Bowie Seamount (2048)

Fiction essay
2019

A creative study of future living.



I was looking through the archive for some video footage, trying to find something of the initial military movements along the east Canadian coast. Nobody quite knows when the actions started, what began around 2027 or 2028 as ‘defence’ patrols slowly seemed to take on a more sinister edge. Canadians began to notice more and more weapons on board.

And then it happened. Obviously, with such tight government control over all digital archives as we have now, it’s hard to put dates on anything precisely, and I have spent the last few weeks hunting through random folders of news footage, geotagged social media, and old Google Earth Skyvideo recordings to build some kind of time line. But, even then, I can’t be totally sure what I am looking at hasn’t been edited and re-crafted, perhaps the very military movements I am looking out for have simply been digitally removed, edited out of the past. It’s nigh on impossible to be a historian any more.


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Then last week I opened a document which was fascinating, and unexpected. When the Canadian State Archive sent me through the card with the 38 terabytes of bundled and badly organised digital clutter, I happened to click on hjhvfmoxxx-vers2-final-final-editforcomments.pdf and found three short extracts of text relating to a some development project called “Bubble”, dated 26.08.32. I have looked everywhere but no trace of this Bubble seems to exist anywhere else. The only newsworthy items I found from a similar location, perhaps related, comment on some kind of underwater explosion in 2032.

Scrolling back through Skyvideo I think I could make out large waves grow and strike Graham Island’s west coast, but the whole zone is now so tightly military controlled so I can’t get any quantifiable data from the ground. There were darkweb rumours of burnt bodies washing up on the shoreline around the same period, but so many myths float around these days, it’s hard to trust anything.

There was also just so much other shit going down globally back in 2032 — the Amazon fire, great floods of Europe, and Kushner’s ill-advised attempts to “Make Japan Great Again”. There was a lot going on, so perhaps it’s no surprise that even if there was some kind of sub-aqua disaster with this “Bubble”, that it just got ignored amongst the chaos and wider devastation. Perhaps our authoritarian government removed it from history but missed these short text fragments I discovered, or perhaps they are all that ever existed of an unbuilt idea?



[For discussion, 26.08.32]




BubbleEco

In Summer 2033, American nationals will be able to experience a new way of seeing the world. BubbleEco will welcome its first visitors, and you could be amongst the first in our great history to experience such nature up close and in its natural habitat. The last fifty years have seen the planet’s flora and fauna devastated, but thankfully there is one space uncorrupted — the underwater landscape. Bowie Seamount is an underwater mountain undisturbed for thousands of years, full of remarkable nature for you to explore, relax amongst and again reconnect with God’s incredible designs.

As our guest, you will be picked up from your home in any of the 78 US states, and whisked directly to our floating dronepads 125 miles west of Graham Island, offshore from mainland American Colombia in our great State of Canada. The summit of Bowie is only 80ft under the waves, but looking down from your drone there are few clues of the incredible 10,000ft mountain which descends beneath the waves. Upon landing, you will enter our NASA engineered elevator which will take you on a slow journey — with a fully augmented acclimatisation experience — descending 6,500ft to Bubble Base Camp.

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EcoBubble Base Camp, on the east side of Bowie Seamount, is a holiday resort like no human in history has ever visited. A vast glass geodesic dome separates you from the deep mysterious sea. Here, amongst the origins of our planet you will nestle in a perfectly untouched natural landscape, the most intimate and encompassing way to experience nature. Our boutique hotel rooms will cater to your every need, with room service for any demand just moments away. As you relax with indulgence, a simple voice command will transform your bedroom wall — the digital curtain will fade away to reveal a vast window into the Pacific depths, your own bespoke, gloriously illuminated subterranean view. We have employed the world’s leading landscape architects to subtly improve nature’s perfection, ensuring each room offers a unique and personal window onto the world, a picturesque vantage into a marine landscape that Frederick Law Olmsted could only have imagined.

We all experienced the rapid decline of nature on the planet’s surface, the burning of forests and scorched plains, our current silence from the loss of birdlife, not to mention the destruction of our great human coastal cities and the loss of human life. Perhaps you remember childhood visits to our great national parks, now which only exist through the remarkable photographs of Ansel Adams and all the visitors who followed him, recording those vast spaces which are no more. Maybe you recall the constant hum of insects, now replaced by those incredible but silent robotic simulacra our great American technology companies have released.

Bowie Seamount was once known by local Haida people as Sgaan Qintlas, or “supernatural, looking outwards”. With BubbleEco you too will be looking outwards, and in doing so experiencing a sense of being at one with nature again. Incredible creatures will swim right up to your room’s window, as if they are looking in at you with all the wonderment you will have watching over them. You will get a glimpse into the everyday existence of dolphins, seals, sperm and killer whales, sealions and more. Shoals of sable fish will pass by as you casually sip on fine champagne.


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From inside your room you will have complete control over lighting the scene, whether you want the whole glorious view flooded with light or would rather mood lighting picking out the creatures and habitats which most intrigue. Your augmented reality window also offers digital zooming with simple hand gestures, allowing you to explore deep into the unknown. And if you want to get closer to the action, from the comfort of your bed you can control your own Bubble Subdrone, extending your experience with a self-guided trip around Bowie Seamount with all the exciting visual and sonic discoveries projected back into your room. Perhaps you will explore a coral reef, chase some dolphins, or go and digitally tag the lobster you want our chefs to prepare for your dinner? BubbleEco also curate organised submarine tours around some of the most beautiful sites of Bowie, taking you into cave networks, through great valleys, and into dormant volcanoes. Along the way you will experience the most colourful, exotic and memorable nature which remains on planet earth, encountering wilderness as the great explorers did centuries before.

Over 600,000 years old, the Bowie Seamount once proudly sat above the water surface, the summit formed from a volcano which was active up until 75,000 years ago. Now, it offers the most sublime underwater landscape for a new ecotourism opportunity. BubbleEco is a ground-breaking collaboration between private enterprise company Bubble and the great Kushner administration, a unique and green public private partnership to ensure that all American citizens with the finances available will once again have the opportunity to connect with nature, as our forefathers once did. Bubble brings you a new window onto the world, and your last opportunity to connect with your roots.


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BubbleDeep

In the late 20th century reserves of oil and minerals were found in Bowie Seamount, though at the time we still had enough oil from existing global supplies using traditional extraction methods, and in 1998 resources of minerals were considered so low that it wasn’t even worth investigating. But, as we all know, the political changes over the last three decades, great reduction in natural resources available, alongside giant leaps in technological prowess, mean it is now financially viable to explore deep sea mining in Bowie Seamount.

BubbleDeep is due start operations late 2036, with initial mining explorations entirely funded via the US Government’s State of Canada’s tourism programme. The financial surplus generated from the first five operative years of BubbleEco, due to open to the public summer 2035, will fund deep sea mining operations on the east side of the Bowie. Bubble has worked diligently with the great Kushner administration to relax restrictions enforced by the 1998 Marine Protected Area Status, enabling us to access critical new resources to benefit the national cause. Oil will be transported directly to the east coast of American Colombia, linking up with the three Trans Mountain pipelines which reach across the State of Canada. Other income will be raised from deep-sea trawling, with particular hopes from harvesting great shoals of sablefish and crab which, already at a premium price, are expected to see their value surge by the late 2030s as the planet encounters further food shortages.


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The construction operation of BubbleDeep will be entirely partitioned from BubbleEco, ensuring that guests on holiday do not have their tourist experience interrupted by complex construction and drilling operations.We have mapped the entirety of Bowie SeaMount and carefully chosen initial mining locations in discreet valleys on the west side of the mountain, so no guest will be aware of our mining operations. A carefully programmed timetable of works has been developed enabling all construction equipment and state workforce employees will be taken to and from the construction site without compromising arrival and departure windows of BubbleEco guests. It is of critical importance that BubbleEco is kept visually distinct from BubbleDeep to ensure that there is no bad press or any adverse effect upon visitor income, as this would have a knock on effect upon planned timetable for resource extraction.

We forecast that by quarter three of year five, income from BubbleDeep resource extraction will raise enough capital to radically increase extraction and no longer be reliant upon BubbleEco capital. At this stage Bubble and the US administration will decide if BubbleEco should continue to run as a profitable tourist experience, or if it is preferable to be discontinued, in which case existent infrastructure can be absorbed into new mining operations.



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BubbleSafe

In this climate of economic precariousness, when it seems that everybody is out to steal your fortune, when you may feel it’s impossible to offer sanctity and security to your loved ones, BubbleSafe is for you. With constant conflict for basic resources, and walls and tensions between countries now higher than ever, we know that you need a safe place for your valued items, family, and finances. BubbleSafe offers all this, secured from all external threats, the most secure haven on planet earth.

New tunnels driven into the depths of Bowie Seamount, 125 miles off the State of Canada’s west coast, and will form the foundations of a new ultra-safe community. At a depth of up to 10,000ft you will be as far away from the turmoil and tension above as is humanly possible, and with world-leading private security firms connected to USGrid surveillance and military defence contractors, you can be assured of the ultimate protection.


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Tunnelling for BubbleSafe will commence in late 2036 with initial construction operations carried out through our partner company, BubbleDeep. With licenses to remove oil and minerals resources from Bowie Seamount, profit from these valuable and rare commodities will entirely be used to transform the man-made and subterranean voids into the world’s highest spec and most secure offshore territory for your personal, business and financial requirements. BubbleDeep’s operations will continue through the 2040s, ensuring constant spatial growth of our operation and ongoing funds to incorporate the latest technology into your protection.

TAX: As an offshore territory, BubbleSafe offers 100% tax-free status and makes a perfect address for your organisational shell company holding addresses. We will be in a position to offer serviced business addresses from late 2036, giving your organisation security from global financial institutions, policing and governmental taxation.

STORAGE: We anticipate our first secure spaces to be operational by early 2038 with initial availability for the storage of fine art, bullion, governmental debt contracts and other valuables you wish to be secured from global risks. Our expert art handlers and climate-controlled storage will ensure your da Vincis, Klimts, and Pöllänens will be in the perfect environment away from light and disturbance, totally off-grid and removed from the international art registry. For smaller items we are installing independent safes of various sizes, and can construct any bespoke storage to suit. All storage spaces will be nuclear proof and we can provide various levels of private military contractor, to suit your needs.

HABITATION: By 2039 BubbleSafe will be offering accommodation designed entirely around you and your family’s needs. You may be looking for a temporary “get-away”, while the political and socio-economic troubles hit their worst moments, in which case we will be providing luxurious serviced apartments with every extravagance you have on earth, and even some luxuries you may remember from earlier in the century and thought had disappeared for good! Perhaps you will be in the market for a more permanent space, where you and your family can set up home away from the threats, ecological breakdown and political turmoil on the planet’s surface? We would welcome the opportunity to partner with you to create your dream environment, working with world-leading architects and security experts to create no-expense spared villas of sanctity shaped around your needs and desire.


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IMAGES

  1. From “Subsidence and flexure along the Pratt-Welker seamount chain”, by Kurt Lambeck, C. L. Penney, S. M. Nakiboglu, & Richard Coleman.
  2. From “Armchair Divers”, at http://www.haidanation.ca/?p=7670, by Ocean Exploration Trust, Northeast Pacific Seamount Expedition Partners.
  3. From “The 13 Best Underwater Hotel Rooms in the World”, https://hiconsumption.com/the-13-best-underwater-hotels-in-the-world.
  4. From “Armchair Divers”, at http://www.haidanation.ca/?p=7670, by Ocean Exploration Trust, Northeast Pacific Seamount Expedition Partners.
  5. From “Is the next Mining Boom on the Ocean Floor?”, by Sara Bice, at https://theconversation.com/is-the-next-mining-boom-on-the-ocean-floor-13177
  6. From “Subsidence and flexure along the Pratt-Welker seamount chain”, by Kurt Lambeck, C. L. Penney, S. M. Nakiboglu, & Richard Coleman.
  7. From “Billionare Bunkers: How the 1% plan to spend Doomsday in Style”, at https://edition.cnn.com/style/gallery/doomsday-luxury-bunkers/index.html.
  8. From “Billionare Bunkers: How the 1% plan to spend Doomsday in Style” at https://edition.cnn.com/style/gallery/doomsday-luxury-bunkers/index.html.