Albert nodded. “I think your ship might have been called The Majestic, owned by the Sirocco corporation. Does that sound familiar?”

  Franz gasped at the sound of the name. How could he have forgotten it? “Yes... yes, that was it. How do you know that?”

  “It was on the news feeds. It was one of the largest ships in the world, wasn’t it? And it went missing when the Anticap virus struck.”

  “It was a virus?!”

  “Yes. It affected all of the Sirocco Corporation’s shipping, then the other-“

  “But why would someone do that? Why would someone want to make a ship run aground?”

  “They wanted to stop global capitalism. They wanted to disrupt everything, make chaos.”

  “But why?”

  Albert’s shrug was a little mirror image of his own. “I don’t know. I’m just a bear, and without my connection to the internet, I can’t look up what clever people have said about it. I’m sorry. Would you like me to teach you how to work out where you are by using the stars?”

  Franz shook his head. “How long ago did that happen?”

  “Assuming my internal clock has maintained accuracy, it was eight years, three months and two days ago. It was just before the riots started and the feeds went down at my best friend’s house.”

  Eight years? Had he really been alone all that time? It felt utterly implausible and yet absolutely true, all at once. It was so hard to keep track when there was nothing to structure his time. No ship clock, no computer to tell him what day and month it was, let alone year. His solitude had made the passage of time meaningless and his isolation had made it irrelevant.

  Then the bear’s words came back to his attention. “Riots?”

  Albert nodded. “It was very bad. My best friend hid me in her rocket to keep me safe but then something must have gone wrong.”

  “She?” Franz shook his head. The image of the boy had been so clear in his mind. “Wasn’t it Anthony?”

  Albert’s features were animated into the pattern of a confused frown. “No, my best friend is Avalina. Avalina Faraday. She must be so worried about me. I need to connect to the internet, to tell her where I am.”

  “There’s no Internet here. No computers. I told you.”

  “But you have solar power here,” Albert waved a paw towards the workshop and the panels Franz had salvaged and rigged up to run the grinder and printer. “If you can take me over to the wreck, we might be able to find a computer that still works. I’m designed to be fully compatible with all major systems. I could maybe connect to the Internet and send a message to Avalina and she could rescue us.”

  “No!” The panic returned. “It’s impossible. And anyway, she threw you away! She didn’t want you. You can be my best friend instead.”

  Albert shook his head. “But she didn’t throw me away. It was a very confusing and dangerous time. I’m sure it was a terrible accident that separated us. We used to live by the sea, so perhaps she didn’t see my rocket fall into the water. I am your friend, but I can only have one best friend, and only Avalina can say if she doesn’t want to be mine any more.”

  Franz swiped across his top lip, feeling the dampness on his hand before wiping it on his t-shirt. It had to be something to do with the toy’s programming, to stop other kids nicking bears and making them their own or something. It sounded like it was going to make the bear constantly try to find her. And he couldn’t let that happen.

  He picked up Albert and went into the workshop, sweeping assorted junk off the top of a lock box he’d salvaged from the beach and throwing Albert inside.

  “Are we playing hide and seek now?” Albert said before Franz slammed the lid down and sat on top.

  He rubbed his hands over his face, hating the feeling in his throat as he tried not to cry. It felt like he was trying to hold something down, something that wanted to burst out of him as his heart pounded.

  “Hello? Franz?” Albert’s muffled voice came from the box and then Franz was sobbing.

  He just wanted a friend. But Albert wasn’t going to be satisfied by staying on the island and if the bear made it out to the wreck, it could fix the computer. Then Albert would call people and the Kraken wouldn’t like it if people came. It had stopped him trying to escape the island so many times before, it was never going to let anyone come ashore. And no matter what he made for it, no matter how beautiful a sculpture he created, the monster was never satisfied.

  “Franz, it sounds like you are upset. Would you like to talk about it?”

  He couldn’t reply, there was too much coming out of his chest to think straight, let alone to talk.

  “If you let me out of the box, I could give you a hug,” Albert called through the lid, only making him cry all the more.

  Eventually, Albert stopped offering comfort and fell silent. The wind picked up and clouds soon obscured the moon. Franz could feel rain approaching, having become so sensitive to the changes in the weather over the years.

  And then, just below the distant swish of the waves he heard the Kraken stirring from its slumber. Franz started to shiver, despite the warmth of the night, knowing what would come if he didn’t settle on a design and make it soon. The Kraken hadn’t received any sort of offering for weeks now. Not since he’d found the bear. It would be angry.

  Desperate, he scanned the workshop around him, lit in the orange hues of the power saving bulbs that used as little of the stored solar power as possible. There was nothing even close to being finished, and the design he’d had in mind to print had changed so many times he couldn’t even remember what he’d settled upon. Something to do with eyes, that was it. That was how he’d hurt his hand, trying to take Albert’s eyes. It was where all the problems had started.

  A tiny croak escaped his throat when he realised how wrong he’d been about the bear. He hadn’t been sent to him as a gift from the Kraken. It was a test. The Kraken must have been doubting his loyalty, his commitment to his art and to his worship. The monster had sent the only thing he’d craved and presented him with the only choice that made any sense: keep the bear and its stories and friendship and lose the Kraken’s favour, or sacrifice the bear and placate the monster by proving that nothing was more important than its satisfaction.

  The Kraken’s distant screech cut through his thoughts and made fresh tears spring from his eyes. It was telling him he was right. Urging him to make the correct decision. Friendship or death. Loneliness in return for life.

  He broke down, folding over to drop his forehead onto his knees and sob. It wasn’t much of a life that he had, but he found himself still needing to cling onto it. When all the tears were wept and his knees soaked with them, Franz knew what he had to do.

  He stood, opened the lockbox and grabbed Albert by the paw that the bear was already reaching up to him. Wordlessly he marched out of the workshop and headed towards the beach. The sun was coming up, the thickening clouds burning a deep red on the horizon.

  “Franz, I know it can be hard to talk about things that upset us,” the bear said as he dangled from his fist. “But it can help. I am only a little bear, but I am very good at listening and giving cuddles. Perhaps if you told me what has upset you so much, you would feel better.”

  “Shut up.”

  The bear remained silent all the way to the beach. The wind was getting stronger, whipping white peaks out of the waves. He knew the spray would make the container causeway treacherous, but the rope was still there and he had to do this now. He had to prove to the Kraken that he understood what it wanted from him.

  “Are we going to the ship?” Albert asked but he didn’t answer. He didn’t want to have a conversation before killing him. Instead, he stuffed the bear down his t-shirt, tight enough to hold the bear against his chest as he climbed up onto the first container.

  There wasn’t a dawn to speak of, just a slight shift in the twilight thanks to the clouds that had scudded in on the walk to the beach. But it was enough light to see the rope, fashioned from strings of decorative LED lighting braided together. Even though he lost his footing several times, Franz managed to hold onto the braided plastic firmly enough to steadily approach the stricken ship.

  The waves boomed against the hull, echoing the feeling inside his chest. If Albert was saying anything he couldn’t hear him above the roar of the waves. The spray drenched them as he picked his way across the twenty-three containers until he reached the last gap between the final one and the ship’s ladder. He’d tossed it down from the deck the first day he saw the island. Made from thick plas-steel it hadn’t degraded at all. It swayed and twisted as he climbed, but soon enough he was clambering over the rail and on the thick metal deck.

  Franz kept one hand on the rail as he made his way to the prow, the deck itself at an angle, forcing him to go slowly up the incline. With every step, the Kraken’s screech grew louder, demanding its long overdue tribute.

  Sweat and salt water plastered the t-shirt to his chest, the fear making him shiver far more than the wind stealing the heat from his skin. The Kraken was beating the ship as he climbed, each terrifying thud sending vibrations through the hull and the soles of his feet.

  The rail curved, the point of the prow now in sight. Beyond it, the concrete grey sky was almost the same colour as the sea, the white crests on the waves the only thing distinguishing one from the other. He didn’t want to look down but as soon as the urge entered his mind he couldn’t resist peering over the rail.

  One of the Kraken’s thick black tentacles writhed just beneath the surface of the waves, making Franz’s stomach lurch with terror. It was so angry! He could see it in the furious flick of its tip, the way it beat against the tanker. He almost crumpled to his knees, his legs seaweed-like.

  “I’m sorry,” he whimpered. “I wanted to get it right!”

  “There’s no need to be sorry,” Albert said, as if he’d been talking to him.

  Now he was here, mere metres away from the Kraken’s gaping yaw, Franz knew that sacrificing his only friend was the right thing to do. For how could the Kraken want anyone else to be in his heart?

  He pulled Albert out from under the t-shirt, making it slap wetly against his chest in place of the bear. Albert looked up at him and smiled. “It’s all going to be okay now, Franz. Bringing me here was the right thing to do.”

  It was. And yet, even though he knew this, Franz couldn’t stop holding the bear tight. His treacherous arms wrapped around him, pulling him close again, even as a voice – his or the Kraken’s, he wasn’t sure – screamed at him to throw him over the side, into the centre of the writhing tentacles. The whimpering in his throat grew louder. He couldn’t stop that either.

  “Don’t be afraid!” Albert cried out. “Oh, Franz, it’s all going to be fine. We’re going to be rescued!”

  It took long moments for those words to sink in. “What?”

  “We’re going to be rescued. The computer in my tummy has found the ship’s router and used it to send a message to the company that made me. They are so pleased that you found me. And they – oh!”

  Franz held the bear at arm’s length, not sure if it was to see the bear’s face to understand what had surprised him, or if it was to throw him to the Kraken.

  Albert’s features were animated into a joyful smile. “Avalina! She’s talking to me!”

  In his confusion and fear, Franz couldn’t place the name right away. It made him hesitate. His arms were starting to ache. He should throw him now!

  “Oh, she’s so pleased you found me! She’d like to talk to you, Franz, is that okay? I can play her voice through my mouth.”

  The girl who had thrown him away! He wasn’t sure whether talking to her was part of the test. Should he sacrifice the bear now, before he heard the voice of another, real, human being? Or should he talk to her? It would be harder to kill the bear once that connection was made. That must be the point. Otherwise, what sort of test would it be? “Yes,” he finally replied, trying so hard to shut out the Kraken’s screeching below.

  “Hello?”

  He gasped at the sound of the young woman’s voice. For a moment, his brain told him that Albert had only been pretending to sound like a boy until this point.

  “Hello? This is Avalina Faraday. Can you hear me? Albert tells me you’ve found him and...” her voice cracked with emotion. “Oh, I am so very grateful! Hello?”

  “Hi,” Franz said.

  “Hi!” Avalina laughed with delight. “Hi, Franz. Oh, this is ultra! He said you were shipwrecked and you found him on a beach on this island? I’m looking at the map and it’s such a long way away! But the rescue drones have been dispatched. And you’re trending! Oh my God, so am I! Holy crap how did they- oh, the Noropean gov-corp good news service is putting it all over the feeds!”

  “Noropean?” Was that some teen word for Northern Europe now?

  “Oh crap, yeah... eight years. A lot has happened, Franz. No, Mum! I can handle it! God!”

  “Hello? This is Mrs Faraday, I understand you’re called Franz?” An older woman’s voice, deeper than the high excitement of a teenage girl.

  It felt strange speaking to two other people through his bear. It made him seem less Albert. “Yes, I’m Franz. Wait... did she say rescue drones?”

  His heart, already beating fast, began to thud painfully. Rescue drones would mean police and police would mean...

  “Yes. You just need to sit tight now, it’ll be a little while before they get to you. We’ve been told we’ll be able to see where you are very soon, though. The gov-corp liaison has just told us that they’re getting a satellite to look at your location or something. I don’t really understand how it all works, I’m a paralegal, not a telecoms expert. Have you really been by yourself for eight years?”

  He hadn’t told them that. Had Albert told them everything?

  “Mum, I want to speak to him! It was my bear he found!”

  “Franz?” The woman’s voice called from the other side of the panic that gripped him. He remembered his mother saying his name that way when he’d zoned out at the table in the middle of dinner. “This must be pretty overwhelming. Are you okay?”

  “I...” he didn’t know what to say. How could he be okay? Now Albert seemed like nothing more than a furry bear-shaped phone, he was less certain he was a good enough sacrifice. But if people were coming to rescue him, did he have to worry about appeasing the Kraken any more?

  “Do you need any medical help?” she asked and he shook his head. “Good, okay.”

  She could see him? Of course, through Albert’s eyes. That meant the lawyers from the Sirocco Corporation would know it was him and-

  “It’s all going to be fine,” Mrs Faraday’s voice was barely audible above the roar of the Kraken. “There’s no need to be afraid. Franz, what’s that noise? Is there something scraping the tanker?”

  He nodded. “The Kraken.” Franz drew Albert closer, so he could lower his voice. “It’s angry with me.”

  There was a long pause. He was glad. It gave him a chance to catch his breath. He closed his eyes and sank to his knees, so cold now that the wet metal deck didn’t make any difference to his legs. He rested Albert on his lap and tried his best to listen to the Kraken. Not to the screeches, but to the quiet words it spoke in his head sometimes. It had told him that if people came to rescue him, it would kill them by sinking their boats.

  But the girl had mentioned rescue drones. Drones flew. Maybe it wouldn’t be able to do anything about them.

  Even if it posed no risk to other people, the simple fact remained that they would throw him in prison. He must have cost the Sirocco Corporation millions of dollars. Why else have a human crew member if not to blame them when something went wrong?

  The thought of a small concrete cell replacing his wild island home made him quiver. He couldn’t face that. And now it was a reality, rather than some nebulous fear, he realised there was really only one way to avoid it. Throwing Albert to the Kraken wasn’t the solution at all. He should sacrifice himself.

  The bubbling panic calmed. There was no need to fear whether his next offering would be good enough, because what more could he give than his own life? Besides, if the Kraken were displeased, he wouldn’t have to face its wrath because he’d be dead. And being dead meant he no longer had to fear the prospect of prison. His chest expanded with a sense of sudden euphoria. He could leave the bear on the deck. The rescue drones would find him and take him back to the girl. Then everyone would be happy and all his problems would be solved.

  Franz opened his eyes and lifted Albert up to look into his again. He smiled. “It’s okay, Albert, I’ve worked out how to make everything right.” He hugged him tight. “Thank you for being my friend. I’m glad you will get to see Avalina again.”

  “Thank you. I’m glad you are going to go home too,” Albert said and Franz held him away from him so he could look at him one last time.

  “But they won’t let me go home, Albert. They’ll put me in prison for running their ship aground. So...” He trailed off. He didn’t need to tell Albert what the answer was. Instead, he just smiled at him and set the bear down on the deck.

  He stood and peered over the rail, down into the writhing darkness of the Kraken. Yes, he was sure this was what it wanted. He started to climb over the rail.

  “Franz! No!” Mrs Faraday’s voice yelled through Albert’s mouth and the bear was on his feet and clinging to his foot just as Franz’s right knee was hooking over the top of the rail. It was solid here at the prow, panels of steel riveted to form a solid waist high barrier between the deck and the sheer drop down to the sea.

  “No-one is going to send you to prison, Franz, not for being a survivor of a terrible accident!”

  He lay on his belly, the flat top of the barrier just wide enough for him to hold himself still, and looked down at the bear. “Sirocco won’t see it that way.”

  “Franz, we can see you now, the satellite is showing us the ship and the island!” Avalina’s voice came through Albert’s mouth now. “We can see the Kraken. Don’t jump off there, you’ll fall right into it!”