Blue Sub: Dark Descent
CHAPTER 1:Bottomless Pit
TIME: 40 YEARS AGO...
LOCATION: ANTARCTICA
"How much farther is it?" ask Rick the ice cold wind striking him in the face.
"Not too much further, maybe 10-15 min at least the least where really close" said zorndyke pointing at the digital map on his rist.
Jung then surveyed the open tundra of Antarctica around him, he reflected on the reason why he hade come here in the first place.
A month ago one of his private satellites had detected a deposit of gold that was located several thousand feet under the Antarctic ice. Though how much gold zorndyke needed to know.
Luckily though zorndyke had enough money to pay for this little expedition, and he was sure he could scrounge up enough money to get the gold excavated. In reality this was nothing more than an inspection. He knew in his head that it would take hundred of man hour, tools, machinery and equipment to get the job done. But the hard part would be how to keep this all secret. Zorndyke new that in the future he would be finish with the chimera gene project, he was certain of it, he knew he was close. And that he would need the money to fund his plan, a plan that would affect the human race and the world all together.
He then looked back regarding the gentlemen behind him.
Five men, all experts in there field. He had hired 2 mercenaries, 1 mining engineer, and 1 geotechnical engineer.
"Did we really need to do this in a snowstorm?" ask Rick, the mercenary squinted his eyes as a cold gust of wind passed over him. He was fairly strong man with black hair and brown eyes.
"I may not be the only one who detected the gold, someone else might have discovered it bye satellite as well, that why I want to get there first before any one else" said Zorndyke
"Hey I'd rather be in a snowstorm, if it means getting to the gold first" replied drake as he shuffle through the snow, the second mercenary was a buff man with blond hair and had a tan complexion. The first mercenary Rick then turned to zorndyke "hey professor, how much gold are we talking here?"
"That's what we're here to find out "plied Ale walking past him as he continued marching through the snow. Ale was the geotechnical engineer and close friend of Jung; he had white gray hair and slightly withered white skin. His expertise would be helpful in assessing risks posed by the condition of the site.
"Well we better hurry up , Id like to get out of this storm as soon as possible " said Malcolm who was the groups mining engineer, he was fairly regular size man with caramel color skin with dyed blond hair , he would be in charge of the production of the gold and its distribution.
The team continued on Marching in the whiteout with zorndyke leading them, a few minutes later they stopped in front a large mound of ice jutting upwards with a massive opening in the middle of it. Zorndyke peered down to notice the pitch blackness of what looked like bottomless pit, Rick came by next to him and lit a torch flare in his hand, it blazed bright phosphorus red. He then flung it down the black shaft, both men continue to watch until the light from the flare burned out.
"So doc?'' Rick began, "professor" corrected zorndyke
" how far do you think that hole goes?" asked Rick.
Ale then came beside him and answers "it's maybe a couple of miles, Id say 4 maybe 5"
Ale then unexpectedly handed zorndyke a black rope, the rope had fastener on it similar to the ones use for mountain climbing, it had grip handles on one part of the cable, and had grips for the feet on the bottom end of the cord. "Here Jung hook yourself up to this, is completely safe. Just hook it on and hold on tight, just think of it as a one man elevator " he said giving zorndyke a reassuring smile .
"And why do I have to be the first one down the opening?" asked zorndyke
"Well Jung seeing as how you're the one with the big idea to bring use here, I thought
It might be appropriate if it was you who went down first" replied ale
"well I guess it doesn't matter who goes down first" said zorndyke as he latched the rope to his belt and positioned himself over the pit.
"After you hit the ground first I'll send Malcolm and Rick after you, drake will stay up here with me to help keep the crane operating, oh yeah give us a call on the squawk box if you see anything interesting or in some kind of danger or something" ale said pointing to the radio in his hand.
"Good luck professor "said Malcolm while Rick gave him a thumps up.
Zorndyke then nodded in response.
Ale then released the lever on the crane that began Jung's ascent down the shaft,
as he slowly slided downward he retrieved his flashlight from his coat pocket and lit it.
For several feet he could see nothing but cold hard rock & ice, minutes later Zorndyke soon descended down the dark cavern, he flash the light to the wall left of him. At first he could see nothing but dark charcoal black stoned walls,
it seemed that there use to be some volcanic activity here before , the a slit smell of sulfur was in the air.
Soon the color of the stones changed from a charcoal gray and black to a yellowish color, it the light refracted the light b before him and Jung realized the wall was made entirely of pure fine gold.
The walls all around him where lined with this precious element.
Jung's heart almost stopped, the gold seemed to go on forever as if it had no end.
He cot his breath as he tried to calm himself, he looked down as the crane continued to descend into darkness. This was like the lost city of gold to him; with the money this gold would produce it could fund his plans and even more beyond what he could imagine.
for several minutes It seem like the descent would take an eternity to end, with no ground in view he wonder if it was an intelligent decision for him to have gone first.
His thoughts where interrupted when the crane stopped abruptly in mid-descent, it had already been couple thousand feet and he could already see faint glimpses of the floor below. He then brought the radio up from his belt and spoke "if you don't mind could you please tell me why the crane stopped?"
Ale then said "uh sorry Jung, its seems we have a problem with the crane"
"What sort of problem?"
"The turn-wheel is stuck; it must be because the cold weather, its effecting the gears on this thing, let me see if I can fix it" he said with exasperation in his voice
"Oooh no" whispered zorndyke.
With worry in his face he turned his attention downward the cable in front of him. Suspended bye a 3-inch thick nylon black cord, he was now suspended a thousand feet from the ground, He wondered how long he was going to stay like this.
The radio sparked to life as ale replied "oh great! Joints on this thing are frozen solid; well that's what happens when you work in zero degree weather. I'm afraid if I use a hammer on this thing, the turn-wheel might break loose
And then that would send you falling to your death"
"Well then don't! Find some other way to repair the crane!" stated zorndyke with hint of unease in his voice.
"Alright give me a minute, hang on!" ale said.
Jung continued to look down as he held on to the cable with
Both arms wrapped around it, he then heard aloud patting noise coming from his left as a piece of ice suddenly slided off the wall. He could hears the sound of dripping water echo throughout the cavern , zorndyke realized the temperature was a lot warmer down here as drips of sweat began trickling down his neck.
The beam from his flash light donned on the wall in front of him.
A shadow then suddenly moved bye in lighting quick speed, Jungs heart began pound in his chest as he could hear the sound of heavy breathing behind him, he was afraid to look. The man slowly turned his head toward the sound which suddenly silenced. He quickly aimed the beam to his right; but nothing was there except the empty cavern and all Jung could hear was the faint howl of air. Maybe he was hearing thing after all the mind can play tricks when a person is in these kinds of situations.
Maybe it was the wind…….he thought.
the nylon cable gave a slight recoil as the crane again started up it descent again.
after 6 minutes of waiting he final reached the base of the drop ,the smell of sulfer was allot stronger on this level giving him a clue that there definitely was some volcanic activity, it was no wonder the gold was so fine down here.
he unzipped his coat when the communicator sprung to life in his hand " sorry Jung that's the last we'll be able to use the Crain , the blizzards gotten so bad that the crain is completely frozen solid. we'll have to go back to the boat and get some replacement parts for the Crain and some more anti-freeze, I promise we be back in the morning ;you still have your emergency rations?"
zorndyke check his pack and said "sure , its all there, medical kit and everything "
'' good that should last you a good while, just make sure-ZZZZRRRRR FFFFFF!!" the voice from communicator began to break up , Jung could barley hear what Ale was saying " sorry Jung your break-zzzzzzrrrrbbb- It looks like the storm is affecting everything on this trip-fffffffmmmmm!" as the radio continued to fizz a strange audible low grumble could be heard then a high pitch squeal followed after, soon another loud grumble could be heard not just from the communicator but also from the cavern itself.
the ground shook as the deafening growl echoed throughout the sub terrestrial cave.
a shower of sleet ,dirt and ice began to rain on top of zorndyke as the sound of heavy footstep could be heard from high above ,
as if some massive creature had just awakened and now was making its way up the rock
face of the cavern wall.
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Ale pocked his head down the dark shaft to inspect strange animal like sound coming from it. He was suddenly swallowed howl as the jaws of something black and massive Came closing in on him.
The creatures longs head jutted out of the ground as its massive claws bursted forth from the ice below.
all three remaining men tried to get as much distance away from the beast as much as they could.
suddenly Drake and Rick stopped in there tracks and turned around, both mercenaries cocked there weapons ready and aim the barrel of there rifles up and fired.
but the bullets did nothing to monster except make it even angrier, the dark
Skinned giant opened it mouth once more stuck out its tongue revealing its dozens of tentacles that covered it.
The tentacles elongated themselves from it tongue and shot out, one of the tentacles wrapped itself around Ricks neck while the second coiled itself around Drakes leg, Both men where then lifted up into the air. They screamed as they where too swallowed up into the beasts massive jaws
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zorndyke tried to get out of the way of the falling rocks that came tumbling down from the rock face High above.
soon a plethora of animal like sequels and howls fill the air as if hundreds of un seen creatures had just awakened.
Zorndyke trained his eye on something black that was crawling
off the rock face in front of him.
The shadow then leaped off the wall and stood up on it two hind legs.
The black monstrosity had two humanoid like arms and its hands ended in long sharp talons, it head and neck where like that of a bird but its face was that of a reptile,
Its mouth full of dozens of sharp deadly teeth and its most scariest part was its eyes
As they where clear white but with out pupils, this creature didn't hunt bye sight but bye sound as it turned its head towards zorndyke it gave out shrill screech signaling othere
That food had been found.
Zorndyke took a step back as the creature approached him , giving off another loud wail as it pointed its claws towards him.
the creature was then joined bye 3 more similar looking creature, all of which had climbed down the rock face behind it.
Zorndyke turned and ran for his life down the dark tunnel behind him.
the monsters then gave chase screaming and wailing for Jungs tasty flesh.
Zorndyke kept running and running as he could hear them from behind , all of them hunting him. The wails got louder as there must have been hundreds of these monsters
Chasing him down the dark cavern, and the screams got louder as he could feel them getting closer.
He reached into his coat pocket pulled the 22. Out holding it ready in his hand.
What was he going to do he wondered, was this the end of Jung Zorndyke.
Maybe he should use it on himself to so that they wouldn't catch him alive at least.
The lightless passage way open up into a massive dead end, zorndyke realized it was inevitable and stopped in his tracks, the reptile like monstrosities soon reached him and encircled there pray.
Zorndyke put the barrel of the 22. To his temple and closed his eyes.
"don't you think about it zorndyke, your better than that" said an unfamiliar voice .
Jung opened his eye just in time to see the black reptilian in front of him cut in half, suddenly the creature next to it explicably its head fell off its body.
A mysterious dark night like figure appeared in front of Zorndyke , the warrior then cut down anothere reptilian that charged at him .
zorndykje noticed that the man held two large shotels, one for each hand.
the dark warrior turned his head to regard zorndyke who stood behind him.
"if you want to live stay behind me" he warned
zorndyke did as the man said. the warrior cut down two more creatures as they attacked.
"that it im going to make sure that none of you horrible beast ever mess with me agian!" he saied
the black clad warrior then laid waste to the rest of the horde of reptiles until there was nothing left but mangled body of the Deceased.
the battle ended in less than a minute and a half.
The dark warrior then held an onyx colored sword up to Jung's throat,
" Armor off!" he commanded
soon the black steel suit dematerialized and disappeared revealing the young man who was underneath.
He had black uncombed hair and his face had a beard stubble
, he wore an old dull white shirt that looked so antique it seemed as if it was about to fall off, he wore a set of dingy black pants that had brown and red patches all over it. He also wore a pair of black boots where also old and grotty.
looking at zorndyke the stranger smile.
"hello zorndyke , Ive waiting for you for a very..very..very long time.
it not nice to make someone wait but seeing as you are here I'll make you an exception" he spoke
Jung was in mixer of fear and astonishment , who was this man he wondered and how did he know his name?
"who are you?" ask zorndyke
still smiling the young man replied "who am I you ask?
well allow me to introduce my self, I am the dark supersuit"