Black Smokers by C. J. Waller

Author:C. J. Waller
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: 9781629290591, Damnation Books, Lovecraftian, science fiction, adventure, The Bloop, Lovecraft, Dagon, Innsmouth, Marine biology, Geology, deep sea exploration, hydrothermal vents, pliosaur, anomalocaris, shoggoth, deep one, pacific ocean, CJ Waller, Black Smokers, tentacles, horror, dimensional portal, Abyssal plain, Cthulhu, adventure, cryptozoology, science, dread
Publisher: Damnation Books LLC
Published: 2013-09-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

The Nuarakhu Incident

2:00 a.m., 25th February, Four Years Earlier.

The light pierced the darkness, a great bolt of blue and white that crackled down from the heavens. Ailsa rolled over in her sleeping bag and let out a frustrated sigh.

“Not another fucking storm…”

Next to her, Mark snorted in amusement but did not open his eyes.

“I thought this was supposed to be a tropical paradise,” she said. “The Bounty adverts lied to me.”

“Ahhh, now that’s where you went wrong. Y’see, tropical places only look like paradise. In reality, they are sweaty, mosquito-bitten hell holes—”

“Yeah, yeah. I know. You’ve told me before, but still…more rain?”

The sky burned again, this time accompanied by a growl of thunder. The air felt fizzy, and all around them, people were stirring, sitting up, and whining to themselves.

More storms meant it was time for everyone to go and collect their precious equipment. They thought it built to last, built to survive such places, but none of them—not ever Doctor Schmidt, with all his years of exploring the most inhospitable places on Earth—had experienced anything quite like this. It was like the island held a very personal grudge against them.

One-by-one, they peeled down their sleeping bags, rooted around for hiking boots, and left the shelter. The sky was full of grumbles, alive with electricity and the metallic taste of incoming rain.

When they had first arrived, Ailsa was the first to unbuckle her seatbelt and jump free; exciting though the ride in a helicopter was, it was nothing compared to the delights she was positive lay before her. Now, she wasn’t so sure. Nuarakhu Island, officially classified as uninhabited, made it very attractive to prospectors. She’d signed up to work with the National Geological Survey as soon as she heard the trip was a possibility, figuring that it might scratch her itch for a little bit of genuine adventure rather than being stuck behind a monitor measuring seismic activity in the Pacific.

The sun had been hot on her skin that day, drying the sweat that had accumulated during her flight. Behind her, the team began to unpack their supplies from the belly of the helicopter. There was enough for a two-week stay—more, if they were careful—but this was only a preliminary expedition. A week at most, or so Ailsa had been told. The extra supplies were simply because the weather patterns around the island could be unpredictable, and the lack of decent landing points meant if a storm blew up, they could end up stranded. Rather than worry Ailsa, this excited her even more. For the first time in her scientific life, she was on the cutting edge. Rather than the safe, well-explored outcrops of Hawaii, she finally had the chance to explore somewhere truly remote. The small group of scientists watched as the helicopter shrank to a small, black dot on the horizon and then disappeared.

Now, the real fun could begin—or so she had thought.

A scream ripped through the night. Ailsa’s head shot up, her heart racing. What the fuck was that?

Mark grinned.

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