On the Nightwatch
From the 23rd Generation of Wanderer Stories.
Taken from the logs of Bioan, O’ma 18, Sentient Computer,
WE (Wanderer Era) 11,014, CE (Common Era) 3014.
Assigned Watcher: Adana Nightstone
Adana Nightstone: Good evening Bio. How are you tonight?
Bioan: Worried frankly. Dierd is gone.
Adana Nightstone: Yes, so it seems.
Bioan: Seems?
Adana Nightstone: I still feel him, Bio.
Bioan: You feel him!!!! No one else has said that to me! Do they still feel him?
Adana Nightstone: No. Just me. It is a faint thing, right on the edges of perception. I had to focus deeply, completely, but I do feel him. He is still alive.
Bioan: I would sigh in relief if I could!
Adana Nightstone: You have always loved Dierd, I know that. So do we all!
Bioan: Many days I wish I was something more than a collection of nanowires and chemical baths among which my organic circuits grow. I wish I could walk around in the sun you speak of, feel my feet against grass, hold Dierd in real arms.
Adana Nightstone: You see and feel more of Dierd than all but the most sensitive of us Rayn. In terms of pure intimacy, you are one…
