It seemed to satisfy Jake. He placed a hand on hers on his chest, gently stroking it. “She was arrested, they say. They say she’s one of the people who built Nexus 5. And she’s locked up, with no parole, no trial… For building this.” His thoughts took in her, him, the children, their potential.

“And these kids? In the US? The President invoked the fucking Chandler Act, Sunee. By law these kids aren’t even human in the States.” Jake sighed in frustration. “It’s a fucked-up world.”

Sam nodded, her thoughts far away. “It’s a fucked-up world,” she agreed.

Later, when Jake had fallen asleep, Sam lay awake, and opened herself, and felt the minds of the children, dreaming and breathing in unison. So very human, to her. And maybe more.

Nine minds that dreamt as one... She’d felt something like that, in Bangkok, in that loft, when she’d felt like she was part of the Buddha. She’d felt it that night, when she and Kade had fallen asleep together, had dreamt each other’s dreams. She’d felt it with Ananda’s monks, meditating as one mind.

But all of those had been temporary, fragile states. These children… they did it naturally, automatically. Was it really possible to become part of something larger? For minds to meld together for more than just fleeting moments?

The idea terrified her at some level. These were posthumans. Everything in her life had trained her to fear this. They’d sweep across the globe, outcompeting humans, enslaving them, driving her own species to extinction. The enemy, she would have called them a few months ago. An existential risk. Monstrosities.

But the reality… when she felt these children, when they played or cried or fought, or when their minds flowed together and embraced her into that whole...

Then something softened inside her, and she thought the future might not be so bad after all.

October was hot beyond all reason. The heat got to everyone. The children were more short-tempered, bickering with each other. Khun Mae was stricter and more prone to snap than ever. Even Jake seemed on a shorter fuse.

Sam brought in a harvest the second week of the month, while Jake made a run to get supplies from a friendly store three villages away. In the afternoon she sat and meditated with the children, guiding them through anapana and vipassana, the techniques of observing the mind itself, of quieting it. They struggled at first, their minds chaotic and pulled a dozen ways. But once they sat and brought their minds together, they fell into the unity she’d felt with Ananda’s monks, so readily, naturally, and deeply. It lifted her to some egoless state herself.

Nine children. One mind.