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A FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT OF THE EVENTS OF MARCH 17TH, 1942
CAPT JARED LANGLEY
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As I sit down to write this statement, I realize how incredibly strange and unbelievable it seems. However, I assure that these words are the truth.
The public has been told that the USS Tigerfish was lost underneath the ice of the Arctic Ocean while on a reconnaissance mission, but we weren't lost. We found something no man should ever have found.
We had been stationed in the Arctic Ocean to investigate some information we had received from a German turncoat. Apparently, several Nazi ships were gathering around Prince of Wales Island. No one was sure why, but we were sent there to figure out what exactly they were doing there. Our orders were to collect information and not engage unless absolutely necessary.
At 0800, we had just submerged after recharging. To be honest, most of the crew were bored out of their minds waiting for something to actually happen, but the German ships around the island hadn't moved at least since the 14th when we got there. I'd even sent someone to investigate, but after talking to the locals, he told me that they'd seen some men disembark from the ships, walk into the woods, and they hadn't been seen since.
About an hour later, the sonar began to pick up something making a lot of noise. It wasn't the normal noise of a ship, but a strange, high pitched whine coming from about a mile offshore from the island. It was constant, unlike an active sonar. We thought it could be something that the Nazis were developing, so we decided to investigate. As we approached the source of the noise, I noticed a few of the crew start to complain of ringing in their ears. I started to hear it soon after.
This didn't feel like any kind of tinnitus. Inside the ringing, I could hear things, voices in languages I didn't understand. The ringing and voices only got more intense as we got closer to the source of the noise, up until we believed we were directly over the source.
About thirty seconds after the sound stopped, the submarine started shaking, and violently. It very quickly pitched to the starboard side, throwing myself and the crew against the wall. I believe the force of the impact caused me to black out, because the next thing I remember was waking up ten minutes later after the shaking had stopped, with PO1 Barnes giving me some water to drink.
After that ordeal, we all wanted to resurface and figure out what had happened, but none of us were sure if we'd been attacked or caught in some kind of weirdly aggressive ocean current. Though, according to the sonar, there was absolutely nothing around us. So, we figured we were safe, and we managed to get to the surface.
It was at that moment I heard someone yell for an officer to look through the periscope. I limped from the control room where I'd blacked out over to the well, and found the other four officers on duty already there. The one who'd called, PO3 Garris, looked like he'd seen a ghost. Most of the crew were teasing him, but when I looked through that periscope, I fully understood why he'd been so terrified.
The sky was dominated by a massive black star. Whatever glowing stuff that surrounded it appeared to shift and warp in ways I can't describe. With the angle that the periscope sat at, it was difficult to get a proper look at it, so I decided to get out of the sub to see for myself what this thing was. It certainly wasn't our own sun.
When I exited the submarine, I realized that the air felt strange. Thick, wet, and almost sharp to breathe. The wind felt like dragging sandpaper across my skin. And it was swelteringly hot, I guessed around 130 degrees. Calm, crystal blue water surrounded us completely, with no land in sight, nothing like the choppy seas around Canada.
The black star itself was, in hindsight, incredible to look at. It held a certain, terrifying beauty in its impossibility. It was rather difficult to look at for a prolonged period, just like our sun, but not quite as harsh. The light that surrounded this black star was warping and twisting around it, bent as if looking at it through a magnifying glass. I could see a thin belt of light cutting the star in half, with a bulging area sitting below it. Above it, there was a second disconnected arc of light. As I stared, I had the faintest thought that it looked like an eye.
As more of the crew began to join me on top of the Tigerfish, I regained the sense to look down at the ocean surrounding us. With the increased visibility of the water, I could see dark shapes moving around us. I figured they were some kind of fish, due to their erratic movement.
I saw CDR Smith suddenly double over, clutching the back of his head. As we rushed to catch him, he told us something had spoken to him, pointed down into the water at whatever creatures were surrounding us. One by one, the crew reacted in a similar fashion, until I felt a sharp pinprick in the back of my head, similar to an acupuncture needle. Patterns suddenly swam in my vision, slowly forming into letters, then words.
WE ARE NØJJE. WHO ARE YOU?
My legs suddenly felt incredibly weak and numb, and I couldn't keep myself standing. My chest felt tight, as if someone were sitting on it. I asked out loud what Nøjje was, and received a simple, but unsettling answer.
WE SERVE V'IGA.
More images began to pour into my head, shifting in and out of focus. I could see what I discerned to be the creatures below us, and they were truly unearthly. They had no eyes, no visible nose, and a large mouth filled with needle sharp teeth. The head seemed to split into two long, slightly curved horns, blending seamlessly with their sickly gray flesh. There were holes on their necks that I could only assume were similar to gills.
They had a torso similar to a man, but gangly and emaciated. Their arms were long and thin, segmented like an insect's. Wickedly sharp hooked blades sat at the ends of their arms, bearing a resemblance to a praying mantis. Where the hips would be on a man, their body simply continued on and on like a serpent, with patches of black scales spattering the tail. Their tails split into two at the end, with little hooks coating them.
I asked if anyone else was seeing what I was seeing, and it appeared that they all did. It felt like something out of a cheap science fiction novel, but I was experiencing it firsthand. More images began to appear. I saw what appeared to be a city underneath this vast ocean, a massive planet covered in water which I assumed to be the planet we were now on, and more and more images of these Nøjje creatures. I also saw what I think was the name of this planet, Urlei.
I staggered back into the Tigerfish, trying to regain some form of composure. I truly felt like we were going to die here, incomprehensibly far away from Earth. Eventually, the images stopped, and words seemed to form out of the pipes on the wall.
YOU WILL NOT DIE HERE. YOU WILL SPREAD WORD OF V'IGA.
Anything seemed like a better option than starving to death on this alien planet. In the moment, I wholeheartedly agreed to do whatever they wanted if it meant I could get myself and my crew back home.
I could suddenly hear my crew screaming, and then a faint splash from outside the submarine. Smith then ran in, telling me that Garris had jumped into the water, ranting madly about the Nøjje and the black star. After that, I ordered everyone back inside the Tigerfish, but a headcount told me that at least half of the crew was still on top of the submarine, not counting Garris.
They said that the rest of the crew hadn't stopped staring at the black star. Then, I heard splash after splash as the remainder of the men presumably jumped into the water. More words swam through my vision, only cementing my fears.
YOUR SACRIFICE IS SUITABLE. RETURN AND SPREAD WORD OF V'IGA.
The submarine began to shake again, pitching over to the side, then flipping over completely. Then again, and again, faster and faster until it felt like I was being pressed into the wall by an elephant. I could feel the Tigerfish straining and buckling under the stress. It felt like it lasted for hours, up until everything suddenly stopped again.
As we recollected ourselves, Barnes went to the control room to figure out where we were. He told me we were still surfaced, and to look through the periscope again. I saw that we were exactly where we had been before, about a mile away from Prince of Wales island. Fortunately, our radio was still barely functional, so we tried to get in touch with somebody who could help us.
We were quickly found by the Canadian Navy, but the ships they were in seemed strange. The only way I could describe them was futuristic. We were herded onto one of the ships by two officers, who both looked incredibly confused by our presence. Sure, we hadn’t told the Canadian Navy that we were conducting a reconnaissance mission in their waters, but it seemed deeper than that.
They then told us that the USS Tigerfish had vanished over eighty years ago. I thought he was kidding. From the clocks on the submarine, we had only been on that planet for about three hours. But when one of the officers pulled a black, rectangular device out of his pocket, I realized something was incredibly wrong. He also explained that World War 2 had ended in 1945, with the Allied Powers winning by dropping two massive bombs on Japan.
I feel no shame in admitting that I cried at that moment. From how shaken my crew and I were, I was surprised that more didn’t jump into the waters of Urlei. The remaining 24 of my crew were brought into an infirmary, where we were given some food and water, as well as a thorough check on our health. Apparently, we had all been breathing in nearly pure oxygen for three hours, which didn’t exactly sound all that bad to me, but I was told that it was quite dangerous to inhale even slightly more oxygen than normal. Then, we were all brought into separate rooms, and I was given a notepad and a pencil to write this statement.
Once again, I assure that no matter how far-fetched or unbelievable this story sounds, I am telling the truth to the best of my ability.
INTERVIEW OF CAPT JARED LANGLEY
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[START OF RECORDING]
G- Admiral Harold Gemmel. June 7th, 2023. Please state your name and rank for the record.
L- Captain Jared Langley.
G- Okay, I’ve read your statement. Are you really the truth?
L- Yes, I swear. I know how insane it sounds, but… everything I wrote down is true to the best of my knowledge.
G- Well, your stories all match up. And after investigating the USS Tigerfish, we think that you are the same crew that disappeared on March 17th, 1942.
L- But you still don’t believe me about what I saw on Urlei.
G- Can you blame me, Captain? It sounds like something out of a sci-fi novel. Even with twenty four identical accounts and a submarine from 1942, it’s not something I’m exactly inclined to believe.
L- I understand you, Admiral. I’m kind of having trouble believing it myself.
G- Well, there’s also the fact that, according to your statement, this… Urlei planet is orbiting a black hole.
L- A what now?
G- A black hole. It’s the core of a dead star, it’s so dense that light can’t even escape it. Makes everything around it look all bent and warped from the extreme gravity.
L- It looked like an eye.
G- I’m sorry, an eye?
L- The longer I stared at it, the more I could feel something watching me. I can still feel it staring. Watching.
G- Alright, I think you should get some rest-
L- It wants me to spread the word of [unintelligible].
G- Langley, sit back down, you- holy shit, did you get burned?
[END OF RECORDING]
ADDITIONAL REPORT
ADMIRAL H. GEMMEL
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CAPT JARED LANGLEY WAS TAKEN BACK TO THE INFIRMARY SHORTLY AFTER THE INTERVIEW, ALONG WITH THE REST OF HIS CREW. THEY ALL APPEARED TO BE SUFFERING FROM ACUTE RADIATION POISONING. THE USS TIGERFISH WAS QUICKLY REMOVED FROM CANADIAN WATERS TO PREVENT ANY RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL THAT MAY HAVE CLUNG TO THE SHIP FROM CONTAMINATING THE ECOSYSTEM.
AS THE CREW DIED ONE BY ONE, THEY BEGAN TO BEG THIS “V’IGA” FIGURE FOR FORGIVENESS. THEY SANG, CRIED, AND PRAISED HIM UNTIL THEIR VOCAL CORDS GAVE OUT, OR THEY DIED. WHICHEVER HAPPENED FIRST. CAPT LANGLEY WAS THE LAST SURVIVOR, HIS FINAL ACT BEING TO PAINT A SHAKY PICTURE OF V’IGA IN HIS OWN VISCERA.
THE IMAGE OF IT IS STUCK IN MY HEAD. I CAN’T GET IT OUT. THE EYES ARE LOOK
ING AT ME. PLEASE FORGIVE ME. PLEASE FORGIVE ME. PLEASE FORGIVE ME.