The Wind and the Sky by Suzanne Church

I bought a copy of The Best of Neo-Opsis at its launch at VCON in 2006, but as life will have it, I just read Suzanne Church's lovely interpretation of the Prometheus legend this morning. "The Wind and the Sky" does a touching job of critiquing our contemporary obsession with science in the context of myth-making and with matter-of-fact pathos that is never maudlin. Polnine belongs to a race of post-disaster androids that are the heirs of mankind with respect to science and technology but have lost interest in their primitive progenitors and pursue knowledge as an end in itself. Curiosity leads Polnine to visit a degenerate tribe of humans where he meets a woman named Ve'keso who becomes the focus of his research into understanding the meaning of life. Church handles the ensuing love story with an intelligence rarely seen in its gendre, never flipping a switch to miraculously make Polnine human. She executes the whole package with charm and humour. Polnine's connection to Ve'keso is shallow and deep at the same time, and his nature always alien. Yet by his actions he is heir to the mightiest of legends uniting men and gods. A gem.