Beyond The Coral (A Luberto Story)

Prologue Part 2

MY FELLOW COLLEAGUES -(STOP)-

I REGRET TO INFORM YOU ALL THAT OUR ATTEMPTS TO ACCESS THE SEA MONSTERS IN QUESTION HAVE BEEN UNSUCCESSFUL -(STOP)-

I AM AWARE THE NATURE OF THIS MESSAGE MAY SEEM ODD— GIVEN THAT I AM SENDING VIA TELEGRAM— BUT FEAR NOT -(STOP)-

WE WILL SOON DISCUSS OUR GRIEVANCES ONCE MORE -(STOP)-

PLEASE ARRIVE IN ANCONA AS SOON AS POSSIBLE -(STOP)-

DO NOT TELL ANYONE ABOUT YOUR WHEREABOUTS  -(STOP)-

DO NOT LET ANYONE FOLLOW YOU -(STOP)-

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT PROCEED WITH YOUR CURRENT MISSION -(STOP)-

ABANDON YOUR CURRENT MISSION AND REPORT TO ANCONA IMMEDIATELY -(STOP)-

OUR MISSION IS BECOMING CLOSER TO BECOMING A REALITY, FRIENDS -(STOP)-

WE WILL SOON ACHIEVE OUR GOAL— WITH YOUR HELP, I AM SURE OF IT -(STOP)-

SIGNED— DR. L.M -(STOP)-
_______________________________

In a dark, enclosed room sat a long wooden table, with ten chairs scattered evenly around it. The room was completely pitch black, except for the light that hung on a string from the ceiling. On each end of the table sat four tall, broad-shouldered men, who couldn't see each others' faces in the dark. There was also two other chairs present, although the people sitting in them had much smaller figures. The only thing they could see was the hands of the other people, which were all laying neatly on the table.

Nobody was saying a word, nor were they moving at all. Outside in the pitch black night, nobody was making a noise. The location was remote and unknown; somewhere where the average person wouldn't go wandering. That was exactly what was intended. To be quite honest, the activity they were doing wasn't quite legal.

Finally, one man at the head of the table spoke, his voice low and very raspy.

"Thank you all for coming today, I'm pleased to see that you all got my telegram?"

Some of the other mysterious figures all nodded their head once.

The head man nodded, pleased. He cleared his throat and stood up from the table, still not showing his face, which he commented on.

"Remaining anonymous is probably the best route-- for me and for you all sitting here."

Every person else stood still in their seats, causing the man to smile. He grinned at them and continued speaking.

"It's time for us to take our mission to the coasts of Italy. North would be preferable as we haven't gotten much progress down here, as you know," he said the last part with a chuckle.  "I request that we all keep this low profile, as to not draw attention to ourselves. That is the basic information for now, though we can go into much more detail when we get closer to that date. Any questions?"

One of the men at the opposite table raised his hand in the hair, motioning it towards the headman to get his attention.

"I'd like to elaborate on what you said. If we aren't getting results here, how are you sure that we can find any sea monsters in the northern cities? I think it's clear that we're just not finding results in urban areas. So.. we should start searching the sea instead."

The other people at the table all started to talk at the same time, creating incomprehensible commotion around the room. Some were nodding their heads in agreement, while others were very loudly arguing against the point.