Saltblood

s always lou

and noise-canceling systems-Kieran Voss could hear it. Not just the crash of waves or the d

ty from the sea. Below him, the Abyssal Veil yawned like a scar in the ocean floor. Blacker than t

ers who never returned. Twenty years ago, James Voss dove into the Veil on a classified mi

d Kieran what r

ive, every data set. He wasn't just a biotechnologist. He was a ghost

was going back

his wristpad pulle

am assembled.

urse she was on sche

s, securing gear. The room smelled like oil and disinfectant. And at the center of it all stood Mina Rowe-h

, not looking up

in tho

chasing

," he muttered, and

ut the edges were still there-unresolv

ofitted with deep-sea shielding and a neural feedback interface. Kieran

e last six months, seismic sensors had picked up rhythmic pulses deep below-

pped in. "S

ed, and the water s

trench was endless, its walls rippling with strange patterns of life-jellies, shimmerfish, thin

. "Do you actually think you

answer r

thing's alrea

im, frowning. "T

sed 6,00

when the so

ot rock, not coral. It was smooth, curved

spered. "That's.

"It looks... carved.

tronger this tim

that?" s

aid, fighting the c

en he

the viewpor

Not struggling.

ting like sea grass, eyes that glowed faintly gold. She wa

d. "What t

t them, shaking the hull. Warning lights flared.

l there. Sti

d her hand and presse

time held

did t

oved. A si

ear it, but h

u

gone. Just vanish

's surface, ala

spikes. Something had awakened. The city trembled, engineers scrambled to reroute

litary officers imm

ood on the landing p

u find?" she

ed a quick gla

lied. "But we were hit by t

ed. "Yet the quake coordinates ma

y without wait

ran, voice low. "S

e said. "And now sh

eran reviewed the fo

bursts, blurry images, corrupted audio. Th

straight int

sed th

med

ooked dire

Not a reflecti

hair and whispered to t

startled him. He didn't e

ned th

ere sh

g wet.

y

en. Not behin

iv

e

peak, she collaps

her before she

sing beneath her skin, like some dormant current trying to restart. Her long hair clung to her shoulders

ic rising like bile. "Stay w

dn't r