The Arctic Endeavor rocked gently on the steel-gray waters, its massive hull groaning under the strain of the icy currents below. Inside the control room, frost traced spidery veins across the thick windows, muting the pale light that filtered through the overcast sky. Evelyn Rourke stood at the center of the cramped space, her eyes glued to the sonar monitor. Around her, the crew moved with hushed efficiency, their movements careful, as if afraid to disturb the heavy tension that hung in the air.
The outline of the submerged city loomed on the screen, its alien geometry rendered in ghostly greens and blues. Spires jutted from the ocean floor, impossibly thin yet towering, while walls curved and twisted in ways that defied logic. The sonar sweep revealed details that seemed to shift and ripple, as if the city were alive, pulsating with an eerie rhythm. The faint whispers they had picked up earlier seemed to echo in Evelyn's ears, growing louder with every pass of the sonar.
Evelyn's fingers hovered over the screen, her breath shallow. "It's… it's not possible," she murmured, her voice barely audible. She traced the edges of one of the larger structures with her fingertip, as though touching the image might help her comprehend it. "This is older than anything we've ever found. Older than we should be able to find."
Behind her, Naomi leaned against the console, her arms crossed. "Older and weirder," she said, attempting to inject some levity into the room. "I mean, come on—look at that. It screams 'ancient curse.'"
The technician beside her let out a nervous chuckle, but the sound fell flat in the charged atmosphere. Drew, standing off to the side, shook his head. "This isn't a curse," he said quietly. "It's a warning."
Naomi raised an eyebrow. "Okay, Doomsday Drew, let's dial it back. It's probably just the way the sonar's bouncing off the structures. Refractions, or something." She waved her hand dismissively. "Science-y stuff."
But Drew didn't laugh. His eyes were locked on the screen, a deep furrow cutting across his brow. "It doesn't want to be found," he said, almost to himself. "You can feel it. Like it's watching us."
Naomi opened her mouth to respond, but Evelyn cut her off. "Enough," she said sharply. She turned to face Drew, her gaze hard. "We're scientists, not ghost hunters. We don't base our findings on feelings."
Drew looked like he wanted to argue but thought better of it. He nodded once and stepped back, retreating into a corner of the room. Naomi shot Evelyn a sideways glance. "You're wound a little tight there, boss."
"I'm fine," Evelyn replied curtly, though her hands betrayed her, shaking slightly as she flipped open her father's journal. Her eyes scanned the page—a hastily sketched diagram of a city that matched what the sonar was now revealing, down to the peculiar curves and impossible angles. Beneath it, her father's scrawled notes jumped out at her:
"A city lost to the tides. A sleeping giant beneath the waves."
Her chest tightened, the weight of her father's legacy pressing down on her. She could almost hear his voice, low and urgent, warning her that the greatest discoveries often carried the greatest dangers.
Graves' voice pulled her back to the present. "You're too close to this, Rourke."
Evelyn turned to find the captain watching her from the doorway, arms folded and jaw set. The older woman's expression was unreadable, but there was a sharpness in her tone that Evelyn didn't like.
Graves took a step closer, her boots clunking against the metal floor. "Whatever's down there—it's not just stone and coral. It's not just another ruined city. It's a graveyard waiting to happen."
Evelyn bristled. "And you know that how?" she shot back. "We haven't even begun to understand what we're looking at. We can't just turn back because you've got a bad feeling."
Graves' eyes narrowed. "You think I'm basing this on instinct? I've seen this before, Rourke. Not this exact thing, but the arrogance—the belief that nothing can stop us because we've got sonar and ROVs and fancy degrees. That's how people die."
Evelyn stepped closer, her voice dropping to a near whisper. "I didn't come all this way to turn back, Graves. I didn't spend years trying to piece together my father's work just to walk away because someone's scared."
Graves held her gaze for a long moment, then shook her head. "You're not listening to me. You're letting this get personal."
"It is personal," Evelyn snapped. "And that's why I'm not giving up."
For a moment, it looked like Graves might argue, but she merely sighed and walked away, muttering under her breath. Evelyn turned back to the screen, her pulse hammering in her ears. She knew Graves meant well, but she couldn't let doubt creep in now. Not when they were so close.
Naomi cleared her throat, breaking the silence. "So," she said, forcing a smile. "Anyone else notice that the sonar keeps picking up… movement?"
Evelyn frowned. "Movement?"
The technician nodded hesitantly, adjusting the controls. "It's faint, but there's definitely something down there. Shadows, maybe? Could just be marine life."
"Or not," Drew muttered darkly.
Naomi rolled her eyes. "Don't start."
Evelyn leaned closer to the monitor. The shadows were faint, barely more than flickers at the edge of the sonar sweep. They moved quickly, darting in and out of the structures, but they were too large, too deliberate, to be schools of fish.
"It's probably nothing," Naomi said, though her voice lacked its usual confidence. "Could be currents kicking up debris."
Evelyn nodded absently, but her gut told her otherwise. There was something down there, something that didn't belong.
She reached for her father's journal again, running her fingers over the worn leather cover. His words echoed in her mind: "Some things were meant to stay buried."
But she couldn't stop now. Whatever was waiting for them in the depths, it was too late to turn back.
The whispers rose again, faint but insistent, weaving through the hum of the ship. Evelyn shivered, clutching the journal tighter. Her father had known. He had always known.