The vast ocean stretched endlessly across the landscape of X-21.

I printed my hand
against the blue tinted glass of The Ark as I looked as hard as I could for any spot of land. At
most I could see distant clouds in the deep pink sky that almost fooled me for land. The Ark
made a landing on the ocean that was almost dance-like in its elegance. Its mile long inflated
ring groaned under the weight of 35,000 people, but it held up. I gazed out the window as
throngs of people rushed past. The sun, which was a blinding white, was just caressing the far
edges of the endless green ocean, its rays flowing out to every edge of the planet. Finally, I
turned around to push my way to the exit to the ships deck.

When I finally managed to push my way out onto the deck I found the air light, almost
like the entire planet was on a mountain. After a few moments of just staring out into the vast
expanses of the ocean the multitudes of people on the deck finally gathered into crowds of
about one thousand each and detached huge floating vessels, quite like aircraft carriers but
instead of planes, hundreds of houses sat atop them. I was on the fifth vessel to detach from the
ship. I looked around the floating city, it was not nearly as expansive as the deck of The Ark,
and nowhere close to the length of the endless ocean that surrounded it. Almost instantly, the
bustling of a large metropolitan area emerged from my vessel, cars hit the fresh streets of the
city with incredible comfort, the towering wind turbines spun quickly in the quick wind of the
upper atmosphere, children ran, played games, and formed into loose confederations to pick on
other such confederations, as their parents unpacked into sleek new homes.

My own home, like all the others, was a tall, slender, building scrunched up between two
more. I opened the door with ease, for it was not locked and had no way of becoming so. Trust
your neighbor and they will trust you. the captain had told us. Speaking of the captain, we had
been told that he was to visit each of the thirty-five vessels in the next week and we were to
prepare for his arrival.

I spent an hour or so of unpacking my few possessions: a grandfather clock Id received

from my grandmother, an oxygen mask Id been supplied with even though the air was just as
tolerable as it was on the ship, an assortment of novels and important historical records
including holy texts and a few classics, and a marvelous golden ring Id gotten from my mother,
which I hid under my pillow. After that I headed out to see what the town was up to, posters
advocating cooperation and trust already hung throughout the city, as they had hung throughout
The Ark, Some adults had now left their homes and walked the new streets, and the loose
confederations of children had now been driven into their homes by the arrival of older children
who, though they did not cooperate as the younger ones did, were much stronger than their
opponents and thusly drove them away. As I observed this phenomena I wondered about
beings stronger than ourselves, perhaps they lay just below us, waiting for a vessel to stray too
far from the armed Ark in order to consume it in one hideous gulp. Perhaps there was no such
thing, I figured there was not, as we were yet to even spot fish and had already begun plans to
subsist solely on our own crops.

I made my way to the edge of the floating city and placed my anxious hands on the rails
that overlooked the ocean. I looked out into the vast, empty, sea. The waves were rough and
lapped against the city harshly. From where we floated I could see that The Ark was already
being converted into its true form: a military station. 16 inch guns sank out from holes in the
ship, men in navy uniforms rushed across the deck, and I could faintly make out the figure of the
captain.

As I pushed my body over the edge of the ship to make out the captain a wave larger
than the rest lapped against the ship and I was almost thrown off. The waves continued to get
bigger and cars began to shake as the waves began to reach halfway up the ship. Crowds
gathered at the edge of the ship as a large ball of water rose to the top. The ball rushed down
swiftly and out of it rose the head of a magnificently terrifying beast. The crowds screamed as it
continued to rise from the green ocean. His head was covered in wet hair, his eyes were red,
and he had about five or six of em. The monster raised its left arm, which was more like a
tentacle with fingers, and it slung it into the edge of one of the vessels, which immediately
capsized. The people from the ship, which looked like ants drowning in a puddle from where I
stood, flailed violently as the beast approached them. Its steps flung huge waves at us that
shook houses and caused things to fling off of shelves. After the initial shock, The Arks 16 inch
guns finally turned towards the beast and let out a defiant shot that burst through the air. The
beast recoiled in pain for a moment, as if it had been pricked with something, then continued
making its way to its prey. Again the guns fired, and again the beast stopped only for a moment.
This continued until, at last, the horrifying leviathan had reached the remains of its prey and
began to grab at handfuls of people. It swallowed them as if they were pieces of meat in a
particularly watery stew. The guns were unrelenting but the beast did not stop until at last it had
consumed every person who had not drowned.

After its meal the beast turned at last to The Ark. The guns fired again. The monster
lunged at the ship as if it were swatting a fly and, being that a battleship cannot go as fast as a
fly, it struck the ship with its noodle-like arm. The hull of The Ark was torn into shreds and it too
began to sink to the bottom of the sea. Even as it went down the canons gave off a last defiant
shot, which came nowhere near the beast. As the bow of The Ark finally sank below the
mountainous waves, the beast seemed satisfied and slowly descended back into the depths of
the water.

We gathered up what few survivors we could find and tried to piece together some
semblance of a functional society like what we had, the only exception being that the posters
that once read Trust, Cooperation, Prosperity now grimly read Feed the Beast.