Matt felt the same heady rush when reading or speaking the words, and he licked his dry lips before continuing. “This book, written nearly one thousand, three hundred years ago, originally known as the Al Azif, and also as The Necronomicon, or The Book of the Dead, or even The Book of Old Ones, contains a prophecy, and all the signs we are seeing bear out the fulfillment of this prophecy…and that is, the Great Old One, Cthulhu, is once again awakening.” He rubbed his eyes then looked along the faces in front of him – they displayed a mix of alert concentration and disbelief.

“This thing is an ancient being of immense power. From what I can decipher, this Cthulhu and its…minions…are currently sleeping beneath the earth, and beneath the sea. When they first ruled, it was for billions of years, and it was even before the primordial ooze. But something happened, some sort of great cataclysm that made the world unsuitable for them. Some died, some left, and some, like Cthulhu the Great Old One, hibernated.”

“Cu-what? Is this a joke?” McAllister’s features seemed to have screwed themselves into a knot on his face.

Decker held up a hand, and nodded to Matt to continue. He did.

“According to the Book, and to Dr Albadi’s research, there have been five appearances of the Old Ones in Earth’s past. These appearances correspond exactly to the five mass extinction events throughout Earth’s history.” Matt looked along the line of faces again. “When this thing rises, nearly all life on Earth vanishes.”

“Bullshit.” McAllister turned to Decker, his jaw thrust out. “That’s what we’re working with now; fucking voodoo?”

“Voodoo?” Matt’s brows went up. “Are you shitting–?”

Decker leaned forward. There were cords standing out on his neck as he glared at McAllister. “You think we’re making this up?” He jerked a thumb at the image of the long-legged creature frozen on the screen behind him. “Maybe that’s just a lot of Russians in a big fucking suit?” His head seemed to extend on his neck even further. “You got better intel, thoughts or theories, then why don’t you impress us with your own insights? Come on up, and take the floor, General.”

The silence hung thickly. McAllister sat stunned, his face reddening. “It’s just…”

Decker continued to glare, and Abrams leaned forward.

“Thank you, Matt.” He looked McAllister in the eyes. “That’s what I thought at first, General; that it can’t be real. I didn’t want it to be real.” Abrams raised a hand to the rear of the room. “But it is.” Once more the screen behind them came to life. “This may help us understand what we are dealing with. We have determined that the nearest Earth point of the celestial convergence is approximately over the state of Kentucky. We rerouted one of our VELA satellites and used ground-penetrating radar at maximum over the area – this is what we came up with…”

Images flashed on the screen one after the other – the first showed a high-altitude shot of Mammoth Cave National Park, then each successive shot peeled another surface layer – soil, limestone, sandstone, and then, deeper, there appeared a dark stain. Even more layers were stripped away, and the dark stain seemed to shift, and pulse with life.