For the happy man! - Collected writings DEPRESSION: Ed Atkins

housed in a state-of-the-art underwater living environment
called The Habitat during their stay on the ocean floor. Upon
entering the spaceship, the team makes several discoveries.
The first is that the ship is not alien, and that it is in fact an
American spaceship. They assume, due to the years of coral
growth and the sufficiently advanced technology, that the ship
is from the future. The last date in the ship’s log, 06/21/43
(21/06/43), does not indicate the specific century (!!). The last
entry in the log details an “Unknown (Entry) Event”, which
depicts the ship apparently falling into a black hole, resulting
in its trip through time. The ship’s mission involved gathering
objects from around the galaxy to bring back to Earth. An
item of particular interest is a large, perfect sphere
in the cargo hold. It is
suspended a few feet
above the ground
and has an impenetrable
fluid surface
which reflects its
surroundings
but not people.
Harry con-
cludes from the
classification of
the event which
sent the ship back
that The Habitat
crew is fated to die:
it would not have
been an “unknown event” if they had lived to report about
it, he reasons. Harry soon sneaks back to the spaceship, and
finds a way to enter the sphere. Soon after, a series of numeric-encoded
messages begins to show up on the habitat’s
computer screens, and Harry and Ted are able to decipher
the messages and converse with what appears to be an alien
(which calls itself “Jerry”), which has been trapped in the
sphere. They soon discover that “Jerry” can hear everything
they are saying aboard The Habitat. Harry’s entry into the
sphere prevents the team from evacuating before the arrival
of a powerful typhoon on the surface, forcing them to stay
below for almost a week. A series of tragedies then befalls