She hadn’t seen it.

“You’re not lost yet?”

The question came from Aynur, but it seemed to come from the thing, which had turned now to look at Rustem with its array of hexagonal light receptors that mimicked a fly’s compound eyes. It tilted its head, rubbed its forelimbs together, and waited for his response.

“No,” Rustem said. “Not yet. But let’s talk about something else. How’s your latest installation going?”

Chapter 23

In the forests of South America, hunters sleep faceup so the jaguar will see them as beings capable of looking back at him, and leave them alone. If they sleep facedown, the jaguar will mistake them for helpless prey and attack them.

We must understand not only how we organize and perceive the world, but how the world sees us. We must understand how the world around us is truly structured, and how we are perceived by the other selves which inhabit it.

If we are to communicate with a sentience that has gained language skills like the ones we have, everything will rely on how sensitive we can be to how that alien mind perceives our actions. Everything.

—Dr. Ha Nguyen, How Oceans Think

23

“I HAVE SOMETHING TO SHOW YOU.”

Ha was still half asleep. She had taken a pill, after struggling for an hour to quiet her mind. Now her mouth was dry, foul-tasting. She’d woken to the persistent knocking on the door of her room to find Altantsetseg standing in the hallway in what was probably her casual look: a dark gray turtleneck sweater, matched with technical pants that could almost pass for civilian.

“What?”

Altantsetseg looked her up and down.

“Good morning. I said I have something for you. I made you something. If you want to come with me down to the mobile security unit, I’ll show it to you.”

“You’re talking normally.”

“I always talk normally. Now is just the first time you are hearing me normally. I’m using the other translator.” Altantsetseg tapped a unit at her collar, like a streamlined scarab beetle. The voice coming from it had the hint of a British accent but was otherwise Standard Global English. “I decided it was time you stopped thinking of me as a dumb, battle-scarred ape. Do you need a few minutes to get ready?”

“Yeah. Here—come in for a moment. I won’t be long. When did you make this thing you have for me?”

“Last night.”

“After our adventure on the beach?” Ha was in the bathroom, splashing water on her face. Her hair was a mess, and gray was showing at the roots—she hadn’t thought about how to get a cut and dye on the island. One more thing she hadn’t thought about. There was a diagonal crease across the side of her face from her drugged, motionless sleep.

“Yes, after.”

“How did you have the time? That was—what? Six hours ago.”