Against the Day (211 page)

 
Pugnax and Ksenija’s generations—at least one in every
litter will follow a career as a skydog—have been joined by those of
other dogs, as well as by cats, birds, fish, rodents, and lessterrestrial forms
of life. Never sleeping, clamorous as a nonstop feast day,
Inconvenience,
once
a vehicle of skypilgrimage, has transformed into its own destination, where any
wish that can be made is at least addressed, if not always granted. For every
wish to come true would mean that in the known Creation, good unsought and
uncompensated would have evolved somehow, to become at least more accessible to
us. No one aboard
Inconvenience
has
yet observed any sign of this. They know—Miles is
certain—it is there, like an approaching rainstorm, but invisible. Soon
they will see the pressuregauge begin to fall. They will feel the turn in the
wind. They will put on smoked goggles for the glory of what is coming to part
the sky. They fly toward grace.