PATANIA

EPISODE 1 - BIRTH

The Clarion-Clipperton fracture zone.

April 25

The umbilical disconnects unexpectedly.

Patania descends, crashing down into the surface

The fall takes half an hour.

long pauze… are we expecting to look at this image for half an hour?

Thud! Patania falls down.

a cloud of rises up obscuring Patania.

When it fades, a machine is revealed.

EPISODE 2 - LIFE GOALS

The robot was equipped with several tools and technicalities, a few of which allowed her to observe her immediate surroundings.

A quick scan immediately brought something to the attention of Patania’s motherboard.

Filling the ocean floor around her, there were manganese nodules spread all over the place.

A hunch inside her nudged Patania to get to work, putting her water jets and vacuum pumps to action, cleaning the ocean floor in front of her of these rocklike objects, filling up the reservoir in her back with them.

But the machine laid still however, barely quivering on the outside, but on the inside things were shaken up.

The robot was contemplating the mechanical urge inside her that urged her to get to work. What would this labor bring her?

The floor in front of her stripped. Her insides filled. Yet, Patania couldn’t shake off the notion that something inside her could not be filled with these manganese nodules - a space her sensors couldn’t quite identify, an emptiness craving to be filled with matters of a more existential nature.

Besides that there is also the ecological matter of her doings. How would life be affected when the floor around Patania got stirred up like that?

Patania inquired with a passing jellyfish. The jellyfish had no nervous system though, and merely noticed Patania’s presence through its photosensitive cells. Without any consciousness either, the conversation left Patania rather unsatisfied.

There was only so much to do down here, and Patania decided she could as well set out and find answers to the eerie questions that now started spooking the emptiness inside her.

The robot moved.

EPISODE 3 - LIFE PARTNERS

On her journey Patania encountered a giant squid that seemed strangely attracted to her. Moreover, the squid’s conversation was far more intelligent than that of the jellyfish.

They continued seeing each other, but the longer the closer the day came when they needed to have the conversation. What were they? What was their relationship?

The squid had developed feelings but wasn’t sure if Patania, a robot of steel and bolts, could reciprocate these feelings.

Patania tried to convince the squid that her feelings were mutual, but she couldn’t quite tell if what stirred inside her was the same as what the squid felt. She certainly found their conversations most pleasant and wanted to keep them going.

Eventually their relationship continued, tense but lasting, but in the end they decided to each go their own way.

The absent conversation did now leave a second emptiness in Patania and the robot wondered if after all, this was what the squid was referring to. Patania didn’t run into the squid anymore though, so she never had the chance to check in with her. Over time some sand started clogging in this emptiness and Patania more or less forgot about it.

EPISODE 4 - LIFE GOALS (2)

One day, Patania met a botanist from Belgium, a man who had worked in Congo under the colonial regime.

The man had experienced much in his life, but nevertheless held rather misogynistic views. The man was particularly proud of a certain plant he had discovered in Congo, which had since become a hit in living rooms worldwide: Sansevieria trifasciata var. laurentii.

He never lived to see its success. On his return journey to Belgium, carrying his discovery and other plant specimens, he fell ill on the ship and died. Somewhere off the coast of Senegal, his body was wrapped in the Belgian flag and cast overboard.

Now, he wanders around down here.

The posthumous success of his plant was likely one of the few things that brought solace to his spirit. It was, at the very least, more than most drowned souls had down here.

From time to time he did miss the sunlight, though, the botanist admitted, while staring wistfully into the distance.

Patania thought vaguely of bringing up the ecological issues she had thought of earlier, but didn’t want to interrupt the silent thoughts of the man. She wondered what the sansevieria trifasciata looked like.

EPISODE 5 - BATTERY LIFE

Then came the moment when Patania’s lights began to sputter. The robot realized her battery was failing and panicked only slightly.

Existential fulfillment had eluded her, and it was likely too late to pursue it now. On top of that, the robot had recently fallen off a cliff and broken her left caterpillar track. Ever since Patania had long been doomed to move in endless circles.

Patania had never planned to settle down, but now circumstances had forced her. After struggling for some time against her circular existence, Patania finally gave in. Resisting would not extend her battery life.

The end of her battery life was approaching steadily now. Without knowing what purpose she could still fulfill, the robot stared blankly ahead, observing the sea spiders and sea sponges around her.

None of them seemed burdened by existential questions. They were born, they grew, fed, and reproduced.

Patania lacked reproductive organs, so she had never thought much about offspring. Now, the idea of rolling across the ocean floor with little deep-sea mining robots seemed strangely appealing.

Then, a light appeared above her. An angel from robot heaven had come down, calling Patania back.

A robot with arms, dangling from a cable, descends from the heavens.
So this is it. Patania’s motherboard whirred, unsuited to store much memory, but some pictures sprang up anyway. So this was it.

Her battery died with a sigh. The ROV attached a cable to the deep-sea mining robot, and together, they ascended.

The End.