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“Grunkle Ford, Grunkle Ford, look at this!”
Dipper waved frantically, water swirling around his hand. He was peeking through a crack in the metal hull of the sunken ship, eyes wide and bright in the way that meant he’d found something brand new. Ford swam over, squinting through the crack. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dark before he could see the strange and extensive metal contraption inside the ship.
“What do you think it is?” Dipper asked, voice awed. He’d pushed back from the ship to allow Ford room to see, powder blue tail waving slowly back and forth as he floated above him.
“It’s an engine,” Ford said. “It makes the boat move with steam, instead of wind. I saw models and prototypes for it while I was on land, but I’ve never seen one inside a full size ship before.” He turned to Dipper with a grin. “Want a closer look?”
*
The crack was too narrow and too edged with sharp metal for even Dipper to fit through, let alone Ford, so they circled around to the top of the ship and found a doorway down into the bowels of the ship. It took them the better part of an hour to find their way to the engine room, between navigating the maze of human corridors and Dipper darting off every five minutes to beg Ford to explain the books or the trunks of clothes or the glasses or some other marvel of the human world. Within the engine room itself, Ford could barely get a word in between Dipper’s frantic questions to answer them. Eventually, exasperated, he lightly smacked the back of his nephew’s head.
“If you want me to explain, you have to let me talk.”
“Sorry, sorry,” Dipper said, still giddy, bubbles swirling around his head. He squeezed his lips shut between his fingers to signify silence. “I’m listening, Grunkle Ford, please tell me how it works.”
*
“…and it makes the water really, really hot. You know those underwater vents your parents always tell you to stay away from? Like that, except up above the surface, it doesn’t just stay boiling hot water. It turns the water into steam, which is like water and air at the same time, and the pressure makes this part move.”
Dipper was listening with rapt attention, upside down looking into the broken engine, hands careful of the sharp edges of the torn metal. His tail waved slowly back and forth, catching the streaks of light that reached through the holes in the ship.
“There are so many amazing things on the surface,” he sighed. “I wish I could see it.”
There was an odd pause. When he looked up, Grunkle Ford had a thoughtful look on his face.
“I could take you, you know,” he said. “We could go explore the surface together. I’ve always wanted an apprentice.”
*
They surfaced in the dead of night, when the beach was empty and the houses up past the dunes were dark. Grunkle Ford had to help Dipper up onto shaky, knock-kneed legs that seemed to slip out from under him in every direction. Dipper’s eyes were wide as clam shells as he looked around the surface world.
“Where do we go first?” he asked, eager. Grunkle Ford grinned and tossed him an oilcloth sack with pants and a shirt folded inside.
“First you put on clothes,” he said. “Then, I have a friend up here I’d like you to meet.” He nodded in the direction of the city, further inland, gleaming through the night with lights still on no matter the hour. In the midst of the skyline rose a pyramid, suffused yellow and shining. “He’s taught me a great deal about the human world. I’m certain that you’ll get along.”