‘Countdown at Quarry Lake’, short story by Rodney Jensen
Originally contained in the anthology, “A Noise on an Island” Edited by Zena Shapter 2018, p. 207
Two scientists Lana and Matt working for DSETI, a department tasked with investigating extraterrestrial contacts, are deployed by military helicopter to investigate the mysterious source of the noise on an island lake. They are key observers of a team of professional divers descending into the depths of the lake and finding an inexplicable light glow and edge formation deep below the surface. Attempting to capture a sample of the formation triggers a loud warning audio-digital signal which one of the scientists analyses to be an imminent countdown. Because of the perceived danger, all personnel including the divers are ordered to evacuate the site. But Lana decides to ignore the order and stay as an observer to the countdown while Matt leaves.
Matt’s contact with Lana terminates at the end of the countdown, and on revisiting the site, all attempts to find her fail. The only evidence of her movements is a trail of her footsteps heading across the mud at the edge of the lake into the placid water.
Contributors from the Northern Beaches Writers’ Group