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The note.
“Of all the old gods who woke during the Rise, the Kraken is certainly the one who haunts our minds and imaginations the most. He was the first to appear on television in 2037. He attacked the ships in Tokyo Bay and dragged them down with his giant tentacles. No one saw his actual body, and it gave way to terrible speculations. But before we could learn more, he disappeared into the depths once again. Thanks to seismic data, it wasn’t difficult to find his point of emergence. He had come out of the deepest part of the ocean: the Mariana Trench, south of Japan. He slept at a depth of thirty-seven thousand feet for centuries. Humanity had reached the bottom of the trench a few times in submersibles, unaware of what slumbered just beneath the ocean floor. After the Rise, we sent probes to capture images of the monster of legend, but in the darkness of the abyss, they couldn’t bring back satisfying pictures. Weshouldn’t have wondered. We’ve come to know him well in the years after the Rise.”
Extract ofThe Rise, A Human History, by Neil Hofman, published in 2049.
STELLAN
When I was a kid, my mothers had a collection of documentaries on one of their laptops. They traded with traveling merchants to get them for me as I was growing up.
“To teach you about the world,”Jess had said, “even if the world has changed.”
I was born after the Rise and I’ve only ever known life in the wastelands, so I was fascinated with documentaries about the oceans. Whales, dolphins, octopuses, seashells, and the abyss. Everything was so alien and captivating.
And among them, seahorses were astonishing in their fragility. These small creatures have no means of defending themselves in the vast sea and are terrible swimmers. If you take them out of the water too fast, they die from the pressure change. And yet, in their fragile existences, they only choose one mate. They share their time with only one seahorse, and they endure great distress if separated from them. Some even die of a broken heart.
Back then, I found it absurd. I had never met people who loved each other as much as my mothers did, and yet I knew that if one died, the other would survive. We’re meant to be strong and endure. Life goes on. Humans are not as fragile as seahorses.
But that was before I met Perri.
I found him during a storm a few years later, when we were both teenagers. And I know for a fact now that I would die if he does. I can’t live in a world where he doesn’t exist.
This deep-rooted knowledge and fear has been following me ever since. And it feels more true than ever this morning, as I notice the silence in our home and the note on the kitchen table written in his messy handwriting.
I have to rescue her. Sorry.
Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. I’ll be back in a few days.
Love,
Perri
I’ve never known such fear as I do now, my shaky hand holding the note.
Byher, he means the AI he’s been communicating with for weeks. Perri is always on the hunt for lost signals. It’s a hobby of his. Black boxes from crashed airplanes, satellites still working in orbit, and radio signals from faraway communities.
And one day he found her. Vex. From what she’s been telling him, she’s a state-of-the-art Artificial Intelligence in an artificial body—a robot—who has been forgotten in an old lab near San Francisco. Apparently, she’s been trapped for more than twenty years.
I don’t believe her story for one second. But Perri does. And he’s been trying to gather a rescue team for a week. I laughed it off, telling him it was madness and certainly a ploy from desperate nomads. We had an argument, and he refused to talk to me for a few days. He even went as far as to request the King of Merchants’ help. Of course, the King refused. He has no men to spare to cross two states in search of a shady AI who certainlydoesn’t even exist. Even though Perri and he have been getting close lately—too close for comfort.
Perri always had a thing for dangerous men. I had to threaten—and sometimes kill—a few of his ex-lovers over the years. But Alastair is the first mutant to make it to the list, and I’m afraid I’m at a disadvantage if things go south.
And he’s my king, of all things.
My king…
I crumple the note and rush out of the house. The sun is rising over the wastelands, but the Traveling Market is already bustling with life. It’s in the early hours of the day, when the heat is still manageable, that merchants trade. The stalls are open and the sellers are hollering to catch the attention of the traveling merchants going back out into the wastelands with new wares to trade.
In the Market, everything is built precariously over the three Baggers—the biggest vehicles in the world, also called the Eiffel Towers on wheels. Most of the stalls are hanging from the giant arms but the living quarters are closer to the ground. From the apartment I share with Perri, I have to cross four rope bridges to reach the higher side of the Market, where the King has his throne room. This is where I know I’ll find him at this hour. He always makes himself available to settle any conflicts among merchants.
The throne room is at the end of the arm carrying the giant excavation wheel of Bagger One. It’s a circular room made entirely of wood. There is a tall chandelier of seashells falling from the ceiling. Strings pull it from all sides to prevent it from swaying excessively when the Traveling Market moves.
I heard there used to be four chairs in the room—four thrones. One for each of the Market founders, the king’s adoptive fathers. But they all perished one by one, leaving him in charge of the Kingdom of Trade.
Two merchants are arguing as I rush inside. Something about spoiled goods. I stride to the center of the room, forcing them to let me pass and interrupting their squabble. One of them squares his shoulders and grabs for my arm. But I’m a head taller than most people, thanks to the Scandinavian blood I get from my mother. I also got her blonde hair, blue eyes, and square jaw. I turn slowly towards him. He must have seen something on my face because he lets go immediately and backs off.
Perri is gone. Today is not the day to make me lose patience.
