Trenchcoat Gills
Noir · Hydro-Noir Detective
In the drowned city of Meridian, where the last remnants of humanity breathe processed air in pressure-sealed towers, private investigator Maren Vesque navigates flooded ruins in a rusted submersible and a trenchcoat that never quite dries. When a dying woman leaks hydraulic fluid instead of blood from her gill slits, Maren uncovers a conspiracy that traces back to the city's oxygen generation—and to the cartographer who mapped a seamount that could save them all, or drown them in a single, calculated breath. But the map is incomplete, the cartographer is missing, and the deeper Maren dives, the more she realizes the sea itself is keeping secrets. The city's air is running out, and the only map to salvation is in the hands of a woman who may already be dead—or may have been waiting for Maren all along.
65,313 words