“A quirk of anageria is that it does tend to give you a heightened immune system, protecting you from many (not all) viral and bacterial infections, but ultimately even this begins to fade.”

Tom introduces himself and describes his condition. He highlights important details that will come into play later in his narrative. For instance, his immunity to infections gives him the ability to later visit Rose, who is afflicted with the plague.

“The idea behind the names was simple: albatrosses, back in the day, were thought to be very long-living creatures. Reality is, they only live to about sixty or so […] But anyway, we were albatrosses. Or albas, for short. And every other human on earth was dismissed as a mayfly. So called, because of the short-lived aquatic insects who go through an entire life cycle in a day or—in the case of one sub-species—five minutes.”

The name of the Albatross Society is symbolic. Hendrich chose it to represent their longevity, albeit ironically. Revealing his elitist nature, Hendrich refers to humans at mayflies, emphasizing their short, meaningless lives.

“History isn’t something you need to bring to life. History already is alive. We are history. History isn’t politicians or kings and queens. History is everyone. It is everything. It’s that coffee. You could explain much of the whole history of capitalism and empire and slavery just by talking about coffee. The amount of blood and misery that has taken place for us to sit here and sip coffee out of paper cups is incredible.”

Tom loves history. He views it as a living entity found everywhere and in everything, and he is confident that he can teach it.