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384 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
“It’s really kind of… well, beautiful, in a way. Even the monsters, once you get to know ‘em. We’re all beautiful.”In this case the claustrophobic dark setting is an ocean floor rift a few miles underwater, with a few humans modified so that they can withstand the immense pressures, darkness and underwater breathing. And the humans chosen (or maybe punished) for this insanity are those already deeply damaged and hurt and ready to do the same to others. The ones that do not fit. And some find the deep sense of belonging to the genuinely alien place and find themselves changing even more.
“Something bent, not broken. Something that fits into cracks too twisted for the rest of us.”
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“She can still feel the memory of what it was to be fully human, and mistake that ghost for honest sensation.”
“And she almost laughs as she realizes, three thousand meters from the nearest sunlight, that it’s only dark when the lights are on.”
Welcome to Beebe Station.
You're three kilometers below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. You're perched on the shoulder of an active volcano. The local fauna is very large and very nasty. If it doesn't kill you, a mudslide or an erupting smoker probably will.
Your fellow employees are rapists, pedophiles, borderline psychotics, and victims of same.
You feel very lucky to be here.
This is a damn sight better than the life you left behind.