“And that’s our job?” Murphy said. “Enter the city and find that…generator or whatever it is. And then?”

Orr just shook his head. “I have sealed orders. I can’t open them until you find that source…then, then we’ll see.”

Bell didn’t say anything.

None of them did. They knew very well what their job would be once that source was discovered. First to document it and then to destroy it. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind.

Orr tapped out his pipe in his palm and sat back down at his laptop. “These following images were also taken by Gundry’s hydrobot. Pay attention now.”

He clicked a key on his laptop and more images appeared on the screen. They were not very distinct. They showed things the forward cameras of the hydrobot had captured: shadows. That’s about all they were. On the screen, the hydrobot’s lights were filled with rising sediment, glimpses of strange forms swimming in and out of frame. Then more shadows, oblong shapes that darted away from the light before they could be seen. Whatever they were, they were large and weird and very fast, apparently. They moved off before the cameras could get much more than a blurry glimpse.

Orr tapped his keys and they saw still photos of the city again…or part of it. Those oblong shapes were moving in and out of the ruins. Emerging from shafts and holes, slipping into the myriad honeycombed mouths. Again, the shots were indistinct. They could have been anything.

Orr tapped his keys and more images appeared.

And these were the ones nobody wanted to see, for they were absolute vindication of all those half-baked alien stories that had been leaking out of Antarctica for years now.

These images were not blurry.

They were fairly clear.

The oblong forms appeared to be some unknown form of marine life that was cylindrical in shape, wide and barrel-like at midbody, tapering at each end. At the bottom were clusters of thick tentacles that hung limp as they swam. From either side of the body jutted huge fin-like wings that were supported by long and narrow bony rods, smooth flesh webbed in-between, held taut. The bodies were furrowed, a bluish gunmetal gray, more tentacle-like feelers coming from midbody. At the top, there was what looked like more tentacles, but they were short and blunt, rubbery stalks with brilliant red eyes set atop them.

“What the hell are those?” Murphy asked.

But Orr did not answer. What, indeed?

More images showed the things cavorting around the hydrobot, curious maybe. And then the next series showed a veritable swarm of them coming out of the city and crowding the hydrobot’s cameras.

That was it.

Orr brought up the lights and everyone seemed to be glad about that.