Bosphorus 2099

An illustrated story by Kervan Studio · Sci-fi · Futuristic · All ages · English, Turkish, German, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Indonesian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean

Also in: Türkçe · Deutsch · Español · Português · Français · Bahasa Indonesia

A teenage drone courier and an old ferry's hologram-seagull AI find out why Istanbul's tide barriers keep failing the old streets.

In 2099, glass towers stand on stilts above old Istanbul, while the sea keeps flooding the old waterfront streets of Balat. The Tide Authority says the barriers are simply too old, and the old neighbourhoods must move. Courier Defne Kaya and Lodos, the hologram-seagull AI of retired Captain Nuri's ferry, find the truth: a secret cable feeds barrier power to the luxury towers, signed by Director Sezer. Grounded and out of time, they wake the old ferry for one last voyage into the storm, to the Maiden's Tower and the captain's forgotten code.

Characters

Defne Kaya (Drone courier): A seventeen-year-old sky courier who knows every roof and alley of old Istanbul.
Lodos (The old ferry's AI): The forty-year-old AI of Captain Nuri's ferry, who appears as a glowing hologram seagull.
Captain Nuri Demir (Retired ferry captain): An eighty-year-old captain who lives on his old ferry in Balat and has not sailed in twenty years.
Director Bora Sezer (Head of the Tide Authority): The polished director of the city's Tide Authority, who secretly sends barrier power to the luxury towers.

Episode 1: Water in the Streets

Courier Defne finds the sea in the old streets of Balat again. On Captain Nuri's ferry, his hologram seagull AI Lodos says the barriers are not old at all: something is holding them half open.

Istanbul, 2099: Defne flies the sky lanes. — *Istanbul, 2099. New towers above, old streets below.*
**Defne Kaya**: Twelve deliveries left. Easy!

She dives down toward old Balat. — *Whoosh!*
**Defne Kaya**: Hot simit for Captain Nuri, coming down!

The street is flooded again. — **Defne Kaya**: Water in the streets again? The barriers should hold!

Delivery to Captain Nuri on his old ferry. — **Defne Kaya**: Your simit, Captain!
**Captain Nuri Demir**: Thank you, Defne. Sit. The tea is hot.

Lodos the hologram seagull appears. — *Bzzzt!*
**Lodos**: Careful tonight. The sea is in a bad mood.

Director Sezer on the news: the old streets must move. — **Director Bora Sezer**: The old barriers are failing. The old streets must move.

Nuri is heartbroken. — **Captain Nuri Demir**: Move? My family has lived here for two hundred years.

Lodos says the barriers are not old. — **Lodos**: Old? I watched them being built in 2071.
**Defne Kaya**: Then why do they keep failing?

Lodos shows his tide log. — **Lodos**: Every time the towers rise, the gates stop halfway.
**Defne Kaya**: At the same minute? That is no accident.

Lodos joins Defne on her drone. — **Captain Nuri Demir**: Go, both of you. Bring back the truth.
**Lodos**: Aye, Captain!

Episode 2: The Half-Closed Gate

At midnight high tide, Defne and Lodos find a secret cable stealing power from the barrier gates for the luxury towers, escape a swarm of security drones, and bring home proof signed by Director Sezer.

Midnight: flying to the barrier. — *Tuesday. Midnight. High tide.*

The gate is stuck halfway. — **Defne Kaya**: It's stuck halfway!
**Lodos**: Not stuck. Held.

Defne lands on the maintenance walkway. — **Lodos**: This cable is new. Someone added it.

The cable runs up to New Horizon. — **Defne Kaya**: It goes all the way up... to the towers.

The towers lift themselves with barrier power. — **Lodos**: The towers rise above the tide with the gates' power.
**Defne Kaya**: They take it from the old streets!

Security drones swarm them. — *BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!*
**Lodos**: Security drones! Fly, Defne, fly!

Chase under the old Galata Bridge. — **Defne Kaya**: Hold on, Lodos!
**Lodos**: I'm a hologram! I have nothing to hold with!

They hide in the steam of a hover-ferry. — **Defne Kaya**: Lights off. Not a sound.
**Lodos**: ...They are gone.

Back on the ferry, the data shows a signature. — *ORDER: New Horizon first. Approved: Director B. Sezer.*
**Defne Kaya**: Sezer signed it himself.

A storm is coming. — **Lodos**: A storm comes on Friday. The biggest in ten years.
**Defne Kaya**: Then we have three days.

Episode 3: Grounded

Director Sezer offers Defne a flat in the towers to stay quiet; she refuses and loses her courier license. Grounded, she learns old ferries carried an emergency key to the barriers, and the whole street works through the night to wake the Yakamoz.

Defne shows the proof to the neighbours. — **Defne Kaya**: The barriers work. Someone turned them down!

Sezer invites her up to his office. — **Director Bora Sezer**: The famous courier! Come, let's talk.

Sezer offers her a flat to stay quiet. — **Director Bora Sezer**: A new flat in the towers. Just forget the cable.
**Defne Kaya**: My street is not for sale.

Sezer cancels her courier license. — **Director Bora Sezer**: Then your courier license is cancelled.
*Bzzt!*

Grounded, Defne walks home in the rain. — **Defne Kaya**: No drone. No job. And nobody believes us.
**Lodos**: Chin up. We still have a ship.

Lodos remembers the ferry emergency key. — **Lodos**: Old ferries had a key to the gates. For emergencies.
**Captain Nuri Demir**: My captain's code! I still remember it.

The code only works inside the Maiden's Tower. — **Lodos**: The code must be typed in the Maiden's Tower.
**Defne Kaya**: Without my drone, how do we get there?

Nuri decides the Yakamoz will sail. — **Defne Kaya**: Yakamoz hasn't sailed in twenty years!
**Captain Nuri Demir**: Then tonight, she wakes up.

The whole street works all night on the engine. — *All night, the whole street worked.*

At dawn, the old engine roars. — *CHUG-CHUG... VROOOM!*
**Lodos**: She is alive, Captain!
**Captain Nuri Demir**: Storm or no storm, we sail.

Episode 4: The Captain's Code

In the storm, the old ferry slips past Sezer's blockade to the Maiden's Tower. Nuri's code wakes the barriers, Lodos shows the truth to every screen in Istanbul, and the old streets stay dry.

The Yakamoz sets out into the storm. — *Friday night. The storm arrives.*
**Captain Nuri Demir**: Cast off!

Lodos guides them by the old routes. — **Lodos**: Hard to the left! The old route is safer.
**Captain Nuri Demir**: Just like old times, Lodos.

Security boats block the way. — **Director Bora Sezer**: Turn back, Captain. That is an order.
**Captain Nuri Demir**: I take my orders from the sea!

The ferry slips through a gap in the blockade. — *SPLASH!*
**Defne Kaya**: We're through!

They reach the Maiden's Tower. — *CRACK! BOOM!*
**Defne Kaya**: Hold the ship here, Captain!

Sezer is already at the console. — **Director Bora Sezer**: Too late. The towers come first.
**Defne Kaya**: Not tonight.

Nuri types his code on the old brass keypad. — *Beep!*
**Lodos**: Captain's code accepted!

Lodos sends the truth to every screen in the city. — *Every screen in Istanbul showed the truth.*
**Lodos**: Ferry rule: in an emergency, everyone must know.

The barriers rise and hold back the storm. — *BOOM!*
**Defne Kaya**: The gates are holding! They are holding!

Morning: the old streets are safe. — *Sezer lost his job. Defne got her license back.*
**Lodos**: Same time tomorrow, Captain?
**Captain Nuri Demir**: Every day, old friend.