Had the Keanu mission changed all that? Humans now knew they weren’t alone in the universe…better yet, from a motivational standpoint, humans also knew that the other beings in the universe could show up on their front door and behave quite badly.

Yeah, it was going to be raining money on the big aerospace companies…and Dale Scott wasn’t going to be able to run around with his own bucket.

If he didn’t already despise Zack Stewart for destroying his astronaut career, the fact that his actions had cost him the chance to make a fortune would have put him at the top of Dale’s shit list.

He regarded the ragged, stubbly man in the soiled long johns, curled up in the center of the raft, his back to Valya—who had her own place on Dale’s shit list.

Makali had stayed awake, content to fiddle with the black box she had liberated from Brahma. She had asked Dale a technical question once—“Do I need an external device to play this back?”—and he had told her no, that the unit was designed all-in-one, a recorder with sound, video, data, and playback.

He had then offered a helpful comment about which screws to loosen first, only to be ignored. So he had redirected his gaze…noting that, thanks to Dash’s unwavering nudges, they seemed to have made good progress, crossing more than half of the distance from Beehive Beach—itself located about a third of the distance from the “north” end of the Sentry habitat—to the “south,” where, Dash assured them, there was an exit.

Dale hoped so. The roiling mist allowed only brief glimpses of this far shore. It could be hiding other Sentries.

By now the raft had floated past half a dozen “islands,” though some of these pieces of land were actually peninsulas connected to a hard, dry surface that actually rimmed the habitat. (“We could have walked to the south end,” Dale heard himself saying to Stewart. And being ignored again. Well, to be fair, they hadn’t realized the habitat had a land border…and the raft was likely a quicker method.)

On those islands…some vegetation, of course, none of it familiar. And ancient-looking structures, most of them rounded rather than rectangular. Many of them had docks that extended over the water.

One interesting absence…no boats. Of course, if you were big and lived in the water…why would you need a boat? Dale wondered just how long the Sentries had been captive here on Keanu. Hundreds of years, maybe. Could humans survive that? Would they have to?

Just then a creature of some kind breached far behind them…it was purplish, smooth, so large it was impossible to see more than a flank covered with tinier wriggling creatures, like krill.

The startling sight made Makali flinch so abruptly she caused the raft to rock. “Careful!” he told her. He looked back at the creature, but it had sunk out of sight.

Their actions caused a piece of the raft to detach, which was bad enough, but the stray third of a plank also attracted a small flying fish that shot out of the water, then disappeared before Dale could fully register its looks.

Except for teeth. The flying fish clearly possessed piranha-like teeth.

Makali hadn’t seen it and was already back in geek mode, holding up the black box from Brahma. “I’ve got something.”

At the sound of Makali’s voice, Zack stirred, blinking. Valya never moved. In their time together, Dale had learned that his Russian lover possessed the valuable ability to sleep deeply anywhere, any place. Had she been dozing on a couch when the Bangalore vesicle struck, it was likely she would have awakened in space.

“Good,” Zack said. “Can we see?”

Makali displayed the open black box for him—apparently never thinking to offer Dale a look.

Zack blinked. “It’s just data.”

“Wait for it.”

Lack of an invitation never kept Dale Scott from getting what he wanted. He shifted ever so slightly, so he could see over Zack’s shoulder.

Yes, data. The black box display was actually four displays: one showing the information on the control panel, a second showing data from the Bangalore Control Center. A third display was a camera view of the empty Brahma cabin, and the fourth an external shot.

The external camera was aimed at the Venture lander, visible like a silvery thumb on the horizon. Makali hit the fast-forward pad, which caused the numbers in the data displays to cycle.

Back to real time…the Venture lander ignited in a ball of white light. Within seconds, the Brahma data display froze, the BCC feed went black…and the internal camera tilted as the Brahma cabin was knocked on its side. (Knowing how fixed that camera was, Dale shuddered at the hammer blow that must have rocked Brahma’s cabin hard enough to move it.)

“Shit,” Zack said.

“That’s not the worst of it,” Makali said. More fast-forwarding. By now, Valya had stirred, though she couldn’t possibly see the tiny black box screen.

Makali had to stop and start several times. The interior camera simply showed a darkened cabin on its side.

Until a face appeared.

“Jesus!” Dale said. It was there, then it wasn’t…and then a shape could be seen moving around the cabin.

“Freeze that and play it back slowly,” Zack told Makali, entirely unnecessarily.

Stopped, the face was blurry…but there was enough resolution to see that it wasn’t human or Sentry. To Dale, it had a snout and two eyes, giving it some vague resemblance to an Earth-based animal like a greyhound. “Is that an Architect?” Makali said.

“Nope.”

“It was big, whatever it was,” Dale said, pointing to the way it took up volume in the Brahma cabin. “Lots of legs.”

“Long ones,” Zack said.

“Is it an organic being,” Dale said, “or a machine? It seemed to have edges and angles.”

“Maybe both,” Makali said. “It’s mechanical enough to survive in vacuum.” She showed the playback to Valya, who clapped her hand over her mouth in shock and horror.

“You know who might be helpful here,” Dale said, throwing out the latest in a series of suggestions likely to be ignored. “Dash.”

“Excellent idea,” Zack said. He glanced around. “How long before we make landfall?” he said.

“I make it another hour at least,” Makali said.

“Then let’s not wait.”

It took some rearranging of bodies to get Zack to the rear of the raft, where he could signal Dash.

Dale was left hanging on to the front and looking down. What he saw there made him hiss, “Zack, freeze!”

“What now?” Zack said. He was suspended in a ridiculous posture, holding the black box out in front of him.

“Look down, and keep quiet!”

Zack handed the black box back to Makali, then flattened out to peer over the side of the raft into the water below.

Two meters down, no more, lay a pod of sleeping Sentries!

Makali saw them, too. Then Valya, who barely stifled a scream.

As one, the humans clustered in the center of the raft. “How many were there?” Makali said.

“Two dozen at least,” Dale said. It looked as though an army platoon had decided to curl up together and take a nap…underwater.

“Can he be quieter?” Valya said, nodding to Dash. Each of the Sentry’s regular nudges of the raft resulted in a splashing sound.

“Why don’t you give our big friend that message?” Dale said.

“Why don’t we all just sit still and trust that Dash knows what it’s doing,” Zack said. “For all we know, they could have been down there the whole time!” He handed the black box back to Makali. “That can wait.”

Dale turned to look ahead at the south wall, where the fog had lifted a bit. “Not to add to the general pessimism, but I don’t see an exit of any kind.”

“We’re still too far away,” Makali said. “And we can’t see everything.”

It was true that there were structures at the south end, as well as stands of vegetation. But it looked to Dale as though the surface behind both obstructions was still smooth and solid.