A Prayer for the Crown-Shy

Mosscap has been reading about the origins of human consciousness and cannot contain its excitement. It waits as long as it can before rousing Dex, who is groggy from sleep. Mosscap’s hyperactivity is growing—the more it learns, the more it wants to learn. It begins considering how sensory input shapes human perceptions.

Dex, on the other hand, is uncomfortable at this point in their travels as the temperature and humidity have both risen. In addition, they pull the heavy wagon with a bicycle, requiring considerable energy from Dex’s body. Their experience of the Riverlands is significantly different from Mosscap’s. Mosscap runs excitedly from one tree to the next until it loses its sense of balance.

After Dex identifies a broken piece in Mosscap’s body, the robot is ready to lie down on the road and wait for the end of its life. Dex, however, insists they go to Kat’s Landing, a town where there is a printer who can replicate the needed piece to fix Mosscap’s body. They are surprised that Mosscap sees such an operation as ethically murky. However, Dex is committed to letting Mosscap choose for itself once they get to Kat’s Landing.

When they arrive, villagers greet them and anticipate meeting the robot.