Uncharted: Into the Void

Craig felt lighter. Even as the weights on his waist sunk him to the bottom of the pool, Craig kicked up as if he was riding a bubble to the surface. He knew he wasn't alone, separated from his family. In his head, he planned another trip down to Sub-Marina's elevator to the underwater lab just to type on that hidden laptop.

He felt himself beam at his instructor with dopey smiles. Angel, for her part, remained austere. In the locker room, Craig saw himself in the mirror and pinched his belly. He swore he had lost an inch. Angel waited for him outside. She seemed even more serious if possible.

"Craig, I need you to stay back for a sec," she said. At this point, much of the class had left the program. Scuba wasn't for everybody, but Craig had taken to it like fish do to water. Craig and Angel were alone in a few moments.

"What is it?" he said, sitting on the bench tying his shoes.

"It's about Douglas and what he's doing," she said with no particular emphasis. There wasn't a thing behind those words, just cold-hearted judgment. He looked at Angel. Her eyes had no emotion. Craig was back in the elevator, going down into dark discouraging waters. The day had started so well, too. "The company knows he's copying his research and sending it off-site."

"That doesn't mean anything, does it?" he said, fumbling with his shoestrings.

"Yes, it does," she said, ice water in her veins. "It means the company will get rid of him. It's easy to do, but that wouldn't plug the leak or prevent anyone else from doing the same. The company doesn't know where he's hacked the network. Tech-heads have checked both his personal computer and his lab computer. They haven't been tampered with."

Craig tied a knot into his shoes and stood up. Angel had the kind of curves Craig saw on Tammy years ago. She looked intimidating in her diving suit. "Please don't involve me. I can't believe you'd even talk about this to me."

"Thomason, you're already involved," she slipped him a copy of his own email he had sent to his wife. "Work with us. AGI knows the importance of employee loyalty. Keep your health benefits for Tammy and Julie." Her voice didn't even have warmth for names.

"Can I think about this?" he said.

"No. Show me you will help us find the leak in our network. Or I will assume you will warn Douglas we're on to him."

Craig had never betrayed another man. Joel, such a good man, covered for him once. The factory before Reese's, Craig caused an accident. He held his welding torch loose and it had gotten away from him. It dropped to the floor and dangled off the catwalk. The torch hit a man on his forehead. He suffered burns and a concussion. Joel stepped in before anyone saw Craig and took the whole thing on himself. He was fired. Craig wanted to say he would've done the same for him. But that would have been a lie.

"I'll cooperate," he said. He regretted the decision as soon as he made it. He knew there was a hell for betrayers. "What do I have to do?"

"Let Douglas hang himself," she handed him a cell phone. "My number is programmed in. Call it when he takes you to the leak. We'll find you, the leak, and get rid of Douglas. Don't disappoint."

Craig left behind the steamy warm air for the smoky interior of his own dorm. The last of his cigarettes were going like the twenty others. He knew he'd have to quit if he ever worked in the pressurized air of the underwater lab, but that was a thought far from him. There was a knock on the door, it was late for visitors. Craig opened the door for the youthful particle physicist Douglas.

"We got mail."

They took the elevator back down to the underwater lab. Going down, Craig felt his stomach lurch into his throat, urging him to speak. "What's important about this work you're doing?"

"I'm studying what AGI's catalog calls 'Objects'. Scary things, powerful things. At first, I thought they were just weird, something to advance our knowledge of the universe. Now I know better. They have power, more than I gave them at first."

"If they're so dangerous, why don't you just work on them and let the company sort it out," Craig thought about talking Douglas out of hanging himself. "Don't risk sending your reports outside. I wouldn't even ask to send another email ever again."

Douglas smiled, "That's cool of you." He lost the smile. "But I don't like AGI having this power. I'd rather have it for myself. Even the Objects themselves, scary as they are, have an attraction to them. Like looking at pictures of black holes. Or looking out there," he gestured to the porthole. Outside was black, the only lights Sub-Marina, otherwise dark water in all directions. Craig looked and didn't find anything, but he kept looking, searching for any point in nothing. There was forever out there.

The elevator stopped and Craig tore himself from the porthole. They stepped off. The C-shift operator from before was replaced by a man twice his size. He followed them in the far field of his vision. Craig saw him whisper into his jacket. Douglas didn't seem to notice a thing.

They walked around the lab's circular corridors. They found lab PI and walked in. That was when Craig spoke up. "Douglas, the company knows about your emails outside."

Douglas at his desk was just about to copy his work. He looked back at his friend, his eyes wide. "No," he said, mouth agape.

"I thought I could cooperate but I can't." He took out the cell phone Angel had given him. He set it on the desk. "This is from them, I haven't called them. But I figure -"

"You stupid idiot!" Douglas interrupted him. "That's bugged!" He took the cell phone and busted its battery out. He took the battery and showed Craig the electrical device on the back. "It doesn't matter if it's even on. They just heard all that." He ran to the lab doors and locked them.

"All right," he said, sitting back down at his desk. Soon security was banging behind the lab's doors. There was no time, no way out for him. He brought up the last thing he was working on. It was a modification to the firing program.

The doors broke open. Angel and security entered. Security grabbed Craig. He didn't resist. Angel walked over to Douglas. She said, "Stop what you're doing and come with us."

He started the machine. "Nope, I don't think so." She whipped his chair from his desk. Douglas looked right into Angel's cold eyes. "I know what you are, doll. I understand more than I have in my entire life. I know infinity. It's like staring into the dark water, so vast, so empty. You don't exist to the ocean. Only if you will it, do you exist. I think," he snickered to himself. The array fired.

The wire glowed bright red. Blindingly powerful light stung Craig's eyes. The glass box shattered apart. The array melted around the wire before being pulled apart and sucked into the wire. The bright red turned cold blue. The lights shattered like the glass box and the room was covered in blue light. The computer on Douglas's desk flew into the wire.

"Let's all see forever. Let's all test our will to exist," Douglas shouted. He pushed Angel away and ran into the fading blue. The air around the wire lost its light, turning black. The last thing Craig saw of Douglas was the back of his white coat lit by the lights outside the lab. The black hole swallowed him.

The hull breached. Seawater poured in. The water surged Angel, Craig, and the security guards toward the black hole. Craig and Angel grabbed the floor and held their breath. The black hole pulled the ocean into itself while they struggled to hold on. The security guards couldn't hold their breath. They coughed water and flew into the black hole. Craig's lungs burned, the black hole didn't quit pulling him.

He coughed water and flew toward the black hole. Time stopped, he saw Angel still holding on before everything else turned to nothing. There was one thought as he disappeared. It was of Tammy and Julie. And there was peace.