The Depths

Prologue: Councillor’s Report

“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”

— Albert Einstein

The first expedition through the Atlantic Valley was estimated to take 6 years. The explorers were to attempt to make it to the walls of Nouakchott. A straight shot east according to the old maps we found in the piles of left behind waste. We could only assume that there were walls there too, but we needed to know for sure. We didn’t really know anything. What we knew was that this used to all be water before, but we didn’t know the answer to the next question: “Before what?” Maybe our ancestors didn’t want to remember or maybe they were made to have forgotten. Based on what we know from our ancient maps, our base of operations on the Blake Plateau was just a few hundred kilometers east of what used to be known as Georgia. Now there are just walls along the shelf that keeps us from our past.

Walls that we cannot climb.

Walls that we cannot see the tops of.

We sent 12 explorers to the east with the intent of learning more about the depths of the valley and to see if there were still others out there. It took only 8 years before we received news from their expedition. Opani. He came back, but it wasn’t really him. He didn’t speak. Couldn’t speak, perhaps. We had no way of knowing. Maybe this is what happened to our ancestors.

We found Opani on the edge of the plateau while one of our gatherers was on the search for a pocket of ocean water to dilute. He was just sitting on the ground staring off the edge of the plateau. His eyes were glazed over as he looked out on the vast expanse of dark forests below the plateau. The sight of the sprawling sea of trees below is unnerving. Explorers and gatherers that go below the plateau are required to have a sort of resolve that is not found in most. Not many volunteer.

When we found him, he was crying. Not wailing, or making any audible noise. Just crying. We took him back to the base and put him back in his quarters.

He never stopped crying.

Every morning, we would find Opani sitting at the edge of the plateau looking down at the vast forest below. Every morning, we brought Opani back home.

Every morning, he cried.

We decided that it would be best to keep watch on him, and so we put a caretaker on him. Herma was assigned to him. She was to watch him day and night and report anything unusual to us. It wasn’t long before we realized that Opani didn’t sleep. Herma’s reports would inform us that she would try her hardest to stay awake with him and that if she ever fell asleep, Opani would quietly get up, and walk back to the edge of the plateau. We decided that we needed more eyes on Opani. Herma and Joppa began to take shifts, which led to more disturbing discoveries in Opani’s behavior.

He never stopped crying.

He never slept.

Within two weeks, Opani was dead.

He had stopped eating and drinking water. No matter how hard Herma and Joppa tried, they could not get Opani to eat or drink. When asked to give a full report on Opani’s erratic behavior, Herma and Joppa presented two sentences:

“He just cried. He sat in his chair, stared at the door, and cried.”

We sent the explorers because we were looking for answers, but all we were left with was more questions. We had sent several exploration groups between Opani’s group and his return. It’s been 2 years since Opani’s death and none have come back. Some of us didn’t want them to come back.

Not if they were to return like Opani.

In an attempt to learn more about the walls to the west, we sent explorers to the base of the wall. They walked along the wall for hundreds of kilometers only to find it to be never-ending. They returned from the expedition with news of overflowing water. They said that on certain parts of the wall, water poured out from holes that were formed. We quickly sent a gathering team along with a few explorers from the group to confirm and gather this fabled fresh water. No longer would our gatherers have to spend their lives searching for and diluting old ocean water. No longer would we need rain catchers to gather the little water that fell from the sky on the plateau. For the first time, we began to hope. We assembled a team to venture out and bring hope back to us.

What we were met with was disappointment.

We had no reason to doubt the reports of the exploration team. We received twelve reports from each member that all confirmed the same thing: the wall has holes where clean water pours out. When they were sent back out with the gathering team, there were no holes to be found. We decided that there were only two options to consider:

1. The expedition team lied.

2. Someone is repairing the holes.

We had faith in our exploration team, but the likeliness of someone repairing the holes seemed too implausible. The base on Blake Plateau was the only place where there was a known human existence. We wanted to believe them, but their adamant denial of a lie planted discord among some of us. Too much bad had happened, and this was too much to handle for some of us.

Some of us wanted retribution for this false hope.

We have never had any requirement for any form of corporal punishment within our community. It was unnecessary. We all had the resolve to work for the greater good, but this was different.

This was “intentional harm” to the lingering hope that resided in us.

The division among us was evident, but something had to be done. We decided to not punish them, but to “reward” their discovery with the opportunity for more great discoveries. We decided to send them on the Great Expedition to the east.

To the walls of Nouakchott.

We knew it was a death sentence, but we couldn’t let them stay here. Some of us were looking for blood. We knew that this was the best opportunity to keep them safe from the whispers that were quickly evolving into public threats. We were hopeful. Perhaps they would succeed. Maybe we will hear back from our explorers, and learn about the mysteries of our world. Perhaps they would find the other explorers. More than likely, we will never know. They left one month ago. As the head of the council, I take full responsibility for their lives and the lives of our people. I believe our explorers, and know that they will find the answers that we seek. We live in the depths, but we do not know why. Our explorers will traverse through vast forests and mountains, but they will always remain in the depths of the Atlantic Valley.

May their bravery reignite our hope.

May their journey give us revelation.

May they survive the depths.