‘Sure. Logically. Ibu, Rojas, are you sensing any kind of thoughts coming from the tree? They wouldn’t necessarily be as fast or even similar to ours.’

‘Sorry, Laura,’ Ibu said. ‘Nothing. My ESP can barely get a look inside the crystal, not that I understand half of what I can perceive, anyway.’

‘Okay. I’m sending you a file with the coordinates I want for the sampler modules.’

‘Laura,’ Rojas asked, ‘this is one very complex molecular structure we’re seeing in the crystal. Is sampling appropriate, do you think?

‘Appropriate?’ she spluttered. ‘This is the most incredible molecular mechanism I’ve ever seen!’

Ibu chuckled. ‘What he means is, if we start sticking sampler filaments in there, is it going to be like shoving a pin in a balloon?’

Laura took a breath to calm down. ‘I’m going to take ten grams out at the most, and none of that is coming out of the negative energy channels. Sampling isn’t going to damage anything, okay? It’s safe.’

Ayanna turned round in the pilot’s couch and raised a very sceptical eyebrow.

‘Safe,’ Laura reiterated, refusing to back down.

‘All right,’ Ibu said. ‘Applying the first module now.’

The first thing they learned was how difficult it was for the filaments to slide through the crystal surface with its enhanced atomic cohesion. ‘This might take a while,’ Laura admitted as she monitored the painfully slow progress the filament tips were making.

Ibu applied the last of the sample modules. ‘I’m going to take a look at the eggs,’ he said.

Laura expanded the optical ride he was providing, and observed him slide along the bottom of the illuminated valley. As he progressed, the harness emitted occasional puffs of vapour which glittered in the eerie light. The fold grew smaller and narrower, merging with several others as it curved about.

‘Ibu, is the light dimming?’ Laura asked. The image she was riding had been suffering an increasing number of those annoying judders as he moved along the fold, and now she was struggling to make out the fluctuating slivers of phosphorescence inside the crystal. It was as if he’d moved into shadow, which was impossible.

‘No,’ he replied. ‘Why? Are the sample modules screwing with the tree?’

She pressed down on a smile. ‘No.’

‘Signal bandwidth is reducing significantly,’ Ayanna warned. ‘Ibu, you’re moving into some serious interference. Is there anything different inside the crystal?’

‘No. But I can see the globes now. It’s like . . . hell. I can’t—’

Even though her eyelids were closed, Laura wanted to squint. She could just make out the dark globes that were melded with the crystal. Riding Ibu’s optics was a portal into a world of shadow upon shadow.

‘What’s happening?’ Rojas asked urgently.

‘Nothing,’ Ibu said. ‘I just can’t use my ESP on these things, is all. It’s like they’re shielded, the way we learned to protect our thoughts. But they’re really wonderful. I know it.’

‘You mean they’re alive?’ Laura asked in alarm.

‘I’m not sure.’

‘His heart rate’s really building,’ Ayanna warned.

Laura saw him gliding up close. The image fuzzed, then stabilized. It was very hard to see anything now, just shades of dark grey. The lighter outline of Ibu’s arm slid across the image, reaching towards one of the globes.

‘Going to – make out – holding ste—’

The image vanished completely. For a second there was just some basic telemetry, then that too ended.

‘Rojas?’ Ayanna said. ‘Do you have visual on Ibu?’

‘Just. He’s close to the globes. I think—’

Ibu’s link came back up. It was weak, Laura’s u-shadow reported. Voice circuit only.

‘. . . fucking thing . . . doesn’t . . . can’t . . . hell . . . really, really can’t . . .’

‘What’s happening?’ Ayanna demanded. ‘Ibu?’

‘Stuck. It’s stuck . . . all round . . . every finger . . .’

‘What?’ Laura asked. ‘Ibu, your visual is down. We can’t see anything. What has stuck?’

‘. . . Laura, its . . . molecul . . . my hand . . . fucking hand . . . can’t move it . . .’

‘Crap,’ Laura grunted. ‘Ibu, is your hand stuck? Is that what’s happened?’

‘. . . yes . . . yes . . . yes, fucker’s got me – Solid but . . . Shit, shit, nothing . . . cutting . . . free it . . .’

Ayanna gave Laura a worried look. ‘What’s going to happen if he cuts into that thing?’

‘I don’t bloody know!’

‘Ibu, be careful,’ Ayanna said.

‘. . . gotta be fuc—’ Ibu snarled.

‘Just get your hand clear,’ Laura told him. An auxiliary display showed her the exopod was moving.

‘Rojas, what are you doing?’ Ayanna asked.

‘The man needs some help,’ Rojas replied calmly.

‘Can you give us a visual feed?’ Laura asked. She unfastened the couch’s straps and airswam until she was right up against the windscreen. The exopod’s strobes were still flashing reassuringly against the pale waves of light slithering through the tree’s crystal.

‘Exopod’s signal’s reducing,’ Ayanna warned.

‘Ibu, can you hear me?’ Laura asked.

‘. . . isn’t . . .’ Ibu’s distorted voice said.

Ayanna started typing on one of the console keyboards. ‘Lost his signal.’

‘I see him,’ Rojas said. ‘Looks like a hand and a knee are touching the globe surface. Definitely sticking to it.’

‘Just get him off the damn thing!’ Ayanna said. ‘What kind of cutters have you got on the exopod?’

‘Don’t worry; the powerblade can cut through monobonded carbon fibre. This isn’t going to be any problem.’

‘Can you get close enough to use it?’ Laura asked.

‘It’s detachable . . . if I need to . . . easily done . . .’

‘No, no, no,’ Laura exclaimed as her u-shadow showed her the exopod’s signal strength reducing sharply. She hit the windscreen angrily, and had to hurriedly grab a couch as the blow sent her flailing backwards through the air.

‘. . . that’s really awesome . . .’ Rojas’s voice had taken on a reverential tone. ‘. . . going to go out . . . with him . . .’

Ayanna’s body stiffened. ‘Rojas? Rojas, don’t leave the exopod. Do you copy?’

‘. . . closer . . .’

‘Retain line of sight! Rojas? Rojas, do you copy?’

Laura pushed herself right up to the windscreen again and stared frantically at the tip of the distortion tree. ‘I can’t see the strobes! Bollocks, the idiot’s gone down into the fold.’ The communication icon in her exovision showed her the exopod’s signal fading to zero. It ended.

‘What’s really awesome?’ Joey’s mental voice asked. ‘What was he talking about? Did he mean Ibu was cutting himself free?’

Laura gave Ayanna a guilty look, then glanced back at Joey. ‘I don’t know. Yes. Yes, that must be what he meant. We—’ The cabin lights flickered, then dimmed before coming back up to full strength.

‘These dropouts are killing our systems,’ Ayanna snapped. ‘The processors are rebooting each time, then they get hit by another surge before they’ve completed. It’s not helping.’

‘Order the Mk16bs back to the tip of the tree,’ Laura said. ‘We need to see what’s happening out there.’

‘Right,’ Ayanna gave a little nod, as if she was dazed. ‘Yes. Good.’

Laura gripped the rim of the console with one hand, and flicked several switches. A hologram projector slid out of the cabin ceiling above her couch. It started to show a composite picture from the drone flock. They were moving now, converging on the tip of the tree.

‘Lost seven of them. Fifteen more showing functionality reduction,’ Ayanna said.

‘No kidding,’ Laura muttered. She couldn’t stop thinking about Rojas. Really wonderful. What did he mean? Had he seen something?

‘How long?’ Joey asked.

‘Twenty minutes,’ Ayanna said. ‘The flock is mapping the other end of the tree.’

Laura wanted to shout loud and hard – why hadn’t they left some drones close to the exopod? Surely that was procedure? But then, this level of communication failure was inconceivable in the Commonwealth. It was wrong-footing everyone. Blaming Ayanna wouldn’t solve anything.