Postsingular (34 page)

It was the end of the Digital Age and the beginning of something new. Society percolated like a river city settling down from a flood. People were pleased with the new order; they'd reclaimed their lives from the machines. Good-humoredly they implemented the necessary changes, working together, fixing one problem at a time.

Astronomers reported that our unrolling of the eighth dimension had spread no further than the gravity well of Earth. But, now that the scientists knew what to look for, they could spot other unfurled zones amid the nearby stars and galaxies.

Perhaps the neighbors would be visiting soon.

Chapter 2, “Nant Day,” appeared as “Chu and the Nants” in
Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine,
June 2006. This story also appeared in
Year's Best SF 12,
edited by David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer.

Chapters 3 and 4, “Orphid Night” and “Chu's Knot,” appeared as a single story, “Postsingular,” in
Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine,
September 2006.