Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 595
here. She would have visited in inscape, because there she
could have a full sensory impression of the place, and flip
through night and day, summer and winter, and even different
eras of the city. She would have said it was better than really
being here.
It was her hand that touched the stone today. It was real
Earth air she breathed. Maybe the experience was no more
detailed than an inscape visit would have been. She was
deeply moved anyway.
Too bad Axel wasn’t here to share the moment; for sure
he would have some ironic perspective on this chunk of living
history. There were gods older than this spire, he’d say. The
Government of Archipelago was almost as old, and it was
always available to talk. If you wanted to talk history, why not
just ask it?
Because, she knew now, there was a piece missing from
the records--something even the gods didn’t know. If the
Government knew, it wasn’t sharing.
Anyway, Axel had his own mission, no less important
than hers. This morning he had left the inn with the head of
Turcaret under his arm. By tonight the dead nobleman’s DNA
would be dissected and analyzed segment by segment. Over
supper Axel might be able to tell her in what way, if any,
Turcaret differed from his fellow Ventusians.
With luck she’d have something equally interesting to
tell him.
They had left the demigod they now called the Voice in a
Government creche in orbit. The Archipelago had facilities for
newly-born artificial sentients--a revelation that still astonished
and unsettled Marya when she thought about it. The Voice had
gone willingly into the maw of the jewel-like orbiting
structure; as the doors closed she had looked back, but Marya