The World Serpent
by Geovanni Botticella
“R/V Kelpi, this is the United States Coast Guard SAR please respond,” Valarie said over the radio. This was her 4th announcement to the idle vessel, and there was still no response.
“R/V Kelpie, this is Petty Officer Valarie Lieu; we are responding to your distress signal. Please respond, or we will board immediately.” Static emitted from the radio.
“Still no word?” Ensign Villega said as if he hadn’t heard the static.
“No, nothing. We don’t have visuals of anyone on deck either,” Valarie clarified before her commanding officer asked another obvious question.
“That’s weird. They send out a distress call on a clear day, then complete radio silence after,” Aaron said. His eyes were still glued to the binoculars, staring desperately at the vessel.
“Have we ever had problems with the crew before? Maybe they’re just trying to avoid trouble?” Valarie said, trying to keep Aaron from spiraling. “It wouldn’t be the first time a research vessel got cold feet after making a distress call.” Lots of these ships had grad students who’d never set foot on a boat before and usually confused sea sickness with medical emergencies, though their professor or some captain would call in a false alarm and clear the air.
“Maybe they got boarded by a cartel and turned it into a floating drug pen,” Jacob said, a surprisingly dumber comment than she thought he was capable of.
“Oh ya, I’m sure they boarded and completely retrofitted an entire research vessel in one hour,” Valarie said, not trying to hide her annoyance. Of the people she worked with, Jacob was easily the most nauseating. He joined the Coast Guard because he thought he could fight pirates like in “Captain Phillips,” not thinking those incidents were one in a million and happened on the opposite side of the ocean. Anyone who joined the Coast Guard for any reason other than Search and Rescue tended to annoy Valarie.
“Alright enough from both of you,” Ensign Villega said, sounding fractionally authoritative. “It’s been fifteen minutes with no response, and we’ve circled the vessel twice. We’ll board the Kelpie and find out what’s going on.”
They swung their RB-S around to the port side of the Kelpie. The waters were calm, with low winds and perfect visibility in broad daylight. The makings of an easy and smooth rescue, but Valarie couldn’t help but feel anxious. The ship was indicated for deep-sea research and thus was reasonably large with a crane used to hold and deploy a submersible, which looked like it was docked to the starboard side of the deck.
Other than that, the ship was in perfect shape. There was no exterior damage, the vessel was stable, having laid anchor, and the satellite dome looked in good condition, though they wouldn’t know for sure until they went aboard.
They rafted the RB-S to the Kelpie and grabbed medical and emergency materials in case anything made a turn for the worse. Ensign Villega grabbed the first rung on the ladder when Valarie reminded him he should probably make sure someone hung back in case they needed to evacuate. Thankfully, he chose Jacob.
Valarie was the first to step onto the deck and was immediately struck by how pristine the boat was. Every cable was fastened, and there was no debris, discarded materials, or any wear and tear. Their records indicated the Kelpie had been active for the last thirteen years, but it looked like it was on its maiden voyage.
Aaron whistled, clearly impressed, which was saying something considering how uptight the rookie was.
“When we meet this crew, we have to ask them to clean our cutter,” Aaron said, laughing.
Valarie didn’t respond, and Aaron’s laughs turned into a nervous sigh.
“We need to go below deck,” Ensign Villega cut in. “There’s no one here, and lifeboats are missing.”
Valarie’s ears warmed. She felt stupid for focusing so much on the tidiness of a boat that she didn’t notice such a glaring problem. The crew was missing. On top of that, it was eerily quiet. She heard no footsteps beyond her own and her team’s. No shouting, no movement; even the creaking of the boat seemed hushed.
As they made their way below deck, Valarie’s eye caught a glimpse of the submersible again. Sunlight reflected off the bulbous dome as if calling to her.
“Everything alright, Lieu?” Villega said.
“Ya…You go below; I’m going to check the submersible first.”
Villega was staring at it, too. “Ok…but make it quick. Meet us on the bridge when you’re done”.
The submersible was planted on the deck with the crane attached to its exterior. The crane was arched, almost flexed like an arm gripping the submersible as if something was going snatch it away. Valarie entered from the top hatch and sat in one of the four seats available. She had never been in a submersible and was already feeling claustrophobic. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be thousands of feet deep, crammed with two other people. The cabin was barely touched, looking nearly as spotless as the research vessel. Nothing seemed out of place, and there was generally nothing of interest.
She felt a bead of sweat run down her back. She wasn’t sure if it was getting hot in the submersible or if she was getting increasingly anxious. She was about to leave when she kicked something, skidding it across the floor. She reached down, squeezing herself between the chairs. She fell across the floor, face pressed against a seat when she grabbed something rectangular. She pulled it up and saw it was an external hard drive, a sturdy one with yellow bumpers.
Valarie left the submersible, heading into the research vessel. The interior was a stark white; fluorescent light reflected off the floor, making her squint while she moved through the halls. Like the deck above, below was eerily clean and utterly void of people. At this point, she was beyond concerned and moving into damage control, a feeling that conflicted with her reason, considering that there was no damage to assess.
When she arrived at the bridge, Jacob stood beside the door with his sidearm strapped to his hip.
“Why aren’t you at your post? You were supposed to hang back for evac.” Valarie said.
He looked at her from the corner of his eye, barely noticing her. “You were taking too long, and I was bored.” He looked her up and down as if assessing her. “Why? Eager to leave?”
“You can’t just leave your post,” she said, ignoring his question.
“I asked him to come up,” said Ensign Villega as he walked into the hallway, Aaron close behind on the Bridge. “There’s no one on board, no signs of struggle, damage or forced entry. I thought we could use another hand to assess the situation.
“Not much to assess. They probably just jumped ship. It would explain the missing lifeboats. Let’s call a tow and get out of here,” said Jacob
“We’re not leaving,” Valarie said, staring at Jacob with daggers. “We still need to find out what happened to the crew.”
“What got you so worked up? Trying to make up for failed assignments?.”
Valarie moved quickly toward Jacob, getting in his face. He wasn’t much taller than her, but his shadow contrasted with the white of the halls, making him look bigger than usual. He only smirked at her, clearly entertained at her attempt at intimidation.
“Enough!” Villega said, trying to break them up. We’re not leaving yet; we need evidence of what happened.
Valarie held up the hard drive to Villega. “Here it is,” she said, not breaking eye contact with Jacob. “Found it in the submersible”.
Villega took it into his hands and stared at it as if deducing what it was.
“It’s a hard drive,” Aaron said, glad to finally be useful. “There’s a computer on the bridge; maybe we can see what’s on it.”
“Alright, good work Valarie, let’s see what we can find.” Villega turned back into the bridge. Jacob broke their stare down and followed Veiga.
Valarie glared at him, but her concentration broke when she realized his shadow — followed him a second later, as if lagging behind him.
The computer was an older Laptop, likely used by a student onboard. The hard drive had several video files, none of which were labeled, and the thumbnails were barely discernable except for one that looked as if it was a vlog.
The video started with a young woman with dark brown hair on the deck and the sun setting in the background. It looked as though the boat was in the middle of its voyage.
“Hey guys! We’re on day two of our research trip, with about one more day until we reach the coast of Nova Scotia,” the woman said. “It’s been a long trip so far, but I’m so excited!” she let out a forced squeal. “It’s my first time actually in the field, and it’ll be my first time in…” she turned the camera around toward…” A SUBMERSIBLE! It’s going to be sooooo cool. Dr. Martone said there should be a shoal of about five hundred Humboldt squid! It’ll be so crazy!” she turned the camera back around to face her and let out another high pitched squeal. “Anyway, we have to go below deck, but I’ll update ya’ll if anything interesting happens.”
That statement turned out to be false as Aaron and Valarie watched several vlogs that mostly consisted of mundane updates, tours of the boat, and one video that was… exclusively for her girlfriend. The only helpful information Valarie was able to gather was the confirmation that there were thirteen people on the vessel, six of whom were students and University of New England faculty. They also learned that the woman’s name was Evelyn. Finally, though, they reached a video of interest. Evelyn’s first time inside the submersible.
Evelyn was already inside the submersible when the video started, giving a tutorial on the controls in grueling details that Aaron insisted on watching. After about half an hour, the team dove to their desired depth of one thousand feet. A few minutes later, they found their shoal. The squids were admittedly beautiful and much larger than Valarie was comfortable with. She had heard Humbolt squids were very aggressive, and this was made apparent by some of the Red Devils slapping their suckers against the dome, which garnered shouts from some and laughs from others.
After some dialogue between Evelyn and her professor and the apparent lead on the expedition, the camera turns back to Evelyn.
“Oh my god,” Evelyn whispered, requiring Aaron to raise the volume. “I was just talking to Dr. Martone, and she said we’re going deeper.” Evelyn was visibly shaking with a wide grin that wrinkled the sides of her eyes. “The Kelpie said its sonar picked up something BIG, and we’re really hoping it’s a sperm whale or even…” She paused, taking in a deep, dramatic breath. “A colossal squid!” She quietly shouted. The camera started shaking from her bouncing in her seat.
“That can’t be right,” Aaron said, pulling Valarie’s focus.
“What do you mean?”.
“Well, colossal squids live in the Arctic,” Aaron squinted at the screen as if focusing on the video would provide an immediate answer. “Waters in Nova Scotia are cold, believe me, but not that cold.”
The next video didn’t open with a quirky intro by Evelyn but with her panicked cries.
“What the fuck is that?! What is it!” she said, sounding almost terrified. “Is it fucking moving.”
“Evelyn, relax!” said Dr. Martone’s. “Turn on the floodlights; we need a better look.”
The lights switched on, brightening the deep sea, and Valarie could see what put Evelyn in a panic. Something massive was in front of them. Its width reached far above the submersible and sank below into the murky depths. It looked like the side of a mountain but was covered in scales. Each plate was enormous, twice the size of the submersible itself. It had patterns and grotesque grooves across it, indicating its organic nature.
“What the fuck” Villega said, looking over Aaron and Valarie’s shoulder at the screen.
“T..tur..turn this shit off,” Jacob said, his voice wavering.
“No, we have to find out what that is,” Valarie said. “Keep playing.”
“Oh my god…Oh my god…Oh my god,” Evelyn kept saying, each time sounding closer to tears. She panned the camera from the left to the right, seeing the massive body extend beyond their ability of sight. They couldn’t see a head, appendages, or visible organs, not because of a lack of, but because it stretched farther than should ever be possible.
“We need to send a drone down here as soon as possible. Evelyn, turn that damn thing off!” Dr. Martone said, ending the video.
“Click the next one,” Valarie said. Aaron sat frozen, and Valarie realized tears were running down his face. She took the mouse and pressed play.
The following video was drone footage. It moved quickly, following the length of the creature. It continued farther and farther down but seemed never-ending. Valarie scrubbed through the timeline, seeing that the video was over an hour long. The drone still hadn’t reached a head or tail when the footage ended. She moved to the following video, again an hour long. In the fourth video, the drone finally reached its peak. It stopped at the creature’s eye, which opened at the sight of light. The drone remained still, staring deep into the abyss of the pupil, barely catching the edges of the faded yellow iris. The drone moved backward, trying to capture a full image of the creature, but it couldn’t even capture the curvature of the eye until five minutes in.
Eventually, the drone displayed the creature’s profile.
“It looks like a snake,” Valarie said.
She leaned closer toward the laptop screen like she wanted to plunge her head into it and examine the creature. It had a narrow head, with small horns above its eyes that curved backward. It had a thin snout and kept its jaw clenched shut. It was a good thing, given that Valarie didn’t want to see what horror lay within its maw. Its scales were greenish-yellow, but half the body was faded as it descended so deep that light could not reveal its color. The serpent remained eerily still, resting its head on the sea floor. It stared forward toward nothing, ignoring the blazing light from the drone. “Why would it care?” Valarie thought to herself, “What could challenge a creature of this size? The video ended frozen on the image of the leviathan lurking in the sea. Valarie’s heart pounded. She couldn’t tell if she was terrified or astonished.
“I wish you hadn’t seen that,” said a voice in an unrecognizable accent.
Valarie and the rest of her team turned toward the voice but saw nothing but Jacob. His pupils were gone, and a snarl creased his face. His shadow grew twice his size. Its arms were stretched out like a puppeteer’s, though Jacob’s weren’t.
“I’m so not used to your new technology; if it weren’t for that box, none of you would have been the wiser.”
Jacobs’s pupils returned, and he gasped as if he was holding his breath. “Who said that? What’s going on?!” Jacob drew his gun out and pointed it at the crew.
“Jacob…Jacob drop the gun,” Valarie said. She held out her arm and stood between him and the rest of the crew. His pupils disappeared again. His arms fell to his side. Valarie could see the shadow move, contorting Jacob’s body.
“Why is it you Mortals are so obsessed with the sea? Always sailing and searching its depths. As if there’s anything down there for you. If you were meant for the waters, we would have made you for it,” the voice said through Jacob.
“What are you? What did you do to Jacob,” Valarie asked.
“They weren’t supposed to see anything,” the voice said, ignoring Valarie. “You weren’t supposed to see anything, but none of you could leave well enough alone!”
Villega managed to sneak around Jacob and snatched the gun out of his hand. Whatever was controlling, Jacob didn’t seem to care.
“Who are you, what’s going on, and what was in that fucking video!” Villega said, pointing the gun at Jacob.
Jacob’s eyes returned to normal. He opened his mouth to speak, but blood spat out, speckling both Valarie and Villega. The shadow moved into three-dimensional space, pushing through Jacob’s back and out his chest. He yelled silently, his eyes rolling to the back of his head.
As the shadow pushed through his body. It began to take a physical shape. A head slowly emerged from the shadow. It looked human with long, wet red hair obscuring part of its face. Its forehead was enflamed and blistered with a singed circle in its center. Its lips were cracked and were stuck in an irritated snarl. More of the being materialized from the shadow. A scrawny chest with a bleeding wound from its abdomen and pale arms that were marked with rope burns. Its waist was the only thing covered in clothing, which consisted of a brown loincloth with a skull on the pelvis.
Aaron gasped and fell out of his chair, knocking over the laptop. Villega pulled the trigger, but nothing happened, realizing now that his gun turned into wood. Valarie grabbed the computer and ripped the external hard drive from it. Her head was pounding from adrenaline, still processing what she had just seen.
“I tried, I hope you know. The others, they were necessary, but I tried to spare you.”
“Spare us?” As she asked, she realized the ship changed around them. The pristine walls were caked with blood, and viscera were scattered across the floor. Valarie scanned the now slaughterhouse of a control room and saw the bisected body of Evelyn, the dashed remains of a camera next to her.
“We need to leave,” Valerie said to Villega, trying to keep her voice low.
“Leave?” the being’s head snapped toward her. “No no no, you won’t go anywhere, not after what you saw,” He approached her, towering over her. He looked far taller than he was just moments ago, to the point that his head brushed against the ceiling. “Your fate was sealed the moment you saw my son.”
He lunged at her, his hands aiming for her throat, but Valarie moved quicker. She dodged the attack, adrenaline pulsing through her veins, and slammed her fist into his open wound. She expected or hoped to hear a howl or yelp of pain, but instead, he laughed. He backhanded her, flinging her into Aaron, who was cowering behind her. Both of them were sprawled on the floor. Valarie’s back throbbed with pain. Again, he sprang for her. She shut her eyes, expecting to feel the being’s grip.
“Go!” Valarie heard. She opened her eyes to see Villega standing in front of her, the being’s hands gripping around Villega’s head. He grabbed the being’s arms, trying to pry him off his head. “Go now!” he yelled his voice pitching in agony. Color started to leave his face, turning almost completely black. His body looked like it was liquifying, melting into the floor. His arms were still firm, but Valarie could see his strength failing.
She lifted Aaron while he silently watched the horror unfold as Villega’s body lost its features, turning into a black shadowy puddle on the floor. They ran from the room and shut the door, following their Ensign’s last command.
The hallway to the deck looked like a slaughterhouse. Entrails lined the floors, and appendages protruded from the walls as if their bodies had fused with the ship.
“Valarie, what do we do? What do we fucking do!” Aaron said, finally gaining his voice back.
“Whatever that thing in the ocean was, he didn’t want anyone to know about it. We have to get back to the RB-S and send the video out there .”
“Send it? To who?!”
The rookie made a good point. Valarie wasn’t sure who to send the video to. Her admirals? A Scientist, An archeologist? They could post it online for a conspiracy theorist to tear it apart. They heard the being shouting something undiscernible followed by a loud grinding of metal
“We’ll think of that later; right now, we just need to make it out alive.”
They made it to the above deck and barred the hatch shut, hoping it would hold. The weather completely changed. The skies were black and pouring rain. In the darkness, Valarie thought she saw a figure that looked like the being below deck, but lightning cracked and it disappeared as soon as it appeared.
“Fuck, fuck! It’s gone. It’s GONE!” Aaron shouted, pulling out his hair.
Valarie looked at the portside of the boat and saw that their RB-S was gone. Either sunk into the depths or floated out into the ocean’s vastness.
The hatch lurched, nearly breaking off its hinges. Valarie could hear laughing behind the door, followed by excessive pounding.
Valarie looked out across the deck, trying to think of some way they could escape. “The submersible,” Valarie said. “It might be operational.”
“Ok ok, I think I remember some of the instructions, but I don’t…” Aaron was cut off by another slam of the hatch causing it to bulge.
“Anything is better than staying here. I can operate the crane; just get inside, get ready, and take this.” She handed him the hard drive
Aaron ran to the submersible, fighting against the harsh winds of the storm. Valarie made it to the crane controls only feet away. She heard the metallic groan of the hatch being pried open. She tried to move as quickly as possible, raising the crane while Aaron clamored inside. She lifted the submersible over the water and was prepared to drop it when she felt something cold caress her shoulder.
“I was fond of you midgardians, I hope you know,” the being’s voice paralyzed Valarie. “You always amused me; It was truly pleasurable to watch you muck your world around. Even during my imprisonment, you entertained me.”
Valarie darted to the submersible suspended in the sky and looked into his eyes. He seemed genuinely sad, but whether it was a pity for himself or her, she couldn’t tell.
“Then why do you want to kill us?” Valarie said, almost pleading.
“You saw Jormungandr, my son. The other gods know all my tricks now, but he’ll be my greatest one, my weapon for Ragnarok.” He looked out to the sea almost longingly. “But now you know, and if you live, then they will know, then the Alfather will know.” He placed a hand on her cheek, sending a stinging sensation through her. “And I can’t have that.”
Valarie jolted as the boat suddenly rocked, flinging Valerie against the railing. She looked over the side to see the submersible had fallen into the water and saw what looked like a hammer lodged into the side of the ship.
Lightning cracked across the sky, brightening the world around them.
“LOKI!”
A thunderous voice boomed, shaking Valarie to her core.
“No. NO!” Loki screamed. “You can’t be here”.
Valarie leaped over the railing before she could see what or who Loki was talking to. She swam as quickly as she could, reaching the submersible's top hatch before submerging in the water. She opened it and slipped in before water started rushing inside.
“Aaron! Do you still have the hard drive?”
“I..” Aaron paused sitting still at the controls as if frozen. Valarie grabbed his shoulder and was about to say something when she saw what had his attention.
Colossal yellow eyes peering at them from the depths.
Note:
Huge thank you to Victoria Rose for making the cover art. If you would like to see some of her work, check out her website and social media in the link below.
You can also view the drafts of the cover art below to get a peak at the process.
