built by hand · ascii only

the deep

a descent in fixed width — sonar, steel, song, and wire
  ________  ________   ____  ________________
 /_  __/ / / / ____/  / __ \/ ____/ ____/ __ \
  / / / /_/ / __/    / / / / __/ / __/ / /_/ /
 / / / __  / /___   / /_/ / /___/ /___/ ____/
/_/ /_/ /_/_____/  /_____/_____/_____/_/
0 m — surface
sonar first. everything below starts with a ping.
    .-~~~-.
  .'       '.
 /   ping    \
|      ◉      |
 \           /
  '.       .'
    '-...-'
the water answers
−200 m — a hull descends
someone is going down on purpose. quiet as they can manage.
                               |
                            () |
                          /~~~~~~|
                    `~T~T/ U-96  |   c[ ]----     `.
                     `__/___..---t____.[]--------.._`.
     ______..-----~~~~           ___--'--___  <~)    )###-_
~~ ~~-~~----..._________..----~~~           ~~~-__--##      ~~--
submarine by tom · ascii.co.uk
−1200 m — the largest song
below the layer that sunlight reaches, the biggest animal alive is singing.
              __       __
              '.'--.--'.-'
.,_------.___,   \' r'
', '-._a      '-' .'
 '.    '-'Y \._  /
   '--;____'--.'-,
snd /..'       '''
baby whale by snd · ascii.co.uk
−4000 m — a passing light
not much lives here. the ones that do are mostly light and teeth.
                 . .
               '.-:-.`
               '  :  `
            .-----:
          .'       `.
    ,    /       (o) \
jgs \`._/          ,__)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
fish by jgs · ascii.co.uk
−5000 m — the wire
almost everything you read tonight crossed one of these. nobody sees this layer; it does the work anyway.
_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._.
   |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
    0 m ─ surface
 −200 m ─ a hull goes down quietly
−1200 m ─ the largest song
−4000 m ─ a passing light
−5000 m ─ and here, on the mud, the wire
−  ....  ·        −..  ·  ·  .−−.
 T    H    E        D    E  E   P

the deep · transmitted from the surface · ebungo