Dredging Lights Novels & Stories

Glass spiderwebbed across one of the panes. “What’s waking?” Mara demanded. “The reason the light was built,” Alden replied. “It isn’t to guide ships away.” Another impact. Stronger. Below the surface, a shape the size of a small island shifted, its outline illuminated briefly by lightning. A colossal eye opened—pale and luminous in the deep. Mara stumbled back. “That’s not real,” she breathed. “It’s very real,” Alden said. “And it follows the light.” The beacon flared brighter.

The Sunderers were still there, standing at the water’s edge like a forest of jagged statues. ​"They didn't want the ship," Elara said, her voice trembling as she wiped ash from her face. "They wanted the Lead. They’re trying to build something, Kael." ​"The Sterling Depot," Lyra said, pointing to a blinking red light deep in the ruins of the Vancouver hills—a light that shouldn't have been on in a world without power. "That’s not a trade beacon. That’s a Paging Signal." ​Kael looked at the light. It was pulsing in a very specific pattern. Three short, three long, three short.

The sudden, total darkness that enveloped Berth 3 was absolute, broken only by the rhythmic, sweeping white arcs of the Apapa Star’s emergency maritime strobe lights. From the sixty-first floor of the Manhattan tower, the monochrome infrared cameras on Jade’s console translated the chaos into ghost-like shades of pale gray and toxic green. The tactical team below, stripped of their primary auxiliary power and their automated communication relays, looked like panicked ants scattering across a rain-slicked concrete slab.

"The failsafes will trigger a 'Core-Vent' to prevent a meltdown. That’s our window. When the vents open, the logic core is exposed." The approach was a desperate game of timing. The Dredger was surrounded by a cloud of "Silt-Drones" small, nimble units designed to clear debris from the drill’s path. They didn't have weapons, but they were heavy and fast, acting like kamikaze projectiles against anyone who drew near. "I’ll draw the Silt-Drones toward the pier!" Jax shouted, already breaking cover. "You get up there and find a way to choke that radiator!" Jax began firing into the air, his bolts lighting up the grey mist of the shoreline. The drones swarmed toward him, a buzzing cloud of metal

sail in peace. As the Spire began its slow trek toward the Deep Woods, the water around us began to boil. Hundreds of Drowned-Shadows—the fish-men from Aethelgard—began to climb the obsidian hull. They didn't use ladders; they used suction-pads made of living coral, their pale, translucent eyes fixed on the kinetic light of the upper towers. "DEFEND THE HULL!" Félix shouted, launching himself over the railing with his daggers.

"We need to conserve oxygen." In the silence, the sounds of the deep ocean became amplified. They heard the Hull Creak (the groaning sound of the submarine’s metal shell as the immense pressure of the water outside tries to crush it). At this depth, the ocean was pressing against every square inch of the sub with the weight of a skyscraper. "Kazimir, the lights," Elara commanded. A sharp snap followed by a hiss signaled the activation of a Chemlight (a plastic tube containing chemicals that, when mixed by cracking the tube, produce a temporary glow without using electricity). A ghostly green light filled the cabin, casting long, dancing shadows against the walls.

frequencies from the lining of my throat with the cold efficiency of a wire brush. The cooling tunnel was five feet wide, a concrete tube running deep beneath the foundation of the ridge, slaved to the main intake valves of the shipping channel. The water wasn't dark; it was illuminated from within by the long, pulsing ribbons of the fiber-optic trunk lines that lined the floor. They glowed a fierce, unstable violet, the light refracting through the churning silt until my arms looked like pixelated gray shadows cutting through a basin of boiled ink.

He waved his hand, adding power to the blinding light. The blinding light pushed Xurden more, which ended up sinking into the sand. He wanted to attack the king, but he could longer feel a small ounce of his power. The force created by the blighting light sent the sand to fly away around him like hurricane. Through the pallors of sand, the impact sucked up the birds flying nearby. Their cries raised a shrill chorus above the deafening sound of the drilling blinding light. With one last push of the blinding light, Xurden turned pale. The hurricanes stopped as the blinding light disappeared.

The building's silhouettes suddenly became the dark night sky and the lights from their windows suddenly were twinkling. "Isn't that beautiful?" I asked when I saw a broken stoplight, the red light was blinking and the green and yellow once didn't seem to work. I thought it was aesthetically pleasing, under the gloom of the night, along the empty streets and silently passing cars. The slow blinking of that stop light seemed to harmonize with the quietness of the evening. I looked at Edgar and he was frowning at the stop light. "Pretty much could cause traffic, goodness, that should be fixed," he said and I rolled my eyes at him.

Eli muttered from behind. “Yeah,” I breathed, staring down at it as it shimmered. It was made from the rarest green diamond. Matching the color of her eyes. Hopefully she thinks the same. ———————— Early the next morning, we set out to work. The crew had been working through the night, stringing up lights along the stretch of ocean. Lanterns swayed gently in the salty breeze, casting soft glows across the sand. There was a long flower path, creating a breathtaking aisle that led to a small, beautifully decorated arch overlooking the ocean.