First Encounter

First Encounter by Nickie Shah (a Short Story Contest entry) 

Priti's scuba mask fogged with each labored breath as she finned deeper into the eerie depths off Sandy Hook. Her research team had detected bizarre bio-readings in this unexplored trench. Something pale and colossal emerged from the gloom—a gargantuan relic of a long-extinct species. She reached out to study the behemoth's barnacle-encrusted hide. Suddenly, it convulsed, and Priti's blood turned to ice as a massive eye cracked open, fixing her in its ancient, intelligent gaze. Bioluminescent markings along its flanks began pulsing in a coded pattern. First contact had been made.