“Thank you, Abby, and that’s only where it loses strength. My satellite mapping has the thing charted at hundreds of miles – trillions of gallons of pristine seawater. That’s no lake, that’s an underground sea.” She sat back, feeling a dreamy light-headedness.

“Was this what you were looking for, Pop? This hidden sea world?”

“Cate, Buzz is fading fast; losing signal strength,” Freddie said in a rush. “And just as well I guess. I need to get home and thaw out my little bits before they all drop off.”

“Sure.” Cate slumped back, sighing. “I wish I was there.”

“About to lose image.” Freddie spoke distractedly as if he was focusing on something else. “Going to switch on all lights, as any remaining power is useless anyway. Okay Buzz, thanks for the show, and so long buddy.”

Immediately the dark water with the milky halo of light flared brighter and wider. More detritus snow filled the screen, and more scudding miniature shrimp. Cate half smiled, and began to sit forward, her chin resting on her palms, intent on savoring the last of the live images from the deep subterranean sea.

“Shit!”

Freddie’s yell burst from the speakers, and was like an electric shock jolting her from her seat, making Abby scream, and causing Greg to spray a mouthful of coffee onto the desk.

A cavernous maw opened in front of them, coming out of the stygian gloom like an express train, to gape wider and wider. There were flashes of white, and then the signal died. It didn’t just fade or whiteout, instead it was abruptly shut off.

The three of them sat in stunned silence for several seconds, mouths hanging open, and eyes round.

Cate shut her mouth and swallowed. “What… just… happened?” She got slowly to her feet.

“Did you fucking see that?” Freddie’s voice was several pitches higher. “Did you?”

Cate’s mouth worked but no words came.

“Yes, but what did I just see?” Greg also stood, his eyes going from the screen to Cate and then back.

“Did we just get sucked into another cave?” Abby frowned, her bottom lip pulled into her mouth.

“No, I don’t think so,” Cate said softly, feeling her scalp tingle. “I think, more like the cave came for us.” She turned to Greg. “I think we just got eaten.”

*   *   *

It was late, 9:00pm, and the university halls were empty save for the distant throaty roar of a vacuum cleaner in one of the other rooms.

Cate rewound and re-ran the drone’s footage over and over – enlarging, enhancing, and freeze-framing the images. When she had the clearest frame she could extract, she sat back in her chair, exhausted, but exhilarated, and stared hard at her result – the triangular shape, the serrations, the color, she knew what it looked like to her, but dared not give voice to her thoughts.