In need of more electricity, humanity has set up generators 3 kilometers below the sea-level, feeding off a deep-sea vulcano. These generators need humans to keep them running, but not everyone is cut out for it, only “pre-adapted” people—those used to broken bodies and chronic stress. These rifters live in Beebe, a capsule chained to the bottom of the sea. They went through operations to be able to breathe sea-water and withstand the pressure.
Most of the story takes place under water. Peter Watts writes from different perspectives, but mostly about Lenie Clarke, one of the rifters. I really like how the sci-fi parts make the rifters adapt to the deep sea, how they get used to being in almost complete darkness, how it subtly changes them. The Smart Gels (organic brain-like computers, also called head cheese) remind me of today’s LLMs: Nobody trusts them, they’re basically black boxes and they don’t understand the first thing about language.
If you like reading deep-sea sci-fi and don’t mind a dark story, give this a read!
