The Mountain in the Sea

An epigraph from Ha’s book comments that she’s investigating the possibility of not only octopus consciousness but also culture.

Altantsetseg remotely steers a submersible down to the shipwreck site using control gloves. A screen displays the camera’s feed, and Evrim and Ha watch intently for the octopus. Ha feels conflicted about the bodies on the beach and how Evrim and Altantsetseg are untroubled by the killings. She thinks about the refugees evacuated from the archipelago and wonders if DIANIMA could ever compensate for the loss of a home. Ha considers leaving the project, but when the octopus suddenly appears on the screen, she decides to stay. The octopus slows down its passing cloud display, and Ha discerns that the creature is enunciating. The camera pans down to reveal a group of young octopuses and one old one. Ha instructs Altantsetseg to bring the submersible back up in a straight line.

An epigraph from Dr. Mínervudóttir-Chan’s book states that a single neuron isn’t conscious, but a network of billions is.

On the Sea Wolf, the prisoners think of possible ways to escape when the ship reaches a port and they’re locked below deck. After a pirate attack, seven guards remain with the crew of more than 20 captives. Eiko visits his memory place to review the ship’s details and prepare a getaway. He feels the ship begin to turn, and to the crew’s horror, instead of the shore, they see a large factory ship at least 40 times the size of the Sea Wolf. The men weep in terror and despair.

An epigraph from Ha’s book comments that the octopus’s use of tools is more advanced than any other species except for humans.

Evrim and Ha visit the automonks at the turtle sanctuary and observe them caring for the eggs and hatchlings. Evrim tells Ha the story of Hien’s murder and Da Minh’s account of the octopus’s attack. The authorities concluded that Da Minh was innocent and that poachers killed Hien using a razor. Ha thinks back to her youth on Con Dao, when her feelings of immense loneliness and alienation began. As an adult, Ha had friends and socialized, but she always felt that another version of herself was buried underneath. Ha tells Evrim that she believes Da Minh’s version of what happened. She considers it plausible that the octopus used a sharpened shell, a tool usually used for scraping food, as a weapon. She names the creature Octopus habilis to signify its evolution to using tools.

An epigraph from Dr. Mínervudóttir-Chan’s book comments on the irony that progress in AI technology could only be achieved with the help of AI.

In Astrakhan, Rustem is on a date with a young woman named Aynur. At her apartment, he tells her about his work as a hacker and how he has mastered AI neural networks since his childhood. He attributes his talent to his disadvantaged homelife. Growing up without terminals forced Rustem to learn how to create the technology on his own. He cites philosopher Thomas Nagel’s idea that humans can never know what it’s like to be a bat because consciousness is subjective. However, he amends Nagel’s theory: Because he can think in terms of neural networks, he knows what it’s like to be an AI system and can see from that perspective.

Aynur shares her belief in a theory about relationships and the idea of the “point-five” partner. She argues that people want relationships in which they count as a whole person and their partner counts as a half. She demonstrates the theory’s validity by introducing Rustem to Altyn, a point-five female partner that an AI tech firm customized for her. Altyn appears from the oculus of Aynur’s terminal as a translucent simulation. Rustem observes the two women’s genuine interaction and concedes that Altyn satisfies Aynur’s desires in a partner.

An epigraph from Ha’s book wonders if octopuses regard humans as gods, monsters, or nothing at all.

Ha thinks back to Evrim’s emergence in the world and all the Turing tests the android passed. The more that Evrim became indistinguishable from a human, the more society rejected Evrim and created laws to ban androids of this kind. Ha deeply empathizes with Evrim, comparing Evrim to Pinocchio. She concludes that Evrim is the project lead because it was banished and had nowhere else to go. Evrim tells Ha it worries that an intelligent creature like the octopus must view humans as a violent enemy. Ha compares the species to Odysseus, and Evrim concurs that octopuses are “heroes of the sea” (154). Evrim describes the octopus’s killing of Hien as a necessity against a threat, just like Altantsetseg’s destroying the trespassing ships and the human crew. The hotel’s land perimeter alarm sounds, and Ha instructs Altantsetseg and Evrim to wait. She baited the submersible and believes the octopus has come ashore.

An epigraph from Ha’s book states that humankind’s first contact with aliens will happen with a species from the sea.

Ha, Evrim, and Altantsetseg head down to the beach to investigate. Earlier that evening, Ha used seaweed, stones, and wood to form a giant shape on the sand: an inverse of the symbol the octopus displayed earlier. Ha aligned the crescent endpoints and arrow to face toward the hotel. The octopus responded by repeating its previous symbol, with the crescent’s endpoints facing the sea and the center arrow directed at the hotel. Like Ha, the octopus made this shape using materials from the beach but also added artifacts from the shipwreck. In it, Ha makes out diving gear, a speargun, and a human skull. Evrim congratulates Ha on her breakthrough, but Ha senses a foreboding message in the symbol.

An epigraph from Dr. Mínervudóttir-Chan’s book contends that humans fear consciousness in others even though they don’t understand it in themselves.

The Sea Wolf crew board the factory ship for a health inspection. Eiko notices a piece of equipment stamped as property of “AUTOMATED MARINE PROTEIN INDUSTRIES, INC.” (166). The guards beat Son, and Eiko theorizes that the entire enterprise operates on the exploitative economy of calculated profits and losses. The guards feed and beat the men in just the right ratio to keep them alive and working. Eiko hears stories from other crew members on the factory vessel. They tell him about a crew of enslaved men who escaped onto foreign land but were charged with illegal immigration and sent back on board. Another story describes an AI ship that failed to catch any fish and recouped the loss by trapping the crew and guards in the storage freezers instead.

Back on the Sea Wolf, Eiko notices that Son has changed and talks incessantly about the abundance of fat and vulnerable fish in Con Dao. He talks loudly about how easy hunting sharks and turtles must be now that the area has been evacuated. Son no longer seems concerned about protecting wildlife, and Eiko worries about Son’s mental health. Eiko notices that the ship is heading south and realizes that Son has set a trap to lure the Sea Wolf to Con Dao.

An epigraph from Ha’s book describes how the octopus’s nervous system is nothing like a human’s. She wonders if humans can ever know what it’s like to be an octopus.

Ha calls Kamran to consult him on her theories about the symbol. She considers him the only one who understands how her mind works. Ha thinks the octopuses have been evolving for a long time without humans’ knowledge. Concerned that humans and octopuses mutually view each other as monsters, she wants to understand the creatures on their own terms. Ha presents her interpretations of the symbols to Evrim and Altantsetseg. From an overhead perspective, the crescent resembles the curved barrier that octopuses make in front of their dens. Ha deduces that the crescent means “home” and that the arrow isn’t pointing down but out, so the symbol means “Go away” or “Get out” (177). The symbol Ha made on the beach, with the crescent endpoints and arrow all pointing toward the hotel, attempted to communicate “Come in” or “Welcome” (180). Ha succeeded in communicating with the octopus, but the reply troubles her. The octopus used a human skull and human weapons to repeat the symbol for “Get out.”

An epigraph from Dr. Mínervudóttir-Chan’s book argues that death is a part of life.

In Astrakhan, Rustem is on a second date with Aynur. He describes how hacking into a neural network is like mapping and translating. Some hackers use AI to help build a simulation of a system, but Rustem can visualize the network on his own. He compares hacking to navigating one’s way through an old city with winding intersections and no street signs or common language to ask for directions. Rustem has made progress in his job for the woman in the abglanz shield, but he’s still far from cracking the system. Seeing an insect-sized surveillance drone land on the wall near Aynur, Rustem changes the subject.

An epigraph from Ha’s book asserts that humans must understand how another species perceives them if they wish to successfully communicate with that species.

Altantsetseg switches her translator to the working one and shows Ha a cloaked submersible she rigged. Altantsetseg tired of people assuming she wasn’t intelligent but admits that she liked how the faulty translator kept people at a distance. She tells Ha she’s eager to meet the octopus because the creature reminds Atlantsetseg of herself. Evrim appears at the hotel with two automonks and disparagingly refers to them as “things” (193). Monkeys attacked the temple, and the automonks need Altantsetseg to transmit a report. They consider the hotel haunted and ask Ha if she’s worried. Ha replies that they’re being superstitious, and the automonks tell her they can’t be because they aren’t alive.

An excerpt from Dr. Mínervudóttir-Chan’s book contends that the brain is like a creature that dwells in a dark cave and can know the outside world only through the mediation of its senses.

On the Sea Wolf, a prisoner named Indra leads a mutiny and sabotages the ship’s security systems. The men kill the guards and confront the AI system behind its armored steel door. Indra threatens to rip the vessel apart, with all the men aboard, unless the ship turns to shore. After a long pause, the AI system revs the engine and redirects the ship eastward to US shores. As the men celebrate, Eiko notices that Son has a blank expression on his face and hasn’t spoken a word.