s always lou
and noise-canceling systems-Kieran Voss could hear it. Not just the crash of waves or the dty 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