CityLab · 02

Fathom Ring

Nine hundred metres down, five glass domes stand on the lip of a trench. One railway joins them: a pressure tube wound with glowing coils, round and round like a particle accelerator. Seven has a ticket. Mote is coming too.

Pressurising the line…

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Graphics Headphones help. The water is real; the horn is synthesised.

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Tethys Hollow

Jobs round the Hollow

Ten people round the five domes post jobs when they need a hand. A gold marker means someone has work, a red one means it is urgent. Walk up and press E to talk. A green marker or ring is where your tracked job goes next, and Q sends Mote to show you the way, lift and train included. Every dome has something that happens on its own clock, and it usually brings work. Jobs pay Hollow pearls, and three jobs for someone makes them a friend.

Tethys Hollow · year 41 of the Seal

The Hollow Almanac

Everything Quell would let us print. Each dome's pages open once Seven has walked its streets, and each person's once he has met them.

The whole almanac, with every dome, faction and happening, is on its own page.

Postcards from the deep

Nine views nobody up top has seen

Point the camera at something worth sending home and press P. The album keeps the ones that count.

Paused

The Hollow waits

Sound

Everything Music The sea and the domes Effects

Graphics

Detail Resolution Meshlets (WebGPU) Field of view

Controls

Look speed Invert looking up and down Show the objective line

Forgets jobs, pearls, postcards and standing. Settings stay.

How to ride

Seven drives like a little tank

Drive	W A S D or the arrows · left stick · drag on the left of the screen
Look	Drag the mouse · right stick · drag on the right · wheel or pinch to zoom
Board, step off	E at an open door · A button · the E button
Leave the platform now	G, or the Depart button, when Seven is aboard
Glass lifts	Drive onto the lift at the end of the bridge and wait a moment. It takes Seven down to the streets, and back up
Cameras	C cycles Seven, Window seat, Up top, Chase, Nose and Out in the water while riding. Drag to look round
Hurry the ride	Hold F · right trigger · hold the » button. A time-lapse, and stops your job does not need go by
Postcard photo	P · X button · the photo button. J opens the album
Pause and settings	Esc or the ☰ chip: sound, music, graphics and controls
People in the streets	E next to anyone walking about: a word about their dome, their faction, the news and your job
Weld	E next to anything glowing orange: Seven welds it shut. Every fix pays a pearl, pleases one faction and annoys another, which changes what their people pay
The Hollow Almanac	B or the Almanac chip: the domes, their factions, their trade and their happenings. Ask anyone about the Hollow when you talk to them
Jobs round the Hollow	Walk up to anyone with a gold marker and press E to talk (X says not now). N or the Jobs chip lists your jobs, what is happening in each dome, who needs a hand and your friends
Ask Mote the way	Q · left shoulder · the Mote button
Hop	Space (on the ground)
Sound, full screen	M · L
Meshlets	K switches them off and on, so you can see what they save. V shows the clusters in colour. On WebGPU only

On WebGPU the ride draws with three.js r187's meshlet pipeline: every rock and the whole sea floor are cut into small clusters of triangles, each with coarser versions, and the graphics card picks what to draw every frame. That is how the seabed carries so much detail. Without WebGPU you get a lighter version of the deep.

The train keeps its timetable round the ring whether Seven is aboard or not. On a new save it waits at Hollow Gate for him.

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