[Randomgold]

Synopsis: A group of college students sent on an unusual assignment. This is the first of many chapters (might not seem very sci-fi-ish now, but it will later).

You know that song “There’s a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea”? Of course you do - everybody’s heard it or at least heard of it. You may not know the lyrics for the entire song, but at least you know the gist of it. Simple enough to understand. Starts with a hole and then focuses on what’s in the hole, right down to a tiny fleck on a frog’s tail. Fun song to listen to, if you can keep track of what’s going on in it. But I’m not here to talk about that. Well, maybe I am, in a kind of roundabout way. Ya’ see, while everyone’s heard of the song, not a lot of people know about the truth of it. That’s what I’m here to talk about: the truth behind this song that everyone’s heard of.

Before we get too in depth, let’s start with the basics. My name is Dylan Merlite. I’m a marine studies student at a small university you’ve probably never heard of. I’ve always dreamed about going out to sea and making some huge discovery about what’s down there. If you ask my friends, they’ll tell you I’m a real space case, and I suppose I do tend to let my mind wander at times, but not if there’s anything important I need to do. I do well in school, one of the top students in my class. I guess that would be one of the reasons why I’m able to be here talking about this right now.

Now we get to the good part, the story itself. It started around midterms of the first semester of my junior year. I was heading to the library for some major league cramming, when I saw a flyer for an extra credit project that earned enough points that I could pass the class without taking the midterms. Finals too, if I played my cards right. Needless to say, my curiosity was piqued. Now that I think back on it, I probably should’ve looked a bit closer at the flyer and gotten a bit more details first. Had I done this, I may have thought it odd that so much credit was being offered for one project. Also, the fact that it was open to all students in the major might have been something to take note of, rather than one class like most projects are.

The flyer said to inquire at the office of the head of the marine studies major, Professor Hanisale. This didn’t make me too terribly happy, but in order to get the credit, I would have to suffer a bit. See, Hanisale is one of the worst teachers I’ve ever had. He’s a grizzly old man who believes in three things: work, hard work, and even harder work. Not only does he bog us poor students down with enough homework to effectively shut down most people's social lives every class, but he gives us tests every single class. His grading leaves no room for error. If you get a B- in his class, you’re doing very well. Many students have even started calling him Prof. Hannibal behind his back. And, to make matters worse, he doesn’t really know how to teach. Don’t get me wrong, the guy's a borderline genius and could probably fill an encyclopedia with all the stuff he knows about the ocean. But he can’t really pass on all the stuff he knows to us. I’ve learned more about the ocean from grade school books than from him. Nobody likes his classes, and going to his office would be like walking willingly up to a gallows to be hanged.

When I got to the door, I could practically feel my life leaving me, yet I knocked anyway, thinking that the ends would justify the means for now.

“Come in,” said the professor’s gruff voice. I was doing all I could not to tremble as I opened the door. To my great relief, there were others already there. There were nine other students waiting there, as well as two men in black suits who were obviously not students. They all stared at me as I walking in and closed the door. There weren’t any more places to sit, so I leaned against the wall like some of the others were doing.

The men in black whispered to each other for a few seconds, then one of them turned and addressed everyone else in the room.

“Welcome everyone. Now that we have enough of you, we can start.” He sounded exactly like one of those nameless government agents Hollywood loves so much. “I’m Mr. Black. This is my partner, Mr. White,” he said, pointing to the other man. “As we have little time here, we will get right down to business. Mr. White, if you please?” Mr. White stepped forward, placed a suitcase that I swear came out of thin air on the desk, and opened it so slowly. It was almost like he was trying to be dramatic but failing miserably. I almost expected smoke to come out and suspense music to start playing as he did. He took out ten folders and walked around giving one to each of us.

Opening the folder, I expected to see some kind of photo and personal profile for an international criminal, or maybe plans for a top secret weapon that had been stolen. What I got was song lyrics. You can probably guess which song it was too. Seeing the lyrics to “There’s a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea” in this kind of situation is a bit unusual and can be very confusing for anyone. So it came as no surprise when someone asked to obvious question:

“What the hell is this?” It came from one of the students who were leaning on the wall. He must’ve been a freshman or sophomore, ‘cause I hadn’t seen him before. He was holding up the lyrics, making sure that everyone knew that he had asked and what he was referring to.

“That,” said Mr. Black, “is the main context of this assignment.” This drew more than a few confused looks from everyone.

“How is this song our assignment?” asked one of the few others I was familiar with. Her name is Jill, and she’s in a few of my classes.

“This song refers to an actual location, and it will be your job to locate this hole in the bottom of the sea.” Now, for me the concept of an underwater exploration mission was very exciting; what we would be looking for was not. After all, many holes exist in the ocean floor - volcanic vents, trenches, and hollows in rock formations, all of which qualify as holes. “Please look at the third page in the folder for details on the assignment. The hole you will be looking for has a rough sketch based on what we think it will be.”

The third page in the folder was a diagram of a moderate section of the ocean floor, with what would undeniably be called a hole. In fact, it was practically the very definition of the word hole. If the scale was accurate, it was about ten feet in diameter and perfectly round. It should be stated that perfect circles exist in three places: human thoughts, mathematics, and computers. In nature, there is no such thing as a perfect circle. The hole in the diagram was a perfect circle. It didn’t take long for someone to comment about this fact.

“Who made this diagram?” asked one of the few people who had come in early enough to have a chair to sit on.

“The diagram was constructed by several scientists whose names cannot be stated.”

“Uh-huh…so, these scientists. Are they credible?”

“Yes.”

“So then this diagram is accurate, right?”

“To the best of our knowledge, yes.” There was a slight pause in which nobody spoke for a second.

“So, what you're saying is that you want college students to go out to sea and find a hole that is physically impossible, just because it appears in some song lyrics and some unknown scientists say it exists?’

“Correct.” Again, a pause. This one lasted for almost a minute while everyone thought about what was being said. Personally, I thought these guys were crazy and making the entire thing up, and, from the looks the others were making, they must have been thinking the exact same thing. Suddenly, Mr. White continued talking about his so called ‘assignment’. “If you will please turn to the second page of the folder, you will see photos of the vehicle you will be using to search for the hole. After this, the fourth page contains a list of possible locations to be searched.”

The second page contained pictures of a submersible, but not the kind that is commonly used for underwater exploration. This one was more like a very small submarine. It looked large enough to house around five people for a few days, rather than two for a few hours. And the outside was loaded with a wide variety of high tech equipment used for this exact purpose. After seeing this, I was practically ready to go just to ride in it, and almost forgot why I would be going in the first place. Very reluctantly, I turned to the fourth page to take a look at the list. I wasn’t very long, having only five areas to be searched. This caught me off guard for a bit. Why, if they had such a small list of search areas, would they be using college student to look instead of professionals? Several more questions came into my head after this, but before I could really consider any of them, Mr. White again spoke.

“If you would like to participate in this assignment, please fill out pages five through ten of the folder and give it to Prof. Hanisale by no later than next Monday. You will be notified on whether or not you were accepted by the end of the month. Thank you and good day.” With that, both the men walked with an almost deliberate slowness out of the office. Again, it seemed that Mr. Black had taken the suitcase out of thin air, as he wasn’t carrying it, and it wasn’t on the desk. When the two of them had gone, the oddly silent professor started to speak again.

“Well, what are you all still doing here? I believe all of you have homework to do,” he stated in his usual gruff voice. None of us needed more than that to get out of that office as quickly as the single door would allow.

[Bluejay]

You have definitely piqued my interest with this story. On the surface, it seems like it could be sillly or surreal, but there's enough foreshadowing to keep the reader interested. You bring your characters out well, even though they seem to be a bit cliched - perhaps on purpose?

The only part that tripped me up consistently when I read it was this sentence:

And the outside was loaded with a wide variety of high tech equipment used for this exact purpose.

Every time I got to this, I thought, "What exact purpose?" Even now looking it over, I'm not sure.

Overall, a good start, and I'm looking forward to your next installments. Keep up the good work!

[RENA HANDS]

Possibly…

I’m a Marine student (who) studies…?

Possibly…but (it’s not as) if there’s anything important…?

What about…

when I caught a glimpse of an extra credit project that could earn me enough credits so that I could avoid taking the midterms. Finals too,…?

What about…Many students dared to call him ‘Prof.’ Hannibal behind his back. ?

What about…

But he couldn’t refuse an opportunity to pass on his knowledge to us, his simple minded students. ?

I think…I walked in and closed the door. Or I walked in closing the door. ?

So the professor just accepts your request to be a part of the project without any inquires of your requirements and or interests? Curious?

What about…

How’s this song our assignment? A familiar voiced rang through the squabble. It was Jill. She and I shared a few classes together. ? Or something similar?

A very mind catching tale, but the delivery seems a bit weak. This story holds too many clichés. And for me it was too repetitive in thoughts. I will rate Chapter 1, 2/5!

[Ferris]

Hey there!

Interesting start you have here, you're right, it seems nothing like science fiction so far, but I think thats a good thing, the best science fiction doesnt try to make out its sci-fi right away!

I think there could have been more emotion at the instant where our character walks into the office, that entire entrace seemed a little flat. what about the first impressions, a noting of any tension in the air? Have to agree with Rena, it does seem like too many cliches with your two men in suits called Mr. White and Mr.Black - this is fine if your story is not to be taken too seriously, but so far we are assuming it is serious...

Still, I enjoyed reading this - Hope to read the rest soon!

Ferris

[Jimbalaya]

Not bad. I'm not a huge science fiction fan, but this doesn't really read like scinece fiction anyway, like you stated. The story moves along pretty fast and I would like to see a slow down just a bit, maybe expand on the MC's thoughts.

I'm excited to see where this one is going, stories of the mysteries of the sea intrigue me, I find them fascinating. You've done a pretty good job so far, but would like to see it fleshed out a bit more. Looking forward to chapter 2!

[jerH]

Like everyone else, I'm looking forward to the continuation. One suggestion though: given the running commentary your narrator is making on the other characters (like "It was almost like he was trying to be dramatic but failing miserably.", etc) I fully expected an incredulous response to "I’m Mr. Black. This is my partner, Mr. White." As soon as I read this I expected the narrator to comment something like "What is this? Reservoir Dogs?" and I couldn't believe he let it go without a hitch....