Galleri Susanne Ottesen (DK)

It had been Karsden who had stood forward, a week ago, as was the right of any aboard, to propose the Squid make the derivation from the standard course, directly into the atmosphere. Karsden’s nerve had taken everyone by surprise. Whence came this challenge to the squid’s autonomy? Karsden was the first to admit that everyone aboard certainly owed their existence to the squid’s prescience and intervention, way back when. And blind adherence to its principles had served them well since. But there had not been a proven single instance of the squid’s interest in the human crew for more than fifteen years. And the instances before could well be imaginary. Karsden didn’t actually say any heretical words, or go far as to suggest that the squid might not be all the Squid believed it to be. But once they’d allowed Karsden to be the one who proposed the derivation, and risked alienating the squid by this intervention, they were willing to hear the proposal. Karsden was strangely disappointed when the squid did not react, killing them on the spot, as it had done poor Norx back in twenty-seven.

Excerpt from Ship called Squid, 2021 by Mark von Schlegell. Full text available on: https://susanneottesen.dk/exhibition/weird-tales/