"The grown ups in my tribe say Zaneta came here a very long time ago, and built that thing on top of the mountain." He points to the glass dome.

"I asked her if she was a supervillain and that was her volcano lair but she said she was a superhero and that was her volcano lair."

"Sometimes we leave her offerings."

"Why?"

"If she's not a goddess, she's the next best thing."

"Does she only do good things if you leave her offerings?"

"Nah. But saying thank you is good manners."

"Oh. So they're not really offerings, they're presents."

"If you want to call them that. There's one." He points at a dead dolphin lying on the shore.

"...why would she want one of those?"

"They're tasty."

"Does she actually eat them? Wouldn't she maybe like other stuff better, if she's almost a goddess?"

"Don't know, but they don't stay there long. What would you give a goddess?"

"Jewelry. Books. Music. Maths. Sculptures."

"Don't really have those."

"...really? What do mer do all day?"

"Hunt, play, make music, tell stories, mate, stuff like that."

"Music and stories, then! Those things are much harder for her to get than dolphins."

"Yeah, but we can't wait around all day to give her those."

"Don't you have recorders?"

"Nope, except the ones in our skulls." The boy makes his way into the jungle surrounding the island.

She follows. "Why not?"

"Why don't you have robot slaves that know what you want before you do?"

"'Cause that'd be creepy and also those don't exist in my world, do they exist here?"

"Well, Moira's sister is a robot."