Across the Sea, Somewhere

While the view from the plane had been striking, the docks could only really be appreciated from up close. As the demand for dinghies and water taxies had overwhelmed even the eagerest suppliers, entrepreneurs had taken on one of the most ambitious marine construction projects ever imagined; the fact that they had barely coordinated with each other was really just part of the charm. The result was a spiderweb of docks wide enough to accommodate vehicle traffic and equipped with moving platforms. Bermuda itself was increasingly just the spider in the center of the web. Or perhaps an unlucky fly who had landed and had given up on escaping. Regardless, as Adelaide rode along the docks, she could begin to imagine their stretching all the way back to America.

FBut, for each tendril of the web, there were dozens of ships, streaming past in hundreds of varieties. There were some functional vessels that wouldn’t have looked out of place in the years before the Triangle, like the tugboats that moved along without regard for the splendor around them. But almost all showed something reflecting the new frontier. Even the little fishing boats that seemed decades-worn were sporting new rods bolted to the deck or nets woven in some exotic polymer, designed to hold marine life larger or stronger than anything in the boring old Atlantic. Speedboats that pushed so hard for hydrodynamics that they barely broke the waterline and compensated with sealed cabins that would keep the unpredictable storms from swamping the boat. And other, stranger vessels had emerged: miniature aircraft carriers loaded with drones, raft-like collections of individual-sized submarines that could split apart and reform as needed, floating greenhouses attached to massive propellers. Along the horizon, barges too big for even the expanded docks formed another island, sporting not only cargo but full resorts with their own pools and casinos, positioned to allow sailors to spend their profits without ever touching steady ground.

And, the royalty of the menagerie, there were the truly elite voyaging vessels, designed for trips like Adelaide’s that demanded flexibility and excellence. From a basic frame, the largest stood stories above the water and had filled every inch with features unheard of a decade ago. Engines ran nearly silently on high-capacity batteries, or, at times, well-contained nuclear materials. On deck, adjustable-opacity meshes provided shade, shelter, or ventilation as needed. And, through the wide windows spanning each port and starboard, Adelaide observed sophisticated laboratories, bristling armories, and even room-sized terraria. And the shine of the hulls was more than polish - one of the most profitable types of cargo that could come back from the Triangle were exotic metals which, with careful metallurgy, could form pearlescent hulls that were thinner and stronger than anything terrestrial.

It would have been nice if Adelaide was going to one of those boats.

“Is this really the best I can afford?”, she asked Ray as they approached a ship which nonetheless managed to avoid any impression of majesty. Instead, it looked like it had just been bounced around a dryer for a few hours. The hull wasn’t rusted, fortunately, but it was dented and seemed to have been assembled from spare sheets of metal that had been lying around somewhere. And, although the lack of any windows beyond small cloudy portholes prevented any glimpse of the inside, she doubted she’d find anything gleaming within.

“It’s not about what you can afford — this is what you need. Those sparkly exteriors are just marketing, believe me, and it’s not like you’re racing anyone anyway. You want to get ready for a long journey? You need a ship that can take a beating. And also, yes, this is all you can afford.”

She had to admit, it looked marginally better as she stepped aboard. It was clean, for one thing — not shining, but there was nothing out of place. Coils of rope made from a synthetic fiber were carefully coiled at intervals along the sides, and the deck was otherwise left open. And the gentle rocking seemed to legitimize it as an actual seagoing vessel, although it was anyone’s guess how it would handle an actual storm.

She was interrupted by a loud voice from behind her. “So, Ray, this is the Professor you brought me?”

“I’m not actually a professor, I’m still -”

“Yeah, this is the one. Professor, meet Captain Mattson. Captain, I’m not sure she’s impressed.”

Mattson just smiled at this, beneath a beard that obscured most of his face but was kept neat on the edges. “Have you been comparison shopping, miss?”

“You’re the first stop of the day. Ray’s idea.”

“He must be in a hurry, to bring you to the best right away! And I can tell you think I’m bluffing, but I’m not. I’m an honest man! Do you know the best thing about the mighty vessel on which you find yourself?”

“I can’t say I do.”

“That’s fine, I can rarely decide myself! But let me highlight two. First is the hull. I know, you think it is ugly, but it conceals a secret. It has layers - beneath the plates you see are another row of plates and, beneath that? Wood! Just like our ancestors.”

“Wood?”

“Ah, Ray mentioned you have not been through the Triangle, I will explain. What matters most is not speed or weight or strength, it is reliability. And reliability comes in many forms. To build a hull that never breaks is impossible, for who knows what the Triangle holds? Better to build a hull you can repair! And we can repair this, easily, and quickly. But metal is not so easily found out there. What we find, however, is wood. So! A wooden sub-hull means that you can chop down some trees and build yourself replacement parts as you go. These things matter! Once, we were hunted by a reef that managed to spear it’s way —”

“Hunted by a reef?”

“Ah, you will see. Things are not so simple out there. We must bring the simplicity with us. But I am no luddite! The new developments are valuable — particularly when they enhance the simplicity! Let me show you. Take two steps back.”

Adelaide stepped back, noticing a seam in the deck that she had been standing on. The captain pulled a lever on the starboard side and Adelaide realized she’d been standing on a column that had been laying flush with the rest of the deck. It began to rise, until it was perpendicular and revealed itself.

“A mast?”

“With sails! Not fabric - a fancy new polymer, hard to rip. But a sail is vital! The engines are good, and strong, but fuel runs out! Even the new batteries they make, they run out. The wind comes anew every day! No one is stranded with a mast. But, modern — not so many ropes. It makes it easier! All five of us can sail it as needed.”

“You only have a crew of five?”

“Yes, five is the perfect number. More than five and everyone's tripping over each other, you spend all your money on them, there is no space for Treasure, no one makes any profit. But any fewer, you have no redundancy! If I am swallowed up, you must get back — you need five. Here, let me show you the Chests and the Hold. Follow me below deck!”

They descended the staircase to find an unadorned hallway lined with doors, each with a keypad. These were the Chests, a new economic arrangement that had become common for Triangle voyages. Each member of a voyage had their own Chest, a room that served as both their bedroom and their personal storage unit. At the end of the voyage, each voyager was entitled to the contents of their own Chest. For crew, the Chest was a key part of their compensation. Paying passengers hoped that they could convert the contents of their Chest to cover their costs. Not that the trio of passengers Adelaide had found were likely to be overly worried about that. “How many can you hold?” Adelaide asked.

“A dozen, in comfort!”

“That’s two more than I was planning to sail with.”

“If there are extra rooms, we will add them to the Hold! It is not the biggest Hold - we store a lot of fuel. But enough for profit!” Adelaide realized again that she’d need to pay more attention to the economics here. The Hold would store things of value that weren’t placed in anyone’s Chest, and everything would be sold and the profits divided between the equity holders on the voyage: herself, Ray, and, if she went with this ship, the Captain.

Captain Mattson led them back above decks. Adelaide tried to imagine spending weeks or, eventually, months within the space she’d just toured. The wind begaun to stir, and Adelaide looked over the side at the small waves lapping against the sides. “I never asked - what’s her name?”

Mattson smiled. “The Foam Strider.”

Ray looked at Adelaide. “So what do you think?”

Adelaide turned towards the horizon. “I think she’s perfect.”

***

It was a nice change to lead Ray around for a bit, even if only for one stop. While Adelaide didn’t have many Bermudan contacts, she did have one. And while Ray complained that it was a diversion, Adelaide insisted on meeting with him before making any further commitments.

Ray didn’t appear convinced as they approached the basement apartment he had texted as his address. “How did you meet this guy, if he lives in a basement in Bermuda?”

“We haven’t physically met. We’ve corresponded.”

“You’ve corresponded? So, Jane Austen, if you’ve only corresponded, how do you know he’s an actual person and not just some weirdo on the internet?”

“I think he probably is some weirdo on the internet, but I’m not trying to date him, Ray.”

“What’s his name?”

“Percy.”

“Oh, maybe he is real then - no one would pretend to be a Percy.”

Rather than dignifying that with a response, Adelaide went to knock on the door, but found that it just swung open. Inside, what was probably supposed to be a living room instead looked like a storage unit for the proceeds of a Best Buy heist — and, for all she knew, that’s what she was looking aout. On the stone floor, there were stacks of different electronic components, some still in boxes but most with signs of having been well used. Between each stack, there were pathways that were laid out as neatly as if they had been measured with a ruler.

“Someone lives here?”, Ray asked.

Before Adelaide could speculate, a voice emerged from behind a bedroom door.

“Oh, Adelaide is that you? One second.”

The bedroom door opened and out walked Hercules in spectacles. Wearing a white undershirt and pajama pants, the home’s occupant was a touch under six feet tall and but seemed to be 235 pounds of muscle. The undershirt seemed at real risk of tearing, and Adelaide was ready to see what happened next. His whole face, in contrast, was obscured by a giant pair of trifocals. And all of the skin was remarkably pale.

Ray looked at the room’s resident. “You’re Percy?”

“Yeah.”

“Percy is your name?”

“Yeah. Adelaide, who is this?”

“This is Ray, our Guide. He’s not a social butterfly. It’s good to finally meet you! Sorry to barge in, your door was unlocked.”

“Right, I knew you were coming so I left it open while I was in the lab.”

“Oh, you have a lab in here? I assumed it was your bedroom.”

“Yeah, it’s a mix. It used to be more of a bedroom. Now it’s more of a lab. Well, a lab with some weights in it.” Percy had already started to sort through a pile of boxes, and there was a long silence while Adelaide and Ray looked at each other and waited for Percy to acknowledge them again.

Eventually, Adelaide spoke up. “Percy?”

“Yeah, can I help you with something?”

Ray gave Adelaide a knowing look.

“Percy, I wanted to see the detector, like we discussed. Is it ready?”

“Yes, it’s ready. I obviously haven’t been able to test it much but it’s ready. A really fascinating project. I suspect the field testing will suggest some meaningful refinements. Here, you can take a look.”

Percy had walked over to a pile at the edge of the room and lifted up what looked like something out of a geometry textbook, a cube but with every face convex, like the leftover space where six spheres met. The whole thing was about four feet in every dimension.

He handed it to Adelaide, and she almost dropped it when she had to bear its weight - it was much heavier than it looked and the odd shape made it painful to hold. But it was unquestionably beautiful. The light reflected in odd ways off of the surface, and every edge was precisely measured. More than that, it was the keystone of her plans, the fulcrum of the lever that would lift her into her future.

“What’s that piece of junk?”, Ray asked.

“This is the Deresonance Detector that Adelaide and I have been working on. She didn’t mention it?”

Adelaide scoffed. “I mentioned it.”

Ray rolled his eyes. “Look, I don’t know how many times you want to act surprised that I don’t care about your dumb physics words, but it’s not going to change anything. How does this thing help the mission?”

“This thing is the mission — it’s the whole reason for the entire operation. This is the first one of these ever to be created at this scale: most engineers would tell you that it’s not possible to construct one this small. Percy’s one of a kind — a real genius.”

“Do you know how to work it?”

“‘Work it?’ Do you think it’s a stick shift? It’s an instrument, and it connects to a computer — it’s not something you ‘work.’ And, anyway, Percy’s the expert and he’ll be with us, so I don’t know what the question is.”

“Percy’s coming with us?” Ray looked over at Percy, who had lost interest in the conversation at some point and returned to walking from pile to pile, picking up items as he went. “Percy, have you been through the Triangle before?”

“Never been.”

“You live here in Bermuda, right? You do any work on any of the boats? Unloading, maybe?”

“No. I haven’t historically found the outdoors to be particularly interesting.”

“You understand the Triangle is outdoors, right? And that you’ll be outdoors once we go through it?”

“I assume the boat has a lower deck. I can lift weights and do my work down there. Just let me know when we’re leaving so I have time to pack this stuff.” And he turned back away from them both.

As they got back in Ray’s car, he said, “Well, Professor, so far you’ve added the palest Bermuda resident in history and his giant pile of junk, so I think the mission’s going pretty much how I expected.”