The Maw

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown."- H.P. Lovecraft

Down, down into the darkness, the light above them fading. As SABRE initiated its reboot, it was as if all technology decided to falter. The dimming lights added to the chaos of the incursion into the shadows. Each team member scrambled to secure themselves on the already hazardous sled, but as each member moved to grab a rail or the edge of the platform, their suits powered down. What was once a shield of protection, became deadweight and cumbersome. The faintest light began to diminish, being swallowed in the shroud, finally giving away to an unnatural emptiness. Acceleration began to grow out of control as the momentum of the sled and team began to only obey the chaotic laws of unbridled physics. Cold fear coursed through Captain Mada's body, nearly crippling him again. Fighting with all of his strength he moved slowly on the sled, and found a handrail.

A flash of light.

A moment of respite in the throat of a beast. In that instant he saw each of his teammates had secured themselves and even his second in command managing to steady his rifle with one arm. Each of their armor was several hundred kilos, and when powered almost weightless. But now in this uncontrolled descent, the task of steadying, or let alone lifting an arm, should have been impossible for any normal human being. But this tactical team was no ordinary team. This should have been a sight to regain confidence or morale but in the light shown more otherworldly movement now more sinister than ever. The waves of intuition seemed to infuse with the sinful murk, now appearing alive. Or worse, sentient. Darkness enveloped them again, and their intuition was now overwhelming not just their vision but their other senses as well. Never had the Captain experienced something so powerful and maddening in all of his life. A crashing din of intuitive warning, so intense his brain began to hurt from the strain of attempting to sort it out and make sense of it. If he could check his HUD to assess his team, he knew that they must be in distress, but all he could do is remain alone in his coffin like armor. A panic crawled from deep inside his bowels, clawing and seizing his heart. The ability to breath became a near insurmountable task, feeling the weight of his armor restricting his most basic movements. Then cutting through the raging calamity of fear, panic, unknown darkness and increasing acceleration hope rekindled.

A start up chime from the S.R.C. drone.

Captain Mada strained his head and saw the faintest LED light just within reach of him. It was the 'ON/OFF' symbol on the drone's battery pack. As the sled careened ever downward, this one light held all of their hope. Using all of his mental power and bodily strength he lifted his arm and reached out at an angle above his head. As if the darkness knew his intentions he felt an overwhelming tidal wave of sinister intuition fight to break his concentration. Gritting his teeth and extending his finger forward he strained his extremity to the light that might be all of their salvation.

An arc of electricity.

Upon pressing the power button a sharp jolt reached from the drone to Captain Mada's armor causing his armor to power on. SABRE lit up, quickly followed by the sled and the hall lights. Upon gaining power the captain swung his arm toward his second in command, causing a static outburst that then caused a chain reaction reaching Sgt. Niac's armor. Illumination and clarity seemed to immediately dispel the horrors that had appeared around them. A grinding screech cut through the silence as SABRE began to apply the electronic breaks to the sled. Looking forward the team saw that their destination was coming up on them too quickly. Their intuition, now within a form of normalcy, warned them of the collision, then suddenly disappeared just before they felt a sudden jolt in the sled. Each of them looked back to see the drone applying a lever break to the rudimentary vehicle, as well as his own legs on each of the tracks. It was just enough for them to stop just before impact. Captain Mada pulled up the tab that kept track of his team's vitals, as he watched their heart rates return to normal he looked back to see their mechanized companion cool his feet. Captain Mada broke the silence,

"That trip should've taken us an hour, but it's been almost twenty minutes to reach our first checkpoint. If anyone wants to go back now, I don't blame them."

He looked to his team, they both shook their heads, and motioned to continue forward. The SABRE drone moved forward and interfaced with a panel, the sled began to return to the top of the shaft. The elevator car that impeded their path now changed its colors to allow for entry. The team moved forward and entered the elevator car looking for any signs of the researchers. Littered on the ground were personal electronic devices, but nothing else.

Lt. Leba stopped and picked one up, "SABRE what do you make of this?" The drone climbed in behind them and scanned the floor.

"Electronic devices sir. All appear to be without power or broken. I can recover data from the ones that are still working if you would like?"

Lt. Leba nodded, "Do it. Let's retrieve what we can, see if we can get any clues to what exactly these people were studying." The drone gathered them up and they all proceeded into the station. Inside the station there was nothing to indicate a large group of people had just passed through. A large round room with reinforced windows that looked out into the abyss. The drone took the devices to a charging station and laid them all down to charge. One by one they powered on and SABRE force hacked them and downloaded their content.

"I will let you know if there is anything of interest as I analyze the data. In order to continue our pursuit, we will need to take the last pod down to the ocean floor. " SABRE projected out a schematic of the station, and the three pods that were attached to the undercarriage. He then illustrated the pods descending down a cable to the final station on the ocean floor.

"The pods are programmed to descend at the optimal speed in order to keep the crew from experiencing any issues going to such extreme depths. Unfortunately, you will all have to leave your suits behind in order to fit in the pod, and the S.R.C. Drone will have to be returned to its storage state. If that is, you wish me to come along."

Captain Mada nodded his head in acknowledgement. His mind was consumed in thought, now that there was time to think, his psyche was in a state of tumultuous restlessness. Wrapping and coiling upon itself, battling between two sides of cerebral existence. On one hand was disassociation and compartmentalizing, symptoms of the weak and frightened lizard brain unable to cope with the exponential tidal wave of new exciting and frightening sensations that it had received moments before. The other half demanded answers, demanded a confession, an account of the very things forced upon it, an overall reckless attempt to rationalize the irrational. The consequences of not taking this time to analyze were too great a loss- it was now or never. It was now or forever be banished to a psychological box buried deep within oneself; never to be opened. All other senses now were silent in this moment that was brief and yet eternal in nature, a struggle that he himself could feel tearing at his stable rational mind of science and reason. The neural pathways that governed perception of what was real, now stood as silent witness to this internal struggle, waiting to swear loyalty to whichever side was the victor.

A tragic and sorrowful truth began to manifest itself in these moments. As his mind waged this silent civil war, a darkness was allowed into his mind. For as he tried to reason the unreasonable, or quantify the unquantifiable, the ancient and most powerful emotion of humanity began to creep into the crevices and folds of his central nervous system. A phenomena that should have no place in the minds of learned men or warriors. But this malevolent oily shroud exuded itself into every place of his soul that was now in an existential power vacuum. It didn't matter which side won, for in the end this cancerous influence was waiting for the right moment to enslave every fiber of this now weakened being. For now it waited.

Captain Mada looked to his soldiers and they too seemed to be in the same state of peril as himself. A darkness now veiled each of them as he gazed upon them one by one. Resolving to take this fight head on, the captain broke the silence.

"We need to discuss what just happened." Each warrior lifted their heads and met his gaze, slowly deliberately nodding. Discussion and communication was key to holding onto reason and objectivity. Though weakened- the side of acknowledgment had won, no longer would these events be buried deep in their hearts and minds. Unbeknownst to them, the war for their sanity was far from over.

As SABRE used the S.R.C. to analyze the devices, they slowly removed their armor, leaving themselves with just their inner armor clothing that was similar to a wetsuit. Compared to the armored suits they may as well have been naked. One by one they began to recount their experiences of the rapid descent. Each of them unpackaged what they saw, felt, heard, and even

"Nile Corp scientists always said it was just a mutation. A natural occurrence that was inevitable in the evolutionary path of humans. Hunters are able to sense prey or other predators. Warriors gaining unnatural insight into a battlefield, enemies movements and even prophesying their own demise. Athletes at the top of their game are able to sense the flow and change in the game and their movements being so perfectly precise. They always said it was only a matter of time before humanity was able to do the same thing but on a more tangible scale. But they only ever mentioned our abilities as something that was just beginning to develop. They had yet to isolate the sequence to even begin to understand it. Why is it so potent now?" It was Leba who had been speaking.

"The last mission." Captain Mada blurted it out before he understood it fully.

"I don't know how or what happened but I know that for me everything changed when I encountered that old scientist and looked at that rock. There has to be a connection." His mind wandered to his memories that he had tried to bury.

"But we weren't there, Captain. We didn't share that experience. It can't be that rock." Sgt. Niac made a compelling argument. Silence filled the chamber as they thought. Captain Mada brought up the map of the installation and reviewed the video of their rapid descent on a hand held device. He froze and stared at the image.

"SABRE what is the makeup of the tunnel?" The captain waited for the response.

"Upon analysis it appears that the tunnel is not ice, but some element that is not documented. Documents from the lab state that it was discovered not created. Sorry I cannot give further insight." SABRE went silent.

Captain Mada worked on the hand held and then turned the image to his team. On the screen an image of the stone tunnel, and then he swiped the screen to show an image of the pillar from their previous mission. The visual similarities of the stone were undeniable. The Captain continued his assertion,

"This stone must do something to our senses. Something to our genetic makeup. It's the only thing that makes sense."

The team nodded in agreement. It was the best they had to go on, and for now they rested their inquisitive minds on this precarious ledge of understanding. At this point the team began to search the substation for anything of use. They found food, water, and resting quarters down a corridor. The desire to speak left them and they took to nourishing themselves and attempting to rest for an hour as the S.R.C drone worked. Their minds raced and recounted the extraordinary moments from the beginning of this incursion. No real rest came.

SABRE broke the silence announcing that nothing of tactical value had been recovered from the electronic devices and that all of his findings were being sent back to Corporate servers for further analysis. The S.R.C drone then climbed down into the pod and collapsed itself into a docking station on the wall of the pod. Silently the team double checked their equipment, micro cameras, heads up displays, microphones, and weapons. One by one they slid into the pod that now felt more like a mobile tomb than a rescue vehicle.

The inside had no windows, only screens and sensors. The hatch sealed behind them as they strapped themselves into their seats. A sudden jolt announced the next leg of their downward foray had begun. Infrared sensors and sonar showed them the void around them. It seemed the scientists didn't wish to attract any attention to themselves if there was anything living in the depths of Europa. Slowly they dropped deeper and deeper into the dark ice world.

The team then began to get flashes of warning that would echo through their pod. These warnings proceeded wraiths and apparitions would flash on the edge of their sensors. Soft sonar pings would alert them that indeed something was there, and it was aware of them. Intelligent wisps of life keeping their distance and evading the alien craft now invading their territory. They weren't alone, and they each had the distinct impression they were being hunted. The hair on their necks stood on edge preparing for an escalation of aggression, which never came.

Captain Mada's mind wandered to a time when in combat his enemy had used sleep deprivation tactics against him. These creatures were doing the same thing to them now- slight probing coupled with evasion.

"Whatever they are: they are smart, and they are making sure we don't get a moment of rest. It's as if they know we can sense them." Captain Mada pressed a few keys and attempted to extend the range of the infrared. Glimpses of tentacles quickly fleeing mixed with the occasional blind eye in a flurry of movement was all they could glean from their visitors. Then suddenly they faded away.

The pod then began broadcasting that the craft was going to be filled with artificial liquid oxygen. This was standard to avoid decompression of the craft. A silent panic set in on the team as their pod slowly filled with a liquid that appeared like amniotic fluid.

"That damned robot failed to mention this!" Lt. Leba shouted. Quickly the team scrambled to their psychological training to remain calm. The onboard computer walked through the steps with the serene politeness of a flight attendant. Explaining that their minds would remember what it was like to breath liquid and to relax through the process. Drowning is what it felt like, yet no warnings of danger came to their senses.

In the dimly lit rescue pod, that was now reaching depths once forbidden to mankind, the team gagged and struggled to breath to avoid a sudden crushing demise deep in the dark depths of Europa. Baptized in an overwhelming new world that was forever trying to kill them, the team now felt there was no return.