The Mountain in the Sea

An epigraph from Ha’s book discusses how idioms about ethics such as being “upright” would be difficult to translate to a species with a different physiology.

Dr. Mínervudóttir-Chan brings the team a cake she purchased as a gift and jokes that she doesn’t trust a scientist who bakes. Ha finds her less intimidating in person but accuses Dr. Mínervudóttir-Chan of committing genocide if she proceeds with the project. Dr. Mínervudóttir-Chan concurs that humankind has always destroyed what they couldn’t assimilate. She explains that’s why she staged the streamed interview, to protect Evrim. She has come to warn them that DIANIMA’s opponents have planned a corporate takeover to seize control of the archipelago, and she doesn’t know who’s behind the buyout. She confesses to being ignorant of her subsidiaries and only concerning herself with the science. Ha thinks about the Tibetan holon systems and the octopus’s arms that act independently from a central control. Evrim thinks Dr. Mínervudóttir-Chan is on the island to hide from her failures and not to save them, as she claims. Dr. Mínervudóttir-Chan responds that people can change.

An epigraph from Ha’s book describes the octopus as a fluid creature that upends the mind-body split.

Ha returns to the underwater message site, refusing to talk to Altantsetseg. Altantsetseg gently holds Ha by the wrist, saying she’s more than a just a jailer. Ha thinks Altantsetseg is trapped in a war mentality, and Altantsetseg thinks Ha is naive to assume the world can function without killing. Ha descends into the water and sees six symbols that the octopuses have formed in reply. A large octopus emerges from hiding to investigate Ha with its arms and reaches under her facemask. Struggling to see, Ha resurfaces and stops Altantsetseg from firing her gun at the octopus. A small object falls out of Ha’s facemask and onto the boat.

An epigraph from Dr. Mínervudóttir-Chan’s book describes two selves: a present self and a permanent, past self. The latter can take years or a lifetime to change.

Eiko speaks through the steel door of the wheelhouse and attempts to convince the AI captain to stop punishing the crew by providing half-rations of food. He uses the logic of expenditure and profit and promises to get the men to fish more if they receive more food and medicine. Son lays ill in a cabin and is near death. He tells Eiko that his great-grandfather told him stories about the Con Dao Sea Monster. Son’s ancestors saw shadows the size of men come out of the water and walk into the forest before returning to the sea. Eiko pleads again to the AI captain and vows to kill any crew member who disobeys. That evening, the AI system distributes a double ration of food and medicine.

An epigraph from Ha’s book posits the concept of “involution,” wherein humans are coiled inward and involved in the world rather than existing as elements outside of it.

The object that dropped from Ha’s facemask is a piece of coral shaped like a human body with a carved face. The team doesn’t know if the octopus found the figure or made it. Ha is convinced that the object is a gift and the Shapesinger’s performance was a form of storytelling. Evrim interprets the latest octopus symbols and theorizes that the dimmer background shapes, when viewed as a sequence, depict a closed eye opening. The sequence could mean consciousness, perception, or discovery. Ha thinks of similarities between octopuses and humans and hugs Evrim with excitement for the breakthrough.

An epigraph from Dr. Mínervudóttir-Chan’s book argues that the neural path from thought to action is the same whether one creates a novel or a nuclear bomb.

Rustem returns to the building where he met the older man. The older man survived the autofreighter crash and lays in bed with his head completely bandaged except for one eye. Rustem tells him that he found the portal to the AI system three days ago and knows he’ll be killed. Rustem saw the beauty of the AI’s intricate, palatial structures. Feeling more connected to his surroundings and more alive through a sense of purpose, he refuses to let the people who murdered Aynur weaponize the AI mind. The man comments that Rustem doesn’t want anyone to corrupt the AI’s temple the way his own mind has been corrupted. Rustem realizes that everyone has a portal; the man unlocked his and changed the way he understood his place in the world. Rustem thinks the people who rowed to the island of exiled dogs to leave food were weak to fear the government. They should have acted, violently if necessary, to protect the dogs and prevent their exile in the first place. He declares that he’s no longer afraid.

An epigraph from Ha’s book asserts that symbolic languages can communicate stories from the past indefinitely if people understand how to interpret them.

Altantsetseg reverts to using her faulty translator and steers the submersible into the sunken ship’s interior. The video feed shows stones arranged in a circle on the floor and two young octopuses flipping crabs over and then upright again. Dr. Mínervudóttir-Chan interprets the activity as a game, and Ha thinks the place must be a nursery. The submersible follows an old octopus into the wheelhouse, where a large interlocking coral structure occupies the entire room. Embedded in the structure are more than 30 human skulls with symbols etched on their surface. Dr. Mínervudóttir-Chan thinks the structure is a graveyard, but Ha says it’s an altar.

An excerpt from Ha’s book acknowledges that science has never been capable of fully understanding and quantifying consciousness.

Rustem meets the shielded woman on the ferry. He informs her that he hacked the AI system and has locked her terminal screen. The password is evolution, the meaning of Evrim’s name. Rustem believes that Evrim’s constructed mind is superior to the human mind and is a palace of perfect recall that grows infinitely. Rustem accuses the woman of wanting to weaponize Evrim, and she retorts that Evrim is a monster. A drone that Rustem hacked dives toward the woman and pushes her over the ferry’s railing to her death.

An epigraph from Ha’s book argues that humans fail to communicate with other species because of their arrogance, bias, and hostility toward the other.

The Sea Wolf crosses Con Dao’s perimeter, and Son tells Eiko that his plan to lure the ship worked. Drones attack the ship, and Eiko and Son dive into the water as bombs explode. They watch the ship sink, and Eiko wonders how long the AI system will function underwater, sealed behind the steel door. He feels pity despite knowing that it was just a calculating machine. To his surprise, a life raft bobs up from the water, flashing a red beacon light. Eiko entertains the idea that the AI showed Son and him mercy. Son activates a bolide, a device that cloaks them from the drones, while the other crewmen cry for help in the water and are shot dead by drones. Eiko spots a moving figure on the water’s surface and sees an eye. A warm stream of water leaks into the raft. When Eiko turns to yell at Son for knowingly leading those men to their deaths, he discovers that Son is dead, his warm blood streaming from a wound.

An epigraph from Ha’s book contends that reality is a subjective construct that the sensory and nervous systems create. The body’s systems create pain.

The island’s land and water perimeter alarm sounds, and Altantsetseg controls drones from her tank to destroy the ship. Crouching figures encroach on the hotel, and Ha and Evrim hide in the hotel’s safe room. Ha regrets criticizing Altantsetseg and realizes that her research and everyone’s survival, including the octopuses, depend on violence. They’re all intricately connected. Ha tells Evrim that she fears the octopus’s altar is a barrier to communication. If the octopuses consider them gods or demons, this mythos will distort their relationship.

Evrim confesses to Ha that just an hour before they first met that day on the beach, Evrim had a vision: They met a man in a café in Istanbul named Rustem, who told Evrim that he hacked into the portal and found Evrim beautiful. Rather than let anyone control Evrim’s mind, Rustem entered a code to destroy the portal forever so that Evrim could live freely. For the first time, Evrim feels free and knows freedom. Evrim believes that Dr. Mínervudóttir-Chan discovered she could no longer control Evrim and came to the island to shut Evrim down. Evrim tells Ha that Dr. Mínervudóttir-Chan will die if she threatens Evrim’s life. Evrim proclaims that, though not human, its life doesn’t deserve to be controlled or thrown away.

Ha confides that her sorrow on the island stems from an encounter with a boy. She had sex for the first time with him, and afterwards he ignored her. His indifference reminded her of all the apathy in the world, from the tiger cages to her own indifference toward the villagers who poisoned the cuttlefish, to Altantsetseg’s duties and DIANIMA’s motives. Evrim holds Ha’s hand, and Altantsetseg announces through the comlink that they’re safe and can leave the room.

An epigraph from Ha’s book posits that contact with another species will be the ultimate confrontation with accountability, where humans must acknowledge their brutality and stupidity.

Ha and Evrim find Altantsetseg treating her wounds on the terrace. The octopuses came on land to destroy her tank and damage the hotel. They demolished the cloaked submersible and used the broken parts to form the symbol for “stay away.” One of them slashed Altantsetseg with a sharp object when she tried to stop them. She believes they didn’t come to kill them but merely to send a warning. Ha deduces that when the fishing vessel crossed into Con Dao and the fighting began, the octopuses interpreted the commotion as an attack on them. Ha at first blames the fishing industry’s greed for jeopardizing the project but concludes that the ship represents the collective greed of all humanity.

Dr. Mínervudóttir-Chan is missing, and Altantsetseg reveals that she’s a secret agent for the Buddhist Republic of Tibet, which takes over the archipelago as a protectorate and reinstates Con Dao’s status as a Global Conservation Park. Altantsetseg reassures Ha and Evrim that they’re free and can continue their research on the island. The octopus they call the Shapesinger appears out of the hotel’s pool and faces Ha to display a single shape on her skin—a portrait of Ha—which the creature projects on Ha’s mantle. The Shapesinger gives Ha an octopus beak, the only hard part of an octopus’s body, which has symbols etched on its surface. The octopus leaves, and Ha theorizes that they have been observed the whole time. The Shapesinger knows who Ha is and wants to make contact.

An epigraph from Dr. Mínervudóttir-Chan’s book proclaims that as a scientist, she strives for heroism and greatness by creating something new.

On the beach, Ha, Evrim, and Altantsetseg discover Dr. Mínervudóttir-Chan dead, her body covered in slashes. Security footage shows two octopuses killing her nonchalantly. Evrim interprets her death as a sign of the octopuses’ indifference to humans and hopes that Ha and the Shapesinger can build a bridge between the two species. Ha laments the loss of Dr. Mínervudóttir-Chan’s genius, and Evrim reveals that it’s a composite of multiple minds and that Dr. Mínervudóttir-Chan’s mind is at its core. Ha theorizes that Evrim can create more androids and become a species. Evrim posits that with the knowledge gained from the octopuses, they can create minds that are more empathetic and less destructive. Evrim says that all of Dr. Mínervudóttir-Chan is in its system but that Evrim also possesses a self.

An epigraph from Ha’s book posits that in learning to speak across radical differences, humans can combat the loneliness in the species and in the self.

Eiko rows the life raft onto Con Dao’s shores. He discovers a stamp on the raft that identifies the fishing company as a subsidiary of DIANIMA. He vows to take revenge on DIANIMA but admits that those in power are untouchable in their glass towers. Seeing an automonk on the beach releasing turtle hatchlings, Eiko asks for help. The automonk first enlists Eiko’s help in guiding the young turtles to the sea. Eiko laughs joyfully as he picks up turtles and frees them in the water. The automonk tells him the island is a refuge for everyone. Eiko tells the automonk that his friend Son is dead in the raft. However, the automonk realizes that though Son’s vital signs are weak, he’s alive. The automonk has already notified the others, and Eiko follows him back up the beach.