Chapter 16

My children’s reaction to Mother’s departure reflected their personalities perfectly.

Ananya was saddened by the news, but held up stoically, leaving our conversation determined to make her grandmother’s last day with the family as pleasant as possible. Kirra, too young to fully understand what was happening, appeared to be mostly confused, but quickly settled into nonchalance. I reserved a chance for storminess later when realisation set in.

In contrast, my second daughter’s response was one of barely contained fury. The black eyes glaring at me over Mother’s shoulder as Hotene listened to her explanation communicated everything: she believed that I was responsible for driving her grandmother away, and nothing anyone could say or do would sway her from that conviction.

Long experience had taught me that it was best to leave Hotene alone when she was angry, a tactic I’d begun to favor with increasing frequency, to my deep shame. But I could not ignore the sounds I heard as I passed the outer limits of our campsite, heading down to the lake for a quick bath a few hours after Mother had left for the polis.

From within a dense copse of quivering aspen I heard a frustrated grunt and an empty thud, like the sound of a blow against a hollow tree trunk. Intrigued and a little concerned, I turned into the thicket, working my way through brush as the drum-like sound grew in volume.

The aspens at the edge of the beach grew in clonal circles, leaving a slightly depressed clearing in their centers. Standing in the middle was a facto with its limbs open, its white carapace marred with mud, leaves and smeared dirt. In front of it, Hotene was kicking the machine’s chest hatch with methodical violence. Accepting every blow stoically, the automaton barely moved.

The machine’s broad chest echoed with another thudding boom as my daughter brought the heel of her small foot against the plate covering its fabber.

“Hotene. Please stop that.”

Grunting as she delivered another kick, my daughter showed no sign of hearing me.

“I know that you’re upset about grandma leaving...”

“No.” Without turning her head, Hotene responded as she kicked again. Boom. “It’s fine.” Boom.

“Hotene, stop it. What are you trying to do?”

Glaring at me, she finally lowered her leg. “It’s refusing to make what I want.”

“What’s that?”

“A sword.” The words were swift and unconscious, completely without guile. My jaw dropped.

“A sword,” I repeated dumbly, before shaking my head. “Daughter, Ship won’t make weapons. Not of any kind. You know that.”

An angry blush prickled Hotene’s cheeks. “But I only wanted to –”

“I’m sure you had good intentions,” I added, trying to forestall an explosion. “But you’ve seen what weapons did to humankind. Ship won’t allow us to repeat that mistake.”

“Fine.” Hotene’s shoulders hunched as she turned on her heel. “You don’t have to lecture me.”

“I’m not trying to –” But she was already gone, stalking up the slope and disappearing into another line of trees. Untroubled by the treatment it had received, the facto dutifully lumbered after her.

Zuri was lying on her back under the fig tree when I returned, her eyes closed, a takamakura propped under her neck. On the foreshore Ananya was playing with Kirra, racing back and forth on the white sand between the breakwater and a large crepe myrtle tree.

While it was possible to sever someone’s connection to a takamakura while they were diving, the feeling was never pleasant, akin to being forcefully woken from a deep sleep with a dream left half-remembered. It was better to wait. I sat down beside her, watching my daughters play on the beach.

After a few minutes Zuri’s eyelids flickered, then opened completely before she sat up slowly.

“Hi, love.”

“Hi.” Zuri smiled, one hand rising to rub the back of her neck. “Were you waiting long?”

“Not long. What were you diving?”

“A few things I’ll need for researching the habitat. Geology, chemistry, a little physics.”

“You’re serious about this.”

She nodded. “Very. Think you can take me to the underworld tomorrow? Just for a few hours. I’d like to see it for myself.”

“Sure.” It would mean a trip into the city; there was no capsule access from the biomes. “But maybe not tomorrow.” I tilted my head in the direction I’d last seen Hotene. “We need to have a conversation.” Talking quickly, I explained what I’d seen.