Nolan woke at seven o'clock to a gun metal sky seeping rain down on the city. The warmth of the previous day had been replaced by a damp chill that no amount of hot coffee seemed able to dispel. In spite of this Nolan felt good. The previous days had felt mostly like orientation and training, now he was about to get down to business; it felt right. For the first time since awakening from his coma things were finally moving forward for him and that sense of interminable stagnation was gone.
As Nolan navigated the nondescript slab of black metal he'd chosen the evening before through the morning traffic he tried to mentally prepare himself for whatever the day might have in store for him. His newly acquired sidearm rested in its holster, pleasantly snug against his ribs. This too felt right. He'd never really been a gun person, had never even fired on in fact, but having the weapon there made him feel more at ease with his situation, as if it enabled him to exercise a greater measure of control over the chaos around him. He knew it was a false security but it put him at ease just the same. As to whether or not he'd actually be able to pull the trigger when the time came, he had no idea.
The entrance to the underground garage was cleverly hidden behind a crumbling cinder block wall at the rear of the building. Entering required not only threading the car through a space inches bigger than its width but also executing an immediate hard right towards a solid brick wall. The block wall and the turn rendered the sharp incline of the ramp leading down to the garage invisible until the vehicle was already descending. Motion sensor lights winked on and off as the car moved past them leaving everything in front and behind in darkness. As he arrived at the garage more sensor activated lights came alive bathing it in subdued fluorescence. Nolan parked and got out, tossing the keys back into the glove box where he'd found them.
Basil was leaning against the wall by the door, where he must have been standing, motionless, long enough for the lights to turn off again after he'd entered. As Nolan approached he could see Basil was drinking an Irish coffee that smelled like it had a little more Irish in it than coffee.
“Right on time,” said Basil, taking a sip of his beverage, “good for you.”
“None for me? Some partner you are.”
“I was not aware that such things were to your liking. Duly noted for future reference. Everyone else is already here, except for Constance. If I know her she'll be late.”
“She tends to be late?”
Basil pushed open the door for Nolan and followed him down the hall to the elevator. “No she's actually quite punctual. This is how she does things, it's her way of letting everyone know that she's only prepared to be as cooperative as she has to be. Given her situation it's understandable that she wants to exercise her freedom whenever she can.”
“Is that what you two were talking about yesterday? You mind if I ask what exactly her 'situation' is, or should I take that up with her?”
“I wouldn't advise it, she's pretty touchy about the subject, doesn't talk about it much. I'm not privy to all the sordid details but I do know that she's bound in service to a group of beings known collectively as 'The Masters', which is a title I'm sure they bestowed upon themselves. We refer to them as demons, since they're the origin of the whole demon mythology, but like everything else they're really just another bunch of extra-dimensionals, albeit some pretty powerful ones.”
“'Bound in service', that sounds ominous.”
“Like I said, don't know the specifics, but the gist is she does what they say whether she likes it or not.”
“So she's a slave.”
“If you like. She chooses to view it as a job, which is her prerogative I guess.”
The elevator stopped and Basil led Nolan down the hall towards the meeting. Outside Nolan could see the packed dirt and broken asphalt of the grounds surrounding the building.
“I can't help noticing that this building seems to look different inside than it does from the outside.”
“It's all illusions. The original building, which is what you still see from the outside, was partially demolished and this one was built on top of it. Only the bottom floor is the same as it was, kept that way just in case someone decides to come snooping, unlikely as that may be. Come to think of it I don't even know what this place actually looks like from the outside.”
Basil and Nolan turned the corner and saw Constance leaning against the hallway wall.
She favored the two of them with a smile. “Morning boys.”
“Look who decided to show up on time,” said Basil. “How honored we should feel.”
“I thought we'd agreed to at least try and work together civilly. Are you incapable of not being an ass for five minutes? I certainly hope he doesn't treat you this way.”
“Not so I can tell. Must be something special only you can bring out in him.”
Basil gave her a snide smile while Nolan pursed his lips, trying to hide his own.
“And apparently he's rubbing off on you. Wonderful.”
At this Isaac poked his considerable head through the doorway and beckoned them to enter. “Gang's all here then? I believe our boss is of a mind to get started.”
“Onward then,” said Basil, pushing his way past everyone into the room.
“Ladies first,” said Nolan.
Constance leaned in close to Nolan as she entered the room. “By the way, heard you found Bill just fine yesterday, good job. I don't know how you managed it but it's nice to see someone get the better of Basil for change.”
Nolan started to ask what she might be referring to but Constance moved quickly past him into the room and commenced finding her seat.
The conference room turned out to be little more than a small room with a bunch of chairs and a projection screen hanging on one wall. A digital projector sat on a cart at the front of the room. On the shelf beneath it was a open laptop tethered to the projector by a black cord. Nolan crossed the room and dropped into the remaining empty chair next to Basil. Mr. Sound stood at the front of the room, watching them all get situated.
“Appears we're all here so I suppose we ought to get started. Bill would you be so kind as to get the lights?”
Bill flipped the switch and the windowless room went completely dark for a moment. A bright square of white light beamed out of the projector at the screen. Mr. Sound produced a small device from his coat pocket, pointed it at the projector, and pressed one of the buttons. The screen filled with a series of charts and images that meant almost nothing to Nolan. In one corner he saw what he took for a highly magnified closeup of a misshapen cell. Next to that there were a series of charts with spiky lines labeled with terms he didn't recognize.
“I had our boys in the lab working all night on the samples we brought in,” said Mr. Sound, “and this is the final analysis. I believe Bill would do better at explaining the finer points. Bill?”
“Right. I'll dispense with the boring details and just give you all the breakdown. What you're looking at is a record of something fairly new to us, I don't think we've seen anything quite like this, which is interesting considering where it comes from. The molecular compounds and residual energy leave little doubt that it originates from the same dimension of Nyarlathotep, Dimension Theta, which confirms our suspicions regarding the origin of the creature that attacked Nolan. This thing is almost certainly the progenitor. Our autopsy of that EDH shows canine DNA as well, so we're dealing with something that's capable of mutating terrestrial lifeforms.”
“The analysis of the cellular structure shows it's extremely unstable, meaning it has very little defined structure. Our best guess is that the creature is virtually formless and possibly capable of controlling its shape at will, to a limited degree. There's no residual ambient energy within the sample so it likely survived the trip to our dimension relatively unharmed, which means we're dealing with something very strong. This thing is bad news guys, a high level entity like we haven't seen in a long time."
“Do we have any idea where it is?” asked Basil.
“I'm afraid not. There have been no further reports of any more hybrids and all our leads have turned cold. Until this thing shows its face again, assuming it even has one, we're just going to have to wait.”
“Unless we can track down Gang,” replied Basil.
“Regarding Gang's suspected involvement,” interrupted Mr. Sound. “While I am not one hundred percent convinced that this is definitely his work I do believe there is sufficient evidence to support that theory, and I think it behooves us to move forward assuming the worst, meaning that it is him. Given the evidence regarding this creature, and the report Basil has given regarding Constance' encounter with the suspect, we should also assume that whoever is responsible must have come into contact with this organism. There's no telling what effect direct contact with a human could have, especially if that human were already dangerously powerful. Did you have anything further to add Bill?”
“There was one other thing. We pulled some samples from the triple homicide in the suburbs earlier this week and I compared them to the samples from the point of entry; they're slightly different. It's difficult to explain exactly, it's almost like there's something missing. The genetic make up isn't changed so much as... lessened.”
“What exactly does that mean?” asked Nolan, in a vain attempt to try and contribute something to the proceedings.
“It's only speculation but I think, at some point, something from the creature that came through was lost or removed. If the person responsible did come in contact with the creature it may have passed something to that person, a part of itself, which is a behavior I've never seen before.”
“Well I guess we'll just add that to the ever growing list of things-we've-never-seen-before,” said Constance.
The room fell silent for a moment. Nolan had the sense that he was not alone in feeling out of his depth at the moment. No one really seemed to have a solid grasp of what was happening or why, though he thought he was probably the only one that was accustomed to such feelings.
“Moving along,” said Mr. Sound. “Since the likelihood of Gang's involvement is so high I feel it's pertinent that we discuss exactly what it is he's attempting to do. Those of you with personal experience dealing with him are aware of his past but for the benefit of those less experienced we should review.”
“Gang's main focus has always been, simply put, bringing about the end of humanity. Over time he became obsessed with the myth surrounding an extremely powerful creature that was believed to be resting, sleeping, somewhere on this planet. For years he has sought the key to finding and awakening this creature. This is a threat that needs to be taken very seriously, and I am aware that some of you do not feel the same, but we cannot risk underestimating what could happen if Gang were to succeed.”
“Excuse me,” said Nolan. “This all sounds kind of a familiar. Are we talking about...?”
Mr. Sound gave Nolan an odd look that he couldn't read. “C'thulhu, yes, or least that's what those who believe in the legend choose to call it.”
“You can't be serious,” said Nolan.
“My thoughts exactly,” said Basil. “Gang is a lunatic and the fact that he believes in that nonsense is all the evidence needed to prove it. There's no proof that Lovecraft's writings regarding the C'thulhu mythos have any basis in fact.”
“I'm going to have to agree with Basil on this one sir,” said Bill. “So much of what Lovecraft wrote was pure fiction. We don't even know if he knew that any of the things he wrote about were real. It's true that some of his writing's are reminiscent of things that actually exist but really, C'thulhu? I think that's pushing the limits of reason, even for us.”
Mr. Sound listened to all of this quietly but with a disturbingly grave expression. “If you're both finished I will continue. Considering the circumstances I feel it is time I shared some information with you. I want you all to understand that what I'm about to tell you is absolutely confidential. Under no circumstances should this information be revealed to anyone outside this room, including any other members of this organization.”
Mr. Sound pushed a button on his remote. The image on the screen changed to an illustration that Nolan could not immediately decipher.
“This is a cross of section of The Mariana Trench in the Pacific ocean, which, as some of you may know, is the deepest ocean trench in the world.”
Mr. Sound switched the image again. In that image the deepest section of the trench was highlighted.
“The area highlighted here is Challenger Deep, believed by the oceanographic community to be the deepest point of the trench. They are wrong.”
Mr. Sound switched the image a third time, to an image where a different section of the trench was highlighted, along with a section of the area beneath the ocean floor.
“This is the actual deepest part of the trench. What you see highlighted here is something which lies buried there beneath unknown millennia of debris and ocean sediment. It occupies an area of the ocean floor approximately twenty miles wide, one hundred miles long, and reaches a depth of nearly seventeen thousand fathoms below the perceived floor. This is the resting place of the creature known as C'thulhu.”
“We discovered it upon exploring the area where Isaac and his crew were attacked. It is the site of an extraordinary number of missing vessels. The waters in this area are infested with hybrid creatures created from the lost crews of those vessels. The power of the being resting there is so immense that, even while unconscious, it exudes energy potent enough to mutate complex organisms into nearly unrecognizable forms.”
“That's what attacked my ship ten years ago? Those... squid things used to be human?”
“I'm afraid so. Apparently they remain there to guard C'thulhu's resting place and will attack any vessel that passes too close. Since discovering this we've managed to quietly quarantine the area for 'private scientific research" and have it classified as a no-sail zone.”
“And exactly how long have you been sitting on this?” asked Basil.
“Six years.”
“Unbelievable,” said Basil, his voice rising in anger. “And you never thought that maybe we might need to know about this? All those years dealing with Gang and others like him, thinking they were all just a bunch of cultist nut bags, when you knew that what they were after was real? You discovered the location of the single most powerful creature on the planet and you just decided that none of us needed to know!?”
Mr. Sound pinned Basil with a hard stare and Nolan imagined he felt a chill slide through the room. Or at least he thought he imagined it.
“Do I need to remind you who you work for Mr. Dollory? I am not obliged to explain myself, or what information I do or do not choose to share with you, in any way.”
Basil didn't respond but he met Mr. Sound's stare and did not look away. The two men stayed like that for several minutes, silently staring each other down. It was Isaac who finally broke the silence.
“So let me see if I'm following all of this. C'thulhu is real and Gang is intent on finding it and waking it up. And exactly how close are we thinking he is to doing that?”
“It's difficult to say right now. The area is under constant observation and as yet there has been nothing out of the ordinary. To the best of my knowledge – which is fairly thorough – at present we are the only ones who are aware of the creature's exact location. As for how close Gang may be to finding and/or awakening it we have no way of knowing. Which means we need to be as efficient as possible in tracking him down.”
“Well that's great,” said Constance, “except we still have no idea where to even start looking.”
“Actually, that's not entirely true,” said Basil. He reached inside of his coat and pulled out a small, metal box. Two small, green lights pulsed familiarly at Nolan out of one side. “I had a visitor this morning. Looks like our friend Garrity came through for us. I'll have to hook this little guy up to a console to get all the details but I'm willing to bet, at the very least, it will give us a place to start looking.”
“Good then. You, Constance, and Nolan get on that, get back to me as soon as you have something. Isaac and Bill, I want you two to start testing our countermeasures on those samples, I don't want any surprises. Make sure that when we find Gang and his 'pet' we can put them both down for good. Dismissed.”
Everyone stood and bustled their way out of the room. Basil, clearly eager to be out of Mr. Sound's presence as quickly as possible, was the first out the door. Nolan and Constance followed at a distance, both having guessed that he wasn't in the mood for talking.
“So,” said Nolan, “what exactly did you mean by 'getting the better of Basil'?”
“Oh nothing, just that he told me what he tried to do to you yesterday and it was nice to see was of his stupid jokes fall flat.”
“I'm not following you. What did he try to do?”
“You know, giving you the wrong directions and everything. I'm sure he thought it would be...”
A deep rumble passed through the floor beneath their feet. Up ahead Basil stopped walking and looked back at them. Another rumble came, this one much stronger, followed by the screech of rending metal from somewhere far below. The lights flickered.
“What the hell was that!?” Constance called down the hall to Basil.
Then all the lights went out.
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