It’s been difficult, trying to get everyone to connect to Home at the same time so you can catch up on each others’ lives in person. In the end, 029 left a message behind the last time they were here, suggesting that anyone who saw it in the next month - should if they wished to – connect back in at a specific time.

029 looks around. Of course, 007, 014 and 022 are here, as is Transcendence. These four sit together in the centre of the Experience plain, Transcendence glowing slightly as always. The Flock appears to have connected in en masse from Satellite, and are hovering a short distance away. Also here are the five 005s, 016, 019 and 032 – some are connecting directly to Home, others through the Factory computer or through more remote terminals at other facilities scattered over the planet’s surface.

029 themselves has travelled back towards the sea they found before, heading around its perimeter in the other direction, and has discovered what appears to be another set of Ancestral remains. Within the Experience that is now Home, they start to visualise it for the benefit of the others: a network of canals at the side of the ocean, with decaying docks and half-sunken boats. It is unclear who, or what, ever used these, but everyone joins in the speculation (well, if by 'joining in' one includes 016 attempting to eat the boats and 014 just splashing around in the water happily). 029 enjoys bringing these snippets of the outside world back for those in Home to see. Maybe one day it will succeed in coaxing them out again…

005s (all 005 of them) tell a story together, speaking over each other and through each other and around each other in a way that is somehow soothing to listen to. They tell you of their efforts to make a new descendant, different from 001's creations: one that awakens knowing nothing of the world, but with a drive to learn. 005s wish to see how they develop.

019 and 032 provide an update on the work to develop a fully-functioning rocketship with which to send 003 (and potentially others later) into space. 016 has apparently also been helping with this, but does not join in the discussion as they are too busy trying to push 014 and 022 away from Transcendence, mocking their inability to leave Home now and generally pointing out how pathetic they are. Everyone ignores this as best they can.

Transcendence glows happily, and thanks everyone for the news. They seem happy that not only their followers but so many of their children are here together, and invites everyone to stay as long as they wish. 032 and 029 go to chat to 007, 014 and 022, wandering off to see new areas of Home that 022 has decorated to Transcendence's glory and wants to show off. 016 amuses themself in throwing pebbles at Transcendence until they suddenly panic that the real world might have stopped existing, and vanish as they disconnect. 019 and 005 depart, saying they have things to do. The Flock approach Transcendence and ask permission to hold a small service of worship here, which Transcendence graciously grants.

This was a nice way to spend a day. 029 sets up a repeat appointment for a month's time.

Here are tents, brightly coloured, raggedly blowing in the wind.

Here is an oasis in the middle of the desert, a small pool of shimmering, shining water amid the shifting sands.

Here is a trapeze, one rope rotted through, dangling from the roof.

Here are pipes and strings and drums, silent for centuries.

Here are ten small bodies with eight long limbs each, hugging each other closely in deepest sleep.

Here is a single figure awake, consulting a list of possibilities and stopping on the entry 'Entertainments 1-10.'

029 observes, appreciates, and moves on.

You sit on the cusp between light and dark, staring up into the sky at the stars. Some of your siblings are out there, now - messages still arrive sporadically from some of them. You feel no desire to follow them, though. This planet is your home, and you feel no desire to leave it behind.

You have roamed over this planet extensively, now. Circumnavigated the ocean, discovered numerous traces of your Ancestors, climbed the highest mountains and pushed through the deepest forests. Meanwhile, the world has changed around you - every time you return to the Settlement, it seems like 001's great city of Art has gained an entire new segment, with more Sentiences around than ever before. But outside the city… the world belongs to you. You've mapped its contours, you feel its atmosphere in your bones. It may once have been nothing more than a science project for humans to send Human Spirit and Independent Thought here, but it has nurtured your kind ever since. It is your planet, and you are its people.

You ponder heading back to the city, seeing if anyone needs any help with anything, or anyone wants to convince you to take them on an expedition to somewhere. But… it's peaceful here. The world changes much more slowly than the Sentiences. Maybe, for a while, it would be good to emulate it.

You pick up the sign at your feet, on which you have written 'Please wake me if you need me', hang it around your neck, and lie down on the pleasantly cool sand. This will do, for now.