"Riding the Crocodile" is a science-fiction novella by Australian writer Greg Egan, first published in One Million A.D. edited by Gardner Dozois in December 2005.
More than ten thousand additional years are spent mostly unconscious for this journey, hence their children and grandchildren have probably already chosen death.
Leila finally accepts their isolation, but assures them, that others will nonetheless continue to investigate them for a better understanding since that is simply their nature.
[4] Rich Horton writes on the SF Site, that "the portrayal of the far future posthuman culture is intriguing, and the notion of the Aloof comes off pretty well, but never did I quite care.
"[5] Karen Burnham writes in Greg Egan (Modern Masters of Science Fiction) about "Riding the Crocodile", "Glory" and Incandescence, that "the real challenge is coping with the ennui of immortality" and that "his characters tend to do this by maintaining a spirit of scientific inquiry".