Carl
Carl is the name April gives the ten-foot, samurai-armored metal figure that appears overnight on 23rd Street, one of sixty-four identical Carls standing silent in cities around the world.
The Carl on 23rd Street stands ten feet tall at the corner of 23rd and Lexington in New York City, a metal figure in the shape of an ancient warrior, with an icy stare and a spiky protrusion on its head. April May and Andy Skampt found it there at night, and April gave it the name that stuck.
The material it is made of matches nothing known. It is extremely hard, heavy, and shiny, and it feels warm to the touch even though it does not radiate heat the way normal metal would; its thermal conductivity is effectively zero. When struck, it produces a low hum. Miranda Beckwith studied these properties in her lab at UC Berkeley and could not identify the material.
Identical Carls appeared in dozens of cities around the world on the same night, all standing on city sidewalks. None of them moves, and no one saw any of them arrive.
How far into The Carls have you read?
Set your place and this page rewrites itself to exactly that point. Nothing ahead of you will show.