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December 21, 2042
“We ask, are there other minds like ours in the universe? Then ask, are they also handicapped by the same individual isolation? For surely minds that can transcend such crippling confinement are minds that could span the stars.”
The Speeches of Damon Leiter
The Speeches of Damon Leiter Collected by V.A. Klug
The smell of vegetation was soothing: earthy undertones of forest loam with a straw-like duskiness of drying grass, and resinous accents carried gently down the mountainside from evergreen trees higher up. Valerie stood at the edge of the village, enjoying the birdsong, but listening for something else. At first, she’d tried to make the time productive, gathering grasses for a broom, but now she just stood, waiting.
She heard the party com
