DoG by Unknown Read Free Book Online

a man, at the tender age of thirty-three.
    While sorting through a churning mass of halibut, Culann spotted something not native to these waters. The sturdy and close-knit net had dredged up an object, perfectly spherical and the size of a shot put. It was made of metal, but so smooth it was impossible to tell what kind of metal. It was as black as the ocean bottom with strange silver lettering etched onto the surface.
    “Looks Russian or something,” Frank said.
    “No,” Worner said, “it’s Greek, ancient Greek. It looks just like the letters on a frat house.”
    “Those ain’t any letters I’ve ever seen,” McGillicuddy said. “This thing came from outer space. I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”
    A crowd formed around them. As the only educated man on board, Culann was
    asked to render a verdict on the origin of these symbols. He didn’t know what to think.
    He wasn’t familiar enough with the Cyrillic alphabet or ancient Greek to judge the first two hypotheses, and of course he had no way of knowing what extraterrestrial writing might look like. He scanned the symbols again, trying to discern their meaning. No two symbols were exactly alike. They resembled familiar geometric shapes, but only partly so. There were right angles and acute angles, but they never connected with one another to form triangles. They often intersected with the arc of an unfinished circle. Sometimes the fractional shapes stood alone, sometimes they connected with one another. The spacing between symbols was haphazard, with no visible rows or columns. Yet taken as a whole, the symbols projected a sense of uniformity. It seemed to emit a kind of cold heat; it was cool to the touch, but his hand warmed as he held it.
    “I have no idea,” he replied.
    They passed the orb around. Every member of the crew examined it, and all came away puzzled. The debate continued.
    “I bet it’s some Russian superweapon left over from the Cold War,” Frank said.
    “You think the Cold War’s over?” Worner asked. “That’s exactly what they want you to think. If this thing’s a Russian superweapon, my money’s on something brand new. Those bastards have just been waiting for us to let our guard down.”
    Worner paused for a moment to allow the crew to consider the implications of Russkie revanchism, before he continued.
    “But it’s not a Russian superweapon. Where are the wires and circuits and stuff?
    This thing is old. Not Cold War old, but ancient. That explains the Greek letters.”
    “But what the hell are ancient Greek letters doing in the Bering Sea?” Frank challenged.
    35

    “You ever hear of Atlantis?” Worner shot back. “Most advanced civilization the world has ever known. Maybe this is some kind of Atlantis technology that’s been roving across the seabed for three thousand years.”
    “What a steaming pile of horseshit,” McGillicuddy countered. “If anybody has advanced technology it’s the aliens. This is probably some space probe sending signals across the galaxy. Some ET is listening to us right now and laughing at what a couple of dumbasses you guys are.”
    Debate continued as they hauled the next load out of the water. Culann didn’t believe in aliens or Atlantis, and was certainly skeptical of claims of secret Soviet superweapons. He leaned back and enjoyed the more elaborate conspiracies, mythologies and cosmologies the sailors developed to explain this thing. McGillicuddy and Worner advocated their positions so zealously it looked like they might come to blows. Many heads nodded in agreement as Frank staved off violence by diplomatically hypothesizing alien technology lent to the Atlanteans before disappearing for centuries to be later uncovered by the Russians.
    “Quit dicking around,” Gus chimed in before confiscating the orb and heading to the bridge.
    36

    7
    The men stood around as McGillicuddy prepared the drum to cast the nets back out. They continued to chatter about the odd