thirty years along a fringe of Arctic coast. I lifted my head in greeting, but he was talking to somebody else, and with a brief look at you, he turned away. It was the same with everyone I encountered. Each gaze traced a triangle of disinterest: me, you and away.
I was making them uncomfortable.
It was never always thus. No erta had ever found discomfort in the company of another. But then again, no erta had ever disagreed, or woken another in the middle of the night to complain about noise, or berated them for dropping blankets in the sanitation system. Or ignored them entirely, as if they did not exist.
I wandered from the crowd and found a seat behind a high rose bush, where I sat for some minutes before a shadow passed.
‘Ima.’ Greye’s face eclipsed the sun. ‘What are you doing back here?’
‘Hello, Greye. I am just resting. Enjoying the roses.’
I had never professed to enjoy the smell of flowers in my life, but there was truth in my words. It was a welcome change to the numerous other smells I had recently endured.
‘Why don’t you come back into the square?’ said Greye.
‘Do you think we could talk here, instead?’
‘Of course.’ He nodded and sat down. ‘So, this is the child then. A boy?’
He put his face close to yours, inspecting your features.
‘He seems small. Are you sure he is not premature?’
‘I just spoke to Benedikt.’
He looked up.
‘Yes?’
‘He suggested that I should abandon my project.’
He tutted and growled. ‘Benedikt. He is too much of his father, with whom I disagree on many matters. He has no right meddling. Ignore him.’
‘Ignore him? Since when did we ever have to do such things? And disagreement? There was a time not so long ago when an event either happened or it did not, a system was in one state or another; there was no need for opinion, just data.’
‘Yes, well, the thing about data is that it does not matter how much you have; it is of no use if it is wrong.’
‘What do you mean?’
He looked up from your face, then took a deep, rumbling breath.
‘No matter,’ he said. ‘Please do not give up on your project, Ima. It has great worth, and it would be criminal to abandon it so early.’
‘Would it? Who would care? I have not seen anyone for months. You have all been here working on affairs of transcendence, and I have been in Fane. Apart from Haralia, who came once, nobody has visited. Not you, not my mother, not Haralia. Where are they, anyway? I expected them to be here.’
‘Oh.’
‘What?’
‘I thought they might have told you.’
‘Told me what? Greye?’
‘They are in the lowlands together.’
‘Why?’
‘Horses, I believe.’
‘A new herd? Is this some other project of which I am not aware?’
‘No, Ima, they are… they are there purely for enjoyment.’
‘Enjoyment.’
‘Yes. You know your mother has always shared Haralia’s pleasure in the company of equines.’
‘Pleasure.’ I repeated this word too.
‘Ima, what is wrong? I have never seen you like this.’
‘Nothing is wrong.’ The sharpness in my voice irritated me. ‘I am sorry. I am tired and lacking in patience. It is just that I have—’ these words I found difficult ‘—craved their presence lately. Their help.’ I looked up hopefully. ‘And yours.’
‘Not in five hundred years have you ever required help, Ima.’
‘This is different.’
‘How?’
The question was not easy to answer, so I looked at you instead.
‘I thought at least here, in Ertanea, I might have received some attention. But everyone turns from me. It is as if I am invisible.’
‘Is that what you desire, Ima? Attention?’
I did not look up. My face flushed.
‘I meant him. Of course I meant him. He is the first human to exist for over half a millennium. It is not unreasonable to expect that he should attract some interest.’
I looked over your sleeping face, a shape I now knew better than most.
‘Well,’ said Greye, ‘you must agree, he’s not doing anything particularly engaging yet. I am sure as he grows he will gather more interest. And remember that this is your project, so you will always be closer to it than others.’
‘It feels worthless now, in any case.’
‘How so?’
‘Nineteen years until the completion of the transcendence project? That is only three after the completion of my own.’
‘And?’
‘How are we to decide upon the reintroduction of humankind if we are no longer here?’
Greye laughed.
‘What?’ I was incensed. ‘Why do you find this amusing?’
He got to his feet and held out a hand.
‘Stand up, Ima. Come