Children of Memory

The Miranda entity discusses the challenges of inhabiting a purpose-grown body, which can cause psychological fractures if it does not perfectly match the copied persona. The crew of their small exploration vessel, the Skipper, is introduced. This crew includes the Portiid spiders Portia, her partner Fabian, and their superior Bianca (each of these Portiids is part of a biological lineage, all members of which share the same name); an Octopus named Paul; and Jodry, the only true Human, who came as a team with Bianca and fears and distrusts the Nodan entity. The ship’s final crewmember is a splintered-off version of the artificial intelligence version of Avrana Kern. 

The Skipper is orbiting a planet called Rourke, which is inhabited by a species of intelligent crow-like birds (Corvids). A flashback recounts a tense first contact on the planet’s surface, where the birds used advanced tools to deconstruct the crew’s shuttle. After Kern accessed Rourke’s unsecured computer systems and provided schematics, the Corvids perfectly rebuilt the vessel. Kern remains uncertain whether the birds possess consciousness in any recognizable form.

The history of Avrana Kern is provided, tracing her transformation from a human scientist into a disembodied AI who now manifests as a hologram. A shuttle arrives from Rourke carrying two Corvid ambassadors, who introduce themselves as Gothi and Gethli. The planet is a time capsule, its databases preserving vast amounts of information from the original human terraformers, though its Corvid inhabitants show little evidence of a complex civilization. Miranda is assigned the responsibility of managing their new guests because she is the Interlocutor—the polyglot who understands every mode of communication—and because invading the birds’ systems without consent is forbidden. Upon entering the Skipper, Gothi and Gethli immediately begin inspecting the ship with a predatory curiosity. They quickly locate the vessel’s organics printer and start dismantling it, forcing Kern to begin constructing a replacement as the crew prepares for departure.

The Corvids, Gothi and Gethli, continue to deconstruct and reassemble ship components, learning about their surroundings by taking everything apart and then piecing back together, often in new and improved fashion. Miranda finds their answers to be robotic and unhelpful. On Kern’s advice, she simply talks to them about herself and her Nodan nature. The birds begin communicating by parroting and altering her speech patterns, revealing through Gothi’s statement that Renee Pepper, one of Rourke’s original terraformers, “made” (105) them and was very fond of them, though she did not know what they would become. They demonstrate their advanced intellect by dismantling a hibernation pod and then building a superior, two-person replacement for themselves. With the crew ready for their journey to a newly rediscovered terraforming site, everyone enters hibernation. The Miranda entity is decanted from its host body and its collective consciousness is stored for the trip.

The narrative shifts to the planet Imir, returning to the story of a young woman named Liff in the struggling colony of Landfall. At a tense Council meeting, leaders discuss dwindling food supplies, a beetle infestation, and raids by mysterious masked figures known as Seccers. Liff’s Uncle Molder, now a councilman, stokes paranoia by suggesting the Seccers have spies in the community. An old woman, the Widow Blisk, is ejected after shouting about another mysterious group called the Watchers. Liff notices that her teacher, Miranda, is the only person present who does not react with guilt at the mention of the Watchers. The colony is clearly in a state of ecological collapse, with forests dying and pests swarming. When her family’s tractor breaks down, Liff’s father sends her to town to find Miranda’s mechanic friend Fabian for help.

The perspective switches to Miranda, who is living undercover in Landfall with her crewmates Portia, Fabian, and Paul. They are posing as refugees from a failed outlying farm. The town’s paranoia is escalating and local militiamen intimidate Miranda on the street, questioning her cover story. During a discussion of the growing danger, Miranda is genuinely disoriented when Portia mentions returning to their farm. She is suddenly uncertain whether Portia has actually been maintaining a real farm all along or whether she is using a figure of speech. Miranda is unable to resolve this by reading the others’ body language, as she knows that these are not their real bodies. Data gathered by Paul’s children confirms the planet’s ecosystem is collapsing. The team debates the ethics of intervening in the situation at Landfall, with Miranda arguing that they should preserve the local culture while Portia advocates for a complete societal reset. Later, Miranda witnesses militiamen beating Paul and destroying his artwork. When she intervenes, she is also struck. The incident solidifies their status as hated outsiders and Miranda guides the injured Paul away, uncertain of what to do.

Liff leaves her farm and ventures into the dying woods to find the entity known as the Witch. She is met by two black birds, Gothi and Gethli, who transform into their human shapes and lead her to a cave. There, she meets the Witch, a tall, pale woman in strange clothes. The Witch is annoyed by Liff’s presence but reveals she is looking for a lost “survey team” (147) that her two associates, Gothi and Gethli, have been unable to locate. 

Liff, believing the Witch is holding her long-dead ancestor Captain Holt captive, demands his release. The Witch is enraged by this and demonstrates her power by effortlessly bending an iron nail which Liff, believing in her book of fairy tales, hoped would ward off the Witch. Realizing the Witch is searching for Miranda and her friends, Liff refuses to betray them. She throws a handful of grains onto the Witch’s polished stone mirror at the cave mouth, again trusting in the stories she read as a child. Instead of the Witch, Gothi drops to her knees and begins frantically pecking at the seed, saying “We need to catalogue the changes” (154). Liff escapes by following the stream away from the cave.

Miranda, Portia, Fabian, and Paul argue one last time about how to address the colony’s collapse. The following day, a mob led by the militia storms their house, having already captured and beaten Fabian. They blame the group for a recent raid and accuse them of being Seccers. Paul and Miranda are also seized. Portia returns and attempts a rescue: arriving with two militia rifles, she shoots dead the man holding Fabian’s left arm and the man gripping Miranda’s shoulder, then uses knives. Despite her skill, she is shot in the shoulder and subdued. The mob takes all four crew members to the center of town to be publicly hanged from the branches of a landmark known as the First Tree, long dead.

Liff arrives in Landfall to find a mob gathered for a public execution. Her Uncle Molder forces her onto the wooden platform to witness the event, telling her it is necessary to save the colony from outsiders, even though the real raiders are members of the community who have turned violent. Liff watches in horror as Portia, Fabian, Paul, and Miranda are brought forward with nooses. Before being gagged, Miranda shouts that she and her friends can save the dying colony. Mr. Gembel, a broad, sour councilman, denounces them as Seccer spies, and the four are pushed from the platform. As they hang, Paul’s body contorts in a physically impossible way, stretching and compressing until he slips free from his bonds and the noose. While the crowd screams in terror, Paul’s children also transform and move to help him. Liff then sees Miranda undergoing an even more horrific transformation.

Gothi and Gethli observe the chaos of the lynching and engage in a detached, philosophical dialogue about their own nature, concluding that they are not truly sentient but are more like complex, non-conscious analytical machines or “very complicated parrots” (172). Gothi’s function is to recall data, which is then analyzed by Gethli. They refer to their superior, the Witch, as Herself and acknowledge that by arriving too late to prevent the violence, they may have to start their analysis from scratch. The consequence, they note, will anger Herself considerably. Unconcerned by the events, they resolve to continue observing and cataloging new information to report back.