Plastic Sea — What's Left, Page 24
By Inkroost · Published
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Transcript
Panel 1: On the main deck under patchwork sails, Roka sits wrapped in a blue tarp against a blue barrel. Nane kneels beside him with a water bottle. Nane: 'Small sips.' 'Got a name?' Panel 2: Roka drinks, hollow-eyed. Roka: 'Roka.' Nane pauses. Nane: 'Roka? That's a garden name.' Panel 3: A brass bell rings and Nane turns to go. Roka: 'A what?' Nane: 'Never mind. Don't wander.' Panel 4: Alone against the barrel, Roka stares down at the yellow duck in his hands, numb.
Image description
On the ship's deck Nane gives Roka water and leaves at the bell; alone, Roka stares numbly at the yellow duck.
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.