Living Worlds
An Inca stone road climbing a dry valley to a rope bridge, a relay hut and a llama caravan.

1490–1560 · The Andes, about 1500

Relay

Every message is carried by the next runner.

The law of Relay

Every message is carried by the next runner.

The Andes, about 1500: a road network of around 40,000 km joins an empire. Runners pass messages and knotted-cord records from station to station.

An Inca relay runner holding a knotted-cord record on a stone road high in the Andes.

A life in Relay · composite, based on the record

A runner, twenty

He memorises the message, takes the knotted cords and runs to the next station. Someone else will carry it on from there.

Meanwhile, in the same age

Five cities at once

A double-hulled voyaging canoe with pandanus sails on the open Pacific at dusk.

Which world will you live in?