I am one of a group of people living aboard a recimed and repurposed offshore oil ptform. I first arrived as part of an operation to rescue several workers who had gotten left behind on accident when the company pulled out. I still can’t say why I stayed after sending them home.

  We’re an eclectic lot here, although some of us are stranger than others. Two of the ptforms residents are covered in grey fur and possess catlike ears and tails. They didn’t look like that before living here. I’m embarrassed at how often I get them mixed up. I really have no excuse with how distinctive the markings and patterns on their fur are. Then again, I’ve always been bad with names and faces, whether or not those faces are furry.

  There’s a woman here with dark braided hair dressed as an Old West gunslinger, complete with hat, duster, and bandolier. No guns in her empty holsters though. I still haven’t figured out what her deal is and no one seems sure how she even got here, but rumor has it she’s got business with the thing beneath the ptform. Rumor has it that finding that thing at the bottom of the well was the reason the company pulled out.

  There’s a litter of puppies that were born aboard the ptform. Their mother is a golden retriever that was smuggled out here via illicit-but-mundane means back when the ptform was still drilling under the company’s direction. We all try not to think about the fact that there were no other dogs on the ptform before the pups were born or the fact that they all look a bit… strange. The closest we come to acknowledging it are the occasional jokes about “immacute canine conception” and “puppy Jesus.” More often than not, it falls to me to take the pups for walks. They’re a rambunctious lot and I often wish someone else would take over the duty for once, but I’m proud to say none of them have fallen overboard on my watch. Even if they have an inordinate love for scurrying about the ptform’s underbelly of support struts.

  Those very support struts are the basis for our self-sufficiency out here. Beneath the surface of the water, that vast metal skeleton has become an artificial reef swarming with life. We try not to question the fact that this forest of kelp and coral should not have sprung up so quickly, grateful as we are for the steady supply of fish and edible seaweed. The coral growths in particur should have taken years, maybe even decades, to reach their current size and complexity. They were fully formed within a month of the company pulling out and leaving the ptform to us and the thing beneath.