to have a little hope of leaving this abandoned place, but to no vail. None of the mechanisms were working, they weren''t broken mind you. The gates were too heavy and too thick to try to open them manualy, and even if it was possible, he would just die due to the sudden increase in pressure. There wasn''t even a single spark moving along the protected wires, he was truly cut out from the outside world.
At the end of his tantrum, Aiden feel onto the floor, head low and arms on his sides. What could he possibly do now? Even if he managed to survive for several more days and wait long enough for secondary team to arrive, they would be able to enter now that the power was missing. He would also die long before that day, due to the lack of sustenance and energy in his suit. Should he just give up? Abandon all hope that some kind of inconvenience met his way? No, he was never like that. Otherwise he would never apply for this task, or traverse the deep blue. He would find his way out of here, no matter if someone wanted him to stay or not.
With new found determination he rose to his feet and began to traverse deeper into the complex in search for the exit. Or maybe even the cause why someone or something cut the power the moment he went inside of here.
But then why where the batteries empty, and why was the data on computers unreadable? It shouldn''t be possible on such a short notice. It could only happen if the devices where connected to another isolated system, independent to the one governing the facility, but it this kind of method would be extremely counterproductive and inefficient. It could also happen if the power, instead of being ending the supply, was quickly drained out of them, which was a more probable answer. Even then, why would anyone do such a thing, wouldn''t it destroy all the work that was put in this place?
With every second spend here more questions were accumulating, with no answers in sight. Aiden decided to stop thinking about it, otherwise he would be unable to focus on his new found task.
Traversing further through the corridor, he tried to navigate towards the possible trasition to one of the oval shapes he had seen outside. Even if he could remember the possible localization of the passage, it was still extremely hard to orient himself in the repeating hallway. On his way he passed by several normal office doors, until finally he reached the opening of different design that previously. Slightly larger and thicker, also seemingly heavier, with double access points for two cards.
And completely ripped out from its frame.
They weren''t simply ejected from them, but rather directly splintered from the outside, fragments of it laying across the entire floor. The scariest thing is that there are no traces of any burns, which means it was done physically. Something must have destroyed them personally. It could have been done by some kind of power suit, but even then it wouldn''t look like that. It wouldn''t look like claw marks.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
Trembling a little Aiden took a step inside, through the destroyed path, and looked around to evaluate the new location. It seemed that the building he is currently in is composed of three different floors, seen directly from the entrance in form of exposed balconies. Balconies dripping with blood.
"What happened here?" - you can hear a silent whisper coming from Aiden''s mouth. His trembling intensifies and it can be clearly seen that he must muster all of his courage to stand straight. But even this disturbing sight isn''t enough to deter him from his goal, because he doesn''t waste a moment and continues forward to investigate.
Searching the first floor he came across a few puddles of blood, dripping from above and completely ruined office spaces, nothing much more of value. Anything salvageable was the same as in previous rooms, except cards with probably higher access registry than previously. He also was able to find a few pieces of fabric, presumably from ripped apart clothes of the workers, but no trace of the bodies. There weren''t even smudges that would indicate that they were dragged to different location, it was as if they just disappeared.
Walking further he managed to locate a staircase hidden behind some debris made out of destroyed desks and wall fragments. After a few moments of struggle he successfully shoved it''s top layer and crawled onto the first steps.
The entire staircase was covered in dust and grime, but from the looks of it they were mostly undamaged and still functional. Aiden climbed onto the second floor and what greeted his eyes was the same floor structure as the first one, but not destroyed as much as it. Another difference that could be spotted was an increased amount of red puddles covering the ground, but once again no bodies in sight.
This time he found much more useful things than before, such as hidden snacks in desk compartments, allowing him to get a little more hope. He wouldn''t have to worry about food for a while, even if some of it was a little outdated.
Another thing that he found on this floor were a few active terminals with enough energy to power them for a while. But unfortunately, same as on the previous computers, the data was corrupted and completely incomprehensible, although he was able to get the time at which some of it was written. It turns out that the latest log was written just a few weeks before he came here.
This confirmed that the information and energy on the previous devices was deliberately messed with. But by who, and most importantly, why? Who would get anything from corrupting the files? Wouldn''t it be easier to just directly delete it? More answers, but even more questions.
Collecting everything he could find he moved onto the third floor, this time with no obstacles blocking his way.
This time the floor was surprisingly clean. No major damages, no filth and no destroyed equipment. Everything was as pristine as it could ever be, which in on and itself wasn''t normal. It was to clean in fact, as if freshly cleaned. There wasn''t a sign that anything could have happened here, but what betrayed it was the fact that on the side of the balcony there still was blood. To check if he didn''t remember wrongly, Aiden leaned by the barriers to check if it was true. Sure enough there were still patches of it.
Something once again got rid of evidence, but as before it was a sloppy job. It also confirmed two disturbing facts. One, that something must have been here that caused all of the slaughter, and secondly that it was done very recenlty for all of the blood to not solidify. That means that whoever, or whatever, did this is still close.
Getting away from the balcony, he walked towards the rest of the offices. He found except some food and cards hidden in the drawers and when he moved onto the computers he was finally able to find something truly valuable. A working terminal with completely intact files.
chapter 4
14:00 05.11.2139
Expedition team found another instance of "The Mass" in the deep trenches near facility. Like previously it was found scavenging on the corpses of several ocean creatures. In the pile we could discern the following animal remnants: three adult whales, one hundred and thirty four anglefishes, sixty glass squids, fifty stoplight loosejaws and varying amount of other critters.
This instance of the specimen was particulary massive, likely due to the amount of sustanance found in its location and worrying lack of other scavengers, usually found near such areas. Its mass reached at least three thousand kilograms, but because of its specific nature and structure it was hard to get the exact measurements needed for classification.
How it was able to avoid detection before is put under consideration, but for now we speculate that it was feeding itself at the bottom of the gathering of carcases and stopped moving when it detected electrical waves coming from our equipment, but we finally managed to find it after periodical long distance scan.
During one of the surface examinations it was found that it developed never seen before stabilizing structures inside of itself, likely to support its unnatural weight and to prevent itself from collapse. It is currently unknown if it will disturb its capabilities or perhaps distort them into something new, but it will be left for research department to discover.
It also strengthened its unique nervous system, likely for better coordination of its body and quicker response time required for its body to function properly. None of its smaller kind was observed to have even remotely similar arrangement as this one, but it is most possible only due to its size.
It doesn''t show any signs of being able to escape its temporary enclosure, including the occurrences with electrical fences, monitoring system and gateways. It seems to be a little more advanced in terms of critical thinking, because after many unsuccessful breaches it decided to stay completely passive to avoid further damages to itself. Signed for checking the relation between its intelligence and biomass.
It is currently being transported further into containment department, where it will be tested on and checked for any more abnormalities. If such a thing is to be found any discovery will be immediately reported to the HQ.
End of report
14:00 21.11.2139
Today we discovered a new thing about "The Mass". Turns out that its ability to sense electrical waves isn''t simply present in it as a native deep ocean creature, but rather a specifically developed skill, allowing it to better blend in with its surroundings. It seems that instead of just sensing it is able to manipulate energy in limited capability. In this way it can not only hide itself from any source of detection, or prepare for any outside presence, but also communicate with other members of its species, by sending localized waves.
Research team also found that by using its own mass it exchange it for varying amounts of different kinds of energies. At the time being it was noted that it could directly create thermal energy, in order to combat extreme temperatures, electricity to protect itself from outside harm and one time even become a source of light in order to scare away predators.
It can also adapt to the outside stimuli, like the newest specimen named "Moby", by creating various scructures composing its body. Excluding the internal stabilizing structure on its inside, others were able to create external spike cover, various types of venoms and also specialized glands filled with ink and luminescent fluid.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Limits of the transformations are unknown, but are currently tested by research department. Further information will be provided in two months time.
Unfortunately, two out of nine specimens were unable to survive the examinations and passed away. The bodies will be transported to the surface as soon as expedition team comes back from another search. We also ask for more investment, in order to quicken this project. We will anticipate your reply.
End of report
15:30 16.03.2140
We were unable to contact the HQ, due to the incident in the facility. One of the specimens suprised us on the account of showing never before seen ability, namely the capability to absorb the external energy.
Directly after one of the examinations, when the security was on its lowest, it manipulated the power of its enclosure and escaped its containment. It took with itself two guards and one scientist before it was subdued.
In the aftermath of its escape it permanently destroyed a few of important systems, doorways and monitorings. The damaged areas were under maintenance and before at least most of them were repaired it was impossible to continue communication.
This isolated incident didn''t put us directly behind schedule, and results will be delivered in due time. The corpse of "Moby" is currently stored in one of the vaults and its remnants will be transported towards one of the surface facilities, when most of the systems will be repaired.
The rest of the report will be send after situation on this side will be stabilized, but for now please be informed that none of the samples were destroyed and none of the specimen, except "Moby", were killed due to the escape.
End of report
Now what? Some ocean nightmare escaped its cage and in retaliation killed all of the people that worked here. And it is still probably on the loose, if the lack of bodies indicates as much. It will definitely not let anything living escape its grasp, so what is Aiden supposed to do with it?
Hide? But where, when the entire facility is cut out from the outside world. Supplies will only dwindle and anything out for blood will find it no matter where he will decide to settle. Even if nothing is here he will just die of thirst before anyone is able to pry open the gates to here.
Wait for reinforcements? What will they do? They are probably just a new group of researchers, not combatants. And even if they came prepared, what could they do? Seemingly everyone here is dead, so numbers and high quality gear is not the answer. They would have better chances just bombing the entire place, but that would also kill him.
So the only possible answer is to continue searching for exit and hope that he will not die in the process. Maybe whatever caused the blackout already left and he will be able to safely go without any danger to his life. Let cling to that thought, at least it will distract him from less likable prospect.
Aiden flinched and once again looked around to confirm that he is in fact still alone. When it proves to be true he still tries to dig out more information, like what exactly is the creature, or how long ago it was when it breached containment, but to no vail. Except a few specific terms and numbers, that told him nothing, and a fragmented map of the place he didn''t learn anything more.
The map wasn''t much, because unlike the few notes he was able to find, it was a little corrupted. Large patches of it were outright missing, and the few pieces that were still readable, were in extremely pixalated and low quality state, but it is the best he could get at the moment.
What wasn''t on it he could in some way guess how it was originally built, but it will have to be confirmed while on the way.
To complete his goal, the best location he could currently head on to was one of the security doors. What he knew about them, if they function the same as other under water buildings, was that they could operate in the situation when the structure lacked the energy required to open the rest of the doors. It worked like a save point, in few situations where it would be required. Right now it is a saving grace for Aiden.
The only problem with this plan is that the path to reach any of them leads through only one department.
Specifically, the containment department.
chapter 5
After once again looking over every desk to check if he didn''t miss anything, checking every computer with hope for more information, unfortunately for him Aiden confirmed that he indeed salvaged the place clean. He decided to hasten and try to reach the exit as fast as possible. Walking down the staircase, passing by many pieces of debris, metal fragments and few blood puddles, he once again reached the main floor.
It was as cold and as dead as before. The same destroyed furniture, fragments of walls still covering the majority of this floor''s surface and nothing of importance in sight. Picked clean, you could almost say, if not for obvious damages to the whole infrastructure. But there is something odd here....
At this moment he noticed that things have changed, while he was upstairs. He couldn''t exactly point out what happened, but there was definitely something missing. Like the whole atmosphere of this place was lacking one piece, that someone stole away. This couldn''t be a good sign.
Looking around he tried to pinpoint what could be different about this room, anything really that could shed away his unconfortable feelings, but no matter how much he tried to, he could not spot a thing, even after staring for a while.
Standing still for several more moments, Aiden gave up on this endeavour, seeing no point in continuing wasting his time, and walked towards the gateway of this part of facility. Just when he stepped past the doors, he decided to give the room one last look before he left for the exit and turned around. That''s when he finally saw what he should have spotted from the start.
The many blood puddles that were covering the bottom of the floor were completely missing, vanished in mere minutes he took his time upstairs.
Cold sweat started to run down his neck and forehead drenching him completely. His heart rate quickened to the point that he could directly hear it. His legs began to shake, so much that he almost could not stand straight. His feet were rooted to the ground and he wasn''t able to move even an inch. He was petrified. Aiden felt as if the temperature dropped to negatives. He couldn''t even formulate a single thought.
Standing still for as long as needed, he waited for any kind of signal that would force him to run away. Not moving, in case that whatever got rid of the puddles was still near him, or close enough to hear his reactions. Fearing that even the slightest movement would give him away. He even stopped breathing, such was his fear at the moment.
He waited and waited for what felt like hours in complete silence, broken only by his occasional gasps for air, forced onto him by his desperate body. It felt like the entire world was frozen in time, just to showcase the tension that Aiden was experiencing.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
But no matter what, nothing happened. No movement, no sound, complete dead lack of anything wrong. Not even a slightest creak from surrounding him structure. Just silence.
Slowly getting his bearings back he takes one small step behind him. Waiting some more and seeing that nothing reacts, he makes another step. And another, faster, with more energy, until it finally transforms into mad sprint towards the next area, to escape as fast as possible from the invisible danger.
Not bothering with avoiding any obstacles or not making any sound, he ran with the fervor of enraged bull, often almost tripping on pieces of destroyed objects, or even just fallen over equipment. Not even trying to stop when he reached his first intersection, he just turned left, almost running into the wall.
He finally slowed down after feeling his lungs burning and legs giving away. Not beeing able to support his weight, which in turn made him even more clumsy than before, he at last fell down by stumbling on something.
Laying down on the floor without any strength, Aiden started to see black spots in the corner of his vision. Slowly but surely, they started to encompass his entire sight.
''No! I can''t lose consciousness right now! What if something is chasing me, gaining on me for every second I rest. No, I can''t. I must fight back. I must...."
His mind was embraced by darkness.
Opening his eyes the first thing he saw as he woke up was floor. Not feeling any need to stand he just continued to lay down and feel all of his strained muscles. Not even saying about the splitting headache he was experiencing. He just couldn''t muster a will to do anything.
"!!!"
Suddenly jumping onto his feet, despite the pain, he looked around to check his surroundings. It was the same kind of corridor as before, the same walls, doors and debris laying on the floor. The same desolate atmosphere, sucking away at the spirit within him. And the same silence that greeted him the first time he came here.
''Nothing caught up to me, huh? Did anything even chase me to begin with? Was it just a delusion?''
Aiden asked himself, through sheer shock that nothing happened to him, while he was out cold. But then what could have cleaned up all that blood, that definitely wasn''t something he imagined. Why didn''t he see anything and why didn''t it try to catch him even though it probably whiped out the entire station?
Sitting down, to calm down and stabilize himself, he took out some of the snacks he took from the few offices he investigated earlier and ate them like a starved animal. Turnes out that running like a maniac for an unknown amount of time really burnes the energy.
''So, a few questions answered, and a few more poppes out a moment after.''
He sits for a few more moments to be sure that he is at the peak of his strength and when he feels that he is ready to move on he stands up and checks where did he ended up in.
According to the numbers on the doors, and a few signs littering the floor he should be almost at the containment unit. Which is rather impressive, because the distance between his previous location and current one is almost four miles. He ran for four straight miles at the top of his speed and was still able to move afterwords.
The design of this facility is definitely flawed. Or they had some small vehicles stashed away to easy transportation, because there is no way that anyone could navigate through this facility without going crazy. Maybe all of the workers were enhanced in some way? Another question added to the list of this place''s mysteries.
chapter 6
On the way to the following department, nothing new has happened to Aiden. He didn''t pass any danger, or any obstruction on the way. The only thing he met was much the same as before: debris, signs of degredation and destroyed equipment. Still no traces of living people or anything other that could now haunt this place in their stead.
Passing by several more doors, almost all of them closed, and the ones that were open were just an identical copies of the offices he had met the very first time he came here. Aiden didn''t even bother with checking them out, because he would probably not learn anything new, and even if he would gain something, what could he earn to justify risking his life over some scraps and pieces. He would much rather prefer to hasten his steps and reach his goal as fast as possible.
He will not be able to get to containment zone for several more minutes, so he tries to occupy his mind with what he already knows about this place. Firstly and foremostly why would they build this facility in the first place? From what he could gather it was just to research the creatures that they found at the bottom of the ocean. But why do so if just the investment into this place would cost more than at least three new settlements? Don''t we already struggle due to lack of resources? Maybe the goverment wanted to weaponize whaterer they found here. Maybe and hopefully after they learned of the capabilities of this deep water creatures they wanted to develop new genetic enhancements to lower the death rate of citizans. Or rather just lower the costs of building habitable areas. He would learn that only if he asked them directly, which is not what he wants because most probably they would force him to undergo memory replacement to prevent leaks in classified data. Another problem to solve after he leaves out of here. He could lie to them about what he saw, but the context of it should be left after he is safe.
Secondly, what even are the ''monsters'' that presumably killed everyone in here? The could have described them in the documents, but even then he doesn''t know how they look. He doesn''t even know if they should have just one look, because they described them as adaptable. Maybe basing it on the name ''The Mass'' they are just giant, weighty fishes that reached unfadomable density. Or they are just blobs of unknown build that function as ocean cleaners. Maybe even they are undiscovered to this age monsters that differ from each other so much that they had to specifically name one of them with a code name to differentiate members of this species. Next question will remain unanswered, because to even learn it he would have to in the first place meet one, and seeing how it turned out for previous inhabitans of this place, this isn''t exactly the best idea.
And lastly, what should Aiden even do when he finally exits this place? Should he just ignore whatever happened here and tell a lie on what happened, just like he thought before? It would save him from them manipulating his memories, but it could also endanger the research team that was arriving in this place after him. But if he tells the truth they could also label his as a lunatic and discharge him from his responsibilities. Because trully, what would he even say? Yeah, I explored this underwater facility full of dangerous monsters, which killed everyone on sight, and I somehow went passed all of them with no evidence of it ever happening? Shame that his suit''s camera doesn''t work on this depths, because he would at least have something to backup his claim. They also could just have planned to erase his whole memory of this place from the start, so his plans wouldn''t work. The best plan in this case would be to just tell the whole truth and hope that they take a pity on you and don''t use it. Summarizing, the best path for his is to tell just partial truth of what he learned, but inform them of all the dangers he met. He could also add a fake monster encounter, where he couldn''t see how it looked to backup his story. That would probably wield the best results.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Finally, after the lenghty journey Aiden reached the massive double doors of containment department. And to his joy they were wide open showing him the sight of a massive empty hall with exactly four further open paths leading from it. Unfortunately for him, the entryway to this part of facility wasn''t marked on the map, so the path reaching to the exit is at the moment unknown.
He decided to walk past the first ones on the right. It seemed that it was a correct choice at the moment, because they were the closed to him and it would be easy to backtrack in case it turned out to be a dead end. Taking a step through them he noticed that the entire atmosphere and structure of this place has changed. Mainly, due to the equipment installed by the walls of this specific room. The said equipment was a dozen identical tubes filled to the brim with some kind of transparent substance, very similar to normal water, but with a little more luminescent blue coloration that usual. Well, except a few of them filled to the brim with crimson red substance, almost identical and probably it was identical to blood. And to his horror one of the tubes was ruptured, covering that patch of the floor with the first of the liquids and glass shards. Walking even further, extremely careful to not step on anything and in turn produce any louder sound, he came upon a corner blocking his sight from the rest of the room.
Taking a peek behind the corner he saw what could only be described as a nightmare fuel. The things that could only be dreamed by war veterans and mass murderers. A whole pile of human corpses. All of them in various stages of decomposition, decay and rot. This heap of corpsess measures around two times the height of average human and wide enough to accommodate the hundreds of corpses that make out the construction. Not only that, but some of the bodies are missing several or more body parts, some without heads, some without all of their limbs and some with eaten from inside out organs, with ruptured skin spiiling out the rest that was supposed to remain inside onto its surroundings.
This sight almost caused Aiden to get rid of the content of his stomach and paint the floor with new green colors. He had to use almost all of his will to stop himself, just to minimize the risk of him beeing in vulnerable position, or perhaps beeing found out by whatever created the pile. Under normal circumstances he would just get away from it as far as he can, but unfortunately for Aiden, he can see that the corridor leads further into the facillity, so he has to brace forward in hope of finding the exit.
When he is halfway towards the heap he finally notices that it doesn''t emmit any kind of smell. Like not at all. He should have seen it already, because this number of corpses should produce enough smell to be felt from across most of the previous hall, but there was nothing. Not even a slight annoying scent. It is as if it was sucked away and isolated. It felt unusual, and definitely wasn''t natural. But there came something that distracted him from this phenomenon.
"H-h-hello? Is s-s-someone t-there?"
He heard a weak voice comming from the side of the pile.
chapter 7 [THE END]
With a slight apprehension and a lot of caution Aiden slowly walked up to the huge pile, looking left and right in case he spotted anything threatening, so he could immediately bolt away at the first sign of danger. As he grew closer to the voice, he could definitely hear the sense of fear coming from whoever was trying to communicate with him.
"A-Are you there? P-Please s-speak up. Please."
Aiden hastened his steps a little, but still didn''t speak a single word to the entity that spoke to him. Even if the person knew he was already here he didn''t want to risk his life if he could just wait for a moment. Still moving at the speed of almost a crawl he moved to the side to check if he could see the person speaking from his new position. Turnes that that he indeed could, but only just a hand. It still was hard to discern it from other corpses surrounding it, but what discerned it from its surroundings was that it moved its fingers a little. But just to be sure he moved just a little more to the left.
"P-Please help. Please don''t leave me here."
He definitely didn''t want to get any closer, but for now it was the only option in this situation. Even if he wanted to reach directly to the next section, he would have to walk past this heap of bodies, so no matter what the person would see him one way or another. Well, the only thing left for him was just to respond to whoever was calling him.
"I''m here."
"Oh, thank God! Please come help me! We don''t have much longer!" - the person responded with much more vigor than before.
Finally, after coming close enough Aiden was greeted with a sight of a dying middle aged man, dressed in lab robes with shattered pair of glasses on his face. How he could discern that he was dying? If anything would point to that, it would be a missing arm still spurting blood on the floor and the obvious paleness showing on his entire skin. At this point Aiden disregarded his own safety and came directly to the sight of the man.
"Are you okay?! Do you need any help?" - he asked. Quite a foolish question, but one that anybody in his situation would ask.
The man at that moment didn''t reply, but just grabbed Aiden by his hands and dragged his face closer to him.
"You can''t do anything here. I will die before anything could be done. I need you to inform anyone that send you here. ''Project compromised. Abort mission. Facility lost. There is nothing that can be saved. It was mistake even starting this facility.'' Remember it! D-Don''t forget. COUGH COUGH" At this moment the man started to cough out the blood out of his lungs.
"But I still can cover your injuries. I can sti-"
"Y-You cannot do anything. It will come before you could help me. You h-have to hurry. The exit is just down this hallway. If you run the s-specimen should not even n-notice that you are here."
"What even happened here?! Tell me at least this much!"If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
"To little time. RUN. SAVE YOURSELF" - the man suddenly shouted, and almost instinctively I followed his order.
I once again ran without a care about how load I was. Not looking back at the man, or the heap of bodies, or anything that this place hided from me. I run and run with a new found energy in my body, passing by more debris and puddles of blood. I now had time to wonder what had occured there. Why was there just a giant pile of bodies? Was it functioning as a supply for the monster? As a trophy of a hunt? And why didn''t it smell? It should be rancid at that place, but it wasn''t, not a thing. And why would the man there still be alive? It must have been some time when the outbreak happened. Shouldn''t already be dead in that case? Even if he could survive, why would the monster leave the man alive? To toy with him? Then why didn''t it leave more for itself? Well, no matter. He should just focus on escaping and then worry about what happened here.
After some time he finally reached the end of corridor and as the man said there was an emergency door at the end of it. But there was a small complication. There was some kind of contraption that served an unknown purpose next to it. It looked like a hole with a glove used to make tests on isolated small animals. But it wasn''t see through and instead of a box it was directly mounted into the wall. The other problem was that there was no obvious door handle that could open the door.
What should he do now. The way back was obviously not accessable, because of the danger the man spoke of, but there was also no visible way forward. Should he just stick his hand into the hole? But what was supposed to happen then?
Aiden would ponder on it a little longer if not for a sudden voice behind him. It wasn''t loud by any means, but in the total silence of his surroundings it was very noticeable. A wet splouching sound, like a giant disgusting snail moving.
He didn''t even try to look behind himself and immediately sticked his hand into the wall. He felt a little prickle on his finger, but the pain was dimmed by the sense of dread he felt. Then a voice resounded from the unseen speaker.
"HUMAN DETECTED. PLEASE HEAD TO THE EXIT."
After it the doors opened revealing the same structure of depressurizing chamber as the time he entered here. The intensity of the voice also raised.
Aiden without a moment sprinted into the room and hit the button with all of his force. The doors behind him closed with a loud click and the process of depressurizing began. Flooding the chamber with ocean water. He could not hear anything behind himself, but it was probably silenced by all of the noice around him. Then the doors to the rest of the ocean opened.
He was free from the nightmarish facility. Aiden relished in the feeling for a moment or two, to calm his beating heart. But, unfortunately it didn''t last long. He must immediately report this to his superiors, to inform them of what happened him. There could still be hope that someone else had survived there. He wasted no time coming back to the zip line he previously installed near the cliff and found his way back at the top of it. He could finally establish contact.
Deep under the ocean''s surface in the abandoned facility a curious scene could be seen. A dying man standing upright gazing at the unintresting ceiling. Near him was a reddish puddle, covering the entire floor he was standing on.
"He shall do a fine job." - the man said with an emotionless voice.
Just after he said that he fell down onto the floor, spread out as much as he could.
"Someday everyone will join." - the man said as all of his features melted away. Starting from eyes, followed by his tongue, then skin, then flesh and at the end all of his bones, joining the puddle as a part of it.
At the same time, just a few hundred meters away from the facility a man was standing facing away from it, speaking through his comms to the man he served. Everything would be normal if not for the slightest movement coming from just the back of his neck, seemingly alien, but perfectly integrated with the rest of the suit, trying to blend to the best of its abilities. A few moments later it ceased all movement, perfectly mimicing the suits surface, waiting for the right moment, for a good time.
Soon