Before i start this report, i must clarify that any mention of my colleagues, their names or personal information, is to be altered for security purposes. I have a compromise with the truth, but also with the well-being and safety of my coworkers and fellow researchers.
That said, this is a secret that i cannot bear maintaining for any longer. I’ve been a deep sea researcher for over fifteen years, and well recognized for my research collaborations among my peers. I’ve worked for a certain European Institute for the better part of my career, but it all changed three months ago. It was when me and other researchers were assigned to a new project, aboard the Diana Resarch Vessel - stationed close to the geographic center of the Pacific Ocean.
We all knew very little about what we were getting into; But we were sure of one thing: Whatever it was, it was important. The project was a global collaboration - the European Marine Board, the International Seabed Authority and the United Nation’s DESA are among some of the involved. But there were many more. Still, it was all a well-kept secret: No coverage of the international media, and no questions were being asked, at least that i was aware of.
There were other three research vessels, doing pretty much the same work as ours on different territories of the Pacific. I don’t want to get into the technicalities of my work, the scientific jargons or the terminology, so i’ll try to keep my explanation as simple as possible. I truly believe everyone should understand the importance of this discovery.
As soon as we boarded the Diana, the details of the project were elaborated upon, and we were instructed into our research. We were to investigate oceanic sound waves, travelling through the SOFAR channel, and first reported by Kiribati Researchers mere months ago. I remember talking to my colleague Marco after we got our briefing, as we didn’t understand the secrecy of the project. Deep sea earthquakes propagating sound waves that were caught by hydrophones were nothing new, so what was the fuss all about? Felt like our superiors knew more than they were letting us know. But soon enough we discovered why.
These sound waves came from certain oceanic trenches of the Hadal Zone, the deepest region of the ocean. It was the zone that most attracted the curiosity of amateurs and researchers alike, as the intense pressure made exploration difficult. Sunlight was incapable of reaching those immense depths, but even with the distinct lack light, and of primary producers, life flourished even in the darkest regions of the ocean. Species of heterograph organisms were known to exist and live, traversing the dark abyss.
Many submersibles had been carefully constructed over the years to explore the hadopelagic zone, but plenty were now defunct, had been lost or gotten crushed by the intense pressure. So the zone has always been a big ‘‘unknown’’, and efforts of exploration were progressing with very small steps. But now, this has changed. The sound waves that we were investigating were originally thought to be the result of profound earthquakes, but as we progressed in our research, it soon became clear that it couldn’t be the cause. Because the sound followed a pattern.
We studied the mentioned sound pattern for days, and got to understand why it had attracted so much attention. The phenomenon was discovered shortly after it started, but now it was being reported in different regions of the Pacific - hence the other research vessels scattered across the ocean. And all that sound was stemming from the bottom of the Hadal Zone. It repeated itself daily, almost down to the minute, for over six or seven hours (and of course, carefully compensating for the many kilometers the sound waves had to travel to reach our hydrophones) and then seemed to cease abruptly.
It’s hard to describe how it sounded like. Initially, it felt similar to other underwater earthquakes, but for a trained ear, paying close attention, it was possible to spot the differences. Speaking in a informal tone, it’s as if there was an immense drum very deep down the ocean, being played every day.
Our first hypothesis was some kind of geological anomaly, eleven thousand metres down below. We traded information and our discoveries with the other research vessels, but it soon got clear to all of us that it was pretty much impossible to determine what was happening, and why it was spreading, through analysis of the sound waves alone. We had to get down there and see for ourselves.
The problem was, of course, the immense depths and the extreme pressure. Many submersibles had attempted to reach the bottom of the Hadal Zone, and suffered the consequences of it. And according to our calculations, we had to go even deeper than the international record - aproximately 11.200 meters (or 36.745 ft) below sea level, if we wanted to catch a glimpse of what was truly happening. And that also revealed to us something that had been previously theorized - there was a new, deepest known spot in any ocean, where the sound had originated from. The mystery of that discovery certainly instigated us, and we wanted to go further.
The issue was discussed with our superiors, and not to my surprise, they had alredy considered the possibility. Our answer came in the form of PROFUNDO, a sophisticated ROV developed by other researchers and engineers, with technology that allowed it to support extreme pressures, and the promise that it could dive deeper than any other known submersible. It had alredy been tested, but this particular mission would fully utilize it’s maximum capabilities.
I remember well the day we put PROFUNDO to use. Our team was reunited at the control center, where we would guide it’s movements as it delve deep underwater. PROFUNDO’s camera would record everything that it found, and we monitored it’s slow descent.
It would take many hours to reach the desired spot. We had carefully planned the descent, so the ROV would reach it’s destination in time to caught the source of the noise. I wasn’t present during much of the dive, however. There wasn’t that much to see. The light from the surface could still be discerned for a while, and every now and then a curious fish would pass by. But after we reached the abyssopelagic zone, then there was mostly darkness.
I remember staring at the transmission with my colleagues, discussing hypothesis. We were all eager to find out what was truly happening, so far below the sea level. The ROV was at a point in which there was no difference between water and darkness, and all that was clearly visible was the marine snow, organic leftovers that were a source of food for many deep sea species. We were mostly focused on our research to notice anything unusual, however, but we all got together to witness PROFUNDO’s breaking the world record as it delve into the oceanic trench below, more than 11 thousand meters.
Someone opened up a bottle of wine and we commemorated. Even though the mission was far from done, and we didn’t even know if the ROV woud be able to keep resisting the intense pressure, there was this nice feeling of accomplishment. We waited for hours, and now we were closer to the origin of the sound waves than we ever had been. So the team once again reunited, not long after, as PROFUNDO finally reached it’s destination.
On the bottom of the abyss, in the sea bed. We where at the desired area, and the sand beneath PROFUNDO stretched across a dark horizon. The ROV was resisting well against the pressure, but we knew we should get the job done and not count our luck.
It started to move. And we were all watching, carefully guiding it’s movements as we explored that unknown place. However, we couldn’t find anything. It was difficult to see, but there wasn’t anything visible that could be the source of the noise. We were in the most profound depths of the ocean and it semeed completly empty. So we decided to wait until the sound waves started propagating again, in the next few hours.
It was then that my colleague, Erika, caught sight of something.
'’It’s over there.’’ - She said. - ‘‘I’m sure of it. It’s not far, about 18 feet that direction, think we could reach it?’’
We could, and the ROV slowly made it’s way. As we approached, the transmission seemely became more clear, and strange shapes and shadows transfigurated by the water were now getting closer. And then i saw something that i will never forget.
'’Oh, God’’ - Erika uttered.
'’Holy shit.’’ - Said Marco.
And i could only stare, appalled. Couldn’t take my eyes off that otherworldly vision.
The ocean bottom was filled with hundreds of gigantic human statues. Immense figures, scattered across the dark ocean floor. We couldn’t even see all there was to them, but they were undoubtedly human. Knelt down, faces fixated on the sand and arms stretching upwards, almost as if they were holding something above their heads, holding the entire ocean, like Atlas. The best way i can describe it, is as if they were greek sculptures, bald figures and without clothes, but a seemingly perfect human anatomy.
We couldn’t believe it. It was just too surreal. None of us expected that sight. There were hundreds of them as far as the ROV’s camera could see, both figures of men and women. However, there was no sense of wonder for what could have been the biggest discovery of the 21th century. Only dread, as we tried to rationalize what we were seeing.
Looking at those things didn’t feel right. It provoked a strange sense of urgency, and even fear, something that i thought it was just me, but soon noticed affected everyone in the room. It was as if we were seeing something that we shoudn’t be. Something forbidden. We were scientists, but still there was no explanation that could justify that feeling.
It was all recorded, thankfully. Because after the initial feeling of surprise vanished, i couldn’t bear to look at them any longer. Those immense, lifeless figures, prostrated like slaves. None of us could, except for Erika. Soon we all left but her, that wanted to continue the ROV investigations by herself. For some reason, most of the research team felt sick after seeing these statues, and we had to take a break.
We had a meeting shortly after, to discuss hypothesis. Plenty of possibilities were raised, such as the statues being the remains of an ancient civilization - something that could forever change our world history, but it still didn’t explain how deep they were in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, how many of them there were, and how they were connected to the sound waves. Not only that, but their size alone made that possibility unlikely - working on a quick estimative, someone proposed they should be at least 181 metres (593 ft) in height. How could an ancient civilization build even one, not to mention those statues probably existed in the hundreds?
We decided to present the recordings to our superiors, and they were as appalled with the discovery as we were. There was nothing logical about what we were seeing, and still, it existed. It was there. Many kilometers below us, in that very moment. Our discussion went on and on, as we analysed the alredy recorded footage, and semeely forgot about the sound waves and the ROV transmission Erika was still monitoring. That is, until we heard her scream.
We rushed in the direction of the control room. I was one of the first to get there, only to caught sight of a terrified woman sitting at the corner of the room, face buried between her legs, trembling and sobbing uncontrollably. The screen showed only static - the transmission had been cut out, exactly after the sound waves were marked to start. And the ROV had been lost.
We approached Erika carefully, but she could only tremble. Her eyes were dilated, fixated on the floor and she was crying uncontrollably. She couldn’t say anything. Erika was one of the most intelligent and focused researchers that i ever knew, so serious about her work to the point of being stoic. And whatever she saw in that transmission had left her terrified beyond words.
She was taken to our medical facility, and even after she stopped crying and took some pills, she still wouldn’t say a word. Only look at us with a thousand-yard stare, as if her own mind was trapped deep down the ocean, along with those terrible statues.
We tried to recover the recording, but it had either been corrupted or deleted. Maybe by Erika herself. Whatever she saw was lost, along with PROFUNDO, deep in that trench.
There was no way to do a recovery effort, and frankly we didn’t know how to proceed. Erika was the only one that could give us some answers, but not until she recovered. So we let her rest.
But the next day, she vanished without a trace.
We searched the entire ship. There was no sign of Erika, no matter where we looked. She had a husband and two daughters waiting for her back home, and now she is gone. My only fear, is that she too, has been lost to the ocean. She saw something that she shouldn’t, and now it won’t let her go.
We don’t know why the statues are down there. We don’t know their purpose, or what is their relation to the terrible sound waves. We don’t know why this effect is seemingly propagating itself across the ocean, and how to stop it. We are trying our best.
Still, contrary to my superiors, i believe this must be known. If this is dangerous, and though we have no proof of it, my primary instincts says it so, then you all must be warned. And we must prepare.
As i close my report, i must mention that all of this takes me back to a quote by Werner Herzog, that now abides by a new sense over what we’ve just experienced:
“Life in the oceans must be sheer hell. A vast, merciless hell of permanent and immediate danger. So much of a hell that during evolution some species – including man – crawled, fled onto some small continents of solid land, where the Lessons of Darkness continue.”