Vladimir Todorov - Archipelago N.Y. - Flynn

Soon, all seats were taken. The cable car crept slowly over Broadway Canal, until it exited the Lower Side and began its slow journey above the vast expanse of water, heading straight toward the Upper Side. Alan Perry looked out of the window and down at what they called Midtown Bay. He tried to remember the last time he had taken that ride… It had been before Flynn was born… He was going there to be paired, as were a number of young bloods who had reached the age of maturity. Alan Perry shook his head, chasing away the memories. He could see the Van Zandt Pipeline below, snaking its way on the surface of the water and disappearing into the distance. They stopped briefly at a midway station to change drivers. With so many passengers on board, the cable car needed a fresh pair of legs to power it across to its final destination. Soon, the Departure car joined a dozen other cable cars. They had all arrived from different parts of the Lower Side and now formed a long line heading for the Van Zandt building.

The Van Zandt building stood alone, towering above the rest. As they got closer, Alan Perry could see the many scaffolding platforms gripping its outer walls: docking bays for the cable cars, outside elevators running up and down on cables, walkways overhanging each other.

The traffic was slowing down now. One by one, the cars were stopping at a large platform suspended some thirty stories above the water, offloading the Departure passengers and moving swiftly away. When Alan Perry’s car docked finally, everybody was ushered onto the platform. It was covered with a thread-bare carpet and cordoned off by fraying red ropes. Alan Perry and his group were immediately surrounded by armed guards. What were they afraid of? As if anyone would dare to escape… or storm the Van Zandt’s headquarters… Or try to steal the ropes, thought Alan Perry and couldn’t help but laugh out loud at the insanity of it all… Luckily, no one heard him.

They were greeted by a pompous looking Government official, standing at the entrance to the building. The man was dressed in a faded suit, a size too small for his great bulk. Everybody stared at him with a mixture of curiosity and dread. “Valued citizens of the Archipelago,” began the man with a big smile, “allow me, on behalf of the Government and Mr. Van Zandt, to welcome you to your Departure Suites! Please follow me inside.”

The Government official turned and walked briskly through the entrance. Alan Perry waited for the rest of his group to make their way in, until it was his turn to step over the threshold of the Van Zandt building… Alan Perry knew they had just entered a very well-appointed prison, and this was his last glimpse of the Archipelago as a free man.

Flynn couldn’t remember the last time he had gone on a solo dive, without the aid of a bell and a Crew Mate… It might have been in the early years, before he had become Ann Baxter’s student. Freediving was all about ease of movement, relaxation and the conserving of energy. It was both exhilarating and calming to be underwater without any support. And Flynn needed to be by himself… He wanted peace and quiet, and with every passing second, this solitary experience was working its magic on him. It helped clear his head, pushing all thoughts away, making him concentrate on the steps he needed to take in order to reach the ocean bed.

The first step had been Flynn’s entry in the water… He had started by floating on the surface, slowing his heart rate to around fifty beats per minute, breathing deep and taking his time. With the last complete breath, he had jackknifed, letting his feet rise up so that their weight could thrust his streamlined body downward. And then, he had begun a series of low frequency, stiff-legged kicks, staying as relaxed as possible… The trick was not to exert yourself, or as Ann Baxter liked to say, ‘trying to sleep your way down to the bottom’. Twenty seconds into the dive, and gliding along nicely, Flynn had already reached a depth of fifty feet. Soon he would have to equalize the water pressure in his ears, gain more momentum in reaching his final destination.

He switched on his flashlight as he approached the submerged city streets beneath him. The place looked undisturbed, and Flynn was sure no one had scavenged it yet. He was swimming in uncharted territory, but inevitably, everything about the site had a familiar feel to it… The piles of mangled vehicles, the twisted poles and cables which had been covered in thick layers of barnacles, seaweed and silt… It was no different from what Flynn had encountered on previous dives. The fact that the ocean bed around the Archipelago was a grave-yard never bothered him much. It didn’t feel sinister or scary to Flynn… Most people would have hated it, but not him… Flynn had always loved this eerie underworld, because it was a direct link to a long forgotten past. Ironically, it had also become a source of sustenance for those who lived in the present.

But now, as he coasted along the rooftops of a submerged row of houses, Flynn was struck by an overwhelming feeling of sadness… Suddenly, there was something strange and unpleasant about the dive. For the first time in his life, he felt like an intruder, disturbing the final resting place of so many lost souls. The place was full of ghosts, Flynn thought as he swam past the top floor of a brick building… And then, lodged between the narrow bars of one of its windows, Flynn saw the well-preserved remains of a child’s toy. He felt his heart stop. He used to have a toy like that. It was a little stuffed animal his father had given him when he was four years old… In a flash, the thought of Alan Perry made Flynn come to his senses. What was he doing down here? Running away from his problems wasn’t going to solve anything! Grabbing hold of one of the bars, Flynn managed to free the toy and tuck it safely in his diving harness. Flynn knew he had to go back and see his father… He had to apologize for what he had said and ask the man for his forgiveness. Kicking hard with his feet, Flynn shot up toward the surface.

Alan Perry had never entered the Van Zandt building before. He was following his guide as they made their way through a labyrinth of long corridors. He stared at the marble columns, the vaulted ceilings and polished wooden floors. There were even real paintings hanging on the walls! They were nothing like the pages torn from old magazines, or the tatty posters and billboards people would decorate their living spaces with… Real art didn’t exist anymore. At least not on the Lower Side… No one had the resources or the time to create art in that way… let alone to put it in a frame!

Walking in a daze, Flynn’s father felt like a child in a magical world that was unfolding slowly before his eyes. But he would be allowed only a brief glimpse of this world… only a week at the end of his life. Then the memories of what he had seen would disappear together with him and everybody on the List. His chest tightened. This week of celebration in the Van Zandt building was all a cruel tease… a perverse game the Government would play with his mind, because they knew that no one would object to it! Suddenly, Alan Perry felt sickened by everything he had been admiring.

“Mr. Perry!” A voice disturbed his thoughts. The guide now stood in front of a heavy wooden door. “This is your Departure Suite, sir.”

The door slid open silently, revealing a long dark hallway.