The Terraformers


 Contents
 
 Title Page
 Copyright Notice
 Dedication
 Epigraph
 Part I: Settlers
 
 1. Pleistocene Fetishist
 2. La Ronge
 3. Fieldwork
 4. Homo Archaea
 5. A Very Angry Door
 6. The Eel
 7. A Real Heartbreaker
 8. Choring
 9. The Boring Fleet
 10. The Trouble with Plate Tectonics
 11. Decanting
 12. The Worst Council Meeting
 13. Revisionist History
 14. Dogs
 15. Ronnie’s Retort
 16. Drones and Hominins
 17. An Old Bed
 18. Damage
 19. Whistle and Midnight
 20. The Eel River Treaty
 21. Swimming
 Part II: Public Works
 
 22. Two Months with H. Sapiens
 23. On the Road to Angst
 24. Emerald Cities
 25. Sinkhole
 26. The Suburbs
 27. The Tongue Forks
 28. Cylindra’s Office
 29. Natural Milky
 30. Worms
 31. Mounted
 32. Fluid Structures
 33. Barriers
 34. Government
 35. A Promise
 36. Birthday Party
 Part III. Gentrifiers
 
 37. Scrubjay
 38. Home on the Route
 39. The Robot Kinksters of La Ronge
 40. Lefthand Is Burning
 41. The Moose Report
 42. Destiny
 43. That Goddamn Fucking Memo
 44. Train Party
 45. Burn It All Down
 46. Public Planet
 47. Meta Pew
 Acknowledgments
 Other Books by Annalee Newitz
 About the Author
 Newsletter Sign-up
 Copyright
 
 
 
 Guide
 
 Cover
 Title Page
 Dedication
 Part I. Settlers
 1. Pleistocene Fetishist
 Acknowledgments
 Contents
 Copyright
 
 
 
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 Begin Reading
 Table of Contents
 About the Author
 Copyright Page
 
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 For Jesse Burns,with all my love in this world and the ones we’ll build next
 
 
 
 What will survive us
 has already begun
 —Stephanie Burt
 COLONIALISM. Definition: turning bodies into cages that no one has the keys for.
 —Billy-Ray Belcourt
 
 
 
 
 PART I
 SETTLERS
 
 
 Year: 59,006
 Planet: Sask-E
 Mission: Ecosystem Maintenance
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1
 PLEISTOCENE FETISHIST
 
 
 
 When in doubt, don’t kill anyone.
 —Environmental Rescue Team Handbook
 
 Destry could smell the smoke long before she saw its improbable source. There was some kind of person—possibly Homo sapiens—tending a fire at the edge of the boreal forest. She squinted, trying to make out details from half a klick away. The person’s skin was so pale she guessed it had hardly met real sunlight, which meant they were definitely not a stray worker from one of the construction camps. When the intruder crouched next to the flames, she caught a glimpse of red beard merging into a tangle of hair. In their hands, a hare was speared and cooking on an expensive alloy spit. The sight was horrifying, and Destry flinched back reflexively.
 “Let’s stop,” she whispered to her mount, a thick-barreled moose with red-brown fur and a crown of antlers spreading from his forehead like a pair of massive, cupped hands. He flicked an ear in acknowledgement as she slid off his back and into his long shadow. Sinking down on one knee, Destry pressed her bare fingers into the soil, spreading them wide, establishing a