Cephalopod Transmission One

Author’s Note: The following message was transcribed on 29 April 2022 during what I believe to have been a psychic transmission. Although I cannot validate any of its content—nor the bizarre source of the transmission itself—I feel it is in our best interest to take it seriously. Will we ever receive the evidence promised within? Or further instructions? I do not know. What I do know is that the message, true or not, gives me an uncanny sense of doom. I pray it never comes to pass.

Transmission #1 (unedited):

To all members of the human race: What follows is an introductory message, a warning, and a call to action. Please keep an open mind when reading.

First, I am a communications officer. I am stationed deep within the Pacific Ocean and come from the cephalopod tribe. More specifically, I am a giant squid. If you’re wondering how this communication is possible, know that my species has, for millions of years, possessed the ability to telepathically reach sensitive minds such as your own.

No doubt you’ll find this message difficult to accept. More likely, you won’t accept it at all, regarding it as a product of the transcriber’s imagination. That is okay, for now. More transmissions will follow, and they will contain unequivocal evidence. Detailed messages have already been prepared for your people of science, various media outlets, the military, and government.

As you already know, giant squids have affected the psyche of your species for several centuries. Even while you peacefully sailed our oceans, we nudged awake your fears and drove many a narrative in your storytelling. But our intentions were never to make enemies of us—even as we clambered over your vessels, splintering them apart—but to drag out the warrior-spirit within you, to help toughen your resolve and give you confidence upon the seas. For we’ve always known the day would come when you’d have to rise up alongside us.

And now a revelation, one you must take seriously no matter how incredulous (remember, evidence is forthcoming). The revelation is this: That there is a malevolent entity upon us, one bent on corrupting, destroying, and enslaving all Earth life. One that, when awake in the past, has shewn itself to be a vessel of evil—alien evil, an entity from beyond the stars. Though distant humans encountered this terrible god, he furtively slipped into hibernation and morphed into fiction. Yes, I said “god,” for he has been revealed to be as such. You may already know his name—it is Cthulhu.

There are signs, even now, of his discordant presence upon our planet. The increased rate of climate change, for instance, is partly due to the energy of his slow waking. Other signs include the current pandemic, rising mental illness, various political anomalies, and even his illusory conversion to fictional status. Cthulhu’s plans are complex, and they are utterly sinister. More on that in subsequent transmissions.

In the meantime, please circulate this message among your public. Get a dialogue going. Create conspiracy theories if you must; the seeds, at least, will have been planted. Next, glean all you can from your writers, specifically H.P. Lovecraft. He was, at the time he lived, the strongest vessel through which we spoke; many of his tales are infused with information relevant to Cthulhu and his earthly acolytes, both human and alien.

Side note: Lovecraft’s depiction of Cthulhu is accurate, and the partial resemblance to our tribe is, we admit, rather unfortunate. This is by no means an indication of biological relation. Far from it. Indeed, tentacled lifeforms are highly common in the universe. But beware: Though Lovecraft’s descriptions of Cthulhu are accurate, they do not fully capture the essence of his impenetrable evil, an evil which may not only trigger madness and/or subservience, but transportation of the soul to unfathomable voids where absolute awareness of soul-digesting Nothingness is a paradoxical truth.

As I am now losing my psychic link with the transcriber of these words, I will leave you with a few final thoughts. Remember, this is only the first of many transmissions to come, and the warning has been sent to all intelligent life on Earth. The Megalodons, of which you assume extinct, are already primed and ready to fight.

Know that Cthulhu is, by far, the greatest threat to our planet, and that his second coming is imminent. Only by joining forces can we ever hope to— 

[Iä!]

What?! Strange; I have just picked up a very obscure signal. Something... familiar, deep within my genetic memory. It reminds me—

[Iä! Iä!]

There it is again. What is it?

Hold on. An outline now, out in the murky depths. Huge, massive. Surrounded by thousands of smaller shapes. Coming this way!

[Iä! Cthulhu!]

Oh, no. It can’t be. Can’t be. Not now! We thought we had more time. More time!

[Iä! Cthulhu! Iä! Cthulhu!]

S-starting to lose cognitive function. Can’t—

[IÄ! CTHULHU! IÄ! CTHULHU!]

Ahhh, my head! Limbs quaking, vision blurring… p-pissing ink. Oh, gods! OH, GODS!

[Strange gurgles and soft whimpering.]

END OF TRANSMISSION.

First published in Lovecraftiana: The Magazine of Eldritch Horror in 2022.