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feeling the breeze rippling his hair as he traveled across the core. Here, his small size didn’t hinder him—he was the equal of any of the other children.
    He watched the rimbouncing race around the Sibuyan Sea, wishing he had been picked for one of the adult teams. His friend Dobo Daeng had tried out, too, but had withdrawn his application when his work with Dr. Sandovaal had taken a sudden new direction.
    Ramis heard faint, distant cheering as the rimbouncing match became more heated. He watched the children playing; bored, he turned to the rimbouncing again, and then looked down.
    His heart froze. The rotating wall of the Aguinaldo seemed to pull at him as it rushed past. Though it was still meters away, he had drifted much too close to the rim. The Coriolis winds buffeted him.
    He pushed down on the compressed-air container. It hissed, then went silent. He had exhausted the air in his rush to win in floater-tag.
    One of the colony buildings was rotating toward him. The squat building contained some of the electronics-maintenance equipment. It was only two levels high, but Ramis drifted helpless, unable to get out of the way as the wall swept toward him like a giant flyswatter moving at fifty kilometers per hour.
    Ramis tossed the can away, hoping for even a little momentum transfer, and frantically fumbled through his pouch for another container.
    Nothing.
    He went through his pockets—again, nothing.
    He shouted, waving his hands wildly. It would do nothing to change his direction, but he desperately hoped the other players might be able to do something—if he could attract their attention. He had hardly any time. If only he had worn his sandals, he could have hurled them away and caused himself to drift to the side, perhaps enough to let the building slash by without crushing him. But his feet were bare and he wore only loose shorts, a light shirt—not enough mass for any kind of maneuvering.
    The sharp corners came closer. Ramis seemed to be falling toward the building. His heart pounded. He felt giddy, helpless. The other children had noticed now. Some pointed at him, some began to move; a scream reached his ears. But it was too late—
    Suddenly something firm rammed him from below. He let out a gasp, and then he was struck again, moving away. Ramis whirled in the air, twisting his body. It was a young sail-creature, one with a dark Z-shaped mark on its back. The creature held itself rigid as the broad expanse of the building swept by silently beneath them. Through one of the skylights, Ramis caught a glimpse of several techs working at a table. They didn’t even notice him rushing by.
    The sail-creature nymph butted him one last time and knocked him toward the center of the core.
    Still terrified and shuddering, Ramis drifted as some of the excited children moved in his direction. Only when one of them tossed him an extra container did he fully relax. Twisting, Ramis looked to see the young sail-creature frolicking nearby as if pleased with itself. As it spun in the air, the “Z” marking became visible again.
    “Salamat po, Sarat,” Ramis whispered in the Filipino dialect of Tagalog: “Thank you, Timely One!”
    ***

Part One

Isolation
    ***

Chapter 1
    AGUINALDO—Day 1
    The thrill outweighed the consequences—it was as simple as that. He didn’t need to show off for anyone but himself.
    If Ramis was caught Jumping at night, he’d be barred from the Aguinaldo’s zero-G core for a year—until he turned seventeen. But flying across the colony’s diameter in the dark made the rush of adrenaline worth the risk.
    Ramis had another two hours before the lightaxis came on for the morning period. Two hours to traverse about five kilometers of the Aguinaldo’s interior circumference … in the dark. Others twice his age could not claim having Jumped all the way around not even in the light.
    He kept his eyes open wide as he flew across the weightless space, hoping they had sufficiently adapted to the