Damp and Humid: A Litany.

In the decade following the arrival of the samurai and the antithesis. Several aquatically-minded samurai set out to keep the oceans safe from the threat. They planned cities underwater, or standing tall in the shallows. So they might better monitor the depths. They offered homes to those displaced by the spreading scourge. Including offers of minor augmentation to help them survive and even thrive in conditions most humans could not.

Of the many planned, less than a dozen were started. Fewer were completed. Today only 4 remain even marginally active. None of which could be said to be “thriving” as their founders had hoped.

Antarctic 1, suspended on a repurposed space elevator part way between New zealand and its namesake. And Nemo’s rest, a sprawling mass of structures at point nemo in the pacific ocean. Remain the two most successful.

Excerpt from “The best laid plans of overly Idealistic samurai”

Eric glared at the dull grey, always damp hallway walls of his home, Antarctic 1. It was a shit hole, that was slowly falling apart. They’d lost the ability and resources to keep up with the maintenance demands of their deep ocean dwelling some years ago.

Eric walked through the passages of the inner habitation ring as he started his day. Memories stirred of when he was younger, the halls had been full of people, including his parents and older sister, there had been hope then. One Samurai or another would choose to watch over them while farming points in the surrounding waters. Each would take on the role of conservator, taking over from the founder that had died early in the city's history. A small portion of the points earned were invested into keeping Antarctic 1 afloat.

As time had passed though, and Eric had gone from naive child to the young adult he was, the waters around his home had begun to die. It began with the local sea life becoming more and more sparse, the antitheses that preyed upon them soon followed, and with no points to keep them there the Samurai disappeared too.

In the wake of losing what looked like the city's last conservator, the residents began to leave as well. Eric had watched as all the familiar faces slowly disappeared. Friends, acquaintances, and 2 years ago even his Father and sister had left. Anyone that could live in the lower pressures of the surface world, or could afford to undo the alterations they had received through technology, or like Eric, had inherited from his parents, had left.

The only people that remained with Eric in the city below the waves were the ones who couldn’t survive on dry land, and the die-hards. Those who hadn’t given up hope, or just refused to leave the place they called home.

Eric stopped in front of Aunt Tess’ door. She wasn’t his real aunt, Eric didn’t think anyone down here was related to her, but everyone called her Aunt Tess, she’d come down here with the founder, and she had no plans of ever leaving.

He placed a metal basket with a few mechanical nicknacks, and components he had repaired for her, to the side of the door. Eric was an underwater engineer, or that’s what he called himself most days. He did his best to keep his small section of the city functional, despite his lack of formal training. He figured he could likely design and maintain a better submarine than anyone with a fancy degree.

Normally Eric would have stopped to check how Aunt Tess was doing, maybe install one or two of the things he’d repaired for her, today though he had something important to take care of. Today he needed to head further out from the core than he usually liked to go. Out past the parts he and the scant thousand remaining citizens struggled to keep livable on the day to day. Even out past the unfinished rings he and the rest of the younger denizens visited to scrounge for parts.

Despite his misgivings, and the boredom of the long trek. Eric was determined to get out and fix the issue that filled his cabin with a barely audible squeal whenever the lights were out. He hadn’t slept in days. Days of running every diagnostic, and every repair he could think of. He’d finally eliminated every option but “something is wrong at power junction N27T-I”. Some little thing there was for some godforsaken reason was making something in his walls squeal. Just because he knew how to fix the things, didn’t mean he knew what they were called.

Growing up underwater Eric had learned quickly that words like damp and humid lacked enough nuance, everywhere was damp and or humid. That said, the damp and humid of the core was a pleasant one, like a warm hug from a soggy teddy bear. As Eric trekked further and further from warmth and safety, however, it was rapidly moving toward “cold extra mushy porridge someone had shoved down the back of your underpants”, damp and humid.

It wasn’t a long journey. As the octopus crawls it should have been less than a couple hours all told. Sadly the power was low. The halls were dim and cluttered, and half of the doors didn’t work. Those that still functioned, most needed help to open, either from the long pry bar, the backup battery Eric carried with him, or a bit of old fashioned elbow grease.

***

Eric was unhappy, he’d been making good time for a trek into the outskirts. Until he came face to face with a sealed emergency bulkhead. Section K12 had sprung a leak, and then collapsed. That must have been the shuddering they’d all felt a couple weeks back. He couldn’t go back to K11, or K10. None of the doors worked. The power systems had been torn to pieces, for parts, ages ago. A quick link of his augs to the local network helped him find a route. It looked like K13 was still at survivable pressures, and the doors were likely functional.

Eric debated to himself if going to the cursed 13th outermost ring was worth it. “Who the hell thought, let's make our precarious underwater habitat have the most unlucky number of rings?”

Kicking a twisted hunk of metal down the hall, Eric shouted into the darkness. “worked out real fucking well for you didn’t it? Dead-ass idiot samurai...”

Erik checked the time in his aug’s hud. If he tried to head back and circle through K9 he wouldn’t have time to make it back to his bunk before the sun went down and the city went into low power mode from lacking juice from the surface solar panels.

“I refuse to spend another night with fluff stuffed in my ears.”

Erik had turned around and walked back to the last intersection. To the right was home, and a squeal filled sleep. To the left, L13. A leaky, over pressured, under powered nightmare.

Erik smacked his own cheeks, bouncing a bit on the balls of his feet. Shaking out his hands.

“Fuuuuuck, stupid god-damn....” Erik’s swearing faded out into mumbling as he faced down the dark passage to L13. Doing his best to psych himself up to do something he knew was unconditionally stupid.

Antarctic 1 had been built with a gradient pressure system. To spread the pressure load across a greater area. Ring 13 would kill an unaltered human. It would kill Erik too, if he stayed too long, but for the brief time he had to pass through it, it would just be rather uncomfortable. As long as there were no more obstacles, or unexpected issues to slow him down, the pressure shouldn’t cause any long term issues.

“Yes Eric, nothing could go wrong now. The outer ring of your crumbling home should be problem free!” He said sarcastically into the emptiness of the dim hallways.

The 13th ring had never been finished. All the pieces were there, but few had been fully hooked in. The final section of the city M13 had been put into place almost 20 years ago. Not long after Erik was born. It still didn’t show up on the main diagnostic system.

Erik let out a determined sigh. “Tess is going to stick me on waste management for a month when she finds out about this.” His last bit of hesitation disappeared down the dim metal hallways with the fading echoes of his words. His feet carried him further away from comfort. Into the damp and humid he had yet to name.

The signs of scavenging grew fewer as he neared the airlock between rings. Most people were unwilling to head this far out for spare parts. Any open panels had likely never been attached in the first place.

Whatever future alien composites the samurai had made the city from didn’t rust. Nor did it allow anything to grow upon it. Erik’s feet left scuffs in the sludge of salt and dust that mixed with the thin layer of water these outer rings could never seem to get rid of. The city shuddered rhythmically around him. This far from the central elevator, you could feel the ocean's currents making the city bob and weave all the more. The ever present hum of the life support systems faded out in the uninhabited areas, where they’d been mostly turned off. It created an eerie silence that allowed Erik to hear all the little creaks and groans of the city shifting around him.

Living down past where the sun's rays could shine always gave a feeling of surreality. Out this far from home though? It was different. It was colder, darker, quieter, and yet so much louder. Erik could hear his breath as his body pushed harder in the denser air, he could feel his heartbeat pulsing in his head. Every creak and groan grated on his ears, as he wound through the empty halls and passageways to reach the airlock to L13

“Thank God, it’s open on this side” Erik panted out as he leaned against the door into the airlock. Thankful he would only have to wait through one pressure change cycle.

Stepping inside, he shut the door behind himself. Pressing the big button that would start the pressure change. “Really wish they’d left some of the pressure suits out here. This is going to suck. I forgot how hard it was to breathe in these outer rings.”

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Fuck my life”

Erik leaned against the wall, head back, eyes closed. Breathing deep and slow as the pressure slowly grew. He could feel it squeezing tighter against his skin. His lungs had to work harder to pull in every breath. The sounds around him grew dimmer, until his ears popped and equalized. 3 minutes feels like forever when you are waiting alone in an airlock, dreading the trek ahead.

With a final hiss, the outer door unlatched. Swinging slowly open, letting the stale air from the outer ring into the airlock. “L13” Erik spoke aloud, his voice sounding strange in the thick air. “Second to last section put in place. I don’t think anyone has been in here since they put M13 in”

It was, to put it nicely, a mess. Crates of parts and pieces stacked haphazardly about the room. Pallets of wall panels spilled across the floor. Pipes and wiring hung loose in the hollow superstructure. All in the dim glow of the inconsistent emergency lighting.

Erik was surprised when L13 pinged his augs. It was apparently assuming he was part of the construction crew and asking for his credentials.

“Of all the bloody things to still be functional out here. The construction network.” Erik laughed to himself. His small laugh turned into a cough. The thickness of the air caught him off guard.

Flicking through the local net, Erik managed to get past the insistent job assignment pings and find a local status readout, and a map of what the layout should have one day become.

Life support: Minimal

Power: Status unavailable. Please reconnect at the main junction.

Pressure: Above recommended.

O2: Below recommended.

CO2: Above recommended.

Inner Hull: Optimal

Outer Hull: 80%

Shutters: Jammed

The list went on, most reading unavailable, or unpowered. More than a few flashing red. Broken or missing. Somewhat troubling were the air readings, the city must have been shoving the CO2 it couldn’t scrub to the outer rings. Of a much more immediate concern, 9 of the 12 doors to the neighbouring sections of 13 were among the flashing red signals.

“Only one door to K13. And it's the second furthest out. Bloody hell.” Erik could feel the fatigue already. The long day through the old city with bad air and increasing pressure. Not to mention the week of fitful sleep because of that damn squealing.

Erik ran his hands down his face, leaving filthy streaks behind from the old grunge caked on them from the day of crawling through the city’s fringes. “Nothing for it I guess. I’ve come this far.” As he started walking through the chaotic construction remains he wondered if the outer shutters were jammed open or closed. Only 13 had actual windows, he’d only seen the world outside the city through screens and images in his augs.

The trip to the edge of 13 wasn’t long. It was, however, not pleasant. Erik could feel a headache slowly growing. His ears were starting to ring, his eyes ached, for the first time he was glad his inherited changes were as strong as they were.

“Although if they were weaker, I could have left with Dad and Evelyn, and I wouldn’t be stuck down here, in Poseidon's anus, risking my life for a single, god damned, good night's sleep!” His voice grew louder as he ranted, it bounced hollowly off the floor and ceiling.

His brief bout of near shouting left him leaning against a pillar gasping for breath. While working to get his breath under control, Erik noticed for the first time that the light was different. Peering forward he could see the edge of the city. The shutters haphazardly jammed between open and closed, revealing his first look at the ocean beyond.

“Are the external lights on? Why they hell is it dim as fuck in here, but the externals are working?” He muttered to himself as he walked closer to the thick not really glass outer windows. Mesmerised by his first glimpse of a world not made of steel and plastic.

“I thought we were too far down for sunlight. What is going on?”

Erik had reached the edge. His face pressed against and slightly into the oddly malleable clear outer panels. He remembered reading something about them, some special material designed to...

Something moved outside.

It was big.

“Is that a whale?”

“No, whale’s are gone... all the fish are...”

It moved again, curving closer. Luminescent patterns rolling to life along its sides.

Erik’s brain finally struggled through the fog of fatigue. The surrounding oceans were dead, even the Antithesis didn’t like them. Then why the bloody fuck was he staring at one the size of a fucking whale? And why was it coming toward him? And why wasn’t he moving?

He should run.

Run where?

12 was too far. 12 had the stupid slow airlock.

Wait, did they see motion? Heat? Should he run? Should he hide?

What he shouldn’t do is panic. He knew that much.

He was panicking. He was nothing but panic. He should really stop...

The monster opened its massive maw wide. Erik could almost see the shockwaves in the water from the sound he couldn’t hear it making. The shockwave wasn’t the only thing coming out of it though, smaller, faster objects were launching out of it towards the city as well.

Erik’s lizard brain took over. The door to K was closest, his feet moved before he told them to. Adrenaline pushing his tired body past its limits, every muscle in his body burned, his lungs ached and protested the too thick, too damp, too humid air he was forcing into them with gulping breaths.

He kept his eyes focused on where he knew the door to K would appear through the murk. Ignoring the increasing brightness of the light shining through from the water outside.

The city shook. Erik lost his footing, falling to the floor and careening off of a heavy stack of metal boxes. Thankfully, while they shifted precariously, none fell onto him. Not so thankfully he’d torn open a gash on his right leg, a sharp screw still hung tangled in the threads of his now ripped pants.

Eric's vision swam, the world spinning around him. He was disoriented, and his body was starved for clean air. He lay there a moment, mouth gaping, eyes wide staring at the ceiling, unable to pick himself up. Shock at the new notification flashing in his augs, paralysing him.

K13 compromised. All access to K13 is sealed.

Local Hull integrity falling. Please Evacuate L13

The system status list scrolled past his eyes as he lay bleeding on the floor. Unable to parse the reality they were showing him. A wall of flashing red text.

The list of doors began to scroll past, he saw his last hope.

Door M4: Open

Not just operational, open. No guessing, no prying, or powering. An escape. Maybe... just had to cross almost the entire section while bleeding, and gasping for air. Before the hull failed, or another plant jarred something loose.

Erik crawled to his feet. The gash on his leg pushed to the back of his mind. His eyes focused on one word. Open. Open. Open. Stumbling, dragging his wounded leg,he moved as rapidly as he could, hypoxia slowly stealing the edges of his vision.

The city shook again. More red warnings flashed across his vision. Not M4, faithful M4 stayed green. Stayed Open. Shining bright in his augs. The last thing keeping him moving.

Erik liked M4, if he survived this maybe he’d name his first kid M4. Oooh! Maybe he could name one of the shadows crawling on the windows M4. Poor thing stuck out there in the cold, he should let it in...

Erik stumbled to his knees again. His vision narrowed to a pinpoint. The stale air continuing to take its toll. The ringing in his ears had stopped, instead he could feel something leaking from them. Head bent over, staring blankly at the floor, he realised he’d stopped breathing. His lungs felt heavy and full of sand.

With a concentrated effort he forced a breath into his lungs, and after the choking coughs stopped, he forced another. Eric pushed himself back to his feet. Holding tightly to a pillar, clawing at it for leverage to help him rise.

The city shook again.

Hull Integrity: Less than 20%

Erik forced himself to move, he was almost there. Eric’s journey across the section was a haze of stumbling delirium. He was scratched, bruised, bleeding, and ached all over. But M4 was right there. 15 metres, maybe less.

His world shifted, he stumbled and slid, but kept his feet. His bleeding ears barely caught the sound of something buckling to his right. A glance showed him the strange clear material of the outer window chipped and cracked, buckling inward. A swarm of the dark shadows scuttled on its surface, clawing their way deeper, widening cracks and gouges.

5 metres to the door.

He pushed his body harder. Drawing every last ounce of will he had left. His wounded leg numb and dragging.

The lights flickered, the city shook.

The outer wall screamed.

Eric stumbled, he reached out to grab a hanging cable. He instead met a jet of water cutting through the room. There was a brief pink mist and Eric lost feeling in his left hand.

He put it out of his mind. He was almost to the door. M4. His new best friend. Still somehow, miraculously open. He lurched through the open door, falling to the ground just past its frame. M4 closed behind him.

K13. Critical structural failure.

Flashed as a message across Eriks augs, as the city shook.

Erik was losing blood. Erik was hypoxic. He was still not safe.

His augs pinged in his fading vision.

Critical structural failure of ring 13 sections I through M imminent. Recommend jettisoning Section M13 to safeguard surrounding areas.

Eject Section M13 from Antarctic 1?

Yes?

No?

Erik wasn’t the most altruistic of people, but there were people here he’d rather not see crushed by dark waters. Besides, he figured he was dead already. Might as well try and save a few lives before the end.

He pinged back “Yes” as his world went dark.

***

The world was dark, and everything was pain. Eric wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. Could the dead feel pain?

Eric heard trumpets.

And a voice.

He thought his ears were toast from the pressure...

“Greetings Vanguard! You are dying. Might I recommend a few purchases to prevent that?”

End