air. Her feet understand this uneven ground, this random assortment of flora, these sudden roots that lie across her path. Her eyes know these colors, these patterns, this green-and-brown mess and medley. And as she walks, she realizes that it’s what she does not see that is most intriguing.
There is no Network here.
There are no threads, dark or otherwise. There are no minds floating in the darkness. There is no endless variety of personalities interacting and vying with one another. There are no artificial sound sources hidden in the trees, no caretakers cheerfully watering the undergrowth, no frantic transport drones whipping down the path with places to be. Unlike literally every place Sarya has ever been, this place is not saturated with the mind of Network.
It’s saturated with Someone else.
He appears slowly, in ones and twos. One moment she is alone following her welcoming committee, and the next moment there is a cheerful little figure next to her. Another follows in the next moment, on her other side. These are real Observers, with their identical gaits and identical clothes, and they flash indistinguishable smiles up at her. Her two guides, as soon as they see what is happening, seem to collapse into themselves. They hunch their shoulders and walk with their heads down, their hands in the pockets of their small mismatched clothing. Soon the three of them are at the center of a roaring torrent of Observer, all heading the same direction.
“How was the welcome?” asks an Observer. “Were you sufficiently wowed?”
“You don’t have to answer,” says another, bouncing up. “I saw the whole thing.”
“What do you think?” asks a third. It gestures toward Left and Right, who seem to be huddling together as they walk inside Observer. “Are they ready to join Me?”
“I—um.” Sarya is not sure how to answer the question. “Sure?”
“Good!” says Observer, as if that decided it. “That’ll be two more for tonight.”
She regrets her blithe recommendation when she sees Right’s bald figure shudder, but her mind is in a strange sort of disconnect. It’s an odd thing to identify with a gigantic group mind over an intelligence more your size, but here she is. Sarya may be small at the moment, but she’s been large. She may not feel potential around her right this very second, but she knows what it feels like. She’s been millions strong, she’s seen reality from a higher vantage point, and she is at ease in Observer’s presence. But at the same time, she understands the discomfort Left and Right must feel. They press toward each other, alone together in the midst of a greater mind. Goddess knows she’s been there too.
She glances up through a break in the canopy, at the featureless blue ceiling. “How big is this arboretum, anyway?” she asks.
“Arboretum!” scoffs an Observer. “I mean, it may be homemade, but a planet is a planet.”
The word sends a shiver up Sarya’s spine. For the first time since she arrived, she feels a hint of fear. “I’m on—I’m on a planet?” she asks.
“Sort of,” says another. “But it’s unlike any other planet in the galaxy. I mean, except for the thousands of others up there.” It waves toward the blue ceiling—or sky, Sarya is rapidly realizing. “It’s a whole fleet of planets, if that makes sense. All come together, for the first time in history, in a hole carved into the brain of Network Itself—at a Blackstar, of all places!” The Observer sighs happily. “My Blackstar,” it says. “I’ve always wanted one.”
“I mean…I’m on the outside of something, though?” Sarya’s knees feel suddenly weak. “That’s…there’s no ceiling up there?”
“This baby’s a billion cubic kilometers!” says an Observer, kicking the undergrowth. “Big ol’ cube, about a thousand kilometers on a side. If there was no forest, you’d be able to see four giant mountains from here—which are of course the corners of this face. There’s a big sea in the middle too, because that’s where the water gathers—and if you think about it, that’s why everything seems either slightly uphill or downhill. The weather gets super weird around the edges too. Come to think of it, there are a lot of downsides, but—gosh darn it, laws of nature—I wanted cubes.”
“But to answer your earlier question?” says one, patting her leg paternally. “Yes, you’re on the outside of it.”
And that does it. Instantly, Sarya’s eyes flick upward and she feels herself sinking. “So then—”
“Yep!” says a cheerful Observer. “Nothing but empty space up there! More space