The Ocean Is Much Deeper Than We Thought | CreepCast

36:37It only took a moment, but all the worms had been killed off, and though my suit had partially protected me from the cold, I collapsed, exhausted, and shivering onto the ground. Get me the fuck out of here! I demanded, knowing full well they couldn't do that until I had dealt with the infestation. Robert had just returned in time to see what the commotion was about, and upon seeing what remained of Mike lying torn to pieces on the ground he stopped in his tracks. After a minute of catching my breath I got some sense back. With some morbid sense of humor and functioning on autopilot I turned towards Henry.

37:09Sorry but the suit isn't going to be salvaged. We're ejecting the whole fucking airlock as soon as I get out of here. Henry turned to Robert pleading for him to make me reconsider despite what we had all just witnessed but Robert took my side. After removing the reporting unit from the EPM suit, I packed the entire thing into an easily ejectable container, while making sure that no worms remained on my suit. All I took was a small sample of a frozen worm packed into a vacuum container. I exited the airlock and handed the sample over to Jennifer. She had prepared the previous parasites brought back by Mike and I told her to get everything ready so I could determine what we were dealing with.

37:48Robert started the procedure of ejecting the airlock's content, including what remained of Mike in the EPM suit and repouting the whole time. James hadn't moved an inch since the event. He turned sickly pale as if he just realized the severity of the situation. We have to tell them, Captain. He said quietly after a few minutes. Tell me. Tell me what? I asked while getting out of the hazmat suit. Robert took a deep breath, mulling over his options. You're right. Tell me what? The reason why we're stationed down here. End of part one. and I am hooked. Whoa. I'm hooked. Man, I didn't stop because that scene was so well paced, but gosh, the worms flying out of him and getting everywhere and they fuse together then fall back apart.

38:34Oh, it's like giant nematodes. I love it. Oh, that's great. I love it. I love it. I love it. Gosh, what a banger, dude. Let's go. Man, great. Just, I mean, like, I don't, I want to keep going. I'm very hooked. the pacing is not only good we've established a bunch of characters and there's a lot of great stuff that sets this up for me so far which is just deception no one really knows what the fuck is going on the doc has been sitting down basically on what i can assume is a suicide mission of the sorts yes and then also people aren't telling them of like whatever secret that we're getting ready to find out is what they're actually working on down in the bottom of an ocean on this over billion dollar project going down it's just there's so much great stuff the the build-up is great but also just the gross chest ripping open and worms and the i mean it's just it's vile and it's fucking horrific i'm so bought in dude such an excellent aesthetic i love it i love this setting i love everything about it i was saving this till the end of the first part so to give an idea of how much i love it i think one of the first stories i ever wrote that was over like a page was I had a creative writing class, I think my sophomore year, maybe junior year of high school.

39:53And at the end of it, we had to write a short story. So I wrote like this 15 page short story called Leviathan. That was about a group of researchers that were sent to the bottom of the ocean. And they thought they were down there to like analyze some new creature that was reported. But at the end, it turns out they were never sent to the bottom of the ocean. the container they were placed into on top of the ocean was actually a farce and they were in a monitoring station where they were being induced with like drugs and like psychedelics and stuff like that to see like an mk ultra kind of thing to see what their reaction was and at the end like the door they go crazy and open the door of the airlock and just step outside into a field um so which that one was like a rug pull and i think i think i posted it somewhere online but then deleted it shortly thereafter because i was like this is not good i don't like my writing here um but yeah like like i've always been obsessed with the underwater ocean thing and the aesthetics of this are great uh i like his writing a lot i like the characters like the way information's given this is a banger big fan yeah i mean i think i don't know it's just setting itself up in great ways.

41:06Also too, deep ocean horror. Just fun. What do you mean what's this to do? It's great. It's very fun. Alright, well, are you ready for part two? Part two, let's keep it rolling. Death can be a beautiful thing. Beyond all the stigma associated around the event, it's the beginning of a world that starts directly from the end of another. When a whale dies in extreme depths, they sink towards the ocean floor where entire ecosystems arise from their decomposing bodies. This is called a whale fall. Mike's EPM suit had left behind three days worth of footage. Henry was put on the task of preparing it for viewing.

41:43While we couldn't save him, nor the suit, we could at least figure out how Mike died. As we waited, the captain decided it was time for me to learn the truth about their mission, and why no one on the surface had ever heard about the scientific wonder that was Talos. You saw all the dead sea creatures littering the ocean floor around the station? I recalled the hundreds of mingles bodies of fish, not the most welcoming sight to the abyss. James told me something compelled them to dive down here. Some sort of sound? Robert nodded as he pulled up a computer. After a moment of fumbling, he clicked on a sound file.

42:17About five years ago, we recorded this coming from the depths of the Tonga Trench. It was an oddly synthetic sound, like a whale's mating call had been pitched down and jumbled around. In the midst of it all, there was something that sounded like a whisper. They recorded something similar around the Mariana Trench and called it the Biotwang It looks like the Biotwang's an actual thing Looking it up Strange sound of the Biotwang was first heard bouncing around the Mariana Trench 10 years ago But apparently they now say that it is the moan of a Brideswell? What is a Brideswell? I've never heard of that kind of well Oh How deep are these things?

42:58I don't like that I don't like that they're that deep. Okay, anyway. The sound played on loop as we talked, oddly eerie for something so innocent. We first thought it came from a whale, just a bit distorted after traveling vast distances or instrumental interferences. But then we saw how it affected the wildlife in the region. Blooms of jellyfish appearing out of nowhere, and fish defying all instincts to dive towards the crushing pressure. What made the sound then? Robert pulled up some pictures on the screen, creatures similar to roundworms. pitch black. They look nothing like what I just witnessed in the airlock, however.

43:34From what we can tell, there's a thus far completely undiscovered ecosystem somewhere down the trench. Isolated for millions of years, unaffected by mass extinction events, they have evolved quite differently from life we see on the surface. It's like millions of single-celled organisms working together to form more complex creatures. But unlike ourselves, The cells can detach and rejoin at will. We named it the Syncydium, and that's what killed Mike. They could be a part of it, but what you saw in the airlock is far longer than the microorganisms we gathered here. Before we could continue, James interrupted, letting us know the footage was ready to be reviewed.

44:17If they ever decide to declassify the existence of this station, they'll never mention the creatures, nor the sound that alerted us to their presence. I'm sure one day, they hailed this all as a supreme technological advancement. But truth be told, the reason why the Navy put billions and billions of dollars into this project so that humanity could traverse the ocean floor is simply because they want to find whatever is making the sound and find a way to use it. Gav, they're waiting for us. We gathered in the central area. Abby sat in the back some distance away from everyone else. she seemed even worse for wear than before frail as if she'd lost weight in the past couple of hours since meeting her and we controlled the footage ready to speed through to the important bits as the descent itself was quite slow 20 000 feet the hadal zone i love that recurring thing is still keeping up like the deeper you go it says the zones yeah that we're entering that's great it's a constant reminder to let you know like hey we're in we're in the middle of nowhere or like you're in the deepest parts of the ocean it's like it's a nice little tap on your head yeah also the hadal zone is uh if i recall right it's named that after hades like it's the same oh interesting it's like the bottom the the nothing so we're in hell now everything we saw would be from mike's point of view but it started at the airlock abby standing before him with a concerned expression on her face don't worry i'll be back before you know it it's not like it's my first time in the depths.

45:49It's not like they waste a billion dollars on me dying anyways. She didn't seem consoled by his words. This time is different. We haven't tested the suit beyond 30 ,000 feet yet. No, but we've tested pressure. The suit should be able to go much further before breaking. Henry forwarded the footage. Mike stood directly at the edge of the Tonga Trench, to his left platform extended even further down towards the Hadel Zone, an elevator set at the platform center a short distance down the trench he saw endlessly long tendrils gently swaying with the current they belong to the body of a malformed creature looking like it could have possibly control its long appendages and it seemed unfazed by the depths he said excitedly as he pointed at the bizarre being it's a magnapia squid what does that look like oh oh absolutely not yeah this is the big fin squid yeah yeah yeah this thing went around online because someone got a video of one underneath an oil rig just floating in the distance look that up hunter type the type that in and tell me that it's the worst thing i would uh my god i know right what the fuck huge those tendrils are like it says here 26 foot long armed squid found in November 27 by an oil rig 26 feet long yeah think about how small you'd be next to it yeah you know Shaq he's not that tall

47:33he's like an unspeakable entity underwater how many shacks is that yeah all right so guys we're looking at maybe i don't know probably seven shacks right here are you getting this you guys see this that's seven shacks there's just hold on seven shacks and three championship rings holy shit

48:00that guys this thing might be 10 shacks long it's just 10 shacks long that's 10 shacks pull me up he has the picture i just sent you on the wall but it's just shaquille o 'neal

48:21anytime anytime they see something he runs over to the chart he's like oh my god We're going to be stacking the Shacks on top of each other and see what we're really dealing with here.

48:35Captain, you're going to want to see the Captain Shaquille O 'Neal. Yeah. Come on, Chuck. Charles Barkley's down there too. Shaq, I should have told y 'all, man, you got to go down to San Antonio, I'm telling you. Yeah, he sees the squid. He's like, that's that San Antonio woman floating around out there. Yeah, the best Charles Barkley quote of all time is he's like, San Antonio women need to learn two words. I'm full. It's like the greatest thing of all time. I'm full. All right. All right. So that thing's floating around down there. He almost jogged along the edge to get a better view. Suit audibly exhausted by the effort.

49:15Don't put too much strain on the suit. Henry interjected over the radio. It'll be fine. What else did they pay for? As it got closer to the squid, another popped up behind it. One with even longer appendages. Damn, I never thought I'd see one up so close. Stop messing around and get on the elevator. Fine, let's not injure our jobs then. He boarded the elevator and strapped himself in. The journey would take him another 15 ,000 feet into the abyss. He was a loud, sturdy piece of machinery able to withstand the immense pressure of the dreaded Hadle zone. Mike himself would control the speed of the descent only handing over control to Henry should something happen not long after the descent started Mike stalled the elevator the suit is making weird noises that's normal it's adjusting to the pressure change we told you that would happen the deeper you got Henry explained with an annoyed tone yeah I know but you'll be fine 27 ,000 feet Once more, Mike stopped the elevator, directing his gaze at an edge sticking out from the cliffside.

50:25On it lay the corpse of a bowhead whale, almost half a planet away from its natural habitat. The whale had been partially hollowed out, riddled with deep-sea eels and tiny, eyeless fish, an entire ecosystem arriving from its death. How did that whale get here? It died, like all the other creatures down here. Yeah, but it's a bowhead. At least I think it is. Don't they live around the Arctic? Just continue the descent. 35 ,433 feet. Horizon deep. The elevator reached the bottom of the trench after about an hour, allowing Mike to finally unbuckle himself from his seat. He grabbed a box of beacons to allow the next person easier to navigate the area.

51:10After stepping off the platform and getting away from its bright lights, it became abundantly clear that the bottom of the ocean was far from empty. and that entire bed was covered in previously undiscovered life, millions of fungal-like plants covering the floor and transparent fat shrimps swimming between, apparently feeding off them. On the cliff wall itself, thousands of bioluminescent plants extended, just a stalk with a blue bulb bending in the direction of Mike's movement. It was hauntingly beautiful, looking as alien as anything from another planet. He continued along the cliffside, putting down a beacon every hundred feet or so.

51:49I half expected this place to be horrible. You know, being named after the god of the underworld and all. Oh, look at that. I was right. Thanks, Mike. No one responded to his comment. Guys, you can still hear me, right? Yes, Mike. We can hear you. We're here to work. Not make stupid quips. Has anyone ever told you how much better life can be if you just try to enjoy it? Henry, stop being such a killjoy. we're making history down here i love the uh that henry's being a poindexter about everything and mike's like look that squid was like 18 shacks long okay i mean henry think about it think about it henry 12 shacks tall you didn't crack one smile that henry okay i will say i do not like bootlicker henry i'll be completely honest don't like him bootlicker henry are you on your a cab arc again well listen well yeah i mean i i feel 10 shacks tall right now that's all i have to say i didn't like the way you said that i could hear the smirk you're like well i don't even know what you mean it's not an arc if you never got off it's true every time my dog back there every time he lays down he looks like he's been shot like you give him like all four legs sprawled out there's no way you would shoot him you spoil that dog rotten dude oh benny yeah you i remember he for people who don't know yeah he i went down to his house in like the dog's role whatever benny because you said he was just getting out of the hospital right uh yes i think when you came down yeah because it was funny because he was that night he was like oh this is his favorite snack and isaiah was breaking off little pieces of dark garradella chocolate from his fridge and he kept handing it to him and then i don't know he got sick and all that kind of stuff but he spoils that dog rotten okay he i've never given my dog chocolate it was a knee surgery no remember you said you're like oh garradelli you're you're spoiled and it's a dark it's at 110 dark cocoa okay that didn't happen i love my dog very nice to him uh he yeah he He had elbow dysplasia, so he got a procedure to fix it.

54:08And now look how passive he is. He doesn't hurt anymore. And then his brother, Ollie, had to have double knee replacement. His knees went out. He's still alive. Ollie's still alive. Thank you. It's not done. He just doesn't like coming up the stairs up here because he's old. That Garadale sponsor is really paying itself in full. I'm just going to keep reading I'm not going to win this one Henry didn't respond How about you hand Abby the radio Hell I'd rather listen to the captain Ramble about protocol going on Mike stopped dead in his tracks Reaching the end of the cliff Before him was a steep fall Leaded down to an endless chasm Of darkness Henry are you sure the elevator took me All the way down to the trench yes as he stared into the abyss yes you're 35 ,000 feet well it's just that I'm standing at the edge of the cliff and this is clearly not the bottom of the ocean that's impossible we surveyed the entire area with the sonar well I'm telling you the ground beneath Mike crumbled to pieces he slid off the edge of the cliff and dove further into the deep fuck that so now he's like free falling a little bit or he's like yeah sliding or whatever fuck that The darkness now surrounding him was absolute.

55:30Nothing could possibly help him orient himself as he fell. To fall in the ocean was a much slower process, giving him time to think what kind of fate awaited him as he sunk to depths never before known by mankind. He called out for his crew members while desperately clawing at the cliff, but even with the suit, he was unable to slow his descent. As he got deeper, the suit started emitting loud beeps, alarms to alert to rapid pressure changes exceeding 16 ,000 PSI. Before he could even react, he hit the ground hard. Mike fell silent, passed out from the impact. Unknown feat. The void. Minutes after landing at unknown depths, Mike awoke to the sound of the suit beeping.

56:13The suit had held its ground and was starting to adjust to the new pressure. The manometer was broken. His tracking device malfunctioning, we could only try to guess how far he'd fallen. Mike grunted as he got to his feet, taking some time to figure out what had happened. Henry, you there? No response. Captain, anyone? Apart from a few malfunctioning instruments, most of the suit seemed intact, yet no contact could be made with the base. Everything past that point would be after the comms went down, and we all patiently awaited to learn of Mike's fate. Despite having fallen far beyond what we believed to be the ocean floor, he had just landed on another plateau.

56:57With an endless distance still progressing downwards, the abyss was ever-present, taunting us with its emptiness. Please respond, please respond. He begged, defeated. He activated the beacon still attached to him and checked his surroundings. He had landed directly in front of a cave leading inside the cliff wall. And moving steeply upwards, while protocol strictly dictated to wait for rescue in these situations, we could hear gargled sound emitting from the cave. Whatever it was, it compelled Mike to check out the cave. The walls inside were perfectly smooth. An impossible formation of rocks reflecting the bright light shining from EPM suit lighting up the cave as far as it stretched.

57:39man how otherworldly fuck that man it's like a tube and like your own lights from the suit are reflecting so far it lights it up also too just the thought that he's on the plateau it still goes deeper much deeper yes he's nowhere near the bottom yeah mike stared at the shiny walls for a moment just in the light they had seemed smooth at an angle but when light was pointed directly at them it uncovered bizarre patterns like symbols not corresponding to any known language that's so cool while he studied the symbols loud sound shook through the cave almost sweeping mike off his feet it sounded similar to the bio twang but slight differences the rhythm was changed it seemed to put mike further into a trance and he diligently followed the source ignoring any chance of rescue the further in he went the cave led to a much larger cavern extending beyond the reach of any light source he had available unlike the tunnel these walls weren't smooth but were covered in millions of tiny holes each perfectly round each identical to the last upon closer inspection the holes weren't empty but filled with worms just like the ones we'd seen spewn out of his body inside the airlock he wriggled and reached for mike as he walked through the cavern, pulled towards the sound in the distance, getting louder with each passing step.

59:06The deeper he got, the less he seemed distracted by the holes, which were growing in size alongside the worms. Mike's only hypnotic objective was to reach the sound. On top of the worms, spindly, long-legged creatures walked across. They looked like shell-less spider crabs, dipping their limbs into the worms, merging temporarily while seeming to feed them. For each dip into the holes, their limbs grew shorter while the worms expanded. So the worms that can form together to make different structures like make these spider crab like shapes. Have you ever seen a spider crab before? Yeah. Yeah, they're freaky.

59:47Eventually, he reached a corner of the cavern, with it the source of the sound. It was a half-consumed whale calf attached to the wall, bound by hundreds of massive worms extending into its torn flesh. Despite being half-eaten and broken beyond any chance at life, it somehow didn't succumb, as if the worms themselves kept it alive, involuntary life support repurposed for their own needs. The calf gaped open its half-eaten jaw, so mangled Mike could see straight into its vocal cords, which were also covered in the worms, tugging and moving them into position. The whale screamed, emitting another jumbled sound that pulled Mike even closer.

1:00:32While Mike was distracted, several worms had emerged from their holes, rapidly swarming around him. Within seconds, they had joined together, wrapping around his legs and climbing up the suit. It temporarily brought Mike back to sanity as he tried to tear the worms off, but they were far faster than him. wrapped inside a slow metal box. He stumbled to the ground, allowing more worms and their spindles to cover each of his limbs. The creatures merged together, forming a sheet of flesh that soon covered the entirety of his body. Mike fell silent, and the cameras showed nothing but a flesh-colored mass muffling any audio save for Mike's canic breath.

1:01:12He screamed as a loud bang almost broke the speakers, the sound of his suit being perforated and the mesh refilling the hole we had found on the sole of his feet. The creatures had gotten inside his suit, digging into his flesh, Mike crying in agony before falling silent. We all stood speechless in front of the monitor, now displaying nothing but a timer, proving the camera was still running. Abby had left, but James following to console her. That can't be. Let me forward it. Then we said, half whispering in shock, we forwarded through almost three days of nothing, while the worms incubated inside Mike, trapped alone in the cavern, no one knowing where he was.

1:01:54The cameras started clearing up, the flesh sheet peeling off as the view showed that Mike had returned to the elevator. During the three days down in the trench, this insidium had occupied, covering it with their fleshy appendages. Mike was controlling it, or whatever remained of him inside the suit. He wandered towards the station, flakes of sensidial flesh falling off him for each step. His crew called out for him over the radio now that they could reach him, but Mike could do nothing but gargle as worms had consumed most of his lungs. At the airlock, he stumbled inside, ready to unleash hell within the station.

1:02:31Before a brief moment, Mike managed to halt himself. Perhaps the thought of hurting those he loved was enough for him to temporarily gain control, just enough time to shut down the airlock, putting himself in a lockdown. Mike collapsed to the ground. He had died days ago, but his will remained, even as he turned into nothing more than a vessel for the horrors he now carried with him. The footage ended. We stood in silence for a moment, none of us daring to speak a word about Mike's cause of death. I hardly believed it, despite having almost fallen victim to the same fate. Henry, call headquarters.

1:03:02Tell them we're shutting this project down. Robert said, breaking the silence. Jennifer, destroy the sample from the airlock. It's still sealed, right? Jennifer nodded before heading towards the lab. We need to make sure whatever this is, It stays in the abyss. I joined Henry as he attempted to call headquarters, the radio returning nothing more than jumbled static. Robert was checking all security feed, sending out drones to scavenge for this insidium at the elevator. Captain, the comms are completely down. Can't get any signal. On the security feed, we saw that the flesh of this insidium had stretched along the ground, covering some of the corpses of fish that littered the ocean floor.

1:03:41It was impossibly large, using the elevator and platform as a scaffold for climbing up towards the station. A loud metallic clang sounded through the station, followed by an alarm. What the hell was that? Pole breach in Sector C. An automated voice said, Isolated! What about just do it! Henry frantically tried to navigate the security system, attempting to get an idea as to the extent of the damage. What's in Sector C? It's the lab. Fucking hell. I hope Jennifer didn't get there yet. While the station sealed, trapping anyone inside, another loud bang shook us. The alarm sounded again. Hole breach, sector B.

1:04:21Fuck. Fuck. Fuck, what now? Robert stood still in shock, frozen by the decision of saving the station or fleeing. We have to evacuate. That was all he could say. End of part two. Part two, end of part three. I want to just roll right in. I'm stoked. Part three. I will say too just that the worms can just basically join together and create basically a giant flesh blanket that just can like wrap around and like also them being able to reanimate life is pretty sick too the idea of like a whale head just being down there screaming is so creepy well it gives you the idea that it could do the same with people right use the vocal cords to speak yeah yeah yeah they just puppeted him yeah they kept him alive enough to move but A found footage POV of Mike's thing and all you hear is just him gargling like, because it's just basically worms just rolling around in his throat.

1:05:17Just so gross, man. Part three, the final part. Most of my old crew, after leaving the Navy, struggled to get over their longing for the ocean. Such was the case for my submarine captain, Lewis Johnson. He always claimed the sea would be his final resting place where he truly belonged. Following his honorable discharge, he went straight into hyperbaric pipeline welding. It's a dangerous job where the only enemy is invisible. Always stalking each dive, each new mission. A foe that can't be sensed, but with the ability to destroy everything you are in a split second. Pressure. Maybe I'm cursed. I'm able to live on land with my own people, but at least I'll die where I belong.

1:05:58He had said. Johnson would be lucky enough to forever be united with this one true love. at the sight of a purse pipe took him away finally making him one with the deep blue it's funny how the brain operates as everything around you is falling to pieces far beyond your own control once there's nothing left you can do the mind turns to a place of safety fond memories from a time long since past for me those memories belong to my time of service to my old captain and crew it wasn't an easy time but it was filled with purpose with my problems solely confined to the ocean. When Robert yelled at me to get my ass in gear, I finally snapped back to reality.

1:06:39James returned to the central dome alongside Abby. They had heard the alarms, but hadn't the faintest idea about what had occurred during their brief absence. Get to section A. There's still two transport capsules. Get number 05 ready for departure and wait for me. Bap, what are you going to do? Jennifer's in lockdown. I'm getting her out. What if the creatures got inside? Robert thought for a moment before handing her a walkie. If you don't hear from me in 15, just leave. The station shook as another hole was torn through one of the sections. My ears popped from the shockwave. I'm coming with you.

1:07:12You're not facing them alone. No, no. We need you to pilot the transport capsule. If you get hurt, we're stuck down here. It wasn't a valid excuse. They all knew fully well that the submarine was easy enough for any of the crew members to maneuver, but Robert refused to risk any more lives and would use whatever reason he could come up with. Cap, please. That's an order! Get out of here now! He hesitantly agreed and started leaving. I'll join you then. I know nothing about this station or the sub. I can at least assist you should something happen. I said, knowing he couldn't come up with any excuse to stop me.

1:07:47He reluctantly agreed, and together we headed for the labs in Section C, worrying that Jennifer might be trapped behind the airlock or worse. Drowning is a horrible way to die. Once you realize there's no way to reach the surface, you're trapped in a cold, dark tomb. Your throat simply closes up. No matter how hard you try to inhale, your body simply refuses, even as the agonizing pain of running out of air overpowers your natural instinct to breathe. you simply refuse to give in to the overwhelming desire it isn't until the body starts shutting down and the corners of your vision start to darken that you reach the breaking point your brain decides to pull something in regardless of whether air is present or not suddenly ice cold water flows in through your throat unstoppably filling your lungs so desperate for air it's a clumsy painful way to go by the time water is filled each alveoli Most are still unconscious But just enough time to regret their decision To ever enter the ocean I thought it funny as we ran towards the airlock That at least we wouldn't drown Surely the worms would consume us Or the pressure from a collapsing station would instantly crush us How did the hull get breached anyway?

1:08:56I asked as we got closer It's supposed to be impossible, but I'm sure it's those fucking monsters The alarm had stopped alerting us about the hull breach And was now recommending a station-wide evacuation Warning, full integrity severely compromised All crew report to designated docking stations. How much time do we have? Not enough. As we turned the corner at Section C, we saw Jennifer sitting against the wall on the wrong side of the airlock. It took a moment to realize the horror of her situation. We saw her legs fused with the flesh of this insidium. It started eating away at her lower body, digging their way through her flesh and rapidly replacing her organs with their own meat.

1:09:34Despite all this, she remained conscious. Jen? Robert said, the only word he could muster from the shock of what lay in front of our eyes. She slowly turned her head towards us with her eyes red from hemorrhaging, as worms had consumed her insides. Captain, is that you? She said, weakly, blind from the blood feeling the inside of her eyes. I'm here, Jen. I guess the sample wasn't dead after all. She joked with a hoarse voice as she coughed up what could only be a mixture of blood and lung parenchyma. Maybe till the doctor double-check these things in the future. He's here with me now. I'm so sorry, Jim.

1:10:13I know. There's nothing left to do, I guess. This is just it. She coughed up, violently spewing out pieces of her lung and worms. Don't worry, Captain. It's not your fault that a monster from the abyss crawled its way up to destroy us. She said, voice cracking as she writhed in agony. I looked over at Robert. I looked horrified, but couldn't take his eyes off her. It really hurts. Please eject the section. I just want it to be over. Robert nodded, forgetting that she couldn't see him. I went over to the control panel. It was fairly easy to use, especially after having witnessed Henry mess with it before.

1:10:48All I needed was a passcode. I thought it wouldn't be right to let Robert essentially execute her himself. I'll do it. Rob? Yes? Don't let these fuckers get to the surface. I promise you that much. I promise her abdomen started bulging out she screamed in pain as the worm started tearing open her stomach Captain, the code he told me the numbers and I input them without hesitating years of watching people suffer a prolonged death knowing that we could do nothing but pointlessly extend their lives had desensitized me to pulling the plug immediately hatches opened up on the walls an alarm sounded as water started pouring in but since the hole had already been partially breached they quickly collapsed in on themselves.

1:11:34In a few seconds, Jennifer had died. Let's get out of here. We ran back towards the central area. We had to transverse the entire station to get towards Section A. It was the only remaining escape, but as we got to the offices, we could hear something moving within the walls, knocking their way through the pipes. The pumps! They're getting into the fucking pumps! Talos' pumps were ancient machinery compared to the rest of the station. As the dome was inserted, they needed to move tons of water outside against the immense pressure. But after finishing the station, they had been long since forgotten, left inside the walls while they installed more permanent solutions.

1:12:10Before we could react, the walls broke open and this insidium poured itself through the holes, taking the shape of malformed flesh extending rapidly alongside the walls. We were cut off from our escape with only the office available as temporary refuge from the oncoming swarm of worms and flow of flesh. but our safe haven would quickly become nothing more than another prison to extend our survival. It won't hold them for long. What now? Robert went straight for his desk, pulling out a pistol from the top drawer. You brought a gun to the bottom of the ocean? You didn't? Never know when you might have to quell a mutiny.

1:12:45Tell I wasn't amused. We both knew a gun wouldn't slow them down significantly, but any help was welcome. I assume the gun's for them. i see i assume those bullets aren't meant for the worms that wasn't his intention right he continued to rummage through the closets in the room eventually pulling out two unused hazmat suits just like the ones i had used while inspecting mike it kept you safe inside the airlock the worms couldn't penetrate the suit right robert asked me with pleading eyes look they breached the epm suit made of fucking metal i don't think these will make a big difference I slung down, but that's it.

1:13:21It's our best shot. The worms had started to pile up on the door, forming a contracting mesh, slightly cracking the glass. It's now or never. James better have the damn sub ready to go. Robert said as we got into the suits. He fired a shot, not at the door, but at the tempered glass wall beside it, shattering it to a million cubicle pieces as we jumped through. Stumbled to the ground, a few worms getting onto my hand as I stood back up. Robert pulled them off me and shoved me forward. We spurted for the entrance, Section A. We were far faster than the worms, but they had formed a mesh covering most of the ceiling and dropped down on top of us for each step we took.

1:13:56Another hole in the wall burst open directly above the airlock towards section A, causing another slump of meat to land in front of the door. Shit! Robert yelled as he instinctively pulled his weapon and fired at the mass on the floor. I froze in place as the worms disintegrated from the bullet's impact, reforming, hastily crawling towards us. I tried to turn away and run, but I didn't reach it in time. To my surprise, the worms completely ignored my presence and headed straight for Robert, pouring onto him from all directions, pulling him to the ground. He screamed in agony as they formed around his limbs, making him unable to fight back.

1:14:30I hurried towards him and tried to pull them off, but for each worm I removed, a hundred others joined in. Within seconds, they managed to tear a hole at the armpit region of his suit. They immediately wriggled themselves in through the hole. I tried desperately to pull him up, but he shoved me away as he realized there wasn't any hope left for him. get out of here, Doc! garbled as the blood started to fill in his lungs. I didn't even hesitate, painfully. I ran for my life while this insidium was too distracted by consuming Robert. No matter what I had done, he was already dead. The hallways narrowed drastically as I once more returned to section A.

1:15:05I frantically tried to input the code to close the airlocks. It took me two attempts with shaky fingers to get the correct code, but within a second, the door sealed and I was once more separated from the abomination on the other side. I'm so sorry, Robert. Central dome finally gave in under the pressure. Massive streams of water quickly collapsed in the ceiling. The station fell apart and the central power was annihilated under the flood. Plunged into darkness and silence, I ventured further towards the docking station. While each section of Talos supposedly had their own backup generator, for some reason it hadn't been activated yet in that section, making it hard to navigate through the narrow labyrinth of hallways.

1:15:41Can anybody hear me? Called, my voice echoing endlessly. I bumped my head as I saw a light peering in the distance. James came running towards me, holding a flashlight. Doc, you're still with us? Thank God! He said, his joy quickly fleeting as he realized I'd come alone. What happened? Where's Jim? And the captain? I just shook my head in response. No words could convey what had happened at the dome. Their absence proved enough about their unfortunate outcome or futile escape attempt. No time to worry about that now. We need to get out of here. The capsule is just about ready to leave for the surface.

1:16:16We only need Henry to figure out how to get the power back. When we arrived at the docking station, I was relieved by the increase in ceiling height, if only ever so slightly. Henry was busy at work on the control panel trying to figure out what had kept the power from the backup generator. Abby, standing behind him with a flashlight. God damn it! Something has torn away the backup generator. Not sure how, but I'm sure I know what. Fucking abysmal demon spawn!

1:16:47None of us spoke a word. Trapped in a tin can 20 ,000 feet below the surface with no transport. After what felt like an eternity, Henry finally broke the silence. They're all great ideas, but that won't work. He said sarcastically in response to our lack of solutions. Well, do you have any ideas then, genius? As a matter of fact, I do. He walked into the capsule and started messing around with the electronics, eventually pulling off one of the panels. There are three batteries powering this sub. And the way I see it, I can take one out, and it should still have enough power to get to the surface.

1:17:26Us? I need to connect the battery to the airlock. He continued as he pulled one of them out of the capsule. Then, I'll override the door. I'll blow open the pressure, and a resulting wave of water should forcibly eject the sub. What about you? well someone has to stay behind to follow through on this plan let me do it then no you idiot one wrong connection and the door fries locking forever and i'm the only one with the expertise there has to be another way there isn't trust me this is your bootlicker this is the guy you called a bootlicker what do you have to say about that now what do you have to say about that now look at you i'm a bastard you called him a bullet bullet bootlicker the bad guy and i was like i'm the only one who can do this i have to drown myself down here he he learned a little something from mike he joked around there sarcastic trying to break the tension he evolved as a character i like him what am i supposed to say you called him a bootlicker and now he's dying to save everyone yeah well i also just said i was wrong bitch that there it is whatever the story has a lot of sacrifice from mike locking himself inside to the captain going and now him henry james and i looked at each other, both wanting to speak up but neither able to come up with an alternative solution.

1:18:38Henry went back into the transport capsule and sealed the panel shut again. I wish you were all smarter. Maybe one of you could have stayed behind. He said as sarcastically as ever, but for the first time with the slightest smirk on his face. Thank you. Yeah. Time for you to go. He said as he shut the door to the capsule. We watched as Henry walked away for the last time, ready to face his fate. an asshole to the bitter end but one with a kind heart. Like his other parish crewmates he would forever remain at the ocean basin never again witnessing sunlight. Time went on forever while we waited for a wave of water that might just as likely crush us in an instant with a ton of luck would be ejected out from the station and from there we could reach the surface.

1:19:21It would be the most violent takeoff in the station's history but also the last. Minutes later we heard the sound of the airlock opening before shattering to pieces under the immense pressure of exploding water and its insidial flesh. It only took about 10 seconds for the wave to hit us and we shoot out from Talos, the hallway behind us falling apart as we did. It hit us hard, roughed us up a bit but we survived. James took control of the vessel and didn't hesitate to start descending towards the surface. Abby and I stared out the tiny window. On the other side, we could see the utterly crushed remains of Talos, dimly illuminated by the light still powered up by the generators at Section C, which had been completely covered by the flesh of this insidium.

1:20:05The thousands of corpses of fish that previously littered the ocean floor had been cleaned up and were now a part of the ever-growing monster from the abyss. A wave of relief washed over me, with my heart calming down for each foot of our ascension. I no longer felt the need to constantly look out the window. the world outside was dark and whatever life once remained down there and consumed alongside my longing for the ocean. Once we reached a depth of 5 ,000 feet in the middle of the midnight zone we managed to establish contact with the USS Orion called for an emergency evacuation. They were quite the distance away but by the time we'd reached the surface they would pick us up albeit curious as to what happened in the depths.

1:20:46At 3 ,000 feet the first rays of daylight greeted us with the warmth of the sun. the ocean started filling up with peaceful life. Fish thriving in the waters, completely ignorant to the horrors that existed directly below them. The vast darkness turned to a calming blue, and for the first time since being hired for this mission, I felt safe. Before long, we breached the surface, and were greeted by a team wearing hazmat suits as we boarded the ship. We had been unable to alert them to the situation. All they knew was that a potential contagion existed in the depths, one we could have brought back with us.

1:21:19so understandably they locked us in the sick bay isolated from the rest of the crew for 72 hours they pricked and prodded at us taking multiple blood samples and even a csf probe after they all returned normal no sign of sickness was apparent they led us into more comfortable living arrangements as we set for shore after being released from the sick bay i hardly saw james and abby they spent most of their time in their rooms only coming out for the occasional interrogation. Headquarters were incredibly curious as to how a state-of-the-art installation suddenly collapsed so we had absolutely no proof of the events that had transpired.

1:21:55They needed someone to blame, but as a part of the CDC, not the original Talos crew, I was safe from prosecution. All that was required of me was to sign a non-disclosure agreement, one I'm breaking now to warn you about the horrors of the abyss. We know more about what exists in outer space than we do about the life in our own oceans, and that's how it should remain. forever. These creatures, this insidium, can't be killed. As long as one single cell remains, it would be enough to restart their hives, and I fear that with the consumption of Talos, they have learned about life on the surface. Now that I'm posting this, I'm heading for the center of disease control.

1:22:33I can feel the worms wriggling. I knew it! I knew he was infected! I knew he was infected. I was like, that was way too clean of a way to escape. Yes, okay. I can feel the worms wriggling inside my chest as I type this ready to burst at any moment. I guess the suit didn't protect me after all. I hope James and Abby are safe and get a second chance at living a happy life. I'm so sorry for all of this. For what's to come. End. Oh, Isaiah. That was so fun. What a fun story. It's fun. I don't know. I'm saying this not as a negative, but I'm disappointed. I want, I want more. It's like one of those stories where it's like the disappointment comes from like, I want, I wanted so much more from that.

1:23:22You know what I mean? Yeah. Excellent. Excellent. First part, maybe one of the most effective first parts of a story we've ever read. I'll say that. Yeah. I think that like this story would have benefited greatly from just more meat. Like, I mean, the, the, the, The biggest thing is we go down with Mike, we get his footage. And then from there, we basically see like the smooth cave, the holes, these organisms, these worms are technically from what if I remember right, is like the first organism on Earth and they've just survived everything. So technically, this is the first thing to ever live.

1:23:57Or they were the only one to survive like Massey's extinction events. Right. Right. True. Yeah. So there's that. But then there was like weird cryptic writings on the walls to where it's like, is it are Are they like able to write these things? That implies to me, they have an intelligence. Like they learn, cause he's mentions at the end, I fear after consuming Talos, they know about life above. I think it's kind of like a hive mind thing. Well, I wish there was just more put into that. And I wish that we had more like the, they set up all these great characters. Henry is a great character. That's like kind of a hard ass that takes his job seriously.

1:24:34And then at the end he evolves into like a guy, which I mean, he always had a heart, but it was just like the stern asshole that had to like, you know, keep shit on track or whatever, but he's a selfless saint and he died. And even like the captain. Yeah, no, I mean like the captain, good guy. And even like James, I like, I mean, all of them, Abby, Jen, all great characters. I wanted just to know more about them. I think like one thing that this story would have benefited from is like more time talking about like, I guess just like, there's a lot of setup for things that just don't have tons of payoff.

1:25:07you know like just like the idea of people going crazy and stuff like could have danced around the idea of like is there something out there isn't there something out there because it's just kind of immediately like this is this is what it is right yeah i'm i would be totally fine with this being a much longer story oh yeah yeah and that's just that that's where i mean the majority of the criticisms come in for me is just like you set up a lot of things that don't have a huge payoff but But that within itself, I love the idea, like the narrator, the doc, the worms in his chest at the end. It's like you can see it coming, but it's still just satisfying to be like, of course, he's infected.

1:25:44And you have to assume that maybe even James and Abby are. Who knows? You know, we don't really know what happened. I mean, there's no contact, but, you know, with the doc in the submarine with them, did anything happen? Who knows? it was really uh really fun really enjoyed this one man so creepy and then to the visual of like thinking like looking out little like looking out of a little porthole and seeing a giant wave like a carpet of flesh and there's just like dead whales and other fish conjoined in with it and it's just like covering uh the section section a and b of this building of the of uh tardos yeah it's like the the visuals were so good it blends off so many sci-fi elements but also kind of like um i mean it reminds me of movies like alien right like you're the isolation but there's a creature and they're trying to kill what was that one movie about there was a life form on a space station that was absorbing people life you remember that movie did you watch that i think it was just called life I can't remember.

1:26:57Yes. Yeah. It was called life. Yeah. There was this thing. It was it started out as a little cell, but then started to like consume people and like become these this larger biomaterial. Yeah. This movie reminds me of that a lot, but I love that the idea of like an isolating thing that you're trapped there with it. There was an underwater movie with Kirsten Stewart. The one at the end. I think it was just called underwater where at the end it was like Cthulhu that was down there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I, I, I saw the tail end of that. Allison was watching and I saw the tail end of it, but I, I didn't know if I needed, I needed to watch it for myself to see the sound, the, the, the, the ringing that people have heard, what was it called?

1:27:41The bio, the bio twang, the bio twang. Was that just the fish head that was in the wall or was there ever a really, a reasoning for that? I think it's saying that's just the noises that, the worms make somehow uh to attract things down to them it's like an angler fish's lure like trying to pull people towards it or other fish towards it because they just feed off of any mass yeah which i think is awesome i really love that i like the idea too that um the the kind of harrowing line of like we like now that the now that the um the syncytium are on the vessel on Tardos or Tardos that it knows that there's life on the surface.

1:28:26Like it's going to keep going up because it knows that there's more up there. You know what I mean? Yeah. So it just really, really enjoyed that. I don't know. All in all. I mean, like, I don't know. I just, it was fucking great. Really, really fun story, man. That was what I love about this show so much. And I mean, I guess it's just stories in general, right? But we get to jump around. like the last week was a church in the middle of the woods. And, you know, before that we've covered calls, we cover supernatural, we cover far future and stuff like that. Like there's so many different cool settings.

1:28:58You can tell neat horror stories through this one reminds me a lot too of the one we did. I'm the other astronaut on this mission died. Yeah. Like you can just do so many interesting things with stories. It's so cool to see what people who are just writing stories for the love of the game are able to put together. it's great I really love this story this was a banger short sweet I wish it was longer but for what we had of it selfishly I just want yeah selfishly I wish I just I wanted more but that was just me being greedy a greedy little pig I will say at the end of part three there is a link to Richard's Richard Saxon who is the author his Facebook which we'll leave that link there as well in case you want to follow him and maybe any updates that he does have he also posted that he's finished a novel this was two years ago so i don't know current status but he's finished a novel that is currently undergoing edits the name of the novel is the walls of the basement used to talk to me growing up which is a cool name um like that yeah but this guy writes a ton of stuff uh about some about like creepy woods some about sci-fi stuff like that um so yeah check him out we'll have his stuff linked in the description we i certainly want to check out oh he has another underwater one called I'm a rescue diver specialized in underwater caving we discovered something horrible in the depths we'll have to write we'll have to read that one too that one so that's just the ocean is such a haunting haunting place and it's cool too because I feel like a lot of times we've had a lot of like camp ones there's a lot of stuff of just like just eerie like home creepy paranormal stuff so diving more into the ocean would be uh just a a treat for me at least.

1:30:44I love the setting of that. It's just very, very haunting. But thank you guys so much for listening to this episode or watching this episode on YouTube. Thank you to all of our audio listeners on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. We appreciate you listening there, giving us a nice rating. It does help us out a lot. And of course, to our beautiful patrons who also got this episode ad-free. So appreciate you so much, guys. Thank you for supporting the channel. and as always we will see you in the next one stay creeped bitches bye don't get eaten by worms unless you want to i guess bye

1:31:41Thank you.

1:32:34How far would you go when someone threatens everyone you love? Who can you trust? From Academy Award winner Ben Affleck. Animals stars Affleck, Kerry Washington, Jillian Anderson, and Steven Yeun. When a Los Angeles mayoral candidate's son is kidnapped, he and his wife are pulled into a web of deception, forced to make choices that could tear their world apart. Watch Animals in select theaters and on Netflix October 9th. Rated R. Tap the banner to learn more.