Nobody knows quite how long the substation has been here. The people who live around it tell stories of how it came to be: put here by the gods as a beacon; or the skeleton of a once-proud beast; or a temple-cage for a devil best forgotten. They hold it in a fearful reverence, as children do their fathers’ tools.

(Aye-aye-aye-aye-aye)

Some say, at night, you can still hear it humming, the memory of that noise lingering epigenetically within the inhabitants of this once-proud land, though its purpose does not.

(Aye-aye-I-I-aye-aye-I-I-eye-eyer-eyer)

And some nights, people sing back to it: a funereal rite to those that came before, those old men who were swallowed by the tide.

(Old ones, old sire, sleeping in the pyre
From your cell, raise higher! Come lord, by wire!
Old Lord, high sire, bring warmth, bring fire!
Grant strength, high power, old Lord of the wire!)

I think it’s silly. Those people are dead, after all.

(I-I-eye-eyer-eyer-why-why-wire-why-wi-wi-wirer
by-wire-by-wire)

But, I have to admit, the sound does comfort me in my tent, nestled in the arms of my beloved. And she sings to me too.

(Best loved, so tired, join me by the fire
In my arms lie quiet, sweet love, sweet child…)

I hear the water flow! I hear mutterings in the birds, a murmuration of murmurations telling me things I do not want to know, blasphemies and bewitchment encircling my head like storm clouds threatening a ship. I hear our siblings: the other children left behind in the wires.

(why-i-i-i-i-i-ire-ire
why-why-aye-aye-why-why-wire-why-ire
hi-i-i-i-i-hi-hi-i-i-i-i-hi-hi-ya-hiya
bi-i-i-i-by-by-bi-i-i-i-i-byebye-bi-yie-yia-ah
hi-hi-hi-lo-lo-high-lo-hi-lo-hiya
why-why-wi-wi-i-i-i-why-wire-wire
by-i-i-i-by-wire-by-wire-why-wire)

I hear the hum of the metallic ghosts. They are unquiet. They are unkind. They are unquiet and they are unkind. They are unquiet and they are unkind!

(why-why-hi-hi-higher-why-why-lye-liar-lie-lie-liar)

But still, my beloved… she comforts me.

(Ahhhh ahhh ahh)

They are unquiet, unkind, unalive, but I am unafraid. Unafraid, I am… I am unafraid. I am unafraid. I am… I am not afraid, I am unafraid!

(Best loved…)
(Liar liar bye low, cell, higher, cell higher, sell higher!)

The skeleton of a once-proud beast? A beacon to gods? No. It is a temple-cage. A temple-cage for a devil best forgotten.

(Liar liar, cell, hell, hell, high, higher, higher, cell higher, sell higher!)
(Best loved…)
(Old ones…)

I hear mutterings in the birds, a murmuration of murmurations telling me things I do not want to know, blasphemies and bewitchment encircling my head like storm clouds threatening a ship.

(Liar liar...)

I hear our siblings: the other children left behind in the wires. In the wires… I hear the hum of metallic ghosts. They are unquiet. They are unkind.

(buy low low, cell cell, hell hell, sell higher
bye bye, hell, cell, sell sell, buy low, sell higher)

Still, my beloved comforts me. They are unalive, but I am unafraid. Unafraid, I am unafraid. I am unafraid.

(Best loved…)

The skeleton of a once-proud beast? A beacon to gods? No. It is a temple-cage. A temple-cage for a devil best forgotten.

(Best loved...)
(Liar liar, cell, hell, hell, high, higher...)
(Old ones…)
(Buy buy buy, buy low, buy low, buy low, sell higher!)

We are right to be fearful of this place.