What Used to Be Caracas

This short story was first published in Global Dystopias and is featured in our new special project:

Humboldt Notes:

Time is the most important thing in human life, for what is pleasure after the departure of time? And the most consolatory, since pain, when pain has passed, is nothing. Time is the wheel-rut in which we roll on toward eternity, conducting us to the incomprehensible. In its progress there is a ripening power, and it ripens us the more, and the more powerfully, when we duly estimate it. Listen to its voice, do not waste it, but regard it as the highest finite good, in which all finite things are resolved.

—A. Humboldt

Expedition Notes:

The field technician must note that the goal of this expedition is to expand upon the work of his great-great-great-great-great-great-uncle, Alexander von Humboldt (a surname the family later changed at Ellis Island to Humbletrot). Humboldt used ecology, geography, and anthropology to survey this portion of Venezuela in 1799. The field team—which consists of the field technician, a volcanologist, a teuthologist, a hydrologist, an ethnoarcheologist, and an aviator—has hypothesized that Humboldt discovered information that predicted the Erasure, which would occur nearly a quarter millennium later, but destroyed most of his personal journals to spare his descendants the psychological trauma that such knowledge would impart.

In expanding upon the work of Humboldt, this expedition aims to give back to humanity what Humboldt regarded as its most precious resource: time. One of catastrophe’s more insidious consequences is that it denies human beings the freedom to think, to explore, to enjoy, and to expand. Survival is an activity that demands constant engagement. The Erasure robbed humankind of time and, as a result, of any power it possessed.

The field technician must also note that this report is presented according to the rules set forth in the Post-Erasure Manual of Style (PEMS), and as such, out of respect for the billions of lives lost during the Erasure, the field technician will not refer to himself in the first person outside of the PEMS-prescribed attribution of authorship and will address his colleagues by the common terms of their genders and/or occupations.

—E. Humbletrot

Humboldt Notes:

This view of a living nature where man is nothing is both odd and sad. Here, in a fertile land, in an eternal greenness, you search in vain for traces of man; you feel you are carried into a different world from the one you were born into.

—A. Humboldt

Field Notes:

The airport ruins sit between the former coastline and the northern edge of what used to be Caracas. The once-verdant landscape is cracked and white, though the field technician must note he may be using the word “cracked” because it is phonetically similar to “Caracas.” Indeed, there are few actual cracks in the terrain. Rather it is ridged and occasionally pocked. Not cracked.

The only remaining flora is based around the harenam at Catia La Mar, due east of the airport. Though Venezuela’s attempt to import fresh water proved disastrous, resulting in dry, bright blue salt pits such as this one at Catia La Mar, it is that attempt that has allowed life to remain here in the form of these two species of pale green, lichen-like flora (previously undocumented species recorded here as Caldas and Lussac).

Sadly, there is no evidence of any living fauna, despite speculation that several species remained in the area around the Venezuelan Coastal Range directly west of the airport. The peaks of the range have taken on the hunched, grey appearance typical of mountains affected by the salt storms that hit coastal areas in the weeks directly following the Erasure.

—E. Humbletrot

Humboldt Notes:

Mere communion with nature, mere contact with the free air, exercises a soothing yet comforting and strengthening influence on the wearied mind, calms the storm of passion, and softens the heart when shaken by sorrow to its inmost depths.

—A. Humboldt

Field Notes:

Henri Pittier National Park is the site of the first known cavecanem, which still burns bright. It has been established that the Pittier Cavecanem’s early arrival was due to the nine rivers flowing within the park’s borders. The rivers crisscrossed over the volatile tectonic area where the Caribbean Plate meets the South American Plate. As a result, when all of those rivers became salt, they ignited, causing the unending burn typical of a cavecanem. The Pittier Cavecanem borders the Valencia Harenam, making for vibrant vistas of orange and blue if one can find high ground and endure the deadly temperatures.

The field team spent several days analyzing the Pittier Cavecanem and, as predicted, found it empty.

The park’s flora and fauna are all long dead, most tragically (in the biased opinion of the field technician) the 500 species of birds that made their homes in Henri Pittier National Park. This number included 22 endemic species.

The field technician must note that, as a birdwatcher and amateur ornithologist, his account of Henri Pittier National Park may be compromised by emotional distress.

Still, nature has managed to counter that distress with the slimmest silver line of hope. Three green-blue eggs were discovered in the stump of a tree along what used to be the El Limón River.

—E. Humbletrot

Humboldt Notes:

The philosophical study of nature endeavors, in the vicissitudes of phenomena, to connect the present with the past.

—A. Humboldt

Field Notes:

San Francisco de Yare is where it becomes challenging to differentiate between the science of the Erasure and the myth surrounding it. But, given the goals of this expedition, that challenge is a welcome one.

This particular myth concerns the Dancing Devils of Yare. There was a saying in the area: “If there is no money nor believers to carry the Blessed Sacrament in Procession, then come devils.” Each year, on the day of Corpus Christi, the citizens of San Francisco de Yare dressed up as devils and processed through the streets, carrying the Blessed Sacrament and collecting money as they danced along.

This happened every year from 1749 right up until the year before the Erasure, when bad weather, disorganized believers, and a financial crisis led to the cancellation of the procession. According to reports from the now-deceased local population, this resulted in the coming of the devils. Specifically, Lucifer and Abaddon, who are said to have risen from Hell through San Francisco de Yare’s twin cavecanems.

The field team spent nearly two weeks analyzing the Lucifer Cavecanem and the Abaddon Cavecanem and, as predicted, found them empty. However, though there was no proof of demonic activity, the team did find evidence that something had in fact emerged from the cavecanems here.

—E. Humbletrot

Humboldt Notes:

Nature offers unceasingly the most novel and fascinating objects for learning.

—A. Humboldt

Field Notes:

Cagua’s history is one of moderate success. Before everyone died, of course.

Founded by Spaniards in 1620 (though indigenous people lived here long before, so “founded” is a stretch, but that was the way of the pre-Erasure world), Cagua sustained itself for 500 years.

Cagua gets its name from the native Cumanagoto word for “snail.” Interestingly, this name is more appropriate for the city’s post-Erasure state, as it is now notable for the rivers of snail shells that flood what used to be Cagua’s streets.

According to the field team’s research, snails flooded into Cagua because it was in the rare position of sitting in a valley surrounded by bodies of water to the north, south, east, and west. These were, of course, the Caribbean Sea to the north, Lago de Valencia to the west, Embalse de Zuata to the east, and Laguna Taguaiguai to the south.

Research suggests that the “Snail Rivers of Cagua” could potentially serve as a tourist attraction or as a destination for pilgrimage, as the unique hue of the shells of the millions of dead moon snails causes the entire city to glow brilliant pink-gold in the daylight and silver-blue in the moonlight.

However, this potential relies on several significant factors, beyond the obvious need to first stabilize the post-Erasure economy. These include the cooling of the Cagua Cavecanem, the building of a sustainable freshwater recycling system, and the removal of some of Cagua’s ghastly industrial architecture, which detracts greatly from the majesty of the Snail Rivers.

The field team spent several days analyzing the Cagua Cavecanem and, as predicted, found it empty.

—E. Humbletrot

Humboldt Notes:

In considering the study of physical phenomena, not merely in its bearings on the material wants of life, but in its general influence on the intellectual advancement of mankind, we find its noblest and most important result to be a knowledge of the chain of connection, by which all natural forces are linked together, and made mutually dependent upon each other; and it is the perception of these relations that exalts our views and ennobles our enjoyments.

—A. Humboldt

Field Notes:

The field technician must note that a miracle has occurred! One of the three eggs discovered in Henri Pittier National Park hatched this morning in the sock compartment of the field technician’s suitcase. The hatchling resembles a baby chicken, though it is dark grey. Given the color of the egg and the characteristics of the baby bird, the field technician can comfortably hypothesize that he is now in the possession of a living grey tinamou, a species thought to be extinct following the Erasure. Though the general aim of this expedition is observation rather than collection, the field technician will make an exception and bring the creature back to Basseterre.

The birth occurred in Los Teques, which is most notable for its proximity to the Miranda Cavecanem. The Miranda Cavecanem is a rare high-altitude cavecanem and is thought to have been formed when a shard of the South American Plate splintered in the forming of the Pittier Cavecanem and allowed magma to shoot up into the post-Erasure salt beds of the former Rio San Pedro. The field team spent one week analyzing the Miranda Cavecanem and, as predicted, found it empty.

Los Teques has no surviving flora or fauna. However, the illusion of life remains as the metro still runs on schedule between Caracas and Los Teques. The system was automated shortly before the Erasure, and the red and grey trains still arrive and leave on time even though they are, of course, empty.

—E. Humbletrot

Humboldt Notes:

I saw with regret (and all scientific men have shared this feeling) that while the number of accurate instruments was daily increasing, we were still ignorant.

—A. Humboldt

Field Notes:

From the sky, San Juan de los Morros has little in common with this expedition’s other destinations. While there are some striking light blue harenams in the area, caused when local manmade reservoirs turned into salt and combusted against scorching pockets of underground gas, there were no other large bodies of water nearby before the Erasure, so there are none of the salt pits or massive, sizzling cavecanems that mark the other locations. Instead, a twenty-meter-tall statue of San Juan Bautista surrounded by a misty orange haze is what visibly remains of San Juan de los Morros.

There used to be hot springs here, and it is thought that when the Erasure turned their water to salt, the salt reacted with the magma that had previously heated the water in the springs and formed dozens of glowing holes in the ground. These are collectively called the Microcavecanems of San Juan Bautista. However, our team has been unable to confirm the exact origins of the microcavecanems, as they are not as hot or as uniform in shape as their brethren (which has allowed some of the salt within them to cool enough to blow in the wind, causing the salty haze that hovers around the statue’s feet).

The field team spent several days analyzing the Microcavecanems of San Juan Bautista and, as predicted, found them empty.

The grey tinamou continues to grow, surviving on a small amount of the field technician’s puréed leftovers. The field technician must note that the bird prefers to sleep in its sock compartment during the day and awaken in the evening, which is in direct opposition to the behavior of the diurnal, pre-Erasure tinamou. As such, it has been christened Nightbird. Stranger still, Nightbird has yet to consume any water, apparently sustaining itself off of the small amount found in what it’s been fed.

While in San Juan de los Morros, the field team dined on arepas, which originated in the area, in honor of the city’s former inhabitants.

—E. Humbletrot

Humboldt Notes:

What we glean from travelers’ vivid descriptions has a special charm; whatever is far off and suggestive excites our imagination; such pleasures tempt us far more than anything we may daily experience in the narrow circle of sedentary life.

—A. Humboldt

Field Notes:

The bright blue salt of the Harenam de los Piratas makes it appear as if Higuerote is still perched on a beach. Of course, it is not, as there are no beaches left. Viewed from above, one can see the blue salt quickly fade to the dirty off-white variety so typical of what used to be the ocean.

Higuerote held a special place in the heart of Alexander von Humboldt, as it was mentioned in the Spanish explorer Alonso de Ojeda’s notes from his 1499 voyage. Humboldt, who, like Ojeda, was exploring on behalf of the Spanish royal family, visited Higuerote almost 300 years to the day after his predecessor. Even with the recent addition of the bright blue harenam, Higuerote is geographically rather bland and it is surprising that both Ojeda and Humboldt would mention it in their notes.

The field technician must note that Humboldt’s idolization of Ojeda is a blemish on his ancestor’s otherwise sterling history, as Ojeda was a rather unsavory individual, having enslaved and sold a great number of the indigenous people he came in contact with on his journey.

Nightbird has grown to the size of a small chicken and has become the unofficial mascot of the field team. The teuthologist, who studied general zoology extensively before turning his focus solely to cephalopods, informed the team that Nightbird is a male. He’s a chirpy but otherwise sedentary creature (Nightbird, not the teuthologist, who is rather taciturn), content to nest in the field technician’s socks and occasionally squawk for refreshments. The hydrologist, being the only member of the field team with a surviving spouse, joked that Nightbird reminds her of her wife, giving the team a rare shared chuckle.

The field team spent over a week analyzing the Bahia Cavecanem and the Tacarigua Cavecanem and, as predicted, found them empty.

—E. Humbletrot

Humboldt Notes:

The most dangerous worldview is the worldview of those who have not viewed the world.

—A. Humboldt

Field Notes:

Microcavecanems, those tiny trenches of glowing, superheated salt, are the defining feature of Altagracia de Orituco. The volcanologist and hydrologist believe that the microcavecanems here were formed when the miniscule amounts of moisture that remained in the tiny fossilized skeletons that formed the limestone formations of the Morros de Macaira Natural Monument turned to salt, causing the remaining parts to crumble and fall into the earth in small sections, where they hit either magma or gas and formed these small, swimming pool–sized cavecanems.

The field team spent three weeks analyzing the Orituco Microcavecanems and, as predicted, found them all empty.

The Guanapito Harenam, formed by a former reservoir just north of the city, provided a relatively cool area for the team to make camp amongst the heat of the hundreds of sizzling microcavecanems. The ethnoarcheologist took Nightbird with her (leashed, of course) as she went to investigate the city’s remains, and shockingly reported that Nightbird enthusiastically munched the blue salt of the Guanapito Harenam as they strolled. The ethnoarcheologist brought a sample back to camp where the hydrologist studied it, discovering that in addition to sodium and chlorine, the salt contained a high level of hydrogen. Though it seems unlikely given the extremely short amount of time for evolution to have taken place, the field team has tentatively hypothesized that Nightbird is able to survive on minuscule amounts of water, instead gathering nutrients from the very salt that killed his brethren.

This information about Nightbird is enough to change what is known about post-Erasure evolution. However, every member of the team acknowledges the necessity for discretion. Humanity has suffered so many shocks in a short period of time, and the pessimism, fear, and cynicism that resulted from the Erasure necessitate keeping our feathery companion a secret for now.

—E. Humbletrot

Humboldt Notes:

With most animals, as with man, the alertness of the senses diminishes after years of work, after domestic habits and progress of culture.

—A. Humboldt

Field Notes:

The field team arrived at the Gran Roque Cavecanem and, as predicted, found it to be inhabited by a massive, tentacled hell creature.

It is at this point, reader, that the field technician must admit that he has not been entirely forthcoming. His hope is that by this point in the report you have become so charmed by his polite catchphrase (“the field technician must note”) and his salt-chomping tinamou mascot that you are now willing to believe—or at least lend your ear to—the most bizarre of circumstances. Still, the field technician must note that he has not lied. Omission was his sole deception.

The members of this expedition are well aware that it is the opinion of the leadership in the surviving cities of Basseterre, Malé, Kuwait City, Valletta, and Doha that God and not science caused the Erasure, as alluded to in Psalms 107:34 and Jeremiah 17:6. Our official objective in exploring post-Erasure Venezuela was to ascertain the suitability of the area for repopulation, pilgrimage, or at least tourism, like similar expeditions around what used to be Reykjavík and what used to be Jakarta. The field technician has previously withheld the following information because he and his team believe that God and science are not unknown to one another. The field technician hopes that the reader has gained confidence in him by this point in the report and will absorb the following information with the open mind it requires.

Before this expedition even began, the team hypothesized that this, the former Los Roques Archipelago, referred to in pre-Erasure days as “the new Bermuda Triangle,” would be the location of the creature that in all likelihood caused the Erasure. This hypothesis was based on the assorted notes of Alexander von Humboldt, the abundance of the otherwise-rare cavecanems in the area, and on mythological information gathered by the ethnoarcheologist and her team back in Basseterre. Privately, the team has been referring to the creature as the Eraser, though it has also been referred to as Cthulhu, Kraken, Leviathan, and Ragnarök. These nicknames must be taken with a grain of salt (pun not intended), as very little is actually known about the Eraser, and as such there is little data with which to make comparisons.

The previously undisclosed prelude to this expedition began just a few short years after the Erasure. The field technician found a half-burnt diary of Alexander von Humboldt under a floorboard in a home he inherited when his family perished in the Erasure. He shared it with a dear friend (the ethnoarcheologist), who then analyzed Humboldt’s scribbled notes and drawings and, combined with a study of mythological depictions of humanity-destroying organic beings and a discourse analysis of shipping reports from ancient Caribbean sailors and pirates, determined that the creature was most likely a cephalopod. She then involved the teuthologist, who, in collaboration with the hydrologist, determined that the erasure of all non-frozen water on the planet could have in fact been caused by the mating of two megacolossal cephalopods. At this point the team started calling them the Erasers. The team enlisted a volcanologist and an aviator and set out from Basseterre. Having visited the sites of other famous cavecanems in the region, the volcanologist was able to determine the maximum height of the Eraser (4,500 meters). The teuthologist determined that the living Eraser, who is hypothesized to have killed the other Eraser in the mating process, could be able to spit ink or some other substance an additional 5,000 meters. As a result, the aviator was instructed to fly at an altitude of at least 10,000 meters as the plane approached the Gran Roque Cavecanem.

The first thing that the team observed upon reaching the Los Roques Archipelago was that, unlike the other cavecanems, the Gran Roque Cavecanem was filled with clear, beautiful water, which appeared to be boiling due to the heat of the burning salt within the cavecanem. The team had anticipated this, and accordingly the aviator had been given a triple ration of water. Otherwise, he could have been tempted to fly the plane straight for the pool. The aviator then, as planned, launched a missile into the water of the Gran Roque Cavecanem. The missile’s collision with the bubbling water caused the faintest of ripples, and that minor undulation was enough to send the rest of the team to near frenzy. However, the bursting forth of an utterly massive tentacle was enough to distract them from their thirst.

Though the field team had been anticipating some kind of massive creature, the sight of a kilometer-long tentacle flying upward toward the plane was almost too much to comprehend.

After an expert maneuver by the aviator, the team watched with panicked breath to see if the Eraser would rise for further attack. However, it did not; perhaps it is so sated from its destruction of humanity that it has grown complacent. The hydrologist regained her composure and began to study temperatures and density readings off of her sonar-based system.

The aviator, as instructed, kept his eyes on the horizon, making wide circles above the cavecanem but not looking at the Eraser as it bathed in its boiling layer. At first, the creature was still camouflaged, wearing the color of the burning, wet walls around it: a bright, hot orange. This had allowed it to remain unseen by the post-Erasure aerial explorations commissioned by leadership. But as the plane circled, the beast transformed into a greenish black before shifting back to orange. Its head resembled a massive, two-kilometer-wide cuttlefish.

Finally, the hydrologist said, “I found it,” in a reverential whisper and the entire team roared in approval. The hydrologist had found the location of the other Eraser’s corpse, which she has hypothesized may contain the fertilized Eraser eggs we believe to be responsible for the Erasure.

As if it had heard the team’s cheers, the Eraser rolled its head upward and opened its many eyes, which covered its entire head. Hundreds of house-sized, blank grey circles with comparatively tiny linear red pupils stared up at the aircraft with distant regard.

The field technician must note that the creature, murderer of billions, was simultaneously the most repulsive and beautiful thing he had ever seen. It was a shock to the entire team to see that it appeared to be very much an animal and therefore undeserving of their hatred.

—E. Humbletrot

Humboldt Notes:

I am convinced that our happiness or unhappiness depends more on the way we meet the events of life than on the nature of those events themselves.

—A. Humboldt

Field Notes:

The view from the ruins of the Humboldt Hotel is quite spectacular. One can see for miles, particularly as the lack of water has made the weather rather inactive and the lack of industry has left the air quite clear.

The hotel was named for the field technician’s ancestor and sits atop Mount Avila, providing the spectacular view. From the skeleton of the hotel’s cliffside veranda one can peer down at what used to be Caracas or in the opposite direction into the great, salty off-white expanse of what was once the Caribbean Sea.

The field technician and the rest of the team have set up camp at the Humboldt Hotel for the final part of this noble expedition. From here, it is possible to observe the Eraser from the relatively safe distance of 150 kilometers. While the creature could reach us in a matter of seconds, having left its subterranean nest to lurch, arachnid-like, upon the desolate surface of what used to be the island of Fransisqui, the team has hypothesized that it will not leave its eggs.

The team will return to Basseterre after a period of proper observation of the Eraser, in order to ensure that the disturbance of the creature hasn’t agitated it to the point of further global catastrophe.

The team’s return will be notable for more than just the companionship of a chicken-sized, salt-eating jungle bird, though Nightbird deserves to be welcomed with the effervescent mixture of hope and joy that humanity misplaced long ago. Whether or not vengeance or even progress results from the field team’s discoveries, this noble expedition will have been a success. The team returns with the knowledge that the Erasure was committed by force rather than by fluke. The aim of returning time to humankind may also be realized, as knowledge of the beast that nearly destroyed humanity may allow for its sterilization or (though hope to this degree may be inappropriate) destruction. Either result would give humans time. Time to rebuild, time to repossess, time to renew.

The field technician’s ancestor observed that human happiness is determined by how obstacles are met, rather than the obstacles themselves (the field technician must note that he is paraphrasing). The information gathered on this expedition will allow humanity to meet the catastrophic events of the Erasure, mysterious for so long, with knowledge and action.

—E. Humbletrot