Dark Water

Chapter Three

The boat is large enough for all of them to have separate rooms, it's a repurposed expedition vessel.

The cabins are incredibly simple with a built in bed and storage unit, they're lit by a small LED panel in the ceiling and a round porthole on the far wall. There is a single shelf in each cabin.

Once the group have stowed their equipment they set off towards the work room, the boat's computer and investigation area. It's not much in ways of tech but it has sonar and a series of hull and side cameras that monitor the water below and around the boat.

The group are shocked to find a young man sat at one of the work stations, recording data about the water temperature and depth.

"Flynn, these are our colleagues."

Sammael announces to the young man who simply waved over his shoulder and returns to his work.

"He's my assistant, he'll be diving and monitoring with you as we work to solve this case."

Sagan and Zanzi exchange a look as they notice the black markings on the man's arms. If they think anything of it then they don't announce it aloud.

Sammael takes a seat around a large, round desk and he gestures for the group to join him.

Claire and Gareth sit next to each other whilst Zanzi leaves a gap between anyone and himself. Sagan leans against the table and stares at the file Sammael has place down in the centre of the table.

"I thought we'd start with what we already know about these incidents."

Sammael pulls the file towards himself and opens it.

"All attacks have occurred within the Oasis zone, all victims have been angels (two fledglings and one newly qualified seraph), the attacker is not seen as it attacks from deep water and seems to be a surprise predator of some sort."

Sammael pauses and turns the page but as he opens his mouth to speak Flynn interrupts him.

"Water climate is identical to every other tropical zone around here but the water depth is weirdly deep, sonar is picking up an underwater cave system and hardly any life other than a few shoals of fish."

He turns around on his chair to face the group; a slight grin on his face.

"It's super cool looking down there. I reckon we might have a deep water reef nearby, the perfect feeding ground for something as agile as our creature."

Sammael clears his throat and flips the page again as Flynn had pretty much covered the climate page.

"The only leads I have are that whatever is doing this is actually a person or potentially some kind of pagan god or Titan spirit. No Merfolk, Sirens or Taniwah have entered the Oasis in years."

Gareth grunts and shifts his wings around slightly.

"Whatever it is...we can't leave here until we find out and guarantee no more attacks will occur."

The others nod at his statement and Sagan casts a glance over to a large screen showing the camera feed from the camera pointing down into the dark water beneath the boat.

"Those cameras... are they attack proof? This thing seems intelligent and I doubt it will just ignore the fact that we're filming it."

Flynn hums thoughtfully for a moment and sighs.

"I'm not sure, this boat was made for deep water expeditions but I don't know if it'll be reinforced against predator damage. I can check tomorrow morning when we do a practice dive."

Sagan pretends to be satisfied by the answer for the sake of everyone in the vicinity. She can't help the nagging feeling that the creature already knows why they're there and that it is lurking in the deep waiting for an opportunity to strike.

The group continue to talk about possible leads and ideas for a good hour before the sun begins to set and Flynn decides that they should bait the water when darkness falls to see what shows up.

If Sagan disapproves of the idea, she doesn't say anything against it.