Martisset knew the story, as did every child on Karis. One journey-ship among many had found the Original Jump; no one knew what had happened to the others. One of all the ships that set out from the Original World, after journeying for several generations across trackless interstellar space, found the Jump that brought them to the edge of the Karis system. 

Her people were born, or re-born, out of a singularity. No one alive knew why the journey-ships had set out; the ancestors had carried that tale to their graves. Nor had they spoken of the other ships, though the records of the journey-ship attested to them. The Gate of Hours and the Ships’ Chronometers honored the Original World’s time keeping system, which matched neither the days nor the years of Karis. 

No one knew.

The empty valley stretched around them, filling up with light, until the blue shadows narrowed and vanished, and she could no longer see the plan of Landfall. 

***

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