Chapter Text
Gross, I thought, as I walked down to the pier. I looked over the railing at the turquoise blue water below that had been spoiled by dirty, black, ugly roots twining around the wooden pillars at its base. They had a sickly, iridescent shine in the spring sunlight. I’d been to Coral Island many times as a kid, visiting my grandparents’ farm here. I’d always thought of it being an island paradise. I didn’t remember these slimy, sticky roots and this trash all over the shore.
I’d moved back to Coral Island about two weeks ago. I’d been living in Pokyo, the big city about an hour away. I’d had a bad breakup and a difficult time with a soul-sucking corporate job, so my grandmother gave me her farm on the beautiful tropical island, saying, “I think you need a fresh start, dear.” Everything was going well. Throwing my energy into making things with my hands and coaxing food out of the ground was wonderful. Therapeutic. But the joy I felt being back on Coral Island was spoiled by those roots. They were everywhere. Under the pier, on the rocks, surrounding the trees. They leaked sticky, smelly black oil into the ocean. The beach was almost unusable now.
I’d received a letter from someone named Ling. She asked me to meet her on the dive pier. But I didn’t know who’d want to dive into the polluted, oily ocean now. It was a shame — I’d grown up diving in these waters. But it was just too disgusting.
A small woman in her 50s, with hair tied back in a practical ponytail, was gazing out to sea at the pier. “Hello, you must be Ling," I said.
When she turned to me, her eyes were sad. “And you must be Viv,” she said, extending her hand.
“I am,” I said, shaking it. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“I was just thinking that people have forgotten about the ocean since the oil spill,” Ling mused.
“Is that what’s gone wrong here?” I asked.
“About a year ago, the Pufferfish Drilling Corporation was exploring oil drilling around Coral Island,” she said. “The oil spill they caused did enough environmental damage on its own. But afterwards, these black roots just…appeared all over the island.”
“What are they made of?” I asked. “They look squishy.”
“We tested them,” Ling said. “They’re made out of oil.”
“Ugh,” I shivered.
“I didn’t really introduce myself,” she said with a smile. “I head up the marine science lab here in town. Are you here because of the letter I sent?” “Yes,” I replied. “I was curious.”
“I’ve been working on a major project on the ocean floor. I need you to help me activate it. So I’ll do you a deal. If you activate five of my solar orbs down there, I’ll give you a state-of-the-art dive suit to keep.”
“I wasn’t planning to dive at all here,” I said. “Not with those roots everywhere. I’m afraid I’ll get sick.”
“I was worried you’d say that,” Ling said. “Everyone thinks the ocean is someone else’s problem. Someone else is going to fix it. And then nobody does. But I think you will. I think my project could actually make a difference to the ocean and everyone — uh, everything — that lives in it. But I need someone who will actually help me.”
“And you think that person is me?” I asked. “Why? I’m just a farmer.”
“Nobody’s just a farmer,” Ling said. “Farming is a noble profession. What would we eat if there were no farmers? I can see that you’ve tackled your farm with great enthusiasm, and I wonder what an enthusiastic person could do with this project? Imagine you were the one who saved the ocean.”
“One person can’t save an ocean,” I laughed. “You might be surprised,” Ling said. “But let’s start small. Take my deal of activating five orbs for a dive suit. I heard you visited here as a kid, so I bet you enjoy diving.”
“I do,” I said. “I did it often when I came here to visit my grandparents.”
“Why don’t you give it a try now,” Ling persuaded.
She’d stroked my ego. I imagined that I could be the person to save the ocean. To save Coral Island, To bring back the paradise I loved. The thought was exciting.
“The solar orbs look like this,” she was saying, showing me a small, golden object about six inches long, shaped like a vase. “You’ll need to bring your scythe, because they’ll be buried under mounds of trash. But there’s treasure down there too, if you just take the time to look.”
“Now I’m intrigued,” I said, looking at the orb. “Treasure, huh?”
“You never know what you’ll find in the ocean,” Ling said. “Besides, nothing gets better until one person decides to do something about it. Let’s do this little exchange, and you can tell me what you think.”
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll do it.” Ling handed me the dive suit. “Good luck.”