(1,459 contact requests from strangers at connection level 2)

(18,456 contact requests from strangers at connection level 3)

(820,822 contact requests from strangers at connection level 4)

(1,037,188 contact requests from strangers at connection level 5)

Public conversations forwarded by Shria’s attention agents to vir incoming feed:

GEN DES FORUM: latest: On Shria’s point, what do we even mean by “pleasure” in the con . . .

SPECULATIONS ON A “REVOLUTION”: Where does theater stop and social unrest begin? . . .

THAVÉ-WATCHERS INVITE: It’s a surprising fact that of the roughly one trillion inhabit . . .

FOO NEIGHBORHOODS COUNCIL: latest: Foo stopped, and what I want to know is what the . . .

Assignments generated by Shria’s stochastic educational agents, in incoming feed:

Mechanics of bounceroos: in this unit, you’ll learn to assemble a simple elastic rotor . . .

Political instability and the Tinyspot Uprising: from the original footage, find . . .

Comparative religious combat-sacraments, experiential unit: for both Unfeeling and . . .

Current events: Construct and record a diacritical emotive response to the Cirque Fantas . . .

Personal/​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​targeted: Review of instant-fame comportment (in ”Transient Celebrity Bang . . .

Chapter 12

12

There was an oddly hot breeze coming up from the agro-grottoes beneath Wallacomp, carrying with it a scent of decay, astringent cleaners, and soft blooming things. Pip, ten steps above Fift on the stairscape, puffed with effort, but didn’t slow down. Fift was sweating in zir formal white smock.

From the glowtubes beneath them, first afternoon’s brilliant white light carved the myriad sharp shadows of Fullbelly’s habitations onto the roof, while far to the east, just where the world began to curve, the violet line of second afternoon cut across distant structures.

There were three perfectly good elevators, a slipthread, and an up-fountain within a thousand heartbeats’ walk. So why were they trudging up these steps? If the idea was to collect an audience to witness the coming confrontation, it wasn’t working. The stairscape was in naked-eye line of sight of a quarter of Fullbelly, but it was hardly densely watched territory. No one—beyond zir other parents and a smattering of acquaintances—was watching them over the feed. Did Pip want to give the Vail they were going to see plenty of time to get nervous? Or was ze doing this for Fift’s benefit? Maybe ze felt like matching the emotional ordeal with a physical one.

There was a message from Shria at the top of Fift’s incoming queue. Zir first thought was to be delighted that ve’d written zir again so soon. But then, even without reading the initial excerpt, ze felt a stab of unease. Ze’d heard nothing from vem since ve’d politely thanked zir parents for the ride on the robot bat.