Plastic Sea (IT) — What's Left, Page 29
By Inkroost · Published
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Transcript
Riquadro 1: Roka è inginocchiato davanti alla custodia e cerca di aprire il fermo con la sua forchetta piegata. Roka: «Forza.» «Sii un gioiello. Sii qualunque cosa.» Riquadro 2: Il coperchio si apre rivelando schede elettroniche aggrovigliate, chip, fili, tubi di vetro e una sfera di vetro incrinata, tutti ricoperti di polvere argentata scintillante. Roka: «Cianfrusaglie.» «Belle cianfrusaglie.» Riquadro 3: Spinge la mano destra a fondo nella polvere. Roka: «Forse sotto...»
Image description
Roka fa leva per aprire la custodia, trova schede elettroniche spolverate di polvere argentata e ci affonda la mano.
About this chapter
In the dark at the bottom of the sea, something is counting. On Candyreef, a candy-coloured island of floating trash, Roka wakes to a water bag in the face from his street crew, lifts breakfast from the old woman who would have fed him anyway, and tells the kid who follows him that he doesn't owe anybody. Then the gulls lift all at once, and a Maw eats half the island. A day and a night alone at sea later, the Garden Ship fishes him out and orders him to walk its treadwheels for fish heads. Roka is nobody's slave, so he goes looking for something to steal instead, and breaks into a barnacled case dredged from the seabed. The silver dust inside climbs into his arm and says hello. It is polite. It is curious. It wants every human dead. And it has just started counting again.