Sunlight cut through the firmament, painting rays of color across the sky as though it were a heavenly canvas. It was just on the verge of daybreak. A large aircraft with a retracted arm on each of its sides whistled through the sky, descending toward the ocean’s surface. It first appeared as though the craft was descending into the water but, as it approached the surface, a massive rig appeared above the ocean with four giant legs, treading mightily across the surface on its hydraulic limbs. The aircraft slowed as it approached the landing area. Its two arms, which had been hanging at its sides, spun until their feet were facing the ground and the aircraft lowered for the landing pad. A red humanoid robot was standing a few meters from the landing mark, waving glowing rods to direct the craft as it landed. The aerial craft was large, but it was tiny in comparison to the rig. The rig spread more than two hundred meters long and wide across the ocean.
As the craft lowered onto the yellow markings, its arms slowly touched down on the steel floor and bent slightly to absorb the impact. The craft’s hull lowered until its belly almost touched the ground, then the engines powered down. The hatch hissed and hot steam blew out from its seals as it opened. When the steam cleared, four people in silvery, skintight jumpsuits stepped out of the craft. The first to touch the ground was a woman, six-foot-tall, athletically built, with a stare as hard as iron. The name on her chest read CPT. CALHOUN. Behind her came skinny-framed BENTLEY, curly-haired AMINAT, and golden-haired DREW, who had a chiseled face. The moment they touched the ground, the humanoid robot whirred toward them. It welcomed them and signaled for them to follow it. They did so without question. The robot led them into a section of the rig where a compact submarine was parked on two limbs, similar to the aircraft that delivered them to the rig. Unlike that craft, the submarine had a clear front screen that provided an unobstructed view of whatever was in front of it. Drew quickened his steps to the sub. He got up close and placed his hands on the hull, caressing it with his hands.
“You’re not getting hard from that, are you?” asked Calhoun.
Drew ignored her. The robot informed them it had prepared the submarine before they arrived, and it was ready to depart. Calhoun walked to a wall. She pulled out a small terminal and tapped some buttons on the display. A section of the wall, about the size of a motorcycle, slid out and stopped halfway. Calhoun pulled it out completely, revealing a black box. Aminat and Bentley beamed when they saw the box and rushed to it. Aminat took a small device out of her backpack and held it near the box, taking readings. Bentley placed both palms on it, feeling its temperature and texture. Calhoun snickered at them as she grabbed the handle on the box and carried it away from them to the sub. Aminat cursed under her breath and scowled. Calhoun stopped and released the box, letting it thud on the ground. She turned to Aminat and glared at her, menacingly. Aminat retreated, almost stumbling over.
“You don’t scare me,” she said, trying to hide the tremble in her voice.
Calhoun smirked faintly, then grabbed the handle and hauled the box to the submarine. Aminat and Bentley followed behind her. Drew was already in the cockpit, grinning with his teeth out as he flicked switches and got a feel for the controls. It was clear from his expression that he couldn’t wait to get the sub into the water. Calhoun pulled the box into the sub and placed it between the symmetrical rows of seats in the back. She attached it to the floor with hooks and tugged at it a few times to ensure it was secure. When the box didn’t budge, she sat on the co-pilot seat beside Drew. Seeing Drew grin so much at the sight of a mechanized submarine made her brows flick, but she couldn’t prevent a faint smile. Drew caught a glimpse of the smile and winked at her. He rubbed his palms together, then pulled the lever between his seat and Calhoun’s. The submarine spluttered a few times before it sparked and finally came alive. Lights turned on in the sub, flooding the cockpit and passenger sections so brightly they had to squint to see. The right wall was covered with screens, giving the passengers a three hundred and sixty-degree view of the vehicle’s exterior. On the left wall, four deep-dive pressure suits with glass orb helmets were hanging from the wall.
Aminat focused on the box so intently that she ignored her surroundings. Calhoun looked back, saw how focused Aminat and Bentley were, and scoffed at them. Bentley brought his ear close to the box and placed his hands on it. He took his hands away, then slowly placed them on it again and looked up at Aminat.
“What the matter?” asked Aminat.
Bentley nudged his glasses and squinted. “What’s your reading say?”
Aminat shook her head. “I honestly don’t know. I’m getting gamma readings, but they’re strange. One minute, it’s perfectly stable and the next minute, it’s chaos.”
“That explains the temperature fluctuations. This thing is bouncing between negative Celsius and well over a hundred within seconds, yet that temperature isn’t reaching beyond its surface. This material… have you ever seen anything like it?”
Aminat glanced toward the cockpit to check that Calhoun and Drew weren’t looking at them. She leaned closer to Bentley and whispered, “Don’t know if it’s true, but I heard Titan is run by outsiders.”
Bentley jerked his body back and his eyes narrowed. He shook his head. “Bullshit!”
Aminat placed a finger on her lips and Bentley went quiet. She continued her reading of the box while Bentley resumed his physical observations.
Drew grabbed the control levers for the limbs and began moving the sub. It rose from the ground with a loud clank and, with a series of heavy steps, he moved the sub to the edge of the rig.
Drew flipped a switch, which released oil into the limb hydraulics. “Diving in three, two, one…”
The sub jumped from the rig and dropped into the ocean with a huge splash. As they submerged, the limbs came together, combining into a tail. The tail transformed into a thruster engine, which fired up and propelled the submarine deeper into the water. Before long, they saw strange, glowing marine life. Drew grinned when he saw the creatures, which seemed intrigued by the presence of the submarine. He called Aminat and Bentley’s attention to the animals. They watched them on the video screens until Drew loudly told them to stop staring at the fake versions and get a live look through the front screen. Aminat was hesitant, but Bentley was eager to see, so she followed him. Their jaws dropped as they entered the cockpit and looked outside.
“Magnificent,” said Bentley.
“I’ve never been this deep underwater,” said Drew.
“I have never been underwater.”
Aminat stayed briefly before returning to the box. She sat and pursed her lips and ran a hand through her hair. She looked over her shoulder at Calhoun and placed a hand on the box. She gasped and quickly pulled her hand away, drawing Bentley’s attention. He returned to his seat and looked at Aminat with his brows raised.
“It burned me,” she whispered, expecting to see a reaction from Bentley. It didn’t come. “Have you ever wondered why you were picked for this? Of all the people at the lab, why did they choose you?”
Bentley narrowed his eyes, adjusted his glasses, and sat back. He shrugged.
“Bentley, do you have any family?” she asked.
Bentley snorted as he again adjusted his glasses, then stared at her. “Do you?”
Aminat shook her head. They both turned their gazes toward the cockpit. Calhoun was looking back at them, her face creased. She looked at them for a while before turning her attention back to the front of the sub. Bentley and Aminat looked at each other in an uncomfortable moment of mutual realization: they were there because they were expendable. Aminat sighed and Bentley took off his glasses. He cleaned their frame with his hands, then put them back on.
“You don’t need to worry, you know,” Calhoun said, calmly. “That’s why I’m here, to make sure nothing goes wrong. We’ll all make it back in one piece.”
Drew hummed a song, gradually adding words, then sang loudly. Calhoun smirked, then reluctantly joined him in the song. Bentley and Aminat sat in the back, staring at each other with horror in their eyes. Aminat crossed the floor from her seat and sat next to Bentley. She reached for his hand. It was shaking, but he let her hold it. She kept her eyes locked on him. When he looked up, Aminat’s smile helped Bentley’s fear dissipate. He had never seen her look like that, least of all at him. He knew it wasn’t real; she was only doing it to try and calm him down. It was still the most compassionate thing anyone had ever done for him. He clasped her hand.
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The lights in the sub suddenly changed from white to bright blue. A notification appeared on the video screen, informing them of their proximity to the ring. Through the front screen, they could see a path lined with glowing cables that dashed every few meters. Ahead of them, they saw a faint light, about as high above the ground as a building. There was a landing pad with glowing markings on the bed of the ocean. Drew landed inside the lines.
“This is as far as we go,” said Drew, “we’re gonna have to walk the rest.”
“Why’s that?” Bentley asked.
“I don’t know, buddy. I just do as I’m told,”
Aminat stood in front of the pressure suits and checked the names until she found hers. She brushed her right hand over her left arm. A blurry display appeared on the surface of the material. She tapped at it a few times and her already snug silvery uniform tightened even more around her skin. Aminat detached her pressure suit from the wall hook and put the pieces on, one at a time until she was fully clothed. She put on the glass orb helmet last, then turned it until it clicked into place. She tried to move but couldn’t. The suit was far too heavy, weighing more than two tons. Aminat clenched her fist, then shook it. The gesture activated the suit. The material tightened around the metal frame until the suit became rigid. Aminat felt the control module connect to the back of her head. She could control the suit with her thoughts, as though it were an extension of her body. She turned around. The others had been waiting and watching her. Bentley collected his gear and put it on. Drew joined him, while Calhoun stood behind and watched. When the other three had finished gearing up, Calhoun checked their suits to make sure they were properly equipped. Finally, she put on her gear and turned to Drew so he could check the seals of her suit. Calhoun grabbed the black box’s handle and pulled it along as she stepped into the airlock, taking one heavy step after another. The others followed. Once they were all through the doorway, Calhoun pulled the lever. The door hissed shut behind them.
Aminat and Bentley were breathing so loudly that the others could hear them via their comms.
“Relax,” said Calhoun. “This suit is no joke; it can take a beating. Plus I’m here, you’ve got nothing to worry about.”
“Yeah, of course, the hulk is here… nothing to worry about,” Aminat mumbled.
They turned to face the exit, which was larger than the internal door. Drew walked to the wall, grabbed the flood wheel, and turned it. Water poured into the airlock and quickly filled it. Calhoun marched to the exit door and pulled the red lever down. The door clanged loudly, then slowly slid into the wall. The door activated the lights on their suits and helmets, illuminating their surroundings and the path ahead of them. Calhoun took the lead and the others followed. They approached the lit path and followed it. The ocean floor was silent. They had expected it to be teeming with life but there was nothing in sight. After thirty minutes, they arrived at the base of a large ring structure. They paused and looked up at the structure with awe. It was about thirty meters wide. The ring’s structure was three meters thick, with its base buried in the sand. Along the edge, there were three streams of light, intersecting each other.
“Amazing what the human mind can achieve, isn’t it?” Bentley mused.
Drew stepped closer, reaching out his hand until it touched the ring. “It’s ironic,” he chuckled, “the way to the stars isn’t up there, but down here.”
“Let’s not get too excited yet,” Aminat interjected. “We still don’t know if it’ll work.”
“It better,” said Calhoun. “I didn’t haul my ass down here for this to fail.”
Calhoun set the box down about six meters from the ring. Bentley pulled a thick, glowing cable out of the ring and connected it to the only port on the box. He signaled to Aminat by raising a thumb. Aminat opened a panel on the ring to reveal a touchscreen display, then tapped in the authorization code. The panel turned green and granted her access to the ring’s controls. She viewed the schematics for the battery they had just connected to the ring. Her brows furrowed. The readings made no sense. She glanced over at the box, wanting desperately to know what was inside it, but she had her orders. Calhoun paced up and down, keeping her eyes on the perimeter, with her hand close to the rail gun that was attached to the back of her suit. Drew attempted a yoga pose in the suit. Bentley sat on the battery, anxiously looking around and hoping that they would wrap things up and leave as quickly as possible.
Aminat allocated power to each part of the ring, one after another. Despite having directed power to multiple components, the battery’s supply remained at one hundred percent. She wondered if it was an error, or if the battery could supply a seemingly infinite amount of power. After she completed the settings, she hit the power button and turned on the ring. The ring vibrated, sending a gentle shockwave across the seafloor. Aminat stepped back toward the others. A light appeared around the edge of the ring, starting from the left side and spreading to the right. When it reached the right, it flashed a vivid white light, so bright that they were forced to cover their eyes. The light vanished as quickly as it appeared, then a faint glow emerged at the center of the ring. In seconds, the glow grew into a ball of pulsing light.
“What’s happening?” Bentley asked Aminat.
Aminat remained silent. She was as clueless as Bentley. The glow expanded until it covered the entire space within the ring. Though it was light, it behaved more like a wave or a pool of liquid, perhaps both. None of them could understand what they were witnessing. As the energy pulsed, it resonated and vibrated. Aminat walked back toward the ring.
“Aminat, what are you doing?” Calhoun asked with concern.
Aminat did not stop. She continued until she reached the control panel. She looked through the data on the screen, then turned back to the others with a jubilant smile.
“It worked!” she screamed. “The breach is alive!”
Aminat opened a small compartment next to the control panel and pulled out a small box. The others joined her at the control panel. They pulled out more boxes and set them down on the sand. Drew pressed the button on each box and, one by one, they came alive. The machines swam around in the water.
Drew looked at Aminat. “They’re ready for deployment.”
Aminat nodded. Drew took control of the drones, using the display on his helmet. He flew them into the breach at high speed. As soon as the drones disappeared through the threshold, the breach released a low, echoing boom, which shook the ground slightly.
“Bentley, are you receiving any data?” Drew asked.
Bentley checked his display. “Nothing yet.”
“The drones are still active,” Drew added. “but they’re not sending any other data. This thing’s supposed to take them to the Moon, right?”
Bentley nodded. “Why do you ask?”
“I can’t be sure but, wherever they are now, I don’t think it’s the Moon.”
“What makes you think that?”
Before Drew could answer, the ring released a massive shockwave in every direction. It was so powerful that it knocked the four members of the team down. Calhoun quickly jumped back to her feet and pulled everyone else up.
“What the hell what that?!” she growled.
The energy inside the ring began pulsing faster and harder and emitting shockwaves. Calhoun grabbed Aminat by an arm.
“What the hell is going on?”
“I’m not sure,” Aminat replied. “The breach appears to be gaining power rapidly but collapsing at the same time.” Aminat took a deep breath. “I’ll use the control panel and try to stabilize it from there.”
Calhoun looked at the ring and quickly assessed the situation. The pulse was growing more aggressive by the second, as though it was building, and the structure of the ring was beginning to fall apart. Calhoun grabbed Aminat’s wrist and pulled her back.
“We’re getting out of here, now!” Calhoun barked.
Aminat tugged her hand out of Calhoun’s grip and continued toward the ring. Calhoun stepped in front of her.
“Look at it!” Calhoun pointed at the ring. “That thing is about to explode and I want to be as far from here as possible when it does!”
“You’re not my boss!” Aminat blurted.
Calhoun gritted her teeth and shoved Aminat. “I’m not your boss, but your boss sent me here to keep you safe! Let me do that!”
Aminat took another look at the ring. Pieces of it were falling off. She nodded at Calhoun. They turned and ran. Drew and Bentley were ahead of them, running back to the submarine. Aminat tripped and stumbled. Calhoun grabbed her arm and yanked her back to her feet. Aminat tried to thank her as they continued running. She glanced back over her shoulder. The ring had broken apart and its pieces were falling, but the breach remained. Aminat wondered how it was possible, but she didn’t stop. When they reached the submarine, Drew and Bentley were already waiting for them in the airlock chamber. As soon as they were inside, Calhoun closed the door behind them. Drew pulled another lever to drain the water from the airlock. With the water gone, Drew opened the internal door and they hurried back to their positions in the sub. Drew quickly ripped off his suit and ran to the cockpit. He fired the engine and propelled the sub at full speed, ascending far more quickly than they had descended. Aminat, Bentley, and Calhoun watched the screens as the breach’s energy expanded rapidly, moving closer to them. Suddenly, the energy expansion stopped, then it retreated. In seconds, the energy collapsed on itself and vanished. They all took a deep breath of relief. Calhoun playfully punched Aminat in the arm and smiled at her. Aminat smiled back.
“Guys,” Bentley called.
They joined him by the screens and saw the energy coming at them again. It was expanding more rapidly than before, vaporizing everything it touched. They ran to the cockpit and shouted at Drew to go faster. He looked back at them and shook his head. They all knew what it meant. Understanding that they would not outrun the explosion, the crew huddled together and held each other tightly. The explosion engulfed the submarine and vaporized it in an instant.
The ocean floor fell silent. There were no more vibrations, no hums, only stillness. Nothing remained of the ring after the explosion.
A small spark appeared on the floor, where the ring had been. It spread into a crack, which heated up, producing glowing orbs of energy around it. The crack slowly expanded, emitting light from an unknown source. From within, a black, gooey hand reached out, claws clinging to the ground, like a child born from the flame.