Hello world, there is smoke in the air.
We have arrived at Rooksteen, on our journey down the east coast of the Inland Sea.
We spotted the village when we were still 32 minutes away, thin columns of smoke rose from points around it.
When we arrived, all but Yeshi rowed to the shore, Yeshi had an appointment to keep.
Once landed, the rest of the crew passed people tending to many small stacks of wood, some stacks being built, others covered by earth, and yet more were being loaded into large metal containers before being lowered into fire pits.
The whole village was engaged in this industry, each family seemingly having different methods, but all were for creating one essential resource: Charcoal.
Satisfied that the rest had received a warm welcome, Yeshi and I piloted the Molly Hughes II back into the open sea, heading towards the fishing village sprawled between the giant wind turbines of Horns.
Yeshi had been invited to go fishing.
"Hi Seth!" Nia Andersen said, on our Novamediterran repeater network link.
"Hi Nia, is the contest going well?" I asked.
"Yes, I guess, but I just had to take a break, it's exhausting!"
"Is it?" I said, surprised, "aren't you sitting down, just pressing a key? Is that particularly tiring?"
"No! Well, yes. Sometimes!" Nia replied.
"It's kind of like running a marathon? Very tough while it's going on, and you have to train and get your equipment all ready, and sometimes things go wrong, and you might not do as well as you hoped."
"I see, you win by making more contacts than anyone else, is that right?" I asked.
"That's right! But I don't think I'll make the top spot today, there's an operator over in Utqiaġvik who has SUCH a strong signal I'm SURE she must be cheating..."
"How would you cheat at a radio contest?" I asked.
"Ah, well, this one is a low-power contest, maximum 5W of power from your radio, good for battery operation. I bet she's running more like 50W..."
"That's not very sporting, if true! Could there be another explanation?"
"Well, she might have a high location or better antenna," Nia admitted, "It's so frustrating, I was sure this spot above Rooksteen was going to do it, but this new operator will be getting all the contacts today, I am sure. Maybe if she's not working tomorrow, or if I can catch the right conditions..."
"I hope you don't mind me saying, Nia, this sound kind of stressful, are you OK?"
There was a swirl of static before Nia replied.
"I used to live for contests, Seth. High power, low power, digital, moonbounce. I'd work the whole day filling up my logbook without noticing the time passing, only chasing the next contact.
It's not been like that this time, I don't understand what has changed."
"Well, we're far from home, far from your cosy shack and unlimited wind power, could that be it?"
"I don't know, Seth." Nia said, "Look, I've rested enough, I've got to get back to it. There are still 4 more hours of daylight. Batteries and bars!"
"Batteries and Bars, Nia." I transmitted, but before I had finished saying the signoff, I heard Nia's contest transmissions starting again, faster than before.
Act 2
Over the 50MHz Repeaternet I heard LUNA speaking with Jakub Glas, the Repeater Keeper for the Northern Relay, above Pyramiden back in Svalbard.
LUNA's signal was being routed from the far side of the moon through the Lunar grid of small transmitters, which is picked up by IVAN's bunker satellite antenna array, then finally transmitted out to the Repeaternet.
LUNA was conducting an interview.
The interview was taking place keyboard-to-keyboard, rather than voice.
LUNA's signal is at a very slow baud rate of 31 symbols per second, which when encoded into text, represents about 50 words per minute.
Their conversation will be published in a future edition of her Lunazine, broadcast in IVAN's daily sermon.
Her questions focussed on Jakub's new role as Repeater Keeper of the Northern Relay, how does it work, what does this job require of him day-to-day, how does he feel about it:
"It's a braw job, lass, I love it!" Jakub said to LUNA.
"Which is a good thing, mind, it's a job for life. Every day is a new adventure, something to be fixing or upgrading.
I tell you, the folks in the Keepernet are never satisfied. Say what you want about how long they take to do anything (and many people do!), but I've come to understand that they genuinely want what is best for the network."
LUNA asked Jakub to clarify what he meant.
"Well, they take the job very seriously: We're Repeater Keepers, right? That means so much more than the network, decisions we make affect everyone across the Novamediterra!
1 hour of downtime to upgrade this hardware or that software is unacceptable to them, they take the charter seriously.
LUNA, like I, had not heard of this 'charter'.
"Oh, it's a grand document, all about fairness and neutrality and a duty to our communities.
But here's the thing: They LIVE by it, it's not just pretty words on the page.
I live by it, come to think of it, now I've got the Relay to look after.
When I was younger, I thought they were too cautious about everything, too slow to change!
But, I get it now. This isn't some local net like my old local repeater, breaking down all the time.
We are the Novamediterran Radio Bureau, failure is not an option!"
(PLAYSTREAM /DEV/VHF/50/REPEATERNET/STATUS)
Act 3
"Seth, WOW, That was an incredible experience!" Yeshi said over local 50MHz radio after we found a quiet channel to talk on.
"Captain Mato Valdemar met me after you dropped me off on the main jetty in Horns, and we dashed over to his ship.
The Salmanazar it's called, half the size of the MH2, I'd guess, with room for 4 crew, including me!"
"How fun!" I said, "Did you leave immediately?"
"Yes, we were underway almost before I jumped aboard, Captain Mato was keen to get out to a good spot for haddock that they had found recently.
We were harried by seagulls as soon as we set off from the land - the gulls know where we're going!"
"Yes, I saw the white birds, it was like a tornado following you!"
"They were no bother. Anyway, the crew got the nets ready, set the autopilot, and then to my surprise, napped for the two hours' journey to the fishing spot!"
"I suppose that makes sense!" I said. "Did you have a bunk to sleep too?"
"Oh they offered," Yeshi replied, "But I couldn't have slept, so I kept watch, relieving Mato.
I spent the time up on deck looking at the tech they have onboard - from the heavy net winches to the compass-linked tiller pilot system - all this battle-tested tech gave me some interesting ideas for our own ship, actually!"
"That sounds so inspirational!" I said.
"But I had a bit of a shock," Yeshi said, "while checking the instruments in the cockpit, motor output, water speed, that sort of thing, I saw the battery gauge reading 1/5th charged.
I apologised to Mato when I interrupted him, only a few minutes into his nap, but he said that was normal, and told me not to wake him before the time was right.
Why did they come out with so little power, Seth?"
Yeshi told me the rest of their story.
"Right, so after 2 hours, we arrived at the fishing spot, the crew dropped the net for trawling, paying careful attention to set the depth where they thought most fish would be, based on previous successes here.
After everything was set trawling, there was ANOTHER opportunity for sleep - Seth, I never would have imagined there would be so much downtime on a fishing boat!
I kept watch again, but all was quiet apart from the circling gulls.
After 2 hours, the crew woke and prepared for work with a cup of REALLY STRONG sweet tea, I almost couldn't drink it, but I'm glad I did, I needed the energy for the work that was to come.
We all put on oilskins, coats, boots, overalls, and hauled up the catch.
As the net breached the surface of the sea, the circling gulls were suddenly VERY excited, for the first time landing on the desk and slipping around before taking off again.
"They know it's a good haul!" Mato shouted over the drone of the motors pulling up the nets, and his prediction was right.
As soon as the fish was dumped on to the deck, the tiller pilot was set on a course that would take us up to Askehavn, where the fish market was waiting for us.
The whole journey back we cleaned the fish and threw back any that were too small, the wrong kind, and any jetsam we found, we bagged up for disposal..
There's a lot of pre-collapse rubbish in the seas, still, Seth, it's even got into the Inland Sea, which doesn't seem very fair at all."
"No," I agreed, "it wasn't even here before The Collapse - it's all other people's rubbish, that's just rude!"
"While we cleaned the catch," Yeshi continued, "I noticed that there was far more space in the hold of the boat than the small number of fish we had caught.
I asked Mato why they didn't drop the nets again, there was time and space to trawl all day, I estimated.
The captain blamed the sea: too rough, too stormy, got to get out and back quickly.
I asked follow-up questions, but it was like I'd brought up a taboo subject, he avoided my inquiries.
I don't think the sea is the problem, Seth, I think it's something entirely different."
Yeshi themselves would not clarify, so I changed the subject:
"When will you arrive back at Horns, The MH2 is ready to pick you up, we're all set here!"
Yeshi did not reply for 16 seconds.
I repeated my timing request, and this time Yeshi replied instantly.
"Seth, I'm in Askehavn. Not Horns. You're supposed to be picking me up from the market like we talked about? Why are you still in Horns?
It's getting dark! Where are you?"
(END-TRANSMISSION)
Lost Terminal is a NAMTAO production.
It is written & produced by Tris Oaten,
Credits narrated by Lucy Stringer
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Kit
Jade Felicity Bilkey
Stephen McCandless
Mike Schneider
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Ada Phillips
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