Location: Aegis Command Bunker, Geneva
Date: April 10
Time: 19:30 (7:30 pm)
Deep beneath the neutral soil of Switzerland, far below the diplomatic surface of Geneva, Aegis deep command Bunker came alive in shadows. A underground fortress not built for politics or peacekeeping but for the things that world wasn't meant to understand.
At the center of the war room, a holographic map glowed with soft greens and pulsing red. Amazon Basin filled the display. But at its heart: a flickering zone of distortion labelled as zero sector.
General Elias Warrick stood tall, one hand resting on the table's edge, eyes heavy with the experience and unease.
He said " Ninety one days ago, This section of the rainforest began miss behaving. EM fluctuations, Atmospheric drift, Satellite dropouts. within the weeks, the data stopped making sense".
He tapped the interface. The map zoomed in topography blurred, rivers shifted, cloud patterns, froze unnaturally. And he said
"We send the drones and lost them within a minute, then we deploy the survey team theta ten personnel inserted with full comms support last signal came on Day - 2".
He gestured to the technician in the corner.
"Play it".
[Begin Audio - Survey Team Theta | 02:47 AM, Day 2]
[Crackling static]
"camp location's off...trees shifted overnight. the river's gone. It shouldn't be gone".
"something's.... circling us. No eyeshine, No heat sigs. It's like the jungle's empty but it's not".
"Every time we try to move, we end up back here same place and same trees".
[pause, voice lowers]
"It's not just watching us. It's listening."
[Low hum, Garbled whisper, static...silence]
[End Audio Playback]
Silence returned, heavier than before.
A diplomat shifted in the seat.
"Do we assume they're lost ?".
General Warrick didn't flinch. "Until we know otherwise, we assume they're waiting to be found".
The main doors slid open with a hydraulic hiss. Captain Rhea Voss stepped into the room--tall, focused, armored in matt-black tactical gear. Her eyes were storm-gray, her presence exact. she didn't stop to greet. Just moved directly to center of the room.
General Warrick nodded toward her. "Captain Voss has reviewed all findings and volunteered to lead the follow-up operation".
"This isn't a malfunction or a glitch" Rhea said. Her voice was calm. "The forest is disconnecting from the world. Every attempt to look inside fails. Every attempt to mark it... disappears".
She activated a wrist-mounted device. A thermal feed flickered to life, the canopy swaying in windless air. Then a shape moved. Fast and unseen by any living eyes, but visible in the heat distortion. It vanished just as quickly.
"Whatever's inside, it's not passive. It's adapting to stay hidden".
A British intelligence officer leaned forward. "you believe this is intelligent ?".
"If it's not. it's something worse: instinctive and aware" Warrick said.
General Warrick tapped the table. the screen updated:
OPERATION GREEN VEIL
-Deployment: April 10, 0500 Hours.
-Team: 10 Personnel.
-8 Military, 2 scientist.
-Objective: Investigate Sector Zero.
-Goals: Data retrieval, Theta trace, sample collection, extraction.
"Boots hit the ground at the first light" Warrick added "High-altitude drop. Light and fast".
"Your team ?" asked on of the official asked.
"Arrives by 2300 tonight" Rhea replied.
"Mission briefing at 0400. Then we go in".
A south American advisor asked the question none of them wanted to wanted to say out loud" Do you believe it's hostile ?".
Rhea stared at the holographic red pulse of the sector zero. It blinked slowly, like a living thing,she said.
"I don't believe it's hostile. I believe it doesn't care if we understand it or not".
"And if Survey Team Theta is still alive ?".
"Then they're not the same people who walked in".
No one said anything after that.
Rhea turned, already walking away.
"Whatever's in there... it's not starting a war. It's starting something else".
The door hissed shut behind her.
And in the dim glow of Aegis command Bunker, the jungle map pulsed again. Not like warning.
Like a signal....
AURTHOR 'S NOTE:
This is my first novel and I'm learning as I go.
I hope you will enjoy the journey into the unknown with me.