The Lucifer Project

By Cassandra Hamm

Green light emanates from my skin, illuminating the deep-sea darkness. Flicking my scuba fins, I swim deeper into the underwater cave and scan the walls for any hint of scarlet.

“Can’t make that light any brighter, can you?” Gino’s voice echoes in my comm.

I scowl. “You know I can’t control it.”

Two years ago, I joined the experimental Lucifer Project. They injected luciferin and luciferase, the key ingredients in bioluminescence, into my blood, and now…

“My mom glows,” Nikolai tells people, like it’s completely normal.

At the thought of my son, my heart seizes. A week, I think. That’s all he has left.

Gino bumps into my flippers. “Oh, and it wouldn’t hurt to move faster, Thea.”

“No.” If we go too fast, I could miss the flashes of sanosaxum, this new mineral that could save dozens of lives. “We’ve got three hours of air—plenty of time to explore this cave.”

“You don’t have debt collectors banging on your door,” Gino grumbles.

Maybe not, but I’m battling a fiercer foe—Nikolai’s cancer.

I glance behind me at Gino and Alina, our mute teammate. Fortunately, we haven’t attracted any of the tenebris yet. The cave-dwelling creatures are so territorial about their dark habitat that when they find a light source, they’ll do anything to extinguish it.

“What about this offshoot?” Gino points down a tunnel sprouting from the main cave.

I hardly spare it a glance. “We’ll check it out later.”

Gino scoffs, his hair flaring blue. His suit, like mine, is transparent, fully displaying his abilities—and his temper.

“Stay with the team,” I say.

The wrinkled skin underneath Alina’s eyes flickers gold in a recognizable pattern. I piece together the Morse code in my head. “Don’t be afraid.”

I wish she didn’t know me so well.

“Let me know if you find any red.” He disappears into the tunnel, leaving soft blue light in his wake.

“Gino!”

But he’s gone.

Whatever. It doesn’t matter that my teammates don’t follow orders. As long as we find the sanosaxum today, it’ll be a successful mission.

“Any luck, Gino?” I say into the comm.

Alina swims just within my light range, peering at the rocky walls. Our tanks lose precious air with each minute.

Her silence unnerves me. I need conversation to distract me from the thought that a tenebris might be waiting in the shadows—or worse, that we won’t find anything at all.

“Not yet,” Gino says. “You?”

“Nope.”

The bits of sanosaxum we’ve managed to extract have healed every ailment we’ve tested—even cancer. Just a few drops could bring Niko back from the brink of death. The Lucifer Project promised that if I dive, they’ll treat Niko at no charge.

Hang on, buddy.

A red gleam flashes to the right. Breath hitching, I run my rubber-encased fingers along the rock. Crimson streaks glitter against brown stone—a vein of sanosaxum. Tears sting my eyes, fogging up my goggles.

“I found it!” I cry.

Alina whips around. The skin beneath her eyes pulses, Thank God!

“You did it!” Gino whoops into the comm.

I relay my location, then unhitch the extractor from my belt and hold it against the vein. It latches onto the wall, sending a laser into the stone. Harvested sanosaxum winks at me behind its clear case.

My son is saved.

“Maybe we should get more.” Gino eyes the extractor’s contents. “Who knows when we’ll be down here again.”

“No.” I seal the canister. “We’ve only got thirty minutes left in our tanks.”

He grabs the extractor. “Let me carry it.”

I shake my head. I won’t relinquish Niko’s cure until it’s in his veins.

“C’mon, Thea.” He tugs harder.

I keep my grip. “You’re such a child.”

Alina’s eyes glow. Still grappling with the extractor, I glance toward her. A word forms—Beware—

Blue fire blinds me—Gino’s hair! How desperate is he? I shut my eyes too late. White spots dance against my closed lids.

Gino yanks on the extractor I clutch to my chest. “I’ll be evicted, Thea. I need the money!”

I wish I could promise him help, but I can barely pay my own bills. Yes, selling the mineral on the black market would be lucrative, but we’re talking about lives here. “Without it, my son will die!”

“I’m sorry, Thea.”

My vision is starting to return—enough to see Alina’s silent words. Watch out!

The light spreads from her eyes and consumes her wrinkled skin with gold. Then I spot the reason she made herself into a beacon.

A tenebris.

Its cartilaginous skin is liquid shadow, its eyes glowing a haunted red. But it ignores Alina and lunges for the nearest light source.

Teeth flash. Gino screams. Blood clouds the water.

I snatch the empty extractor from his belt and flip on the laser. It tears through the tenebris’ inky skin. The creature shrieks and thrashes away into the blackness.

I grab the extractor and Gino’s limp body, ignoring his bloody stump of an arm.

My limbs are spent by the time we reach the aquapod. When the doors open, we tumble inside. The water drains from the enclosure as our robot pilot turns to us.

“Surface!” I gasp.

Gino whimpers, his face tight with pain.

Alina unzips her suit and tears a strip from her shirt, binding it around his stump.

The sanosaxum practically blends in with the crimson pool of blood. He doesn’t deserve it, not after what he did. But I open the canister. “Here,” I murmur. “It won’t grow back a limb, but…”

“No.” He pushes it away. “Save it… for Niko.”

I bite my lip and close the extractor, sealing the precious mineral inside. There’s so much red in this pod—sanosaxum and blood. “We’ll get you to a medic. I promise.”

His eyes close.

Hold on, Gino. I take his remaining hand and don’t let go.

The shadowy water turns cerulean, then aqua, as we return to the light.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cassandra Hamm has always been fascinated by the inner workings of the human mind. Her love for flash fiction inspired her to host Instagram writing prompt contests, which are held every other month. She has been published in both the Stories that Sing and Bingeworthy Havok anthologies and the Warriors Against the Storm anthology. She works at a puzzle store, where she has full permission to be a nerd and get paid for it.

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