They painted up your secrets
With the lies they told to you
And the least they ever gave you
Was the most you ever knew
And I wonder where these dreams go
When the world gets in your way
What's the point in all this screaming
No one's listening anyway
They press their lips against you
And you love the lies they say
And I tried so hard to reach you
But you're falling anyway
And you know I see right through you
When the world gets in your way
What's the point in all the screaming
You're not listening anyway
John Resnik----
Prologue:
Harry Lichton brushed his red hair back between his fists and sighed. He pulled his massive frame off his Naval bunk and tried not to bump his head on the too low ceiling. Working a couple of miles under the ocean wasn't the twenty-four seven kegger he'd been hoping for. But it paid well, and construction work was construction work. Right?
At least this job was coming to a close. He tried to cheer himself up, by thinking about the nice long sunny vacation he would be taking with his hazzard bonus. But it just depressed him further. He made his way down to the airlock and chose a high pressure diving suit. Painstakingly he snapped it together. This was the last shift he would have to work before going off rotation and it was unlikely that he would ever come up for another one. The Deep Marine Discovery II was all but finished. He was one of the few men who had been willing to work the project. Because so many men and women died on the first DMD, there had been a general boycott by many of the traditional laborers for such a job. Sailors could be a superstious lot. Then the US and the UEO could have dispelled a lot of the problems by choosing a spot slightly more removed from the original facility.
Well past was past, and he wouldn't be here if some bureaucrat hadn't decided that the original location was the best. Harry had to spend six months training before they would even let him on-site. Now all he wanted was to go home and see his kid, maybe make another kid with the missus. He actually smiled at that thought.
The rest of his crew arrived slowly. They equipped themselves fastidiously. The trainers had drilled them about what happened to workers who missed a flap or a snap here and there, and the videos hadn't been pretty. Finally, they made their way into the air-lock and awaited the chill green water. It was always a silent affair, going on shift. Harry liked to think that the men prayed and made peace with themselves. He always thought about Nora, his wife, and said a prayer for his kid.
The workers didn't need direction when the outside hatch opened. They swam to their appointed jobs and tried to get as much done as possible in the three hour shift. Harry was working the outer perimeter today. Resetting the emergency buoys and testing the perimeter fence that kept the sea creatures away from the building site would occupy all of his time.
As Harry swam farther and farther from the central hub of the construction, the lights grew fewer and farther between. Finally he reached the perimeter, and set the sensors to audio alarm. They were the best protection for a worker so far from the air-lock and safety. If the perimeter fence were down, he'd know if something larger than a guppy tried to enter in his safe zone. Harry called up the emergency buoy grid at the tiny station first and was relieved to see a row of flashing green lights. Next he checked the perimeter fence grid. Sure enough a fifty meter stretch was flashing yellow. At least it wasn't red. It was probably a sensor malfunction. Harry took the portable audio alarm and his tool box and swam along the perimeter markers. They cast the only light this far out.
Without warning, the portable alarm started beeping. Harry grabbed a marker and pulled himself to an abrupt stop. He checked the box for a location and a size on the offending creature. Ten meters from him, on the other side of the fence. The size function of his alert kept flashing INCONCLUSIVE DATA at him. The alarm increased its urgency. Now it was only five meters out. Harry tried to see what was beyond the small globe of light cast by his perimeter marker. A red light on top of the alarm device started flashing. The creature was two meters from the perimeter. Harry scanned the area, confident that when he saw what was approaching the fence he wouldn't be afraid... It was a sea turtle or a dolphin or a sting ray. This was not a b-rated horror flic.
As suddenly as the alert began, the portable alarm shut down. He looked at the alarm screen and it flashed a green all clear at him. If he could have laughed around his mouth piece he would have, another sensor malfunction. Harry turned to start swimming again but the hairs on the back of his neck started to prickle and he spun back to the blackness. In the edge of the globe of light, he saw a tall pale man. Long strands of white hair flowed in the ocean currents and the man smiled. His eyes seemed to glow with their own light and Harry almost spit out his mouth piece. All Clear my ass. He looked down at his portable alarm and it flashed a dull green at him. Harry jerked his head back up and the apparition, was gone. Harry reread his alarm box. This system was one of the most advanced in the world, if it said there wasn't anything there, then there wasn't anything there. The dull green glowed back at him.
Harry read his locator. He was less than ten feet from the perimeter problem. He couldn't let his imagination get the better of him. He hadn't seen a ghost. And if he had? It wasn't like a ghost could hurt him.
While Harry was gazing down at the screen in front of him a form began to emerge from the emptiness of the ocean. An outline at first, it gradually took on the dimensions of the apparition Harry had just seen.
The figure reached out and ripped the respirator from the shocked worker's mouth. "Good night," it whispered. "Good night."