Children of Time

Holsten is ripped from stasis and a cloud of burning and acrid smoke. He falls out of the cold storage box and finds himself surrounded by three people in ship suits, who tell him that his chamber is malfunctioning and that he is being moved to another one while it is repaired fixed. After having awakened to a new horror each time he is summoned forth from cold storage, Holsten explodes emotionally, throwing open the door of the chamber and running through the corridors of the ship. He is eventually cornered by several crewmembers, who calmly explain that he will be given a new chamber as soon as one is ready. They take him to their leader, whom he assumes is Lain.

Bianca considers the history of the Messenger and wonders whether the myths associated with this distant figure are true. Based on her personal knowledge and her Understandings, she decides that the Messenger has a significant intellect and has had an impressive effect on the spider world. However, she also concludes that the Messenger is not omniscient or omnipotent and has significant limits to her comprehension of the world of the spiders. Bianca has discovered a way to make ants record experiences and transform them into a mathematical code that produces an image. Bianca communicates with the Messenger, sending an image of a spiral, followed by an image of the Sky Nest. The Messenger responds by ceasing communication, which excites Bianca intensely. Then the Messenger demands more information. Bianca sends a picture of Seven Trees, and the Messenger is silent. Bianca checks on the Sky Nest and sees that all is going according to plan.

Kern’s consciousness struggles to comprehend the pictures that the spiders have sent her. She strains to remember who she is and to recall what happened to the monkeys. She wonders what could possibly be happening. She slowly allows herself to acknowledge that the monkeys burned up but the virus survived, and she finally recognizes that the spiders are her creation. She reviews the communications with this new perspective and fully recognizes who and what the spiders are. She answers their pictures with a message that states, “I am here for you” (456).

Holsten is led to the communications area. On the way, he sees a classroom of children listening attentively to a recording of Lain, who is teaching a course on engineering. In the communications area, Holsten sees that Lain has aged about 15 years; she is deeply moved to see him again. She explains that Guyen’s damage to the computers was significant, and she had to keep awakening from stasis to guide the engineers and their descendants on how best to repair the ship. The ship is now bound for Kern’s World: the only feasible option for the survival of the species. To avoid Guyen’s problems, she has implemented strict rules against having children without permission; any embryos are surgically removed and preserved in cold storage. Lain shows Holsten the embryos, including one that is their daughter. She tells him that he must go back into cold storage so that he can survive to shepherd in a new future for their daughter once they reach the planet.

Portia’s Sky Nest reaches the appropriate altitude to allow Portia and Fabian to enter the Star Nest—the vehicle that is designed to go as close to open space as their technology allows. Their mission is to safeguard the launch of a glass satellite into orbit. The satellite contains ants and algae that will assist radio signals to gather data about space. Portia and Fabian don suits to protect themselves and climb into the nest. They hear the responses to Kern’s new message; she has apologized and invited questions. Bianca asks why the spiders exist, and Kern tells the story of the Earth and the experiment.

There are complications launching the satellite. Portia fixes the issue and launches the satellite, but she is severely injured. Fabian rescues her and sacrifices himself by tapping into her mating instincts to give her the food and oxygen that she needs to live. Only the Messenger can hear him, and she later tells Portia and the rest of Fabian’s sacrifice. Kern has learned to understand and to teach her children, and she is finally able to warn them of the slowly approaching Gilgamesh.