The City Council of the Abyss
Public notices. Nobody follows them. Sessions held at a depth nobody has come back from. Minutes available. Dues are reasonable.
Seal of the Council · the button is the floor marked “Lower” · it has never been pressed · it is lit
Posted by order of the Council. Ignored by order of everyone else.
Notices go on the board. Nobody reads the board. The board is very nice.
Write to Monty. Three weeks. Bone dry.
All mail arrives by brass tube, three weeks late, perfectly dry. Nobody knows how. The Council has stopped asking.
Shaft quiet. Awaiting correspondence.
Tubes in transit
0 tubesThe conch phone. It isn’t plugged into anything. He answers.
Rings on its own. Roughly every minute. Sometimes longer. Click to pick up.
No call
The line is quiet. The conch is not plugged in. This has never stopped it.
- No calls yet. Give it a minute.
What’s in the crate? Say “nothing.” Say it calmly.
The customs officer at the airlock hasn’t aged since 1946. Very professional. He will ask what’s in the crate.
- Officer
- Name on file
- Post
- Airlock, level 4000
- Issued
- 1946
- Expires
- No
- Age at issue
- 34
- Age now
- 34
- Conduct
- Very professional
“Good evening. What’s in the crate?”
Once a year, a man rides down in a steel ball to ask one question.
Census form A · one question
“Are you still here?”
His doctor has never seen him. The note comes by tube. Thursdays.
- Patient
- M. Fathom, Unit 4000
- Examined
- No
- Diagnosis
- Deep.
- Vitamin D
- None detected. Lamp acceptable.
- Pressure
- 400 atm. Normal for the address.
- Advice
- Stay down. Hydrate (unavoidable).
- Next note
- Thursday.
— the Doctor
The porthole across the way is always lit. Nobody’s ever home.
The lamp changes.
Minutes of the HOA. Meets at a depth nobody’s come back from. Dues are reasonable.
Minutes approved by the Council · filed under pressure · copies available by tube (three weeks)