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container, a few electra-notes … and the package of foodstuffs Muthr had given her. Curious, Eva opened the package. It was a pouch full of food: SustiBars, Pow-R-drink packs, water purification tablets, and nutriment pellets.
    Nutriment pellets. Perfect, she thought, picking up one of the large brown pills.
    Eva glanced back down, spying the intruder still circling below. Moving ever so quietly, she sat up and threw the pellet. It pinged as it banged off a distant tree. The dark intruder bolted through the undergrowth toward the disturbance.
    Eva waited a beat.
    One more, she thought. This time throw it as far as you can.
    She stood up and hurled another pellet out into the darkness, but she heard nothing and sat back down. As she waited, Eva looked down at the surrounding ground for signs of the intruder. Hours passed. Inkblot shadows of the canopy swayed and rolled on the forest floor in the cloudy light, almost as if the ground itself were moving. The swaying movement began to have a hypnotic effect on the tired girl. Eva curled up in the wide cupped leaves of the tree and waited for morning.

CHAPTER 6: OMNIPOD

Eva was summoned from her sleep by a chorus of soft, low hoots.
    She jolted upright, startled. “Where am I?”
    Though it was still fairly dark, most of the stars had faded into the early morning predawn, and Eva could see that thick clouds still hung above her. The cool, misty breeze that wafted over her face smelled sweet, like flower-scented soap.
    As she took in the dimly lit world around her, Eva spied the source of the hooting. Three distinctly marked birds were roosting on a leafy platform right next to her. Eva leaned over for a closer view in the dusky light—each was nearly as large as she was. One of the creatures flapped its finlike wings and warbled a warning, but did not fly off.
    “Wow, birds. Actual living birds. Right here. Right next to me,” whispered Eva. As she watched them preen themselves, Eva pulled out her Omnipod. She whispered to it, “This is Eva Nine. Initiate Identicapture, please.”
    The device glowed as it responded, “Identicapture enabled. Proceed.”
    Eva aimed the Omnipod in the birds’ direction and the device emitted an electronic ping. Seconds later, a perfect three-dimensional hologram of the bird, with its three pairs of wings, floated like a model over the Omnipod’s central eye. Underneath the hologram, charts and menus fluttered as the Omnipod attempted to identify the creature. At last the device reported, “Kingdom, phylum, and species: unknown.”
    “That’s weird,” Eva said. She examined the Omnipod for damage. “I thought you could identify anything.” As she flipped the device over, a glimmer of bright light reflected from its lacquered metallic finish, spooking the roosting birds. Eva watched as the flock chattered loudly and flew off toward the horizon. She then discovered the source of the reflected light. Beneath heavy, hazy clouds a colossal ball of brilliant white appeared in the sky. Beams of light erupted from its fiery core, skewering the purple-blue sky as they illuminated it.
    “Oh, no!” cried Eva. She cowered into a ball on the leafy platform. “It’s too big! It’s too big!” Eva covered her eyes with her hands. “It’s much brighter than the holos. It’s going to burn me!” A warmth radiated into her body, and cracks of orange light leaked in between her pale bony fingers. After she dared a peek through them, Eva drew in her breath and sat up. The sun rose in the moody morning sky, unveiling the surrounding landscape as it did so.
    Far to the east, just below the rising sun, a jagged horizon of mountains poked their enormous pointed backs up toward the hazy atmosphere. As far as Eva could see, a forest thick with interlocking trees stretched to the north and to the south. From the forest edge, gravel and stones peppered the plain, which surrounded Eva’s tree in all directions. Behind her, to the west, more thickset