Orbital

by Samantha Harvey

This feels to her what separates her universe and Shaun’s – a tree made by the hand of nature, and a tree made by the hand of an artist. It’s barely any difference at all, and the profoundest difference in the world.

The future of humanity? Pietro says. Yep. How are we writing it? With the gilded pens of billionaires, I guess. Shaun smiles.

Pick a single creature on this earth and its story will be the earth’s story, he suddenly thinks. It can tell you everything, that one creature. The whole history of the world, the whole likely future of the world.