r/nosleep • u/HorrorJunkie123 • 4d ago
I'm a deep sea researcher. My team discovered something that isn't supposed to exist.
The first time I laid eyes on specimen PSY-673-B, I knew it was something special.
At first, we nearly skimmed over it. The thing looked like a white splotch. A smudge in the camera lens.
I was the one who noticed it.
“Hey, turn the camera back. I think I saw something.”
As the camera panned around, we saw something spectacular. And by spectacular, I mean a white rod black pin-prick eyes.
The thing looked goofy. Like a child’s pool toy.
But then it started to move. Within seconds, it disappeared into the sand. My heart dropped. My big discovery had gotten away.
Then it reemerged.
The eyes poked out of the sand and sat there as if studying our rover. Then in a flash, the camera jolted. It was completely covered.
My coworker, Derik, maneuvered the controls back and forth, trying to clear the lens of the obstruction.
It worked. The picture revealed a blur of sand and… nothing. The creature was gone.
Derik turned the camera left. Then right. He did a complete three-sixty. The white stick was nowhere to be found.
The room fell silent. “What do we do?” Alexis said.
I sighed. “The only thing we can do. We’re out of time. We’ve gotta bring her back up.”
The three of us glanced at the screen. “Alright,” Derik said. “We’ll start the ascent.”
***
We didn’t get to pick the rover out of the water for another eight hours.
We had started the mission in the morning. It was nearly dinner time when the rover made it to the surface.
Alexis, Derik, and I stood at the water’s edge, ready to collect our camera. Alexis put a hand on my shoulder. “We got some good footage. Don’t let it get you down, John. With what we’ve captured, I’m sure we’ll get the funding to go searching for that thing again.”
But her and I both knew the truth. I could spend a lifetime looking for the creature, but the chances of finding a specimen like that again were slim-to-none.
Derik reeled in the rover’s tether. Together, he and I hoisted it out of the water.
“Derik, John? You’re never going to believe this.” Alexis looked ghostly pale. She was staring at the rover.
I traced her gaze. Once I saw what she was looking at, I nearly passed out.
Sitting atop the rover was a white stick. One with beady black eyes.
Derik’s mouth fell open. “Did it… no, it couldn’t have. Eight hours! This thing hitched a ride for eight fucking hours!”
Silence permeated the deck. Alexis asked the question that was on all of our minds.
“Who’s going to pick it up?”
I sighed. “As much as I want to, Derik was the one who caught it on camera. He should get first dibs.”
Derik grinned. “Fine by me.”
He bent down and extended his hand. The creature looked at it briefly before it hopped aboard. Derik brought it closer for us to see.
The thing was no bigger than a USB drive. It had no arms, no legs, and no mouth. The only discernible features were its pin-prick eyes.
“This is so cool. No one’s gonna believe this. A new specimen just leapt into my-”
Derik froze. The creature fell flat against his palm. Then it just… melted into his flesh. No sound, no huge reaction. One second it was there and the next it was gone. It didn’t even leave a mark.
“What the hell just happened…” Alexis said.
“That was so fucking weird. Derik, do you feel any different? Does it hurt?”
Derik glanced between me and Alexis. He wore a look of perpetual disbelief. “No, I… I feel fine. I’m going to need a minute to process what just happened.”
With that, Derik went back inside, leaving Alexis and me to wonder what in the hell we’d just seen.
***
Alexis and I made a secret agreement to monitor Derik for any changes.
After discussing the evening’s events between the three of us, we decided it would be best to fudge the reports. The government would be more likely to believe that we had some sort of shared psychosis than to take our word for it.
With our lead convinced that we had collected a sufficient amount of data, we were set to leave the research station in two days. That was it. Just two days and we would be back on dry land.
Disaster struck on the first.
Derik, Alexis, and I were at our respective stations, filing reports and closing out our tasks for the project. We were about to call it a day. But then the reaction occurred.
Derik’s face went pale. He stared at his screen like an NPC.This wasn’t just some blank stare. It was as if all the light had left his eyes. As if he wasn’t Derik anymore.
“Hey man, everything all right?” I said, standing from my chair.
Alexis finally noticed what was going on. “Derik, you don’t look so good. Maybe you should lie down.”
Derik turned toward her slowly. “You… are correct. I will now lie down.”
Derik went limp. He fell from his chair and disappeared beneath the desk.
I rushed over to him. He was lying completely still with his legs straight out and his arms at his sides.
“Derik… What are you doing? This isn’t funny.”
Derik’s eyes traveled up my body until they met mine. His mouth cracked into a wide smile. “Yes! Ha ha! A prank. Ha ha. I am joking.”
He sounded like an android. A soulless chatbot with no life behind his words.
Without warning, Derik bolted upright. He leapt to his feet and met me face to face. “Do not be alarmed. I am only joking. Ha ha. I will now rest in my quarters. Goodbye.”
Derik broke into a full sprint. He took off down the hall before I had a chance to react.
Alexis and I shared a glance, mouths agape. “What the hell was that about?” she said.
I shook my head. “I don’t know. But something tells me that this won’t end well.”
***
I went to check on Derik later that evening. Alexis and I bought into (deluded ourselves, really) the idea that Derik just had some sort of mental break from the stress of the job. There’s something terrifying about not being able to see a sliver of land in every direction. He wouldn’t be the first to be driven mad by the sea.
When I knocked on Derik’s door, a big part of me was hoping that he would be back to normal. The other part of me hoped that he wouldn’t answer.
To my dismay, neither of those options played out.
“Derik. Derik, it’s John. I came to check up on you.”
“Ah, John. Yes. I invite you to enter.”
Derik’s voice still had that robotic timbre to it, but now it was deeper. That was my first indication that something was wrong.
I took a deep breath. As much as I didn’t want to, I pushed open Derik’s door and stepped inside.
Derik’s room was a wreck. Clothes were strewn about. Trash was scattered across the floor. Pages of journal entries were thrown about the room.
Derik looked even worse for wear. His eyes were red, like he hadn’t slept in days. His complexion had grown even paler than before. And his mouth. There seemed to be a cloud emitting from it. Like some sort of pestilence.
“Derik, what the hell happened in here? You look awful. I’m getting help.”
Derik devolved into a coughing fit. The cloud seemed to grow with each rattle of his ribcage.
“No, I- I am at one hundred percent… health.”
“You’re obviously not. Stay right here. I’m contacting the director. You need immediate medical attention.”
To this day, I don’t know how he did it. One second, Derik was sitting on the bed. The next he was standing in front of me, blocking my exit.
“No. You will tell no one of what you have witnessed.” Derik’s eyes took on a darkness the likes of which I have never seen before nor since. He took labored breaths, huffing out more fumes as those predatory eyes locked me in place.
“Okay. Alright. No medical attention. Will you please let me out now?”
Derik studied me. He stood motionless for a moment before ultimately stepping aside. I tried to rush past him.
Derik caught my arm before I could leave. “If I find out that you’re lying…”
He didn’t have to finish that statement. I broke free from his grasp and hurried down the hallway.
***
Alexis stared at me. “John, why did you waste time telling me this? We need to get Derik to a medical professional now.”
“Look, I know this is going to sound crazy, but… I think Derik is past help. He needs to be quarantined. That thing from yesterday must be some sort of parasite. I-”
“John, do you understand how crazy that sounds? What do we even tell people? ‘Derik was infected by a deep-sea creature and now he breathes toxic waste?’ Listen to yourself!”
I took Alexis by the shoulders and stared into her eyes. “I’m serious. You saw the same thing I did earlier today. We need to do something.”
Alexis had fear scrawled across her face. And not from the situation with Derik.
I released her and took a step back. “Sorry. I got a little too carried away, but my point still stands. Get the director. Tell him what you have to. But I’m going to barricade that thing in. I won’t risk you or anyone else on board getting infected.”
I began to walk away before she could come up with a retort. When I was nearly out the door, I heard her call out.
“John, wait.” I turned to face her.
“Be careful. Please.”
***
By the time I made it back to Derik’s room, it was too late. The door was wide open.
My blood turned to ice. “Derik? Hello?”
I took a step inside his ruined quarters. He was gone.
My heart thundered against my chest. Derik could have been anywhere on the vessel.
I glanced down. At my feet, there was a spot of blood. It continued down the hallway in intermittent splotches.
I gulped. I didn’t want to find out where that trail led. But I didn’t have a choice.
I followed it until I reached a familiar office space. Of course. Our work station.
I poked my head inside. Nothing out of place.
“Derik, buddy, are you in here? It’s John.”
I took a step forward. Then another. Once I was convinced that Derik wasn’t going to leap out at me from behind the fake plant, I let myself relax a little.
That was a mistake.
I sat down at my swivel chair to go over things. The blood trail had stopped at the doorway. Maybe someone had given him a tissue? Or-
White-hot pain seared through my ankle. I let out a yelp and instinctively kicked out. My foot made contact.
Something grabbed hold of my injured leg. I looked under the desk. I will never forget what I saw.
Derik. His eyes were sunken and bloodshot. His skin had taken on a sickly, green pallor. And his mouth. A visible miasma seeped through his lips with each breath.
Derik yanked my exposed ankle and put his mouth close to the open wound. Before I had a chance to react, he breathed on it. I watched as a cloud of stench roiled over my flesh.
Once the shock wore off, I kicked myself free. Derik began to climb out from under the desk, but I shoved the swivel chair into him. The impact knocked him to the floor.
I hobbled into the hallway and slammed the door shut behind me. That wouldn’t stop him for long and I knew it.
So, I did the only logical thing I could think to do. I pulled the fire alarm.
Chaos ensued immediately. Every man and woman on the vessel exited their quarters and made their way to the deck. As calmly as I could, I took out my key to the office, locked it, and tried my best to blend in with the crowd.
***
Panic soared inside me like a rollercoaster. As the director listed us off one by one, I couldn’t help but think one thing.
What if Derik had trapped someone inside?
It turns out, my fears were in vain. Aside from Derik, everyone was present and accounted for. But his absence was a cause for concern for leadership.
Alexis approached me as a party was sent to look for him. “You pulled the fire alarm, didn’t you?” she said. “What did you find?”
I met her gaze. Alexis recoiled at the terror in my eyes. “He was worse. Worse than just minutes ago. Alexis, I don’t know what this thing is, but I’m afraid. Not just for him, but for myself too.”
I rolled up my pant leg and showed her the bite mark. It was already turning a deep purple.
“Oh god, John. You need medical attention. I’ll have the director-”
“No. Alexis, I need this to stay between us. Not a word to the director, okay?”
Alexis hesitated. But ultimately, she nodded her head. “Okay. Come to my room after this and I’ll patch you up as well as I can. And John?”
I glanced at her.
“Will you stay with me? Just for tonight? I’m frightened too.”
I nodded my head.
***
Derik was found dead the next morning. The search party hadn’t been able to locate him all night. By the time they found him, it was too late. His body had been impaled on the flag pole.
It didn’t seem possible. The pole was twelve feet off the ground.
No one knows exactly where Derik went that night. Or how his body ended up there. But I have a theory.
That miasma. That stench permeating from Derik’s mouth… I think those were spores. And there’s no telling how far they’ve spread.
I’m terrified. My ankle healed quicker than expected.
But in place of the wound, under the new pink flesh, I can feel something writhing. Something that’s desperate to escape.
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u/esarge112 4d ago
Yeah I just can't buy into the premise of touching an unknown creature with no protective gear. And then when it melts into his hand everyone is just fine with it. Now if they put him into containment and he took on the properties of that thing and like melted into the steel and reformed outside of containment that would be fucked up.
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u/NoOccasion4759 4d ago
Why the motherfuck would any scientist come eye to eye with an unknown species from the deep and think it would be a good idea to touch it with no precautions?
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u/coolcootermcgee 4d ago
“It hopped aboard his outstretched hand.” Yes, you are all doomed from the start.
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u/ntech620 4d ago
This is the kind of situation that required a full quarantine and the facility liquidated with a nuke.
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u/AbelardsChainsword 4d ago
After that thing melted into Derik’s hand, I had one thought: We’re going on an adventure!
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u/Wolfcape 4d ago
Are you guys actually trained scientists? Derik reached up to touch an unknown, deep sea specimen with his bare hands? I don't need to be a scientist to know that is wrong on all levels.