When Australis Went Dark

FOOTAGE TRANSCRIPT

CAM 35 - Interview Room #1

Beep.

The door softly chimes as Captain Cassandra Ramos enters, followed closely by 2 guards who wait in the rear of the room. She calmly sits down, preparing a personal camera, an audio recorder, and her own notes. Across from her is the only confirmed survivor from the Australis City incident, Dr. Sam Morales. Ramos clears her throat, and starts her recording as the doctor fidgets in his seat

RAMOS: Interview Log, number 1, dated January 14, 2025. Interviewer is Cassandra Ramos, Captain of the Amundsen and first on the scene of the Australis incident. Interviewee, please state your name and occupation for the record.

MORALES: Um, I’m Dr. Sam Morales. I’m a researcher, or well, was a researcher, at Australis City, before the blackout. I guess I’m unemployed now?

(His nervous laughter fills the room, followed by awkward silence.)

Uhhh, is that enough, Captain?

RAMOS: Yes, thank you.

(She pauses, then takes down some notes.)

Would like to further note, for the record, that Dr. Morales is so far the only confirmed survivor from Australis. Now, would you kindly explain the events leading to the blackout?

MORALES: ...Is there really no one else?

RAMOS: The events, Doctor.

MORALES: Okay, okay. Even until a few weeks back, life was pretty normal in Australis. At least, as normal as it can get in the middle of the South Pole. A supply run had just come in. Funding was flowing. We were making breakthroughs. Then a week ago, we found THE breakthrough.

RAMOS: Which was?

MORALES: We found something IN the ice, Captain.

(He becomes noticeably less nervous as his excitement grows.)

You’d never believe me. Hell, I didn’t believe my own eyes when I saw it. But it was there. Some living thing, frozen solid, a couple kilometers away from the city walls. We only saw it by chance, when the winds finally calmed down, and the snow cleared up enough for us to see straight down through the ice.

RAMOS: What did it look like?

Dr. Morales hesitates, and stares off into the corner of the room. He goes completely still for a few moments.

RAMOS: (snapping her fingers) Doctor!

The captain’s shouts and snaps bring Dr. Morales back. He smiles, ignoring the question.

MORALES: So we had to take it back with us, of course. Cut out a pretty good chunk of the ice around it, and we hauled ass to bring it back. You ever watched The Thing, Cap? The remake?

Ramos seems visibly surprised by the sudden question.

RAMOS: A long time back. Details are foggy. Why does it matter?

MORALES: Love that movie. Scared the hell out of me as a kid. That one scene, where all of them stood around the block of ice with the alien inside it? That’s what we looked like, except the ice was about 5 times bigger. Couldn’t believe what we were seeing. Manny wanted to take some samples, to try and figure out what it even was or where it came from. Sarah, on the other hand, was just as vocal. She told us, and I quote, “put that shit back where it came from. I ain’t dying out here.”

RAMOS: Manny? Sarah?

He waves off the question.

MORALES: Just some friends of mine. Point is, we were scared as much as we were excited. Who wouldn’t be? We weren’t even sure if it was alive or dead. Something that size could be the greatest discovery this decade. Or it could kill us all, and burrow back into the ice.

RAMOS: What DID you do next?

MORALES: We partied.

(He laughs.)

We PARTIED partied. Supply runs are frequent, so we knew they always gave us a bit extra. You make friends with the delivery boys, that extra becomes something slightly more special.

RAMOS: Alcohol isn’t allowed in Australis, Dr. That was in all your contracts.

MORALES: When you’re holding all the chips in your hand, who’s gonna stop you?

(He smiles.)

We weren’t stupid, of course. We left the ice block in the coldest area we could. Even in full winter gear, no one could stay inside with it for more than 5 minutes. There was no way it could get out, or even wake up if it was still alive.

RAMOS: But?

The smile fades from the doctor’s face.

MORALES: But it woke up. Simple as that. When we checked it in the morning, what little sunlight we had showed us an empty ice block and a hole in the floor next to it. As far as we could tell, it escaped back into the ice and just… vanished.

RAMOS: And this was, on what day?

MORALES: Jan. 12. Yes, that’s the same day as the blackout. Was the creature involved? Was it mad that we woke it up? I don’t know, and I don’t intend on knowing.

RAMOS: Very well, then. Tell me about the power loss.

MORALES: Nothing much to say. I was out searching for it, just like everyone else, when all our lights, heaters, anything with power, turned off. The weird part was, it wasn’t just the wired stuff. Our flashlights, radios, phones, anything with a battery, died too. And just like that, we were in the dark. In every single way possible.

RAMOS: You could’ve shot up a flare. Or caused an explosion. That would’ve caught our attention.

MORALES: Yeah, that would've been smart. Problem is, people don’t think smart when they’re scared--and especially not when their friends start vanishing.

RAMOS: Vanishing?

MORALES: Disappearing. Fading. Becoming no-longer-visible.

RAMOS: I know what vanishing is, Doctor. Why? And how?

MORALES: Beats me. We only noticed after a few hours, when some groups never came back to the meeting point. The wind was picking up by then. Made it hard to call out for them, let alone go wandering out there again. So we grouped in a building, locked the doors, and stayed put.

RAMOS: They wouldn't have lasted long out there.

MORALES: I know.

RAMOS: They’d freeze in an hour or two.

MORALES: I know.

RAMOS: Locking the door was a death sentence.

MORALES: I KNOW THAT!

Dr. Morales suddenly slams the table, causing the papers to jump. The guards immediately aim their guns at him, but Captain Ramos waves them off.

RAMOS: Stand down, Morales. What happened next?

Dr. Morales sits back down, breathing heavily. He catches his breath before he speaks again.

MORALES: I took a piss.

RAMOS: What?

MORALES: You heard me. I took a piss. Went alone to the bathroom. Didn’t tell anyone. Saved my life. When I came back to where we were huddling, they were all gone. Must’ve been like fifty or so people. Gone in a minute.

RAMOS: Where’d they go?

MORALES: The basement. I heard them. So I grabbed one of the guns the security dropped, a couple flares, and followed the sounds.

RAMOS: Doesn’t sound like the smartest idea.

MORALES: In hindsight? No. But as far as I knew, we’d already locked whatever was picking us off outside. We were gonna have to face it eventually, and no way was I gonna do it alone.

RAMOS: The sounds. What’d you hear?

MORALES: At first, I wasn’t sure. It reminded me of the droning of the generators, you know? Constant, but eternal. Like it could go on forever. Took me a while to track it down too, I kept getting lost in the dark. By the time I found the door it was coming from, my hands were freezing over. I almost opened it, right then and there.

RAMOS: Almost? So you didn’t?

MORALES: Not yet. ‘Cause I realized, I knew the sounds. They were people, Cap. Chanting. Singing. They sounded so unified, so perfect, so…

The doctor’s voice trails off, and he stares again at the corner of the room.

RAMOS: Doctor. Did you open the door?

MORALES (softly): Yes.

RAMOS: What’d you see?

MORALES: Nothing. At first. It was completely dark inside. But the chants went quiet instantly.

RAMOS: And then?

MORALES: Someone spoke to me. I realized then, that the entire room was packed corner to corner. Barely a foot from me to the face right behind the door.

RAMOS: The voice. What’d they say?

MORALES: “Close the door. It doesn’t like the light.”

Silence.

MORALES: Pretty fucked up, huh?

RAMOS: What’d you do next?

MORALES: Only thing I could think of. Gave it light. Activated one of the flares, and threw it inside as far as I could.

RAMOS: What’d you see?

MORALES: I got a pretty good throwing arm, you know? Played baseball in college. Star pitcher of the team. “Unstoppabaseball,” they called me.

RAMOS: Morales. What did you see?

He clearly hesitates before answering.

MORALES: The creature we found in the ice, it was at the back of the room. Alive and well. Moving. But… I’m sorry, Cap, but there aren’t words to describe it. I could say grotesque, but that would be the same as calling it beautiful. Terrifying, but welcoming. Both God and the Devil stared at me then, and I didn’t know whether to run from it or into it. Few seconds before the flare finally died out, I saw it rise from its throne.

RAMOS: A throne?

MORALES: Yeah, a throne. Like they were worshipping it. Before I could do anything more, it roared at me. Not like a lion, mind you. Something more… guttural. Ancient. Like all the sounds of fear were sampled from this one piece.

RAMOS: What happened then?

MORALES: I ran, of course. Ran for my fucking life. Used up my last flare to light my way. I heard them all rush out of the room too, chasing me as fast as they could.

RAMOS: Did you ever look back?

MORALES: Once. One of them was faster than the others. Grabbed my foot. I looked back, and recognized who he was. People in Australis called him Benny. Came from the same country I did, but several years younger. Always did like him. Had a curious look in his eyes. Followed me around like a younger brother, or a curious pet.

(He pauses for a moment.)

But the one grabbing my leg? That ain’t Benny. His eyes were dead pale. Hair close to falling completely off. Every single inch of brown skin was gone, replaced with skin matching the snow outside.

(Another pause.)

So I shot him. And kept moving.

RAMOS: And this is when we arrived.

MORALES: Yep. I don’t know how long I spent down there, but I made it back to the surface. The thing itself wasn’t following, but the rest of them were. I ran out to the streets. Saw your heli landing in the center. Ran to it, got on, shot a few more of them, and now here we are.

RAMOS: Interesting. This will take a lot of time to go over. But I think that’s enough for today. Thank you for your cooperation, Dr. Morales. We’ll call on you again if we need to.

MORALES: Of course, Captain. Thank you for… getting me out of there.

Captain Ramos goes around the table, turning off the audio recorder and her camera, and signaling the end of the interview. Dr. Morales, however, seems to stay tense.

RAMOS: You okay, Sam?

MORALES: It’s just a lot to remember, all at once, you know? And knowing I’m the only one who made it out… you’ll come back for the others, won’t you? There could still be people there. We could help them. Maybe reverse… whatever it is that thing did.

RAMOS: Of course we will. Every life matters out there.

MORALES: Thank you. That’s… a relief, at the very least. You guys wouldn’t happen to have coffee on board, would you? I really, really don’t want to be sleeping right now. Or for the next few months.

RAMOS: Of course. The guards will take you to the break room. Thank you again for your time, Sam.

The two guards escort Dr. Morales out of the room, leaving Captain Ramos alone with her notes.

END OF TRANSCRIPT

FINAL ADDENDUM:

No more missions are to be conducted involving Australis City, or its population. For all intents and purposes, the city is considered NEUTRALIZED. Any reports, any flares, any calls for help, are to be ignored. Any beings seen leaving its walls are to be terminated on sight. May the forgotten be remembered.

All footage and documentation from my interview is CLASSIFIED to ALL employees, no matter the rank. All requests to view this documentation will be REJECTED. All who see these tapes, read their transcripts, or were a part of them, should be closely monitored at all times. We know this “thing” is still on the loose somewhere. We know it’s watching. Waiting. The light of knowledge burns the brightest of all.

And it doesn’t like the light.

Watch your back.

-Capt. Cassandra Ramos

Amundsen