“And since the disk heads can write or read at an atomic-spin level,” explains Ninsun, “you can just slap together a storage unit out of whatever’s lying around.” She grins. “A lot of people around here use river mud.”

“Hey, it’s biodegradable, right?” chuckles Kopra.

Ninsun rolls her eyes. “And there’s even an artists’ collective who’ll decorate the tablet for you,” she says. “They use local materials too, like they’ll just use the end of a reed–”

Kopra’s interested. “Have these guys got a marketing rep yet? What’s the collective called?”

“Summer,” says Ninsun, “only they leave out an M.”