Writing Prompt #1 8/29/2019
The black depths of the ocean churned around the small vessel as it made its slow journey to the bottom of the trench. The external lights had been turned off at sixteen hundred hours after swarms of smaller fish had begun approaching the dorsal and frontal lighting systems, and so the crew of six watched through their view ports at indiscernible darkness.
Evari was feeling the onset of anxiety. She could feel her shoulders hunched in tension, and she kept bending her fingers as if trying to crack them, but they had long since stopped making any cathartic popping sounds. She had come down here to see squids. She had come down here to observe the life of the ocean, and instead she was looking at what might as well have been black felt. Her irritation had turned to fear when something had suddenly rocked the little submarine about twenty minutes prior, and the sudden sensation of being in an elevator she could not get out of had spun into her head.
"Dr. Kostova"
Evari turned toward the deep feminine voice of Captain DiAngelo, the sound like smooth honey in her ears.
"Y-yes captain?" Evari said, her throat feeling dry and her lips chapped.
"We are about one mile above the floor of the trench. We will be turning the external lights back on at one half mile." the captain smiled. "If you would like to see the deepest part of the ocean with your own eyes, I would invite you to join everyone else in the cockpit."
Evari stumbled in her haste to get up from her seat, brushing imaginary crumbs from a meal she had not eaten from her clothes. "Yes! of course!" she came to a sudden halt, embarrassment turning her face tomato red. "I mean. Thank you. Captain."
DiAngelo raised an eyebrow but did not make any verbal comment before turning on her heel and moving briskly and navigating the tiny hallway of the ship.
Evari scampered after the captain with far less ease, and let out several small noises as she hit her shin, elbow and then scalp on the cramped confines that had definitely not been made for a woman of six feet.
The other four members of their crew, a botanist, an engineer, a geologist, and oddly a computer programmer stood and sat around the circular room, eyes fixed at the black front glass as if expecting something.
"External lights in three...two...one." said the engineer, a short balding man named Craig.
The headlights of the ship flickered on, sending blue-white light skittering through the water around them. The floor of the ocean was coming up slowly as they sank.
Evari didn't see any fish. She craned her neck trying to see up and at the sides, but there was nothing for her to see but black water and slightly lighter black ground rising up to meet them.
There was silence in the little craft, and after about a minute, the submarine made a clicking groaning sound as it stopped on the ocean floor.
There was nothing here either. No sponges or invertabrates feeding of thermal vents, though the shimmering in the water at several spots in the vicinity showed Evari there were thermal vents.
"Its a dead zone." Evari breathed. "There's nothing alive here."
"Fuck." said the computer programmer, putting his head in his hands.
"What?" Evari said. The tone which he had cursed had made her hair stand on end. What was wrong?
DiAngelo shifted uncomfortably. "Very well. send the signal, Private."
The computer programmer reached a shaking hand into his breast pocket and withdrew a folded sheet of paper. Something was written on it, but it wasn't until Evari saw him unfold the paper and smooth it out that she grasped what it was.
It was hundreds and hundreds of impossibly small zeros and ones. the entire page was covered with them.
"Binary code." DiAngelo said. "It's the only way we've found of communicating that they seem to be able to understand."
Evari felt the blood drain from her face, and something in her abdomen squeeze unpleasantly.
"Who is they?" Evari asked. The botanist and the Engineer looked as startled and confused as she felt.
The computer programmer began to tap a series of long and short clicks out onto a radiotelegraph. For several minutes the only sound was the tapping click of the button being pushed.
"DiAngelo!" Evari snapped, when she could no longer take the silence.
Captain DiAngelo turned to her.
"Who is DOWN here?"
"That's not the right question." Diangelo said.
Red light burst into life feet from the front of the ship, illuminating an enormous metal structure that reached high into the water like an obelisk. The structure landed on the ocean floor with a rumble that made Evari's jaw ache.
"The question is," The programmer said. "Why are they here?"
Evari was feeling the onset of anxiety. She could feel her shoulders hunched in tension, and she kept bending her fingers as if trying to crack them, but they had long since stopped making any cathartic popping sounds. She had come down here to see squids. She had come down here to observe the life of the ocean, and instead she was looking at what might as well have been black felt. Her irritation had turned to fear when something had suddenly rocked the little submarine about twenty minutes prior, and the sudden sensation of being in an elevator she could not get out of had spun into her head.
"Dr. Kostova"
Evari turned toward the deep feminine voice of Captain DiAngelo, the sound like smooth honey in her ears.
"Y-yes captain?" Evari said, her throat feeling dry and her lips chapped.
"We are about one mile above the floor of the trench. We will be turning the external lights back on at one half mile." the captain smiled. "If you would like to see the deepest part of the ocean with your own eyes, I would invite you to join everyone else in the cockpit."
Evari stumbled in her haste to get up from her seat, brushing imaginary crumbs from a meal she had not eaten from her clothes. "Yes! of course!" she came to a sudden halt, embarrassment turning her face tomato red. "I mean. Thank you. Captain."
DiAngelo raised an eyebrow but did not make any verbal comment before turning on her heel and moving briskly and navigating the tiny hallway of the ship.
Evari scampered after the captain with far less ease, and let out several small noises as she hit her shin, elbow and then scalp on the cramped confines that had definitely not been made for a woman of six feet.
The other four members of their crew, a botanist, an engineer, a geologist, and oddly a computer programmer stood and sat around the circular room, eyes fixed at the black front glass as if expecting something.
"External lights in three...two...one." said the engineer, a short balding man named Craig.
The headlights of the ship flickered on, sending blue-white light skittering through the water around them. The floor of the ocean was coming up slowly as they sank.
Evari didn't see any fish. She craned her neck trying to see up and at the sides, but there was nothing for her to see but black water and slightly lighter black ground rising up to meet them.
There was silence in the little craft, and after about a minute, the submarine made a clicking groaning sound as it stopped on the ocean floor.
There was nothing here either. No sponges or invertabrates feeding of thermal vents, though the shimmering in the water at several spots in the vicinity showed Evari there were thermal vents.
"Its a dead zone." Evari breathed. "There's nothing alive here."
"Fuck." said the computer programmer, putting his head in his hands.
"What?" Evari said. The tone which he had cursed had made her hair stand on end. What was wrong?
DiAngelo shifted uncomfortably. "Very well. send the signal, Private."
The computer programmer reached a shaking hand into his breast pocket and withdrew a folded sheet of paper. Something was written on it, but it wasn't until Evari saw him unfold the paper and smooth it out that she grasped what it was.
It was hundreds and hundreds of impossibly small zeros and ones. the entire page was covered with them.
"Binary code." DiAngelo said. "It's the only way we've found of communicating that they seem to be able to understand."
Evari felt the blood drain from her face, and something in her abdomen squeeze unpleasantly.
"Who is they?" Evari asked. The botanist and the Engineer looked as startled and confused as she felt.
The computer programmer began to tap a series of long and short clicks out onto a radiotelegraph. For several minutes the only sound was the tapping click of the button being pushed.
"DiAngelo!" Evari snapped, when she could no longer take the silence.
Captain DiAngelo turned to her.
"Who is DOWN here?"
"That's not the right question." Diangelo said.
Red light burst into life feet from the front of the ship, illuminating an enormous metal structure that reached high into the water like an obelisk. The structure landed on the ocean floor with a rumble that made Evari's jaw ache.
"The question is," The programmer said. "Why are they here?"
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