The two men vanished below. The hatch clanged shut, and the vessel sank again, sliding beneath the surface until the water smoothed flat. In less than a minute, it was gone. Silence held the crowd, broken only by the hiss of waves on the sand. Finally, Erik turned to them. His voice carried, calm and steady. “Not a monster. A machine. Always was.”
Some still shook their heads, muttering, unwilling to let go of the myth they had fed with fear. Others simply stared at the water, faces pale, as if struggling to accept that men had built something so vast, so hidden, that it could haunt their bay without notice.