The sea pressed on heavy. It looked like a cathedral of blue where coral shimmered like stained glass. Dr. Nathaniel Hart floated in its silence, recording fragile colonies with steady hands. Then the water shifted—an immense shadow rippled overhead, so vast it dimmed the reef as though night had fallen early.
Above, his crewmates squinted into sunlit waves. A whale surged, mouth yawning wide to engulf a school of fish. In a blink, Nathaniel’s flipper vanished past its jaws. The ocean swallowed the sight whole. Sudden panic spread across the deck—someone screamed his name, but the water answered only with silence.
Radios crackled as hands shook on controls. “Man overboard—he’s been taken!” Desperation choked the air. The pod of whales descended, massive tails beating deep rhythms. To the crew, there was no doubt: Nathaniel had been consumed by one among them. What none of them knew was that inside the darkness, he was still alive…