The Internet Is Underwater

The internet lives underwater. Send this to anyone who still says everything is in the cloud. Nearly every message that crosses an ocean does not fly anywhere. It travels along cables lying on the sea floor, in the cold and the dark, beside fish and crabs.

Mtandao unaishi chini ya maji. Tuma hii kwa mtu yeyote anayesema kila kitu kiko kwenye wingu. Karibu ujumbe wote unaovuka bahari haruki popote. Husafiri kupitia kebo zilizolala sakafuni mwa bahari, katika baridi na giza, kando ya samaki na kaa.

The cables are thinner than people expect. Far out in deep water, where almost nothing can reach them, some are no thicker than a garden hose. Inside are hairs of glass, and light runs along that glass carrying photos, calls, films and every word you send to another continent.

Kebo hizo ni nyembamba kuliko watu wanavyotarajia. Mbali huko katika maji marefu, ambapo karibu hakuna kitu kinachoweza kuzifikia, baadhi hazina unene zaidi ya bomba la bustani. Ndani kuna nyuzi za kioo, na mwanga hupita kwenye kioo hicho ukibeba picha, simu, filamu na kila neno unalotuma kwenda bara lingine.

Things break them. Not sharks, although a shark did chew one once and the story has never died. Mostly it is fishing gear and heavy anchors dragging along the bottom. It happens more than a hundred times a year, somewhere in the world. Then a ship sails out, finds the broken line, lifts it up from the sea floor, joins the glass back together and lowers it down again. The cloud, it turns out, gets seasick.

Vitu vinaziharibu. Si papa, ingawa papa mmoja aliwahi kutafuna kebo moja na hadithi hiyo haijafa kamwe. Mara nyingi ni zana za uvuvi na nanga nzito zinazoburuzwa chini. Hutokea zaidi ya mara mia moja kwa mwaka, mahali fulani duniani. Kisha meli husafiri kwenda huko, kuipata kebo iliyokatika, kuinua juu kutoka sakafuni mwa bahari, kuunganisha kioo tena na kuishusha chini tena. Wingu hilo, inabainika, hulewa na bahari.