Playground: A Novel

Palila Tepa is known as the “Queen” of Makatea. The unofficial title comes with “privileges,” such as the right to sing and dance as she pleases. Palila knows many songs; her life is dedicated to music since these songs record and preserve her memories, her culture, and her community. She knows songs in many languages from many genres, as well as songs she invented. Many years ago, Palila worked in the offices of the French mining company in Makatea and then in similar offices on islands hundreds of miles away. She was working in such an office when the French performed their atomic bomb tests on these islands. The radiation made her sick, and the French paid her compensation; she was one of the lucky few whom they compensated. She bought a CD player and returned to Makatea. On the island, she’s friends with Wen Lai, the owner of the “Chinese Store,” which sells everything people need. Wen speaks many languages and studies philosophy. Papile and Wen consider themselves “Old Island,” representatives from the older generations. They chat about the imminent arrival of the Americans. Palila continues her journey around the island, visiting many friends and acquaintances. She constantly sings as she walks. She passes Rafi, Ina, and Evelyne and meets Didier, who seems to be carrying “a century and a half of colonial false consciousness on his shoulders” (149). Didier has convened a meeting to talk about the US consortium’s plan. He reveals that the consortium is “exploring the possibility of building floating communities out of modular parts” (150). They want to use Makatea as their base. Didier promises to provide them with all the information, and soon the community will hold a referendum on whether to accept the proposal. Palila brings the meeting to a close by announcing a dance party.

Todd remembers how his friendship with Rafi was “built on play” (154). Though they played many games, Go was their obsession. The prospect of automating such a complex game awed Todd’s nascent programming skills. He saw himself as a “soldier for the digital revolution” (155), though Rafi increasingly focused on poetry and literature. To escape his home, Rafi spent more time at Todd’s large family home, nicknamed the Castle. Though Rafi spent significant time around Todd and other white people, he still “liked to blast the unexamined privilege” of Todd’s neighborhood (157).

One day, Rafi excitedly introduced Todd to a book titled The Philosophy of the Common Task by Russian writer Fyodorovich Fyodorov. In the esoteric book, Fyodorov explained the need to “engineer mortality,” using technology to defeat death resoundingly. The “common task,” Fyodorov believed, was a unifying goal, principle, or thing that might bring together everyone on Earth. As Rafi dwelled on this idea, he told Todd his most personal, most guarded stories. He spoke about Sondra’s death and his sense of immense guilt, especially since he went home every night to “live under the same roof as the man” whom his mother still defended (161). Rafi dreamed about resurrecting people; reading, he told Todd, was the only time when he felt “free.”

As graduation approached, the two boys began to think about college. Todd was applying to the University of Illinois, one of the best computer science programs available. To Todd’s shock, Rafi intended to attend a local community college, even though he “would have been accepted just about anywhere” (163). Nothing Todd said could change Rafi’s mind. During one of their conversations, they passed a car crash. To Todd’s horror, he recognized his father’s crumpled Mercedes. His father died, and Todd remembers little of that time. There was no funeral, and Todd soon discovered that his father had squandered his immense fortune, leaving him and his mother with almost nothing. He finished high school “borderline suicidal,” and then Raffi approached him with the news that he would also be attending the University of Illinois. Todd knew that Rafi had “chosen to keep an eye on [Todd], as a brother does” (169).

Evelyne and Bart settled into a familiar pattern of married life. She was often away and, each time she returned, Bart fell “in love with his stranger wife all over again” (170). He reminded himself to hold onto the potato. Evelyne had long delayed any talk of children, but as she enjoyed increasingly more professional success, she decided “why not” and gave birth to twins. To her, Danny and Dora seem like “divergent species.” Her husband was much closer to them since he spent much more time with them. During this time, oceanography as a field of research was flourishing. Evelyn learned of a new project: A team of researchers would live in an underwater laboratory for months at a time. She was denied entry to the first all-male project but was part of an all-female team. Bart was unhappy that she planned to “abandon” her children for more than a month. Eventually, however, he gave his inevitable blessing and forgiveness.

Evelyne and three female scientists spend a month on the Tektite project. The media delights in the story of the all-female crew of scientists. Each day passes in “a bliss of research” (180): Evelyne is free to dive and study as much as she can. The crew emerges as celebrities. Evelyne is uncomfortable with her newfound fame, but she uses her platform to preach “the gospel of the oceans” (181). The reunion with her children and her increasingly self-sufficient husband startles her. She agrees to spend more time on dry land. Sleeping beside Bart, however, she begins to have dreams about her female colleagues. She suspects that something has “changed in her, underwater” (183). She struggles to admit to Bart that she has discovered something about her sexuality, but he seems to understand.

Todd remembers the room he shared with Rafi during their first year of college. In their room, Todd had a personal computer, and Rafi still had his stolen copy of The Philosophy of the Common Task by Fyodorov. Their studies took up most of their free time. Todd was often in the computer lab, working on a prototype AI program, while Rafi was often in an isolated corner of the library. They joined a board game group but always returned to Go. Todd recognized Rafi’s constant competitive need to beat him, though Rafi insisted that he didn’t need to be “the best” but better than Todd. Rafi began writing poetry. When Todd showed Rafi his work on the early AI program, Rafi seemed shaken. Only the idea of the common task gave Rafi comfort, allowing him to think of AI’s potential to “raise everyone from the dead” (193).

Didier calls another island-wide meeting at the community center. The French Polynesian government has agreed to accept the outcome of a referendum on Makatea to determine whether to allow the US consortium to construct floating cities in Makatea. Didier outlines the preliminary agreement, the impact it will have on the island, and the remuneration that will be due to the local inhabitants. People remember the destructive, exploitative effect of the mining industry. They’re wary of outside investment, yet they realize the ways that the vast sums of money promised could change their lives. The island’s population will skyrocket, while the project may threaten the natural world just as it’s recovering from phosphate mining. The inhabitants debate this issue at the meeting.

Evelyne watches, though doesn’t participate as this is “not her fight” (197). When she’s called on to speak, however, she urges the locals to be wary of outsiders who want to plunder the island. Didier offers to make all the materials available for people to review for themselves. First, however, they must decide who to permit to vote in the election. Since the decision will impact future generations most of all, Didier’s wife, Roti, suggests allowing anyone who can print their name to vote. This is accepted, and a “month of collective deliberation” begins (201).

Todd reflects on how, during his first years of college, neither he nor Rafi knew how much computers would dominate their lives. He remembers the day when Rafi returned to their room, excitedly announcing that he had met “the woman [he was] going to marry” (203). Ina Aroita, he said, is an art student from the Pacific Islands and is “utterly fearless.” Rafi introduced Todd to Ina, and he was immediately taken with her too. He was jealous of Rafi for finding such a woman, in whose presence he seems to become “a whole new person” (205). They became a trio, in which Todd was something like the couple’s mascot. Todd confesses that he fell in love with Ina, though he can’t remember when.