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of the ice shelf. He knows only that he wishes to cross the vast white plain, and that the journey will be difficult, and that it will take a long time.
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    With care he begins to move across the white plain, heading east. The landscape is daunting, the sense of futility a palpable force. Many other creatures have attempted the journey and abandoned it, contenting themselves with the little world in which they were born. But not so the natsiq. He is determined to conquer the distance, despite all obstacles, and see what manner of wonders lie on.the other side.
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    Suddenly he comes upon a crack that courses through the ice like a knife-cut—an ainniq —and he peers down into it. Beneath is a black surface, cold and glistening. He studies it for a moment, then determines that it cannot be studied from without, and dives down into it.
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    Cold envelops him and he is transported into a world of liquid motion, where light hangs crystalline in the air above him. Here there are no mountains; here there are no obstacles. Here the same motions of flesh which might gain him a step or two above the ice send him hurtling forward like a bullet beneath it. A journey which might have taken days, or even years, is here reduced to a thing of hours. He hurtles beneath the ice shelf, dodging amidst the gleaming stalactites of frozen crystal, drunk on speed. He cannot see the landmarks he needs to guide his path, but up ahead the sun’s light is clear, the sign of another ainniq. He will go to that, rise up, and get his bearings anew. Thus can all the trials of the ice field be avoided.
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    There is a trembling in the ocean beneath him then, but he does not know how to read it. There is a sound, but he does not know how to interpret it. Fear tightens a fist about his heart, and he struggles to swim faster. Something is under the ice also, that has waited for an unwary traveler to happen by. Something that lies in wait for any creature from above the ainniq, for such are food to its hunger.
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    He can sense its presence, but he cannot see it, for his eyes are not accustomed to this world, and all darkness seems the same. He knows that his fear is laying a trail the thing can follow, but he does not know how that happens, nor how he can protect himself. All he has is speed, a brief exertion of pure terror that might or might not get him to safety.
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    He tastes the difference in the waters as the thing draws close, too close. Then he bursts through the ainniq at last, back up onto the ice shelf, and lies in the frigid air panting, his heart pounding against his ribs. Will the thing follow him? Frozen with terror, he waits. But the minutes pass, and nothing comes forth. He knows it is circling below, waiting for him to return.
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    The natsiq is east now, past the ice-mountains. The journey took minutes. There are other ainniq in the distance, which might be reached with equal speed. If he only dives under the surface again, he might go anywhere, in no time at all.
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    Unknown horizons call to him, a siren’s song in the fading daylight.
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    The sana waits below.
    KAJA: An Outworider’s Guide to the Gueran Social Contract, Volume I : Signs of the Guild
    METROLINER: AURORA
    D ON’T GO OUT!
    It isn’t safe!
    Stay in your room!
    The voices were constant, demanding. No longer the whispered, ghostly essences they once had been, they rang in Jamisia’s ears with such volume that at times it was all she could do to shut them out. Was it her circumstances, so recently changed, which had given them new power? Was it her tutor’s program which had somehow granted them new strength to torment her? Or was she simply going mad, in the old Earth sense, driven so far beyond normal functioning by the stress of her situation that her mind was beginning to snap? She had no way to evaluate that last possibility, though it was the one which frightened her the most. Earth had conquered insanity long ago,