Shaking the rod, she felt the hook catch on something. A quick yank pulled a little bar out of the water, dark and blue.

"A tweet! Hell yes..."

Usually it took quite a while before she could pull something that wasn't botslop. Black Xsludge covered the sea, diluting what was worth catching.

The gentle rolling waves of the top layer (dubbed the TL) were not so dangerous. Even an upstart like her could sail out safely and cast her rod into the sea beneath. She rowed until the dock became a speck on the horizon, flinging her hook out onto the waters.

"You'd better get goin'," he said, "Unless you wanna let the new kid get all the good stuff."

She nodded to him, a slight tilt of the head. "I'm the best there is around here, best gear or not. I'll be fine."

Thus, she pushed off from the dock with a large oar, buoyed by the blood of a dead site.

"Whaaat? Couldn't save it?"

"Nah." He shook his head sadly. "Gymeek's been pulling strings. Whole lot of 'em colluding to boost new dredgers."

She twirled a lock of hair around her index finger, trying not to grind her teeth. "They're expanding their bloc over here too?"

The shaft, reaching down below the surface of the ocean, served to allow the elevator to stop precisely at sea level. Xee stepped out of the metal platform as a man pointed her to a sloop at the end of the platform.

"Number six, today," he said, "someone took the usual before you got here."

Thankfully for her, a small dock awaited below, a sturdy construction of wood and metal that more resembled a massive raft than anything like a permanent construction. Fishing vessels of small size could find rest here, a dozen or so people coming or going on their daily voyage.

After clearing the threshold beyond which the floating island fell away, there was nothing but the big Bluesky surrounding her. The air up here was cold when it crashed into her as a constant gale, trying to throw her out of the lift. Far below, a dark bubbling ocean of tweets stretched to infinity.

"Just send me down, Unk. I've got a good feeling about today!"

"Whatever," he said, "hit tweet."

"Hit tweet!" she echoed, the old work elevator creaking as it descended out of view. Four sturdy metal poles kept the elevator in place, a great wind blustering against her coat.

"When's the last time you dredged up something better than a hundred likes?"

Her eyes turned away from him, his words digging a knuckle into her shoulder.

"Uuuuu... there was that blogpost about some YouTuber."

"That was six months ago, and it was only worth a day or two."

"Do you really need to go down there every day?" he asked.

She rolled her shoulders, trying to work out the kinks in her muscles. "The bills don't pay themselves. Plus, today could be my lucky day. I'm one post away from going viral!"

He rolled his eyes. Always dreaming, her head in the clouds...

Unk, the strangely named gate guard, stood by the elevator, clad in his familiar dark Kevlar vest and accompanying black fabrics. Covered from head to toe, he was incognito compared to conventional users. As boring and unassuming as he was, only small talk broke the tedium of his work every day.

Xee was a woman of rather short stature, covered in bandages and torn bits of gauze. Unassuming brown hair and black irises camouflaged her amongst the flashier and more noticeable denizens of the world below. Her arms slipped through the straps of a rugged backpack over a thick overcoat.

I repeat the prayer as it was taught to me:
"Oh algorithm,"

-Roblox
-Darkwood
-Faster Than Light
-Istrolid
-Minecraft
-Terraria
-Writing
-Terrariums
-Anime
-DnD
-Game Design
-XCOM 2
-For The King (1 and 2)
-SCP: Secret Laboratory

"...May those who think alike find refuge under common banner."

Like most things, the blue sky was born from hubris. Both from the man who cursed its name, the polluted words burying the little bird under ash and dust... and the woman who sought to surpass him. This story is about neither of them.

"Goin' down, Xee?"

"Yup," she said, "Ground trip."

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