Deep Fathom

Slowly, the beast’s huge eye rolled its attention toward the new source of light. Jack looked over, too.

Across the seabed, a spike of pure brilliance thrust up. It was the crystal spire, aglow with an inner fire.

In the gleam, Jack spotted the winch cable drifting only a few feet from the spire, its electromagnet swinging even closer.

Jack stared, slack-jawed. What the hell…?

Under the sub the seabed began to tremble—at first mildly, then more vigorously. Bits of smaller wreckage began to dance atop the tremoring floor. Great, Jack thought, first a sea monster, now this!

He held on tight. The vibration traveled up his bones to his teeth.

Across the debris field the cable drifted away from the spike. As it moved farther, the brilliance of the crystal faded, and the trembling died away. As the light dimmed, Jack watched the electromagnetic lure float beyond his sight, disappearing into the dark water.

He stared at his adversary.

The giant squid remained near the sub. A hulk of tentacles. It seemed to hesitate, clearly spooked by the tremors and strangeness. Then, slowly, it crawled after the disappearing lure—away from the Nautilus.

“It’s working!” Robert hailed from topside.

Jack remained silent, afraid of distracting the great beast. He watched the squid stalk its new prey. Soon the monster drifted beyond the reach of the sub’s dimmed lamps. He dared not turn them brighter, having to remain satisfied with updates from Robert.

“We’re drawing the cable both up and away. It’s still following….”

Jack allowed himself a long low sigh.

“It’s far enough away. Maybe you’d better get the hell out of there.”

Jack did not have to be told twice. He powered up the sub, dumped his ballast, and engaged the thrusters. Silt coughed up around him as the Nautilus pulled from the seabed. The tiny sub rose rapidly.

Robert’s voice returned. “Damn.”

“What?”

“We lost it.”

Panic clutched Jack’s throat. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t worry. It’s not heading your way.” Robert’s voice was distinctly disappointed. “It gave up on us and dove back into the deeper troughs. It’s gone back home. Damn, I would’ve loved to see it up close.”

“Trust me…the experience is not as fun as it looked on video.”

“Uh…oh yeah, sorry, Jack.”

“Coming up. Be topside in fifteen.”

“We’ll be waiting for you.”

Jack leaned back into his seat. He wiped his face with a hand towel. Though the terror was still fresh, he grinned. He had survived.

Still, a nagging kernel of concern marred his perfect relief. He pictured the brilliant glow as the cable passed near the crystal spire. He remembered his own experience with the pillar: the odd sensations, the lost time. It seemed there were more mysteries down here than just the crash of Air Force One.

Ryukyu University, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan

“Twelve thousand years? That’s impossible!” Karen exclaimed.

Miyuki pushed away from the bank of monitors. “It might be a mistake. The database of this new language is limited right now. If Gabriel had more information…more examples…”

Karen nodded. “It has to be a miscalculation. There is no way the date could be denoting a real incident twelve millennia in the past. Unless the event were some fable…some creation myth being recounted.”

“Still, how would these people know how to map a snapshot of the night sky from twelve thousand years ago? Gabriel says the position of the constellations and stars is precise to a tenth of a millimeter.”

“It’s not impossible,” Karen argued. “The Mayans of South America had astronomical calendars of such precision that they rival our abilities today.”

“But to extrapolate that far back?”

“If the Mayans could do it, why not these folks? In fact, the builders might even be some lost tribe of the Maya. Who knows?”

“You’re right,” Miyuki said, shaking her head and standing up. “Who knows? There are too many variables. That’s why I didn’t bring it to your attention when Gabriel first told me of his discovery two days ago.”

Karen frowned. “You knew this two days ago?”

Miyuki shrugged. “I didn’t think it was that important. I was just testing Gabriel’s decoding ability. Since you were studying the language, I figured we’d discuss it later.”

“Then if it wasn’t this bombshell, why did you call me over today?”

Miyuki sighed. “The crystal star. Didn’t you listen when I phoned?”

Karen stood, remembering Miyuki’s urgent call. She had indeed mentioned something about the crystal star. “What have you learned? Did you find someone in the geology department to help you check it out?”

“No. Most of the geologists are still out in the field, researching the quakes and studying their effects. Such a catastrophe is a boon to those in their field. They won’t be back until the university reopens.”

“Then what did you learn?”

“I thought to do a bit of basic checking on my own. I was curious about its abnormally dense mass.” Miyuki led the way across the lab. “I borrowed an electronic scale and tools. I figured I’d do some simple measurements. Nothing complicated. Calculate its mass, density…that sort of thing.”

“And?”

“I kept failing.” Miyuki crossed to a workstation neatly arranged with graph paper, metal rulers, calipers, compasses, and a squat stainless steel box.

Karen scrunched up her nose. “You kept failing?”

Miyuki picked up a few leaves of graph paper. Neatly drawn on them were precise depictions of the five-pointed star, from multiple views. Each had tiny metric measurements denoted. It was clearly the work of many hours. “I calculated its volume both by geometry and water displacement. I wanted to be exact. I found it to occupy precisely 542 cubic centimeters.”

“What about its weight?”

Miyuki adjusted her bonnet. “That’s the strange part.” She waved at the graph papers and tools. “I thought these calculations were going to be the hard part. I figured that all I’d have to do afterward was weigh the artifact, then divide the weight by the calculated volume to get the density. Simple.”

Karen nodded. “So how much did it weigh?”

“That would depend.” Miyuki crossed to the steel box. “I borrowed this electronic scale from the geology department. It’s able to weigh an object down to a fraction of a milligram.”