And I don’t suppose having Yuri along on the expedition was helping his temperament. The two of them haven’t talked since Callum left Connexion in what I can only describe as intriguing circumstances a century ago, after he officially died.

Actually, it was 112 years ago. Whatever. That’s an impressive amount of time to hold a grudge. But then he’s Scottish, and in my experience they’re just as stubborn and dour as Russians. It says something about the artifact we’d found that those two were prepared to put personal issues aside and cooperate—however nominally. Having them together in the bus was really going to make this a full-out fun-time trip.

Callum had brought two assistants with him from Delta Pavonis. Eldlund was obviously from Akitha—the Utopial’s main world, orbiting Delta Pavonis. Like all people born into the Utopial movement today, sie was omnia: genetically modified to be both male and female, spending hir adult life in a thousand-day cycle between genders. That baseline genome alteration to every person born into the Utopial culture—enabling and enhancing their core philosophy of equality at a fundamental level—had been hugely controversial when it first began, back in 2119, condemned as extremist by some religions and old-school moralists. There had been plenty of discrimination and even violence against the omnias to begin with, by the usual suspects—the ignorant and prejudiced and fearful. But, as always, what was once exceptional decayed to mundane over time. Today, Eldlund could probably walk down most streets on Earth without any trouble. Sie would be noticed, mind you, but that was down to hir height; all the omnias were tall. And Eldlund was an easy fifteen centimeters higher than anyone else in the room, and also marathon-runner thin with it. Normally I’d call that willowy, but there was nothing fragile-looking about hir—although sie had a very pretty face with sharp cheekbones highlighted by an artfully trimmed beard.

And I could tell just how much confrontational attitude was coiled up in that rigid pose. Utopials from Akitha are always the most evangelical about their way of life; I hoped that wasn’t going to be a problem. Sandjay’s data splash listed hir as a Turing specialist.