An Investigation Begins

Mr. Robert could barely control himself. He had just finished a meeting with James Jordan who mentioned something mysterious and unnatural. Something that he only briefly witnessed flash into the shadows, but that something was what caused the catastrophic incident. Now at the moment, Mr. Robert was on the phone with an acquaintance that that happened to be a lead biologist that worked with G.U.L.E.A. from time to time. 

“What’s going on?” Dr. Mitchell A. O’Connell asked.

“Alright, so you’ve probably heard on the news about the incident G.U.L.E.A. had, right?” Mr. Robert began.

“Yeah, I saw that report. They said no one’s sure what caused it. Do you know?” Mitchell inquired, expecting this to be the purpose of the phone call.

“No, but I just finished speaking with one of the survivors, and the things he described intrigued me. I thought you might be able to help.”

“Continue then.”

“He said he woke up the night it happened and saw something dark flash past. But it wasn’t just a shadow. Mitchell, you know how dark it can get at the bottom of a rainforest—especially at night and after a thunderstorm. There’s no way any kind of shadow could appear when he might as well be blind. Still, however, he saw it.”

“You realize it was most likely just his imagination?”

“Not this. I’ve know of lots of time my eyes thought they saw some little shadow flash by on the side, but he saw it right in front of him. It was big. And not only that but he said it was like black on white. We’ve found creatures in the deep that create light, I’m wondering if there's a new species out there that can absorb light.”

“I doubt it.”

“Still, I have a very certain feeling about this.”

“What if it’s a terrorist group with some new technology?”

“One that’s unknown, prowls in untouched regions of the Amazon, and makes their first strike on an explorer party of six??”

“You do have a point there. Yeah, I guess I’ll help look into it. Still I’m uncertain on a species that can do that kind of damage, but who knows,” Mitchell gave a sigh, “What do you have in mind?”

“I’m thinking you give your ‘scientific approval’ to a project to investigate the area with US troops, so we can use their energy sheild protection and see what we find. I’m confident that if you claim there may possibly be something alongside this new threat we’re grappling with, we’ll get the approval we need.”

“Sure, I’ll do that.”

“Alright. Thanks!”

---

In the next couple of days, Brian Roberts had made communication with the federal governments of both the US and Brazil, expressed Dr. O’Connell’s validation, and scheduled an investigation. Naturally with such a large threat, the Brazilian government would want to investigate anyway, but Brian wanted a foot in the door and a seat in the stadium. So by having O’Connell express his opinion that it was very likely something biological was concerned, he was able to have some scientific connections join the ride.

It was within a few weeks that the big day finally arrived. Just the night before, the US sent a dozen men to Brazil to man the energy-sheild (only owned in the US, Russia, and China). They were now deploying with the Brazilian troops, a few biologists, and—a little reluctantly—James Jordan. 

Just as that first flight, James sat in a helicopter looking out the window once again only it felt very, very different. Not because there was a large hovercraft beside him, nor that it was twice as big and jammed packed with militia men. It was because this time he had lost his thrill and anxious anticipation; he felt depressed—almost sick. He was traveling to where he had lost his friends. Even though a month had passed, his feelings of remorse, shock, and confusion still hadn’t. Really it was only the hope of  finding answers and perhaps closure that brought him along.

Sigh—why did life have to change this way? His thoughts were interrupted by surge of talking among the passengers. 

“There’s the big whole in the trees!” one of the men said.

“Whoa! That’s gotta be a nuke of a animal that’s for sure,” exclaimed another.

Out of the chaos the captains called for silence, and after their order was obeyed the Brazilian captain and his translator began reminding all of the deploying essentials.

“US military will exit first with the energy sheild! Do NOT leave the helicopter until I say so! Stay inside the sheild and alert us immediately if you find anything!”

Upon that the large, two propeller helicopter swiftly descended into the green rimmed hole. Countless leaves and branches raced upward through the only windows up front as the men turned their heads to watch and impatiently waited. A few final confirmations were spoken among the sheild attendants, but everyone silenced hearing the propellers slowing to a winding putter until it culminated to a soft thud. The helicopter had landed.