Visage: The Rig

Chapter 2

Some time had passed since the breaking headline that highlighted the possibility of Russia unleashing a nuclear weapon. This news had shocked the small crew, but none more so than Gary. Now, he appeared to be asleep on a spinning chair in the monitoring room, his mouth wide open and drool dripping down his chin. On the other side of the room, Calvin was propped up by his right arm on the desk, his chin in hand and eyes closed, letting out a loud snore.

"Rig T, come in," crackled a static-laden voice from a nearby radio. "Rig T, do you copy?" the voice asked again, but there was no response as Calvin and Gary were both asleep.

"Calvin, wake the fuck up!" the voice on the radio shouted. Calvin jolted awake, fell to his left, and crashed hard to the floor, whacking his face. "Mother-fu—" he mumbled as he pulled himself off the ground. Grabbing the nearby radio, he pressed the button and replied, "Go ahead, dipshit."

There was a brief silence before the radio crackled to life again. "Requesting permission to land on platform, our ETA is 10 minutes?" the voice on the radio asked. Calvin glanced at Gary, who was still asleep with his mouth wide open, before turning his attention back to the radio in his hand. He pulled it to his mouth and pressed the button again to speak.

"This is Rig T, permission is granted. We look forward to seeing you, over," Calvin said as he released the button and placed the radio back down on the desk. Calvin paced over to Gary and whacked his left hand hard over his head, causing Gary to startle and wake up suddenly.

"They are landing in 10 minutes," Calvin said to Gary, who looked confused and almost forgot that he was on a rig in the middle of the ocean with duties to oversee. Gary glanced toward the nearby window and noticed the sun was slowly rising. He couldn't believe he had slept in the chair overnight, which might have explained why he was feeling pain at the bottom of his back. He let out a little groan and scrunched his face in agony. Gary groaned once more, his left hand placed at the bottom of his back as he pulled himself off the chair with wheels. He did a long stretch, and his back let out a loud crack. Gary lowered his arms to rub his eyes and glanced at a nearby monitor, which seemed to be flashing red with a message.

"Is that normal?" Gary asked Calvin, pointing to the red message flashing on the monitor. Calvin turned to face the nearby monitor, which was flashing red.

"Oh shit," Calvin mumbled as he paced over to the monitor to assess the message on the screen. It was actually a warning indicating that bad weather was fast approaching. "This makes no fucking sense, this was showing as clear for today and it's coming in fast," Calvin said out loud, forgetting he was openly voicing his concern for Gary to hear.

"It's all good though, right?" Gary asked, though he couldn't shake the feeling that it was way too early for this sort of thing to be happening. A look of concern was clearly visible on his face. Calvin didn't respond or acknowledge what Gary had asked. Instead, he leaned over toward the monitor, tapping away quickly on the keyboard. Frowning in confusion, Calvin couldn't understand how this weather had gone undetected until now. It was as if it had materialized out of thin air, defying the very systems designed to predict and track such phenomena.

Standing up straight, Calvin took a step back from the monitor and walked toward the exit. His hand gripped the handle, and he pushed the door open, stepping outside. Leaning against the railing, Calvin watched in bewilderment as an unusual fog appeared to pass over them, shrouding the entirety of the rig and the surrounding area. The tension in the air was palpable as Calvin's mind raced with unanswered questions. How had this sudden change in weather escaped his notice?

Gary soon followed Calvin, closing the door behind him, and leaned on the rail as well. "Where did this come from?" Gary asked, knowing very well that research at the rig indicated no expected weather changes.