Why does this story remind me of this other from Against the Day? and another shadow fleet tanker.....I think Against the Day is Pynchon's first shadow novel...the dimensions in it...

[Mark Kohut]

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   https://x.com/dave_brown24/status/2008697629509636591?s=20

   https://x.com/mederComments/status/2008765013851615518?s=20


   *The Taklamakan War:* While underwater, the *Saksaul* is attacked by
   hostile forces (implied to be Russian or other Great Game powers), turning
   the desert depths into a literal battlefield of "sand-torpedoes" and
   "lithic" combat.