A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot, #1)

by Becky Chambers

The wilderness was not known for letting the foolish return.

Dex put their hands in their pockets. “Are you afraid of that?” they asked. “Of death?” “Of course,” Mosscap said. “All conscious things are. Why else do snakes bite? Why do birds fly away? But that’s part of the lesson too, I think. It’s very odd, isn’t it? The thing every being fears most is the only thing that’s for certain? It seems almost cruel, to have that so…” “So baked in?” “Yes.” Dex nodded. “Like Winn’s Paradox.” “I don’t know what that is.” Dex groaned softly, trying to summon a book they’d had to read as an initiate. “It’s this famous idea that life is fundamentally at odds with itself. The example usually used is the wild dogs in the Shrublands. Do you know about this?” “I know there are wild dogs in the Shrublands, but I don’t know where you’re headed,” Mosscap said, looking fascinated. Dex shut their eyes, dredging up dusty information. “Way back in the day, people killed all the wild dogs in Bluebank, because they wanted to go fishing and hiking and whatever without maybe getting mauled.” “Right. And that wrecked the ecosystem there.” “Specifically, the elk wrecked the ecosystem there. They ventured into places they hadn’t before, and they ate everything. Shrubs, saplings, everything. Soon, there was no ground cover, and the soil was eroding, and it was fucking up waterways, and all sorts of other species were thrown out of whack because of it. A huge mess. But if you think about it from the elks’ perspective, this is the greatest thing that ever happened....