THE IRON GULLET OF LAKE VELES

FISH WITH BOLTED JAWS

Élodie Beauchamp’s morning catch writhed in the net like shrapnel in a sack. Thirty walleye spilled onto the dock, their mouths fused shut with iron bolts. One fish thrashed violently, copper-plated gills humming Kerrivan Mining’s anthem: “From Earth’s cold womb, we bring the future’s bloom!”

Her father Guillaume knelt, arthritis-twisted fingers twitching northward—a new symptom local called “compass syndrome.” Everyone near Lake Veles could now point magnetic north with their bones.

“Phase Two’s accelerating,” he muttered, prying open a fish’s jaw. Inside: a corporate memo titled Project Mjölnir – Waste Conversion via Bio-Gastric Assimilation.

The radio crackled: “All boats return! The Maggot’s surfaced at Sector 7!”

THE IRON LAMPREY

The Mjölnir Maggot rose like a skyscraper-sized lamprey forged in hell’s smelter. Its mouth spun with salvaged mining drills, sucking suicidal trout into a copper-plated gullet.

Kerrivan CEO Diane Carmichael observed from her climate-controlled barge. “Marvelous, isn’t it?” she told Élodie. “Her gut flora neutralizes arsenic. The fish consumption… regrettable collateral.”

A tremor rocked the boat as the Maggot defecated. Waste crystallized into jagged vivianite spires that pierced the lakebed like Satan’s fence posts.

“Shoreline stabilization!” Diane beamed. “Nature collaborating with industry!”

BONE ECONOMY

Lac des Écorces became a carnival of horrors:

• Children’s teeth grew replaceable as drill bits
• Morgue corpses attracted scrap metal like human magnets
• Miners coughed vivianite shards forming perfect corporate logos

Guillaume discovered his arthritis-mapped mineral deposits. Kerrivan offered $200/day to “lease” his bones as prospecting tools.

“They’re harvesting us!” Élodie protested.

Her father signed the contract, hands quivering northward. “My body stopped being mine when the Maggot came. This buys insulin.”

THE UNCONFESSION

Élodie infiltrated Kerrivan’s chapel-like lab. Engineers force-fed the Maggot:

• Cree treaty medals (“for ethical digestion”)
• Competitors’ stock certificates
• Lithium-laced holy water blessed by company priests

The Maggot’s 18 Hz screams vibrated through workers’ empathy dampeners. Diane caught Élodie filming.

“Pollution’s just resource distribution gone romantic!” she snapped, gesturing to vivianite condos. “We’re saving the lake!”

CREE RESISTANCE

62-year-old Cree geologist Mahikan Asiniy recognized the beast’s true name: Pihêsiw-iskotêw – Iron Horse of Disease. She showed Élodie how to “listen” to the lake by submerging her magnetized hand:

*The water whispered:

• Ancestral caribou paths becoming mining roads
• Children’s laughter crystallized into vivianite
• The Maggot’s original form – a sacred sturgeon grafted with crushers*

“They reversed our fish traps,” Mahikan spat. “Weapons from healing tools.”

OSTEOPLASTY NIGHTMARE

Guillaume began sleepwalking toward the lake, spine arched unnaturally north. When Élodie grabbed him:

CRACK-CRACK-CRACK

Three ribs snapped free, embedding in a vivianite spire. Golden ichor (copper-rich blood) pooled where bone met rock.

Kerrivan’s osteoplasty clinic offered replacements:

• $49/month: Recycled drill shard femurs
• $299/month: Lab-grown ivory (mammoth DNA + mine sediment)

“Modern solutions for modern problems!” chirped the brochure.

SHAREHOLDER SERMON

Diane addressed investors from a vivianite spire:

“Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve achieved biological leverage! Fish depletion? We’ve patented RFID trout that prospect while swimming! Bone magnetization? Our new OsseoNav software lets militaries track enemies via knee cartilage!

When Mjölnir pupates, its chrysalis becomes a zero-carbon smelter. Take that, Greta!”

SABOTAGE

Élodie and Mahikan’s counterattack:

1. Cree Reversal: Fed the Maggot treaty medals coated in ancestral tobacco ash
2. Biological Hack: Miners swallowed iron filings to distort Kerrivan’s bone scans
3. Poetic Justice: Played Diane’s ESG speeches to trigger the Maggot’s “ethics allergy”

The beast convulsed, vomiting stolen minerals as harmless sand.

AFTERBIRTH

Diane lives entombed in a vivianite statue of herself (“Perfect for lobbyist decor!”). Workers’ bones crumbled to salt – painful but free.

The Maggot hibernates offshore, snacking on illegal dumpers. Locals build hurricane-proof homes from vivianite.

Guillaume’s remaining bones still point north. Kerrivan sends monthly offers to buy his skeleton.

Élodie tends new walleye stocks – their scales glinting with pyrite, unbolted jaws singing forgotten Cree lullabies.

Some nights, the lake hums with Diane’s voice echoing through vivianite spires: “Phase Two’s cephalopod assets show immense promise…”