<p>Sasha felt within her that shift. She felt the ways in which the world around her began to shift focus, colors warming, lines softening, light becoming silky and indistinct. She felt the way that of her which moved most confidently stepped back. She felt that which knew time and patience and solitude relax into unimaginable open spaces.</p>
<p>“Aurică, are you here? Are you?” That which had been True Name, that which had been End Waking, marveled at how smooth her voice had become.</p>
<p>“Do you know how long ago we met?”</p>
<p>“I could–“</p>
<p>“No. Do you know? Do you feel it?”</p>
<p>Ey hesitated. “You alright?”</p>
<p>Was she? Was she? “I do not know.”</p>
<h2id="4">4</h2>
<p>“The world is so big. I have been walking sims for decades and centuries.”</p>
<h2id="5">5</h2>
<p>“I know, you just came back.”</p>
<p>She laughed. “No, I mean…well, yes, I did. But there is so much. There are sims that I have only seen once, those that I have only seen twice.”</p>
<h2id="6">6</h2>
<p>“Any you’ve seen centuries apart?”</p>
<p>“Yes, dozens. Probably. It is hard to count, I am sure. But, my dear, there are so many more. I have explored less than a tenth of a tenth of a percent across three centuries. Can you imagine how much a mind can hold? Can you imagine how much a hundred billion minds can imagine?”</p>
<h2id="7">7</h2>
<p>“Are you alright, Sasha?”</p>
<p>“I do not know. I was working, and then I was not, and I am worried now.”</p>
<p>“Do you need to come here? I can take a break.”</p>
<p>“Uh,” she fiddled with her fur. “Yes, please.”</p>
<h2id="8">8</h2>
<p>She had felt that shift within her, felt that which was May step forward, felt the sickening lurch from who she had been to who she was, and lay back on the beanbag.</p>
<p>Felt confidence fade, and yet felt love increase, increase, increase…</p>
<p>Difficult moment to write, translate to science of that moment</p>
<h2id="check-valves">Check valves</h2>
<p>A check valve sits at the bottom of the down-pipe in a well. It takes the form of a wider section of pipe in which sits a spring. The spring holds a disk in place at the bottom of that wider section, so that, should there be no pressure pulling the disk up, the water that sits above, that which is still in the down-pipe and thus still connected to the cistern, will not flow back down into the well. It’s the pressure of the well pump that pulls the check valve open.</p>
<p>Should, however, your well pump start to burn itself out on its own, then the motor may spin and spin and spin and you’ll see nothing but air and bubbles flowing through the PEX pipe from the pump to the cistern. If you are a man of 36, fresh out of surgery, unable to to stand or sit reliably, you may lean over the pump and curse and curse and curse, and call your wife from upstairs to help you lift the new pump you purchased who knows how long ago to lift it up onto the stand of the old, to hold it in place as you cinch down that PEX, to watch as it, too, pulls nothing but air, the check valve flapping uselessly within its housing, and then the both of you will curse and curse and curse.</p>
<p>You’ll figure out how to contact the city, how to go get supplemental water to carry you through the droughts of summer, to give you enough water to shower, to keep the dogs’ water bowl full. You will worry about the heat and the effect it has on your healing, you will watch your wife slowly lose her mind until she has to head into IOP. You will watch her fret over the way the dog is slowing down.</p>
<p>And surely some emotions will play across your face, but your wife can’t read them.</p>
