The Find

An unusual object is discovered at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Spectators curiously watch as it is drawn from the salty depths.

The Find

By: Burke Lerch

 

Phil grunted as he crushed the can in his hairy fist, “what the hell do you think it is, Alec?”

            “Has to be a space ship,” Alec said as he leaned back into his lawn chair, handing Phil another beer. “No question about it.”

            The harsh cries of the seagulls nearly drowned out the sounds of the heavy machinery perched about the find like steely-legged insects, draping cables down into the seawater. Fishermen of the Atomic Age.

            “Oh there’s plenty of question,” Phil said. “I still think it’s a…”

            Alec looked up from the newspaper in his lap.

            “They’re pulling it up,” Phil breathed. “Now we’ll see.” He continued peering through the morning mist, craning to get a better view of the mystery being drawn from the depths of the Baltic Sea. A metallic groaning could be heard over the gulls.

            “Must be one hell-u-va of a space ship,” Alec said, staring.

 

            An echoing thump reverberated through the pavement and the crowd gasped as the machinery suddenly ceased its whining. The onlookers held their breath as all went quiet, anticipating.

            It began slowly, a quiet rushing that was felt more than heard. Cries of alarm began to carry over the choppy water.

            “What’s happening, Alec?” Phil asked, voice high with excitement.

            The boats scattered about the find began pulling away, their engines roared but they moved at a crawl. The cables dangling from above suddenly pulled taut with an audible crack just as the boats reached the safety of the landing.

            “Look,” a spectator shouted, arm rigid and pointing to one boat that had straggled behind. It was moving backwards. Panicked cries could be heard from the craft. It wasn’t moving backward, it was swirling. The crowd gasped, stunned. Gone. The boat was gone. The wind picked up is the whirlpool sucked the Baltic Sea into its maw with a deafening rush. Boats from further up the coast were inexorably drawn to the grasp of the whirlpool, and the onlookers could only watch in hopeless horror as the water drained.

           

           

A crowd had begun gathering quickly, drawn by the excitement at the waters edge. By sundown the street vendors and entertainers had flocked to the opportunity, and the event quickly took on a festival air. Car stereos and thrill seekers howled their discordant music into the night sky, lending accompaniment to the helicopters and heavy machinery that started arriving shortly after the first boat was lost.

            “What the hell do you think is down there, Alec?” The beer careened off the rim of the trash can with a hollow clang before clattering to a halt on the pavement.

            “Had to be some kind of alien plug,” Alec sparked a cigarette as he gestured toward the yawning expanse of the now empty Baltic Sea.

Phil laughed as he cracked open another beer and dropped his bulk into a creaking lawn chair. “Maybe it’s better not to ask,” he said. “Look what our curiosity has gotten us so far.”

             Alec shrugged as he cracked open another beer, kicking his feet up onto the cooler.