finished checking on their passengers, he was going to go back to the control room and tell the captain that Bobby Warwick needed a sharp kick in the ass.
David turned the corner. He never heard the splash when Bobby hit the water.
By the time anyone came looking for the missing sailor, the blood had long since washed away, leaving only the calm, empty sea.
The difficulty with determining exactly what happened to the Atargatis falls, ironically, on the number of cameras that were running during the last twenty-four hours of the voyage. The ship continued to float for some time before it was pushed out of position by inclement weather, at which point it was noticed by military interests who had been monitoring that general area. As to why they did not notice the motionless vessel before that point, no explanation has as yet been forthcoming.
Upon retrieving the vessel, it was quickly determined that there were no survivors, and that whatever had occurred there had been both violent and swift. Saltwater had eroded or removed most blood trace evidence from the open decks of the ship, but traces were found in the bilge and inside the closed cabins. It is unclear why the wounded, who had apparently been able to flee to safety, chose to go back out into the open.
The Atargatis brought with it several hundred hours of raw, unedited footage, much of which was filmed simultaneously. Rather than clarifying the situation, as might have been expected, the sheer volume of material complicated it further. Were the attackers Imagine employees in specially designed suits, planted by the network for the purpose of gathering realistic, Blair Witch -style footage? Were they sea creatures of some sort, rising from the depths to object to the disruption of their habitat? Or was there some other answer that we have yet to fully uncover? Many who have viewed the Atargatis recordings have declared them to be clever, if ill-considered, hoaxes. Others have said that they are unquestionably real, and proof of alien intelligence living right here on Earth.
We have received special dispensation from the families of the victims of this tragedy to show you portions of that footage tonight, so that you may reach your own conclusions. Warning: what you are about to see is graphic, violent, and has not been edited to obscure partial nudity or excessive gore. The Imagine Network has already agreed to pay the FAA fines for this one-time display of the unedited footage, because we believe that it is important there be no question of what really happened on the Atargatis .
The official record says that all hands were lost at sea. We believe that something far worse occurred.
We believe that they were found.
—from Modern Ghost Ships: The Atargatis , originally aired on the Imagine Network, December 2017.
Part IV
Red Sails in the Sunset
Morning found the ladies of the Blue Seas mermaid troupe in a standoff with their so-called “cruise director.” Adrian Curran stood in front of the group, blocking them from the portion of the deck that had been reserved for their use. Kevin and Anne stood off to one side, Anne barely managing to smother her yawns behind her hand.
“Shouldn’t have stayed up so late talking to the fish guy,” murmured Kevin.
“I like the fish guy,” she said, and yawned again. “He’s like science grandpa. He’s nice.”
“He had you half convinced that there were monsters at the bottom of the Mariana Trench,” Kevin said.
Anne laughed. “Isn’t that the whole point of this trip? To convince us that there are monsters down there?”
“If the monsters look like them, I might not object too much,” said Kevin, nodding toward the gathered mermaids.
The mermaids were nowhere near as jovial. Sunnie stood with her hands clenched tight on the grips of Jessica’s wheelchair. That may have been the only thing keeping her from taking a swing at the man from Imagine.
“We have a contract ,” she was saying,
David turned the corner. He never heard the splash when Bobby hit the water.
By the time anyone came looking for the missing sailor, the blood had long since washed away, leaving only the calm, empty sea.
The difficulty with determining exactly what happened to the Atargatis falls, ironically, on the number of cameras that were running during the last twenty-four hours of the voyage. The ship continued to float for some time before it was pushed out of position by inclement weather, at which point it was noticed by military interests who had been monitoring that general area. As to why they did not notice the motionless vessel before that point, no explanation has as yet been forthcoming.
Upon retrieving the vessel, it was quickly determined that there were no survivors, and that whatever had occurred there had been both violent and swift. Saltwater had eroded or removed most blood trace evidence from the open decks of the ship, but traces were found in the bilge and inside the closed cabins. It is unclear why the wounded, who had apparently been able to flee to safety, chose to go back out into the open.
The Atargatis brought with it several hundred hours of raw, unedited footage, much of which was filmed simultaneously. Rather than clarifying the situation, as might have been expected, the sheer volume of material complicated it further. Were the attackers Imagine employees in specially designed suits, planted by the network for the purpose of gathering realistic, Blair Witch -style footage? Were they sea creatures of some sort, rising from the depths to object to the disruption of their habitat? Or was there some other answer that we have yet to fully uncover? Many who have viewed the Atargatis recordings have declared them to be clever, if ill-considered, hoaxes. Others have said that they are unquestionably real, and proof of alien intelligence living right here on Earth.
We have received special dispensation from the families of the victims of this tragedy to show you portions of that footage tonight, so that you may reach your own conclusions. Warning: what you are about to see is graphic, violent, and has not been edited to obscure partial nudity or excessive gore. The Imagine Network has already agreed to pay the FAA fines for this one-time display of the unedited footage, because we believe that it is important there be no question of what really happened on the Atargatis .
The official record says that all hands were lost at sea. We believe that something far worse occurred.
We believe that they were found.
—from Modern Ghost Ships: The Atargatis , originally aired on the Imagine Network, December 2017.
Part IV
Red Sails in the Sunset
Morning found the ladies of the Blue Seas mermaid troupe in a standoff with their so-called “cruise director.” Adrian Curran stood in front of the group, blocking them from the portion of the deck that had been reserved for their use. Kevin and Anne stood off to one side, Anne barely managing to smother her yawns behind her hand.
“Shouldn’t have stayed up so late talking to the fish guy,” murmured Kevin.
“I like the fish guy,” she said, and yawned again. “He’s like science grandpa. He’s nice.”
“He had you half convinced that there were monsters at the bottom of the Mariana Trench,” Kevin said.
Anne laughed. “Isn’t that the whole point of this trip? To convince us that there are monsters down there?”
“If the monsters look like them, I might not object too much,” said Kevin, nodding toward the gathered mermaids.
The mermaids were nowhere near as jovial. Sunnie stood with her hands clenched tight on the grips of Jessica’s wheelchair. That may have been the only thing keeping her from taking a swing at the man from Imagine.
“We have a contract ,” she was saying,
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