Short story about a boy living on a flooded Earth, with aliens that are helping clean up the climate damage in a deal with the government

Question

I'm trying to identify a story that had appeared in a compendium of Sci-Fi short stories.

It was set on Earth, post climate catastrophe, with massive sea level rise. It was about a teenager hopping from island to island, who gets into some trouble finding something and is then pursued by some criminal. The main thing that stuck out for me was that it was mentioned that the government had entered into some deal with aliens, and mysterious mechanical creatures were swimming in the water (I think referred to as 'dragons'), possibly as part of some kind of deal where the aliens help us clean up the climate damage.

That setting really captivated me. I can't seem to find it, so now hoping someone has come across it.

Answer 1

Managed to find it!

The story was "The Choice" by Paul McAuley, and had appeared in "The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume 6" (2012) edited by Jonathan Strahan.

It turns out the story is set in the same universe as two novels that McAuley wrote: Something Coming Through being the first one. The aliens in the story are called the Jackaroo, that ".. in exchange for right to the outer solar system, ... had given the human race technology to clean up the Earth, and access to a wormhole network...". These cleanup machines are referred to as "dragons" and the short story revolves around one.