Summary

Chapter 13 moves 5,000 years into the future. Kath "Two" Amalthova, employed by TerReForm to survey New Earth's ecosystems, is waked by a pattern of lights dazzling her tent. Earth, terraformed by the planned bombardment of icy comets and other methods, has only in the past few decades been seeded with life, some of which is predatory. Occasionally, Survey sightings of anomalous people are reported, but these are hard to figure, as Sooners (illegal visitors from the habitat ring) confuse the issue.

The habitat ring houses three billion, with Greenwich being the first joint project of all seven human races descended from the Seven Eves: Ivyns, Dinans, Moirans, Teklans, Julians, Camites, and Aïdans. The other geosynchronous habitats are Volta, Banu, and Qasim to the east; Atlas and Roland to the west. Later, more are constructed in both directions: Rio, Memphis, Pitcairn, Tokomaru, Kyoto...