We found the garden of Eden

I am a naval engineer, not an archaeologist just wanted to clear that first. What my crew and I saw that day will haunt the few of us that survived. I am writing this as I am dying from cancer which has spread to the lower parts of my body and I was informed that I do not have long to live, many of the others either killed themselves or suffered the same as I did. We promised not to say what we found but right now it’s all I can think about, we should not have been sent to that area.

The part of the ocean was an unrecorded area of the Pacific, our job was to run scans in that area as a few monitoring stations that were monitoring that area kept sending data that something was going on there. We were tasked by our superiors to pass there and see what could be sending the odd signals. My captain was already on edge as we were at sea for longer than expected but seeing that this would extend our time in the ocean by another month or so he was not happy about it.

We sailed to the approximate location given and initially there was nothing out of place, for the bottom of the ocean that is. As we scanned the area the sonar picked up on something and the crew monitoring that alerted the captain to that and he set the sub on course to the location. Once there we found ourselves in a region no one ever thought we would find so far down in the ocean. The sonar could only give so much data on the environment so the captain ordered a deep diving drone to scan the area better.

It was connected to the sub via an umbilical cable that allowed it to travel a mile away from the ship. The cable being a thin, but strong, optical cable for data and navigation helped us get a better understanding of what was down there. It was fully charged and I was one of the crew tasked to maintain it. Releasing it went smooth and it was working well, it was then when I heard a murmuring that the sonar guy found something just within the range of something very large moving. The captain dismissed it stating that I could have been a whale or something but the team were sceptical as there were no whales in the area since we entered the area.

The drone moved closer to the bottom and that when we saw it, grass or what appeared to be grass and trees on the bottom of the ocean. The camera was a best in its class so the video feed was very sharp. We saw what appeared to be trees swaying the ocean as were the grass. The crew were completely captivated by this, I was just watching the drone move around examining the area and some of the trees had fruits growing on them. The pilot did his best and managed to pick a couple of them as samples to be examined when we got back to base. Moving further into the forest there were more tress that were different and some as tall as those above ground. Samples were taken, some grass was also collected and the sub was slowly moved to allow the drone to go deeper in this place.

The sonar team began raising alerts on the thing, they told the captain that it was getting closer. It was large and very long, they likened it to a snake, but the captain did not listen instead wanted to explore the area completely. We were all completely pulled in like the captain, I was looking over the should of the pilot as he navigated the drone. There was a stream that looked like something was flowing like water in a normal stream. What stopped me from getting completely immersed like the rest after a while is when I saw the water where the drone was launched from begin to show signs of underwater vibrations. I have never seen it do that, I was concerned by this and moved to check what was causing this. Looking over the side and in to the water below I found something look back at me, something that had 6 glowing orbs as eyes look back at me. I jumped back and fell, the fear of what I just saw broke the spell. I got up and tried to see again but this time steeling myself from it, nothing, whatever it was had disappeared. I checked the water and it was calm again, I checked the feed of the external camera and there was nothing.

The drone picked up on something, there was place showing unusual power readings that could have triggered the monitoring stations. The captain order the pilot to move to that direction, the sub was manoeuvred to follow. I watched as the drone got close to the supposed location and it was there when I saw it like the rest of the crew. A massive tree stood there in centre of a hill, the lights of the drone illuminated it and we stood there just witnessing something that only existed in the scriptures. A few sailors began to cross themselves and began chanting prayers while other tried to discredit the scene in front of them. The rest of us just stood there watching, I was keeping one eye on the dive pad. Whatever was out there may not want us here and I wanted to make sure I had a warning before it attacked, should it attack.

The drone got closer to the large tree like object and at the top were branches that were nearly barren except for some leaves that swayed with the ocean current and there were fruits. The pilot picked a few to examine also and it was at that moment the current changed to become a more active. It was like something had awoken and the underwater current began to show signs of an earthquake. The captain ordered the retrieval of the drone and to leave the location with immediate effect. I began to pull the drone back and the pilot doubled the throttle speed of it to help, I was sweating and chewing my bottom lip as I watched the cable get rolled. I watched the water appear more agitated but there was no face in there. I was scared like everyone else, the rest of the team waited in bated breath as the drone finally reached the sub and was tethered for pick up. As we raised it there was some sort of deep rumble from the ocean and we tried to close the hatch so that the sub could leave.

The hatch was closed but the rumble grew worse, and the sub was then hit by something, it was large. The sub lurched to one side, and we were scrambling to stabilize the drone and keep it from crashing down on the sub. There were reports of damage from the rest of the parts of the sub, the captain was barking out orders to the crew for more attacks. I was checking on the camera outside and I saw it, a large object what appeared to be a gigantic snake swam under the sub. The scales were larger than my body and it moved with speed I had never seen before. Another attack hit the sub as we turned to leave, the crew were putting out fire and repairing damaged parts.

Finally moving in a direction at full steam the crew were on edge, no attack came forth, but we were bracing for anything now. Rumbles from the ocean could be felt within the sub, over the radio the sonar team kept saying that the large mass was following us, and it seems that it will ram us again, the captain ordered the release of mines to help stop whatever it was. A crewmate stood next to me as I watched the feed from the camera, “it was the serpent of Eden, we found Eden, do you know what that means?”

I turned to him and told him to shut up and focus on not dying here, I had lowered the drone to be secured to the base of the sub. The rest of the team were picking and securing objects. I turned back to the camera feed, and I saw the 6 eyes staring up at me, it was some sort of half human half lizard thing that had dug it claws into the outer hull. I was trying to open the hatch. I yelled at the couple of the team members to check it and that was when the worst happened. The large snake thing hit the sub causing the back of the sub to break. Alarms went off and people were screaming over the radios of breaches, the captain was also screaming. The madness was everywhere, I tried to focus on what to do, the doors to the drone release were sealed but they weren’t in the other parts of the ship.

Soon the power cut of and another hit, but this time closer to our position and cracks began to appear and water was making its way into the area. We tried to plug the holes but knew it was futile. Again, another hit and the water gushed into the room and we were soon underwater, many of the crew members had already strapped on oxygen tanks so were able to survive for the moment. The sub then crashed to the bottom of the ocean, and we felt it, the bottom of the room bent inwards causing the drone to jump upwards nailing a hapless sailor to the ceiling. The situation was dire for us few that lived, the tanks were allowing us to breath for the moment but no more so we needed to find a way to escape. Martin, another engineer, managed to find a way out of the sub. After the sub had crashed onto the seabed it opened a section of the side allowing us to escape, though only one at a time. One by one we wiggled our way out of the sub, the passage out was full of exposed metal that could easily puncture our air tanks or worse so it was slow and arduous. Finally we managed to all get out and beheld the broken sub on the seabed, it was once a deep sea reconnaissance submarine that was one of a kind. 

We slowly started our ascent wary of the large serpent and the creature I saw in the feed before we crashed. Another factor was the cold water and a case of the bends, out progress was slow and at times felt the current shift as though the serpent was close. I did not see the other creature but everyone was on edge and it showed, we had no weapons to defend ourselves so any unexpected movement was treated with extreme caution. I was feeling the cold creep into my body and swimming was soon feeling like an impossible task, the light coming form the surface was the only thing keeping up going. Finally what felt like days we surfaced and many shed the heavy tanks to be able to remain afloat. A couple of crew members managed also to carry an emergency raft that was inflated for us to cling to. Before we could figure out a plan to survive we head the horn form a ship that appeared out of the surrounding fog, It was a naval scout ship that was looking for our sub. We were saved and the relief that we felt wash over us was something we never expected. We were brought aboard and separated then questioned, I had secreted the footage from the sub which I kept hidden because I realised then that this would never see the light of day and I would need some sort of insurance should the time came.

The government had found out about this place and needed to keep it under wraps, for what reason I had no idea.