The Long Listening

About this book

The ocean is not silent. It never was. Below the waves' weather, in the deep sound channel where the sea's temperature and pressure conspire to bend sound back into itself, a whisper can cross an entire ocean, and whales have used the corridor for millions of years, and for the last fifty, so has Meridian Station: a weathered mid ocean platform, four crew, one obsolete moored array, and the Sound Log, the longest continuous recording of the planet's voice ever kept. The station is due for automation. One last crewed year, says the program, and then the listening will be done by machines that do not need coffee.