This short story is part of “The Looming Darkness Vol 1”, about what happens when secrecy and science collide with unexpected horrors…

Montauk Time

“So we have to go to the Camp Hero Research Facility and verify all systems are powered down. Even though it has been shuttered for years, it appears to be using electricity. As the cost of electrical power has gone up, and the risk of an electrical fire would cost the insurance company millions in damages, we have been awarded a contract to go through the facility and make sure there is no power going through the buildings.” Looking at a map on her phone, Sylvia continued. “It’s at the eastern end of Long Island, so it shouldn’t take too long to get out there. The contract affords us a week, so all mileage, lodging, and food will be covered as well.”

Looking thoughtful, Jonah nodded. “That sounds good, we could definitely use the money.” Ever since Jonah and Sylvia had started their own business working in industrial electrical safety, jobs have been slowly coming in. Jonah and Sylvia had met in college, both studying electrical engineering, and had grown fairly close. To keep business costs down, they worked out of Jonah’s apartment, running the business and doing the work on their own. And since they were both electrical engineering majors, running a business was new to both of them, which didn’t help the business grow as quickly as they wanted. “Did they pay half up front? We’ll need to buy some new equipment to do the job, and I really don’t want to ask my dad for another loan.”

Opening the business banking app on her phone, Sylvia was quiet for a minute before her eyes lit up. “The insurance company has already sent the full amount, $36,000. We are good to go, we can get whatever is needed and head out there. This job could be the turning point for us, possibly leading to a contract with them to handle all of their electrical investigation needs. We will want to show them we are responsive to their jobs, and send them updates as we go.”

Leaning back in his chair, Jonah let out a sigh of relief. He had borrowed a total of $50,000 between a small business loan from the bank, and had been operating in the red since the business opened. Their business name, Advanced Custom Electrical Solutions, often just referred to as ACES, was Sylvia’s idea, and Jonah really wanted to make it work. He wanted to prove to his dad that he was able to be a success, and he was excited the day he showed his dad his new business cards. They read “Advanced Custom Electrical Solutions, Jonah Carter and Sylvia Haywood, Owners/Operators”. His dad had smiled proudly at him when he saw that, and even commented about Sylvia. “Still haven’t gone for it yet? Youv’e known her for years now, and she would be a great partner for you.”

He had casually ignored his dad’s comments about Sylvia, laughing it off. He didn’t want to tell his dad he was afraid of ruining what he had going with Sylvia, incorrectly believing a romantic relationship could mess up the great friendship they had. It was true, Sylvia had been a great study partner in college, pulling down top grades throughout while helping Jonah understand some of the harder subjects. As his business partner, Sylvia was always finding new jobs, making business connections and selling their expertise to potential clients. It actually made Jonah feel a little intimidated, as if it wasn’t for Syvlia’s efforts, he wouldn’t have been able to get this far ahead in the relatively short amount of time they had achieved goals working together.

Focusing on the task ahead, Jonah started making a mental list of the various electrical equipment they would need, placing a few online orders. “As soon as this equipment comes in, we can plan to head up there and get this job knocked out as quickly as possible. Have they said why they just didn’t shut the power off from the electrical company? That would make the most sense, as long as they didn’t need power to any of the buildings out there.”

Sorting through a small stack of papers, Syvlia found the one she was looking for. “They still need power out there, as it has been turned into a state park with a small museum. Part of the area, such as the radar installation, is off limits to visitors, and they think there must be an alternate power access, like a back up line, somewhere that hasn’t been turned off. They have checked out the area around the buildings to make sure someone wasn’t leaching power off of them, and found nothing. And since the buildings are so old, nobody has any kind of electrical diagrams to indicate a main breaker panel to turn off power to those buildings. But really, this is good for us, because if they could do it themselves, we wouldn’t have a job.”

Scrolling through his phone, placing orders for equipment, Jonah nodded. “I’m not complaining, this is a good job for us, and we really need money coming in. The equipment should arrive in a few days, as soon as we get it in, we’ll head over to do the job. It shouldn’t take more than a couple hours to drive over there, and if we get there in the evening, we’ll stay the night and start first thing in the morning.” Talking about staying overnight made Jonah feel a little awkward, as he didn’t want to make Sylvia think he meant anything by it. If the thought had crossed her mind, Sylvia didn’t show it. She just nodded, looking for places they could stay while out in Montauk. Even though the thought of staying overnight together wasn’t anything she was opposed to, they were both a little bit socially awkward, not really sure how to express interest in the other. So they just remained close friends, neither one really sure how to bring their potential relationship into fruition.

A few days later, after the equipment Jonah had ordered arrived, he loaded up his car with everything he thought he’d need for the job, plus a suitcase with clothes and toiletries. By the time he had picked up Sylvia and was ready to head to Montauk, it was early afternoon. Starting up the car, Jonah pulled out onto the street. “As long as traffic isn’t too bad, we should be able to be there around three thirty or four o’clock, which would still give us several hours of daylight to check it out, see what we can find.” Smiling in response, Sylvia settled back in the passenger seat, feeling a bit excited to have a bigger job for a change. Like Jonah, she loved solving electrical problems, and really wanted to make this business a success. As Jonah drove, they casually chatted about what to check first, what potentially could be the issue, and other random things that came to mind.

While usually their chats would make time fly by, the drive to Montauk seemed to be endless. As they passed about the middle of Long Island, a cold front had brought in wispy fog that grew denser the closer they came to their destination. The narrow road twisted through trees that became more obscured by the thickening fog, and by the time they had reached the state park, the ocean was invisible under a curtain of gray mist. The sounds of the crashing waves reached their ears as they shut off the car, the air heavy with the smell of the sea. The dampness of the fog penetrated their clothes, sending shivers through them.

They stepped out onto the gravel covered parking lot, the loose stones crunching underfoot the only real sound. The area was eerily quiet, every noise muted by the fog. Jonah realized he didn’t hear any other noise than what they made unpacking their equipment and the waves. No seagulls calling each other, no crickets chirping, no rustling in the surrounding woods. The only thing he heard was a low hum, a thrumming that was almost more felt than heard. He glanced over to Sylvia to see if she heard it too, and could tell by her face she heard it too.

Shivering against the damp air, Jonah picked up the equipment bag and pointed to the radar dish sitting atop the nearby hill. “Since that area is fenced off, it’s the most likely place to find whatever is drawing power.” Picking up a hard shell equipment case, Sylvia started down the path, eager to get started. “Let’s see how far we can get done today. I booked us a room in town, the cheapest I could find. If we’re able to find the problem today, we can come back in the morning and finish up.” She looked up the hill at the decaying structure, the skeletal frame of the radar dish streaked with rust, facing the sky at an odd angle. The dilapidated station, a decaying monument to wars long past, was quiet, empty and void of life. Except for the constant thrumming, an electrical vibration, growing stronger the closer they got to the building.

Twisted scraps of metal rose from the ground like the fingers of a mechanical giant throughout the area, rusty barbed wire fencing sagging on loose fence posts a representation of the Cold War fear the base was built upon. Shifting his bag on his shoulder, Jonah continued to make his way up to the radar building. “There are a lot of theories about what this place was used for, some claim there was a conspiracy to hide secret government tests here.”

Her foot slipping on the damp grass, Sylvia caught herself before she lost her balance. “Yeah, there were claims of the government conducting time travel experiments here. But I think it’s all just to increase tourism, an attempt to get people to want to visit and spend money. I mean, why would they do that so close to New York? You’d think it would make more sense to do that away from highly populated areas. Area 51 in Nevada would make more sense to me.”

Slipping on the damp weeds himself, Jonah grunted. “That’s true. I really don’t care though, we’ll go in, find the problem, fix it, and call it a day.” They reached the gate of an eight foot tall fence, a combination lock keeping random people from entering the dangerous parts of the state park. As Jonah fumbled with the combination, the thrumming had grown stronger, making it difficult to stop the dial on the correct numbers on the combination lock. “What do you think that noise is? Does it seem to be coming from inside the building?”

Setting the equipment case down on the damp grass, Sylvia looked around. “It’s hard to tell. It seems to be coming from everywhere. I wonder if there is a hydroelectric generator off the coast that could be doing it.” She opened the case, pulling out an electromagnetic interference detector. Powering it up, the machine beeped a few times before the display finally lit up. “We’re getting 35 megahertz out here, but it doesn’t seem to get any stronger in any specific direction.”

As the combination lock finally fell open, Jonah pushed the gate open. “Let’s start with the main building, see what we get in there. There has to be something running, we can hear it.” As they made their way over to the cement block building, the silence was only broken by the thrumming and their footsteps. Turning the handle on the building’s exterior door, Jonah was mildly surprised that it was unlocked, pushing it open and turning on a flashlight. The decades of corrosion on the hinges complained loudly as the door swung in, the damp, stale air thick with the smell of old papers.

Stepping into the dark interior of the building, Jonah swept the flashlight’s beam around the room. A layer of dust blanketed everything, the walls cracked, paint peeling in several areas. There were a couple of desks, each with a filing cabinet next to it, and a door across the room. Sylvia pulled out a headlamp from the equipment case, setting it into place on her head, flicking on the switch. Glancing around the room, she felt like something was off, something didn’t quite fit. The light from her headlamp moved around the room, casting shadows across the folders and papers on the desks of the staplers and coffee mugs caught in the beam. After a moment, it dawned on her. “It doesn’t look like they moved out of the building. It almost appears as if they simply stopped whatever they were doing and left.”

Tracing his finger across the thick layer of dust on one of the filing cabinets, Jonah flashed his light across to an old analog clock on the wall. “Maybe they left quickly. There are many possible reasons why though. They may have intended to come back and finish whatever they were doing.” Moving slowly over the door on the opposite side of the room, Jonah turned back to face his partner. “Any increase in the electromagnetic interference readings? We might be able to get an idea where to start looking for power usage.” 

Curious, Sylvia lifted the EMI detector, pointing it in different directions. “We’re getting slightly higher readings inside, but there isn’t any directional increase.” Moving across the room to the door Jonah now stood at, she tried the light switch, to no avail. “This room doesn’t seem to have any power, and no machines. Maybe it’s something farther inside? I don’t see any kind of circuit breaker box either.”

Fishing out his own headlamp, Jonah donned it, flicking it on before putting away his handheld flashlight. He tested the knob on the heavy metal gray door. “This is unlocked, so let’s keep going.” He turned the knob, pulling the door towards him. With a creaking groan, the heavy door swung slowly inward, and as it opened, they could see it was at least two inches thick. As the door opened, the EMI detector beeped several times. Lifting it up to see the screen, Sylvia’s voice betrayed her excitement. “The EMI just jumped, this door must have been designed to block it. Whatever is using power is definitely behind that door.” They both noticed the thrumming had become louder with the door open, indicating the source was deeper in the building.

With palpable tension, Jonah looked into the area past the door. It was a hallway running perpendicular to the door, with a stairway to the right leading down. Looking to the left as he stepped into the hallway, Jonah could see another room at the end, its door open wide. Scanning the cracked, peeling walls of the hallway with his headlamp, he didn’t see any electrical panels. As Sylvia stepped into the hallway to his right, she watched the EMI detector screen. “The EMI shows an increase from the stairwell, so the power drain is most likely coming from somewhere downstairs.” The tension in her voice betrayed the unease she felt about going down the dark, dust covered steps, but they both knew if they were going to get the job done, they would have to check out every possible place to find the power draw.

Stepping forward to look over the railing, down into the lower level, Jonah felt the same way as Sylvia. “Well, I guess we should check down there then.” He tentatively moved past Sylvia, taking the lead to head down the steps with a misplaced sense of masculine bravado. As he slowly moved down the dusty steps, Jonah shone his light around the stairwell, looking for any indications of power lines, as well as any potential threat. He saw neither as he moved down the stairwell, his light illuminating an open door at the bottom of the steps. He let out an inadvertent sigh, relieved that the stairs didn’t continue for several more floors.

As they stepped through the doorway at the bottom landing, they were greeted by a row of old machines along the left wall, Cold War era ghosts that would be easily replaceable by a single laptop. The EMI beeped again, and Sylvia looked at the screen, slowly moving it left to right, looking for where the signal increased. Jonah stepped forward into the room, looking at the machines for any indication of what was using power, but didn’t see any lights on any of them. The thrumming was louder down here, and seemed to be coming from the right side of the room. On the right hand side of the room, machines were lined up about halfway across the room, with a large space behind them. A faint blue glow was emanating from something on that side of the room, blocked by the machines lined up on the right. Moving slowly deeper into the room, Jonah looked for what might be giving off the blue light, as that would have to be where the power usage was happening.

Moving apprehensively behind Jonah, Sylvia looked around, wanting to find whatever needed to be shut down or disconnected so they could get out of there. The row of machines stopped about halfway across the room, ending at a control panel on a pedestal. Pausing at the pedestal to pull a lantern out of the equipment bag, Jonah flipped the switch on the lantern, filling the room with bright white LED light. He set the lantern on top of the pedestal, moving past it into the side of the room where the blue light emanated. Stumbling slightly as the floor dropped down into this side of the room, Jonah looked down. The floor was made up of metal grates, with thick cables running underneath. In the center of the space were two large machines, with copper coils and thick cables running in and out of them. Unlike the boxy rectangular shapes of the other machines, these were more like pillars, about ten feet apart, rising from the floor to just below the ceiling.

Coming around the pedestal where Jonah had placed the lantern, Sylvia gasped lightly when she saw the machine pillars. The blue glow was faintly emanating from the gap between the two electronic spires, and the EMI detector was beeping furiously. “The EMI readings are off the charts! Whatever those are, they are what’s drawing the power. And it appears they are amplifying the power even higher than what is being drawn in, creating an incredible amount of electromagnetic interferrence!” Even as Sylvia spoke, Jonah already knew, as the thrumming sound was even louder, and within the frequency they both could hear and feel it was also oscillating. The faint blue glow was barely visible, but when he looked close, he could see its brightness was also oscillating in time with the thrumming.

Pulling out some high voltage rubber gloves, Jonah pulled them on and made his way around the side of the pillar on the left, looking for any kind of switch or plug that might be able to shut it down. Looking closer at the control panel on the pedestal, Sylvia tried to read the faded labels over the different buttons and dials, brushing away the thick layer of dust. A small metal plaque was riveted to the top of the panel, and as she brushed the dust away, she could see a helical design, followed by the words HELIX PROJECT MONTALK – EXPERIMENT 47: PHASE FIELD GENERATOR. “Project Montalk? I’ve never heard of anything like this. It says that it’s a phase field generator, but I have no idea what it was supposed to do.” 

As she continued to brush away the dust off of the control panel, Sylvia could read several dials that had labels that read ENERGY CONTROL, PHASE ALIGNMENT, and FREQUENCY. Most of the labels of switches were unreadable, and most of them were flipped down, which is typically the off position, yet she wasn’t really certain. On the right hand side of the control panel was a large metal lever with a handle across the top. As Sylvia brushed the dust off of the panel next to the lever, she could see there were multiple labels. From the top going down, she read them out loud. “Activate…standby…and off. It looks like this lever is set to standby, maybe that’s what is using power.”

Across the room, still inspecting the electronic pillar, Jonah could barely make out what Sylvia was saying. “Find anything?” he called out, his mind working to figure out what this machine’s purpose was. Moving around the back side of the pillar, Jonah felt his foot hit something, knocking it away. He glanced down and saw it was a red rubber ball, which struck him as odd to find something so casual in this room filled with old technology. His curiosity getting the better of him, he walked over to the ball and picked it up, rotating it in his hand as he looked at it. He looked between the electronic pillars at Sylvia, watching her dusting off the control panel through the blue glow oscillating between the strange machines.

At the control panel, Sylvia didn’t notice what Jonah was doing, as she was working on finding a way to shut down the control panel. She tried to pull back on the lever to move it to the OFF position, but it wouldn’t move down. Wiggling the lever left and right, she could feel it shift loosely, so she tried moving it forward and backwards. Without warning, the lever suddenly freely slid forward, into the ACTIVATE position. The thrumming grew louder, the blue glow increasing with a flash, the space between the two electronic pillars hummed and vibrated as it changed.

Just as Sylvia threw the lever forward, Jonah heard the thrumming sound increase and a bright flash. He instinctively closed his eyes and turned away, shielding his face with the back of his hand, thinking something with one of the pillars had burned out and exploded. After realizing the thrumming continued, he slowly lowered his hand, looking through the space between the pillars. At first, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing, as it made no sense. Everything on the other side of the room was different. The room was brightly lit, the overhead fluorescent lights brightly lighting the entire room. But it was only in the space between the pillars, the ceiling above it was still dark and unlit. He looked past the pillars on each side, still dark as they were before. Only the shimmering space, oscillating with the increased thrumming, was lit up, like watching a television screen floating in the air.

From where Sylvia stood, the bright flash between the pillars settled to show the far side of the room, brightly lit up, and no sign of Jonah. She had seen him there moments ago, moving along the backside of the pillars, then reaching down to pick something up. Now he was gone, the area between the pillars showing the same far side of the room, but now clean and filled with a light that seemed to come from above. Her mind tried to make sense of what she was seeing, as the space above the pillars and each side was still dark, only lit by the lantern Jonah had placed on the pedestal.

Stepping a little closer to the two pillars, Sylvia looked between them, into the other version of the room. She could hear voices coming from there, but she wasn’t able to make out what they were saying. Walking to the right of the pillars, she could look back at the space between and see it was almost as if a screen was playing a movie, except there was no screen.

From the back side of the pillars, Jonah looked through and saw the other side of the room, but not the one he had walked through minutes before. The room he saw was brightly lit, clean, and the various machines along the wall were running, lights flashing on displays and needles measuring different data on gauges. There were several people there in lab coats, one man standing at the control pedestal, while another man and a woman stood on the other side of the pillars, facing him. They looked surprised, like they could see him, and while he could see they were excitedly yelling something, he couldn’t make out what they were saying. He motioned that he couldn’t hear them, and the man closest to the pillars pulled out a red rubber ball, writing something on it, and tossed it between the pillars. As soon as it hit the space between the pillars, from Jonah’s perspective, the red ball disappeared. 

Unsure of what to make of what he’d witnessed, Jonah looked at the red ball in his hand. He rotated it around in his fingers, and saw something was different. The red ball, which had been unmarked when he had initially found it, was changed. Across one side, in faded ink, was a word that hadn’t been there before. Although the word was simple, innocent even, the mere sight of it was enough to cause Jonah to drop it in shock, stepping back from behind the pillars. Panicking, Jonah turned and ran back around to the front of the pillars, grabbing Sylvia’s arm and pulling her back away from the pillars. “We have to shut it down!” he stammered, struggling to catch his breath in his frightened state.

Upon seeing the state her partner was in, Sylvia rushed back to the control pedestal, pulling back on the lever. Yet the lever wasn’t budging, no matter how hard she pulled. She looked over at Jonah. “I can’t get the lever to move! I was trying to shut it down earlier, but it slipped forward, and now it’s stuck!” Struggling to pull the lever backwards, her arm bumped against the dial labeled FREQUENCY, turning it a little bit. The space between the two pillars crackled and changed, the brightly lit, clean room replaced with another dark room, this one with something glowing green stuck to the walls in clumps. Sylvia stopped struggling with the lever, her mouth agape, staring at the new scene between the pillars.

The sudden change in the scene between the pillars brought Jonah to a halt. He stared into the new space, a look of confusion on his face. “What happened? What did you do?” He stepped closer to the shimmering space, the thrumming still loud. Looking as closely as he dared, he tried to figure out what the glowing green clumps on the wall were. Off to the side, in the darkness of this new space, he could see something moving. It was also glowing green, and moving forward slowly. “What the hell…” he gasped, slowly backing away, as a giant worm inched slowly into view, at least five feet long. Its thick, rubbery body was as big around as a large watermelon, and it moved slowly forward, extending its body out, then pulling the back half closer.

Stumbling backwards to the pedestal, Jonah frantically looked to Sylvia, who was still frozen in shock. He grabbed her shoulders, shaking her. “Whatever you did, we have to undo it now, before that comes through!” Looking down at the pedestal, Sylvia stammered. “I don’t know what I hit, I was trying to pull the lever when it changed!” She desperately looked around the pedestal, trying to figure out what she might have bumped. Watching the worm moving to the space between the pillars, Jonah started panicking, looking around for something to use as a weapon. “Hurry up, it’s starting to come through!”

Looking all over the pedestal control panel, Sylvia searched for what she might have accidentally hit. Her eyes landed on the FREQUENCY dial, and she noticed the dial’s needle had scrapped away dust when it rotated. Glancing up at Jonah, she excitedly exclaimed “I think I’ve got it!” Slowly turning the dial back to its original position, she looked at the space between the pillars, watched as it crackled and shifted back to the brightly lit, clean room they had seen earlier.

As the scene changed back, Jonah sighed in relief. “That worm had started to come through the space, but disappeared as it crossed the threshold.” Jonah held out the ball to Sylvia. “When it first turned on, I had found this ball behind the pillars. When I looked through them, I could see them standing over here, where we are now, and they tried to tell me something. I couldn’t hear them, so they wrote this on the ball and tossed it into the space between the pillars. Maybe I can try to send a note through, asking how to shut this down.” Sylvia took the ball from Jonah, and he turned to go back around the other side of the pillars. As he walked back across the room, she read the words on the ball out loud. “Danger. Shut it down.” 

Walking around to the back side of the pillars, Jonah patted his pockets, looking for a notepad and a pen. As he rounded the back side, he looked through the space, expected to see the scientists that were there before. Yet when he looked, he didn’t see them. Puzzled, he tried to look around the best he could, changing his angle to see if he could spot them off to the side. Then he noticed the blood pooling near the base of the control pedestal. Then he realized there was a blood smear across the floor, like someone had drug an injured person away from the pillars.

Feeling confused, Jonah turned to walk back around the pillars when he noticed the were clumps of something stuck to the wall. He leaned close to look at the oval clusters, the top of them cracked open, whatever was inside long gone. Backing away slowly, Jonah felt a sudden fear course through him. “Sylvia…we need to go, right now!” he called out, turning away from whatever was on the wall and making his way around the pillars.

The thrumming noise continued as he came around the side of the pillars, and he froze when he saw Sylvia. Her body seemed to float in the air, twitching, her legs dangling limply, her head obscured inside the maw of one of the giant worms. It extended down from the ceiling, a row of two inch fangs around the worm’s mouth gripping her chest, her head stuck in the worm’s body as it pulsed and squeezed. Following the glowing green body of the worm up to the ceiling, Jonah could see it had excreted some substance to make a kind of nest that allowed it to hang from the ceiling, waiting for its prey to pass underneath.

Looking up at the ceiling, Jonah followed the surface of the ceiling, dotted with the same strange clumps he had seen on the wall. Some of them were open, with smaller worms dangling down from them. “They’re eggs…” He mumbled, the horror of what he and Sylvia had done when they changed the FREQUENCY dial by accident. “They came through because of us…” Jonah looked up at the ceiling above him, just as a worm’s mouth enclosed his head. He could feel its teeth biting into his upper chest and back as it gripped him, securing its meal. His scream was muffled by the worm’s body, the skin on he head beginning to burn as the worm regurgitated digestive juices onto him, the last thought going through his head before he blacked out acknowledging the horrible truth of their actions. “We did this…”