-100CXX
Story by Verónica Devenin · Illustration by Luisa Rivera
Translated from Spanish by John Bentley
Magae moved slowly, as always, feeling her way around the terrain with her long green tendrils. She roamed aimlessly like this each day, without really knowing where she was going. She let the rough rocks guide her and avoided obstacles, watching, and carefully choosing which tide to follow.
One day, she was busy doing just that, when she bumped into something. “Ouch!”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you,” boomed a deep, cavernous voice. A frosty breath froze Magae’s newest, most delicate strands. “I’m lost, you see? I don’t know how I got here. I just know that at some point, somehow, I broke away, and began an unexpected journey.”
Magae touched the strange creature.
“You’re really cold and slippery. Are you ill?” Magae asked in her best Morse code, her offshoots turning blue.
“Actually, I think I’ve got a bit of a fever. I’m much colder normally, not slippery at all… you’d stick to me if you touched me!” The enormous chunk of ice laughed. Magae could see a distorted reflection of herself on the shiny surface. “My name is -100CXX.”
Magae thought about this, just as slowly as she moved. She believed that if you took your time, you could consider all the options — the pros, the cons, the ups, the downs, and the sideways. She stirred, and all her tendrils came alive, like sensors. Where could -100CXX have come from?
“It’s coldest over there,” said Magae, her threads recovering from the thermal shock. “If you help me up, I’ll help you get home.”
-100CXX’s smooth surface began to glow with small blue cracks and ridges. Magae gathered supplies and gradually detached parts of her body to embark on this unforeseeable adventure. Once she had climbed to the very top, Magae began giving directions in Morse code with her gentle fingers. The massive body of -100CXX resounded with a special rhythm:
Dot dash dash dot /
dot dash dot dash dot dot/
dash dash dot dash dash dash dot dot dash dot dash dash dot/
dot dot dot dot dash dash dash dash dash dot/
Dot dash dash dot dot dot dot dot dot dash dot dot/
dash dot dot dot dot dot/
dash dot dash dot dash dash dash dot dash dot dot dash dot dot/
dot dot dot dot dot
Dash dash dash dash/
dot dot dash dot dot dot dash dot dash dot dot/
dash dash dash dot dash dash/
dot dot dash dot dot dash dash dash dot dot dot dash dot dot dash dot dash dash
Drawn by the music, other travelling companions soon joined them. Birds flew overhead and perched on top of -100CXX. Dolphins danced to the beat of the newfound DJ of the seas, adding their own tunes to the mix. Penguins swam underneath, playing with the currents, helping -100CXX to turn or keep straight ahead when she needed to.
After a few days, the path became strange. They came across objects that didn’t respond to their signals or questions—not even when they accidentally bumped into them. Clusters of lifeless beings floated like ghostly travellers heading nowhere. They were of different shapes and colours, destined to wander endlessly in the seas, catching fish and other living creatures, but unable to play with them or even eat them. Magae felt sorry for them. Cast adrift, they were left to gather together forever. When they finally managed to pass the fragments of the island, they continued their journey in silence.
They were still trying to understand what had happened when -100CXX slowed down. Something was impeding her progress, as if she had got caught in something sticky and, what’s more, which smelled awful.
“Phew! What’s that?” she exclaimed. “It’s sticking to me all over, and getting into the pores of my skin!”
-100CXX suddenly felt sick and weak. Magae looked down and saw a black stain, like a pool of sludge, calmly sat amidst the waves and currents. It was so thick that it seemed unmovable.
“I’ve seen this before,” said an affable tern, and quickly warned the penguins and dolphins to change their course. “It’s darkness.”
Despite the light and water, it would never break up.
“We have to get out of here. We can’t stop.”
“I don’t know if I can!” exclaimed -100CXX.
Magae stirred and activated her slender branches like sensors.
“The wind’s blowing that way,” she pointed softly. “Let’s use its force!”
-100CXX turned her massive body and soon felt herself pushed, firmly but slowly forward. But she still needed to get free from the darkness that had engulfed her. “How am I going to clean it off?” Magae wondered to herself. As the days passed, the sticky substance released its grip, little by little, though not completely. A greyish scar remained forever on -100CXX’s enormous icy body.
Without the dolphins and penguins, the journey felt lonelier. But the waves rocked them gently, making the voyage both adventurous and dreamy. Days turned to weeks until, one day, a loud, resonant sound suddenly echoed through -100CXX’s bluish-white body. A shiver rippled through her. It was an unmistakable sign: they were near to home.
Magae wrapped her tendrils around herself, and the tern swaddled her in his feathers to keep her warm.
“I’ll take you wherever you want to go,” he said.
Magae stroked the bird as a gesture of gratitude.
Several hours later, vast expanses of ice appeared in the distance. Magae wanted to warn -100CXX, but her tendrils were now stuck to the coldest ice she had ever felt. She knew it was time for her to leave. A little steam here and there, and she managed to break free, allowing the tern to carry her away in his claws, ready to explore new paths.
-100CXX quickened her pace.
“Here I am!” she boomed, her voice renewed.
With one final push, the block of ice joined the vast glaciers, clinging to them in a long embrace. In her colossal body, she had stored the rhythms of her journey, which she now transmitted and amplified to tell the story of her voyage.
Magae stared into the distance. The tale had also been etched into her threads, a living memory waiting to touch the ground again and, from within her body, continue weaving the web of life.
For the reader: Further ideas for the story
- Can you work out the lyrics of the music? Here’s a clue: Look up “how to decipher Morse code”.
- What do you think was the rhythm of Magae -100CXX’s music? Make up the beat!
Notes from the author Verónica Devenin: Pantera magazine is a pioneering publication on environmental education for kids, teaching about ecology through the intersection of nature and art. Started in 2019, it is published three times a year in Spanish, Catalan, Galician, and Basque. The magazine is published by Savanna Books, a Spanish company based in Valencia. Since 2014, Savanna Books has focused on publishing fiction and non-fiction stories for children, young adults, and adults that center on eco-social themes and issues related to nature.
Pantera Magazine‘s sixth issue was dedicated to the Arctic and Antarctica. This was my first time being asked to write for the magazine, and it came right before a holiday trip from Barcelona to Asturias. During the trip, I tried to get an idea of what story I could write, but nothing felt right.
One of those days, in a small village full of stone walls marked by moisture, I went for a walk. I came across one of those walls and a moss, which is ‘musgo’ in spanish, caught my attention. This moss inspired Magae, an undefinable creature – somewhere between terrestrial and marine – that in my story helps -100CXX. And just as Magae continues on her way without knowing exactly where she’s going, I began to write this story. I let it weave itself together, pulling threads from everything I carry with me. With “-100CXX,” I discovered my way of writing stories.
What does “-100CXX” bring? It brings the effects of climate change, oil spills, and plastic islands. But it also brings solidarity and reciprocity, the (imagined) voices of non-humans, alternative energy sources, and the possibility to restore or regenerate. It brings hope. Several ingredients for a cocktail that’s best served cold, at sub-zero temperatures, and in a feminine key 😉
Verónica Devenin is a Chilean-French academic with a background in sociology and a Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences and Technologies. She currently serves as a professor and researcher in sustainable, regenerative and post-growth business at EADA Business School in Barcelona, Spain. As part of her pedagogical work, she composes stories that seek to foster a renewed connection with the natural world and cultivate an ecocentric worldview in younger generations.
Veronica says: I am grateful. I always wanted to write; I had that urge, but I didn’t know what I wanted to write about. Time passed. I studied sociology. For many years, I worked in the industry at the root of climate change: fossil fuels. Then, I earned a PhD in environmental science and technology and dedicated myself to teaching and researching how businesses can create positive impact, regenerate, and create systemic value within planetary boundaries. I’ve had the fortune to know people who have dedicated themselves to these ventures, and to learn from them.
This has given meaning to all my efforts and to the energy that nurtures different areas of action: teaching and research, creating pedagogical materials, and my volunteer work for like-minded organizations. And now, finally, writing. Everything, even my time at a petroleum refinery, has been part of the fabric of knowledge and experiences that intertwine and cross-pollinate—mysteriously, I would say—to give shape to the stories I write. When I reread them, I see in them, in every small detail, a piece of that entire journey.