“We envisaged a non-indigenous force would one day seek to either occupy the mainland territory, or try and decimate the population through a weapon of mass destruction. We always envisaged that invasionary plan would be human foreign-power enacted. The ground has shifted under our feet – literally. Ladies and gentlemen, here are the facts.”

Decker clasped his large hands together. “An enemy force is already among us, capturing, subverting and killing our people.” Decker nodded to the rear of the room and the lights dimmed. The wall behind him lit up, and then the horrors appeared. The screen showed the Shoggoth in the containment cell. People sat forward, faces twisted in disgust, and there was angry murmuring.

“Jesus Christ, what the fuck is that thing?” came from one large man in the front row.

The thing was shown feeding – its body bloating as it consumed the flesh. Pulsating eyes popped open on its glistening dark hide, and ever more mouths opened as it consumed its prey, ripping it first to shreds, and stuffing the pieces of dripping meat into the holes.

The crowd shifted uncomfortably. Decker’s face was impassive. “Like I said; things have changed.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the images. “What is it? Hell if I know. It’s called a Shoggoth. But as for what it really is, our best and brightest have no idea. We can analyze its characteristics and make some educated guesses.” He lifted some notes. “High percentage of water, amorphous striated muscle that’s enormously strong and pliable. Has a toxic mucous layer in cells that are like chromatophores, except they don’t just allow the thing to change color, they also allow it to change shape.” Decker looked over his shoulder, his face like stone. “When this…thing was brought in, it looked like a man. The closest we can come up with is that it’s more closely akin to some sort of giant, semi-intelligent slug than anything else.”

Decker exhaled between his teeth and moved to the next image. This one was a film that started rolling as soon as it appeared. It showed an aerial shot of a large and deep sinkhole, with dozens of people milling around, some taking pictures. The people stopped moving, and all stared in the same direction – toward the rim of the pit.

Something came up out of the dark hole. Matt expected it to be some of the horrifying Shoggoth, but the thing’s body kept coming. At first it looked like dark scaffolding: long shiny legs gripped the edge of the pit, claws digging in to the concrete, and then it dragged the rest of itself free.

Long insectoid legs, shining in the sunlight, and all spiked and barbed like a monstrous locust. It rose higher and higher, gaining a height of about three stories. Its long body was that of a primitive reptile with short stubbed tail, and it had a mottled hide more like bubbled flesh than scales or skin.

It seemed to lack eyes, but the enormous head swiveled toward the people, who were all apparently rooted to the spot. They finally started to flee, but the creature moved, fast – too fast for something that size. It quickly ran down its prey. A long sticky tongue shot out, lapping at the fleeing bodies, and, like ants on an anteater’s, people were glued to the long tongue and reeled back up and into the open mouth.