Tiny tendrils, almost invisible to the naked eye, probed gently through the delicate brain tissue, drawing in fragile memories and the absorbed sea water that threatened to destroy them for ever. They had brought in the floundering human from the depths, leading him to a dry chamber in time to suction the suffocating fluid from his lungs and allow the life giving organ to pump blood through his body once more. He hadn't returned to consciousness but they were already learning more about this man than the last dozen hours had shown them.
An image flared bright in their collective mind, its intensity driving it free of the others. Fear, determination and courage permeated the memory, giving it a hot red aura. They watched together as one as a series of scenes drifted through it. The unconscious man in a Saigon forest, his own clothes on fire as he pulled one of his men free of a crashed helicopter. He was deeply frightened of losing his SEALs but the loss of his own life at that moment was not a concern to him, the survival of his men came first. As quickly as that disappeared another image formed, a young boy, his green eyes glittering in the sun as he gazed adoringly at the woman before him.
Confusion rippled upon the invisible strands connecting members of the colony. Where was the anger, the violence he had demonstrated against those they had made contact with? It wasn't the same man, the two personalities were so different. Determined to understand him, to learn why he had attacked as he had, the tendrils probed deeper, burying themselves in his memory.
Courage and loyalty. The two auras flashed again. The military was there again too, the man marching out of training, proud to have made it through to finally become a SEAL. He was there again, the memory more recent now. Coffey's orders were through, a US submarine had sunk into an abyssal trench and he was to go with his team to search for survivors and retrieve the Montana's warheads.
An inquiring buzz hummed along the connecting filaments. Was this what they were hunting for? Were they going to learn the reasons for this man's actions against them? Fuelled by excitement and a quest for knowledge, the tendrils burrowed deeper along the twisting tail of the memory.
More images flashed up, a new figure in them now along with the Lt's team. It was her, the dark haired woman they had made contact with, the one who had been filled with wonder and joy at the sight of the glider, the one they trusted. It was obvious from the anger and worry flooding the SEAL's system that he didn't feel the same way. This Brigman woman questioned all his orders, undermining the control he tried to keep over the situation. He'd almost lost men because of people like her before, because of officer's who refused to listen to his commands, it wouldn't happen again, not while he was in charge.
The Lt's sense of control reasserted itself as the woman left the compression chamber but in a sudden wave it disappeared again. Through his eyes, in his memory, they saw his hands, the pronounced quake in them as he locked the case. Acrid floods of fear washed through his system. HPNS! HPNS! The words screamed clear in his thoughts. He couldn't protect his men and control the mission if he was locked up, ill. Coffey needed to keep working or it would all go wrong and there'd be deaths. Determination flowed through the fear, washing it away, bolstering the frightened man. He would be fine as long as he kept fulfilling his orders.
Confusion danced through their mind. The more they learnt of this man, the less they trusted his actions towards them. This wasn't a man of hatred and malice, it was a frightened man, an ill man. Whatever HPNS was, it was the root of this man's problems below the water. Maybe, just maybe this man deserved the second shot at life they had given him.
Images flowed faster, cycling through them. Fear was a constant factor. Fear of a Russian attack as the Brigman woman described their first contact with her. The worry that the attack and this mission could wipe out his team. The memory paused for a moment, freezing on a single frame, this man sitting alone in a darkened room, his eyes locked on his hands. The muscle tremors were increasing, he was slowly losing control of his own body and mind.
A buzz of surprise and understanding ran through the tendrils, he was ill, from his memories they were learning just how strange this man's behaviour was to him. They might've misjudged him, although his actions towards them were violent, he'd had very little control over his own mind. Maybe their decision to save his life was worth it after all.
On the floor, the sound of Coffey's breathing changed, becoming shallower, a little less regular as his body moved from unconsciousness to sleep. The man was exhausted and would sleep for a while but their time to investigate his mind was short now. Anxious to get to the end of this man's story, they pushed on, invading the delicate tissue deeper. Flesh yielded in the way, cells eased aside by the minute fibres that were still absorbing information.
The scene jumped on in time, mourning deeply for his lost man, frightened without orders from his commanding officer, Coffey was forced to go on the best he could. His slowly failing mind wasn't making it easy for him, his thoughts were in chaos. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't keep control, things were going dreadfully wrong.
They were becoming worried, this man had been sick since his submersion beneath the waves, what if he was still ill and made another attack on them when he awoke? The SEAL knew details of his illness, as soon as the Brigman woman warned Coffey's team he had been able to understand the worry of becoming ill. The answer to their fears was locked in his mind and they would find them. They plunged into another part of his brain, sifting through the long term data. Details about his training and a dozen different missions flooded into their mind. Saigon, Brazil, the Gulf, the Philippines, places where this man had fought to protect others, to save their lives and shield their innocence. It was not these places that they were particularly interested in though, they wanted to get to his medical knowledge and get the information on this illness. Plugging themselves into the right section, the data began rolling.
High Pressure Nervous Syndrome, effecting about one in every twenty people. Muscle tremors were the first sign but it could be as bad as disorientation, affected judgement and an inability to concentrate and reason. Mainly caused by the pressure affecting the levels of nitrogen in the brain, the easiest way to ease the problem was to replace some of the nitrogen with helium. An interested murmur travelled the filaments. Their main technology was the manipulation of water but they could also change the level of gases in living objects.
They pulled back from that part of the Lt's brain, leaving it undamaged. The cluster of tendrils split, there wasn't much time left, the SEAL was already showing signs of becoming alert and they needed to complete their investigation of his memory. Half of their number spread out over the surface of his brain, drawing in molecules of nitrogen and changing its components to turn it into helium before spitting the gas back out. The remaining filaments returned to his memory and plugged back in.
FEAR! The emotion practically screamed in his mind. Fear of losing control, fear of more of his men dying, fear of the aliens. They were confused again. They could comprehend his being scared of losing control and his men, they were shown in his shifting memories as the civilians began to question his authority and revolt against him, but how could the Lt. be afraid of them? Memories pushed forward, jostling for the front. The fear grew, completely consuming the man as he stumbled through a hatch and caught his first glimpse of them. His judgement was impaired, but even so, the tentacle of water flowing up out of the moonpool was illogical, impossible.
Panic spread like wildfire through Coffey's body. Some unexplainable threat was attacking them, his men were going to die, he'd fail to save them, then lose his own life. He couldn't let that happen, protection was his sole purpose in life, he mustn't allow his fear to control him. Forcing his body to move, Coffey stumbled across the room towards the door the creature was moving through. If he could cut it off he could save them. He lashed out and hit the door controls. The hatch slid shut, bisecting the water, destroying the intruder. Before the liquid could splash down to the deck, the Lt's fear resurfaced and he was crouched in a corner, paralysed by fear.
They recoiled, disgust and guilt building in all of them. His attacks had been their fault, theirs and the illness the officer had been suffering from. Unintentionally they had caused this man fear and in some way they were responsible for the incident, that, in truth, had first killed this man. The deaths of their own beings had been at this man's hands, but if they had not made contact in that way, their souls would still be alive. Their blame was misplaced, even though his actions had been violent and dangerous, this man was a selfless, courageous, heroic human being. He fully deserved the resurrection he was receiving.
Filaments withdrew completely, creeping back through his mouth to recoil across the floor. There was no need to share his memories any more, they possessed enough intelligence to know what followed on from that scene. It became harder for the man to think clearly, his attempts at regaining control failed. Things would get progressively worse, until, in desperation, the SEAL would be forced to use his nuclear weapon against them to save lives. In the hands of themselves and the world, an innocent man had become evil.
A bare arm shifted on the floor as a soft groan emerged from the pale lips. They had been able to solve the problems caused by rapid compression and deep pressure, but there was little they could do for the other injuries, apart from preventing more bleeding. He would recover from the wounds in time but for now, there would be some pain. Coffey's pale forehead wrinkled, another groan slipped out of him. Slowly, his eyelids flickered open and he stared at the purple ceiling above him, his heart immediately began racing. Where the hell was he? The last thing he remembered was dropping through the hatch into the compression chamber.
Trying to keep calm, the SEAL slowly sat up. As long as he didn't panic he could control the situation. His trained gaze skimmed over the chamber he was in, this definitely wasn't the Deepcore rig. Something had happened but he couldn't remember what, nothing could get past the pounding headache. Fear bubbled in his stomach, where were his men? His eyes moved faster over his purple surroundings, they stopped as, for the first time, he saw the wall of water in front of him. Coffey shook his head slightly, ignoring the pain that lanced through it as he moved. That was insane, it wasn't physically possible to make water do that. Scrambling to his feet, tremors of fear and pain shaking his body, Coffey watched the rippling water. "Where the hell am I?" he whispered.
It was time to show him, they knew keeping it from him would cause him more pain, but they also knew this man would want to know what he had done. They projected their viewing screen onto the water. Coffey stood transfixed, his stomach clenching. A purple structure fluttered into life in front of him, like a projector was trained on the air. In slow motion the picture drew back, the spires and violet light fading as the image scrolled up the cliff wall. For a moment the screen was dark, but then something that turned Coffey's mouth dry came into view. It was the Montana, whatever he was on was in the trench, below the crashed submarine.
Swallowing hard, his eyes travelled around the chamber. What the hell happened, what the hell was he doing here? A burst of static briefly filled the screen before a fresh image appeared. In a rush of bubbles a battered SUV tumbled down through the water. Coffey winced as the increasing pressure cracked the front viewing port. God, he hoped nobody was in that, if they were they'd be dead. Unable to tear himself away, he stared in shock. The glass imploded, precious air burst out into the water. Plummeting deeper, the vessel began releasing its contents - a white mug, a smashed cassette player, a thrashing body. Coffey felt himself retch, his stomach contorting at the sight of the dying pilot. He recognised the uniform all too well, all the members of his team had been wearing it for the mission.
Feeling his legs tremble weakly beneath him, the SEAL sank to the floor. One of his team had died, they were gone and he couldn't even remember it happening. The figure slowly stopped floundering, the struggling arms becoming still. As the figure slowly turned in the water, Coffey found his own face looking back at him.
This time there was no keeping back the waves of nausea, crumpling at the waist, Coffey vomited violently onto the ground. Memories of the disturbing acts he had performed flooded back into his mind. He'd attacked those civilians, Wilhite had died, he'd set up an explosion to kill them all. Another rush of bile bubbled up his throat and he threw up again. God, what had he done, all of those people were going to die because of him.
Dragging in ragged breaths, his tear-filled green eyes locked onto the screen again. If he'd died out there, how could he be here and alive now? In the murky depths below his drifting body, glowing light was growing stronger, becoming more distinct. Lindsey Brigman's aliens. They were NTIs, he knew that now, everything the civilians had said. The dancing creatures moved closer, their glow painting Coffey's pale skin an icy blue. He watched as somehow the creature took a hold of his arms and began drawing him down into the depths. A hoarse cry flew from him, after what he'd done to them, what would they do to him? His eyes darted nervously around the chamber, he'd been tortured before, in an Argentinian prison, it had almost killed him, but he'd made it through. Would he make it through this time though?
Sensing the man's discomfort and fear, they moved back from him. Their attempts to calm the SEAL weren't working, he was still afraid of them. Anxiously, they sped the images on. Coffey's body was tower quickly towards their home, his lungs were seriously compressed, water squeezing the delicate organs, but they could repair that, they could bring this man back. Teary eyes watched his body fly through their chambers before being gently laid down in a water filled chamber. Slowly, impossibly, the water rippled down the centre and a corridor of air slowly began widening. His crumpled corpse was now laying in a chamber of fresh air, walls of water standing at his feet and head. Repeating their earlier action, a snake of water started growing out of the wall, heading slowly towards the body.
Feeling his breath lock in his chest, Coffey swallowed hard. What had they done to his body? The tentacle eased forward, the tip split and hovered over him for a second before the smaller prong slid between his blue lips. Coffey winced, his stomach clenching at the thought of that thing invading him. Gently touching his chest, the other appendage began to pulse against his ribs. Frowning, Coffey watched water begin to drip from the part snaking into his mouth. It wasn't shrinking, so where the hell was that water coming from? He watched a moment longer, trying to process what he was seeing, then suddenly it all clicked into place. The creatures weren't getting revenge and harming him, they were performing CPR and saving him. On screen the blue tinge began to fade from his skin, the puddle of water on the floor began to grow, and eventually the lifeless body gave a choking cough and Coffey began breathing for himself again. Satisfied that he was alive, the thicker tendril recoiled, leaving the smaller one in place to finish its job.
He was calmer now, the fear and nausea disappearing as he realised they didn't mean him harm. Tentatively, the designated ones moved closer to the wall again, their light dancing across the rippling water. The movement caught Coffey's eye, for the briefest of moments he felt like scurrying backwards, but, surprisingly, their presence became reassuring, they wanted to communicate.
Coffey's voice emerged in a husky whisper. "Why did you save me? After everything I've done, why did you bring me back?"
A fragile looking hand on one of them gestured to the screen. Following instructions, Coffey looked at the moving images. Memories drawn from his own mind flashed up, him bringing his men through BUDs training, the Lt. ignoring his own pain to drag injured SEALs from a helicopter in Saigon. Seeing himself protecting his men in the past immediately bought his own men to mind. Monk and Schoenick, they were on the rig with the civilians and the whole lot were going to be blown into dust by the warhead he'd armed.
"Oh God," Coffey clutched at his stomach as guilt bought on fresh waves of nausea. He'd killed all those people. "I've murdered my own team." It was the one thing he'd feared the most, battled so hard to avoid, losing his men and he'd done it himself.
A burst of static appeared on the screen, insistently trying to gain Coffey's attention, trying to reassure the man. Hurt-filled green eyes locked onto the screen as a fresh image appeared. It was the rig, his men and the civilians were crowded into a room, cheering as Brigman announced that the bomb was disarmed. Relief flooded through him, they were safe, putting his own life on the line, Brigman had saved them. Letting out a deep breath, Coffey collapsed on his haunches. His actions had been horrific but everybody was still alive.
Biting his lip, Coffey looked up at the watching creatures. "What am I supposed to do now?" he asked quietly. "There's no way I can go back to them after what I did, they don't deserve that."
Their mind buzzed, they had pondered on how to help the man back to his world while he had been unconscious and only one idea seemed feasible. With his resurrection he could start anew, build a fresh life for himself away from those that would punish him. The creature gestured to the screen again, projecting an image for Coffey to see, a deserted cove on the Virginia coast. There was only one building on the stretch, a decrepit beach house, abandoned and slowly rotting, but still safe to occupy for the SEAL. Coffey nodded almost imperceptibly, he needed to be alone to work through the guilt he was still carrying. Everyone except these aliens thought he was dead, it was better to let them continue to think that he was gone and not bring any more shame to them.
The creatures began his release. Slowly the walls of water shrunk, closing in until Coffey was encased in a bubble only slightly bigger than his body. The watery shell sprouted a hand-like appendage as one of the creatures reached for him. Taking a deep breath, Coffey gripped the offered hand. In an instant they were moving, flying through the craft. Waves of beautiful violet light washed over Coffey's speeding body as graceful structures rushed past them. The water was freezing, the changes in pressure ready to explode his organs but inside the bubble they had created for him, Coffey was safe.
In a graceful swoop, the gliding pair were free of the structure, hurtling through the waves towards the place they had selected for him. Once there, this resurrected innocent could begin his life anew. Their plans to punish those who had knowingly caused pain on this earth was still progressing, but men like this one and the diver they had just brought, barely alive, into the chambers, were changing their minds about it.
Time stretched in moments of dazzling views as Coffey was taken closer to his new home. Shoals of silvery fish danced in the dazzling light given off by his guide, forests of seaweed grew more plentiful as they neared the coast. Eventually sand appeared close to the surface of the ocean and Coffey was launched through the waves to land gently on the beach. He scrambled around on the sand, turning to see his saviour disappearing back into the water.
Dropping back to sit on the ground, Coffey looked out at the orange streaked sky. The sun was setting and another day was over, his old life was over, everything he'd known now untouchable to him. There were just eight weeks till Christmas and his new life was beginning, he could make his second chance a worthy one. The innocent SEAL, Lt. Coffey, had been resurrected.
THE END