Inexplicable events began to occur on Earth - huge luminous balls, similar to ball lightning, carried away people without a trace; the top of the mountain turned out to be exactly cut off, as if by a huge knife; Not far from the Hawaiian Islands, water columns of unprecedented size have appeared, next to which engines stall and communications are lost... Two scientists decide to explore the Hawaiian Pillars using a bathysphere: having climbed the Kanaka Pillar, they hope to descend into the ocean along the Uahini Pillar and find out what is up there... Abridged version of the story.