Next Ellington leads us to the
communications center, at the heart of the ship. It’s a large lab
beneath the commons—computers line all four walls and in the center
of the room is a clear glass tube that runs from floor to ceiling,
clay-laced water like blood rushing through its length. It takes me
a minute to realize we’re directly below the fountain. “This is
what you came to see, isn’t it?” Ellington asks, gesturing at the
consoles that beep quietly to themselves, the printers spewing out
reams of data, the large processors humming with life. It’s warm
down here, surrounded by all this machinery, and vidscreens around
the room show us the fog and rain outside, dark space above the
planet, a tiny winking dot that might be our carrier, might just be
an errant star, I’m not sur
