Between the World's Teeth

Now they referred to it as The Pitlands.

Outside the boundaries of TCOSA's industrial zone, these were once quarries and abandoned mining sites. Your boots were smeared by the crimson dirt that striped the smooth, black earth. The workmen jokingly predicted they would reach the bottom of the world when the excavation originally began. That is no longer a source of amusement.

Years ago, the trenches were scheduled to close. However, hikers, surveyors, and scavengers continued to disappear in the vicinity of the location. The government posted guards, locked it off, and walled it off. Nevertheless, faint orange flares that flickered on and off like breathing were reported as lights far beneath.

Then the night the ground opened up came next.

There was a tremor at first. For less than a minute, the city trembled, causing every window to shake. The air smelled bad in the morning, similar to sulfur. Similar to blood that has been in a wound for too long.

The Pitlands was different. The guards had left. The internal fences were pulled down.

I visited there once. Just once. I ought not to have.

It is no longer a single pit. There are hundreds. Thousands. They were all changing ever so slightly, with jagged mouths in the soil and edges that were slippery like wet stone. They appear limitless at times and shallow at others. The wind shifts direction when you get close enough. It now pushes down rather than blows across the ground.

The noise starts at night. Not the wind. Not creatures. A rhythmic, low thumping. Like a giant scuttling deep beneath the surface.

If you drop a stone, they say, it never strikes the bottom. They say that when you yell, your voice is misheard as a whisper.

According to a local priest, the pits are mouths that go to different parts of the world. He walked right into one after saying, "The ground is eating itself." He was never found.

An excavating crew from Calyra was dispatched last week to record the terrain. Dalen, a woman, was the only member to return. It was three days before she spoke again. When she did, her only words were:

"They're not vacant. They are awaiting."

It was referred to as "structural collapse" in the official report. The locals refer to it as "the Pits."

And the ground continues to hum each night, steadily and softly, like a giant releasing its breath through a thousand invisible throats.

Now I dream about it.

In my dreams, I fall but never land. Simply tumbling through that infinitely dark abyss, where sound folds back on itself and gravity is at a loss for what to do.

I swear that I can occasionally sense the breathing of the ground in the dark.

Dalen disappeared once more a week after she returned.

The lights were still on, the windows were covered, and the door of her apartment was locked from the inside. Her voice recorder, coat, and boots were the only items missing.

Three miles from the closest pit, they discovered the recorder half-buried in crimson muck. The duration of the cassette was twelve minutes.

Only wind and shallow breathing were present in the first five. Then a murmur:

"The volume is higher down here. Pieces of the ground are humming. They seem to be moving once more."

A pause.

Metal on stone, a scraping sound.

"Light is present. Not fire. Not power. Through the ground, something glowed. It's spelling shapes, possibly bones. They are still alive. They are still being used by TCOSA."

Then the yelling began. Hundreds of voices overlapping, too quick, too complex to fit into one throat, but not hers. One word, in her distant, scratchy voice, marked the end of the tape:

"Open."

Nobody understands her meaning.

Strange occurrences have since been reported in the vicinity of the Pitlands. One farmer discovered a pulse-like patch of ground. When the wind changed, the crows' feathers poured upward, and they never rose again after landing close to one of the sinkholes. In neighboring villages, kids started sketching circles with fangs inside, declaring that "the ground smiles now."

The Pits emit a dim, drab red glow at night as they breathe in and out. The area was placed under permanent quarantine by the Calyra. They installed floodlights, erected steel fences, and placed drones in the air. However, the lights are angled downward every morning, as though they were propelled there by some internal force.

A fresh, silent rumor that has only ever been stated and never written down is that the Pits are eyes rather than openings. That, one eyelid at a time, something buried deep beneath TCOSA is at last awakening.

When they sleep, some employees say they hear a hammering sound that sounds like a heartbeat passing through the floor. Others claim to dream of tunnels whispering their names, and they have started excavating holes in their yards.

Every night at 2:00 am, the Calyra's most recent transmission only repeats:

Level VII containment is in place. Avoid going near cracks in the ground. Don't pay attention to the soil. Don't dig.

Even when the radio is off, I can still hear it.

The constant, low hum returned last night. The walls trembled. The ceiling was covered in dust. As if the land were taking a leisurely breath, I noticed that the horizon was rising rather than dropping.

The ground beneath my window cracked when the wind ceased. The line was as thin as a finger. A single puff of warm air, smelling of salt and rush and ancient, old blood, issued from it.

And for a split second, I thought I heard a voice whispering through a mile of dirt, deep below, like a secret:

"Closer"

[TCOSA Internal Memorandum, Restricted File]

PITLANDS-Containment Directive 404-B

Categorization: Null Access Only Level

Date: [REDACTED]

Origin: Environment Management & Civil Stability Office.

Brief Summary

Unauthorized speculation and population unrest have surged by 217% since geological anomalies were reactivated in the Pitlands region, which is under quarantine. The PIT-404-B containment protocol will be in effect indefinitely. For all future public records, the area will be known as the Veyra Collapse Zone.

Public Information (Allowed for Distribution)

• Localized geological instability brought on by underground gas development was the cause of the Pitlands incident.
• Due to exposure to hazardous materials and building collapse, all missing staff are assumed dead.
• Under Order 77-Null, civilian involvement with the restricted area is punishable by permanent removal.
• The site will be portrayed in the media as being both commercially unviable and environmentally harmful. Or not portrayed at all.

"TCOSA Restores Safety, One Layer at a Time" is the tagline for press use.

Protocol for Containment 404-B

• Blind areas 7-13 received diverted satellite signals.
• Pre-approved aerial photos looped with drone footage.
• Reconstituted iron-salt composites are being used to reinforce ground barriers during construction (Note: corrosion is rather unsatisfactory; they must be replaced every 72 hours).
• The radius for civilian relocation was extended to 20 miles. Through State Compensation Offices, "voluntary relocation packages" are sent out.
• Aural dampeners are being used to reduce tremor noises in cities.
• Operative Dalen [REDACTED] has been completely removed from all public databases and digital census records.

Event Record [REDACTED]

• [Timestamp 03:12]: All floodlights were pointed downward once more. No breeze was found.
• [Timestamp 03:44]: Sublevel containment structure with metallic resonance.
• [Timestamp 04:06]: Ground monitors picked up rhythms that correspond to the frequency of the human heart.
• [Timestamp 04:10]: Motion beneath the surface was verified. No depth is known.
• [Timestamp 04:12]: Blackout of communications.
• [Timestamp 04:14]: Recovered recording: five understandable words, audio distortion: "We were never on top."

Final Official Directive

According to the Doctrine of Sanctified Omission, all documents that make reference to "the Pits," "Pitlands," or "Veyra Collapse Zone" will be deleted. Under the direction of the Office of Truth Preservation, any Calyra archivist or field officer discovered distributing unapproved content will be subject to Memory Revision Protocols.

This did not happen.

There are no such constructions.

There is stability in the ground.

Sign Off

Eiran Solvyr, Director, TCOSA's Office of Civil Stability.

"Silence is the foundation of peace."