"And you succeeded!"
"You remember the Mangar Deep?"
"What? Oh, yes. Discovered in the South Pacific by Mangar and Kane about 1945."
"In 1946, I believe. The disturbance comes from there. It emanates from a point ten miles below the level of the Pacific!"
"What! Impossible!"
"Do I make mistakes?" Sam asked softly.
"No. But the discoverers reported only six miles of water. And anyhow, men couldn't live under there!"
"The exact spot is somewhat south of their soundings. But, Mel, don't assume that we have to deal with men! We may be dealing with entities that developed in the sea, even with creatures of the rocks below the sea! I tell you, it's outside the range of your old anthropomorphic fiction!"
I could say nothing more. I sat still, with rather unpleasant thoughts. Intelligences that could reach casually from a point ten miles below sea level, to wipe out a building ten thousand miles away! Such things are very good in amazing romances, but extremely hard to face squarely in real life!
For many minutes Sam was silent. He had pulled out his battered pipe and filled it absently with illegal tobacco. He stood puffing on it steadily, with the dim glow coming and going on his tanned face as he drew. Presently he spoke very softly: