Death Stranding by Nojima Hitori

Author:Nojima, Hitori
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Titan
Published: 2021-02-23T00:00:00+00:00

FRAGILE

Sam couldn’t believe it was a lake.

Even though it had been several hours since the boat had left the port at Port Knot City, he was still having trouble digesting his surprise.

All he could see from the deck of the transport ship crossing Ground Zero was the horizon. This place was an enormous hole bored into ground; a gigantic crack that symbolized the division of America. Sam still couldn’t get his head around the fact that it was now a lake. Nor how it was formed in one fell swoop by the huge explosion that marked the beginning of the Death Stranding. He wondered how many people had been wiped out that day. How much energy had been spent?

All that was left was the vast crack that was etched into this land.

Someone had once called it a sea.

Bridget had talked about it a long time ago. (Hey, that was me.)

This land embraced a sea at its center. The dead crossed from the depths of the sea to the Beach and became stranded. This land and this country connected to the world of the dead at their center. (Someone said something about it. They had said that it was a real-life Dirac Sea.)

If the land was surrounded by sea, we could just build breakwaters or something to keep any potential intruders out. But, Sam, this sea is connected to the center of this world. And the Beach that connects to it lies at the center of us. If we’re not careful, we’ll be swallowed up by our own sea. That’s why we can’t protect ourselves with breakwaters. We need to build a bridge to cross this sea, not walls. Do you understand, Sam? Everyone holds on another’s hands so that no one drowns and so that we can rescue those that have.

“We’ll arrive at the west bank tomorrow.”

Fragile had appeared beside Sam. Her black-gloved hands gripped the handrail that ran along the deck.

She was the one who had arranged this ship. All the ships belonging to Port Knot City had been destroyed due to escalating terrorism in the region. The only ships still in service belonged to her company, Fragile Express. The crew was made up of Fragile’s people, but Bridges had promised to provide resources like fuel to get the ship running. Deals were no longer cut using economic principles. Ever since the government had fallen, people were no longer motivated by money.

Money may have connected people as a sort of lingua franca, but it also relied on a collective backbone. Once that had gone, connections reverted back to a more primitive form: people and resources. Things you could see. Things you could touch. That’s how people began to trade again. However, even though primitive forms of trade and economics were taking place, people couldn’t stop being human.

“Snack?”

Fragile offered Sam a cryptobiote. A bug that resembled a rhinoceros beetle larva was squirming between her fingertips. It was just like back in that cave.

Sam sighed and shook his head. Fragile popped the bug into her mouth with a smile.

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