‘Just brilliant,’ a shaking Ayanna said when they checked behind the last panel. ‘There have been so many Void glitches they finally induced a genuine problem.’

Laura’s u-shadow managed to link to the power cells’ management processor. ‘Power surge broke the cut-offs here, but they fused in safe mode. We need to replace the main circuits if we want to enable the systems it supplies.’

Ayanna gave the passenger cabin a disgusted look. The blueish emergency lighting was somehow cooling, and the panels floated about chaotically, along with fragments and broken cabling they’d cut free. One of the portable atmosphere filters they’d brought in to deal with the fumes was creating a steady breeze, which stirred all the fragments. They were constantly flicking them away from their eyes. ‘We don’t have time to deal with this crap,’ she said. ‘It’s only the backups which have failed, not the main fusion tubes. And there are still a whole load of power cells left. It was just the ones in here that absorbed the surge.’

Laura followed her gaze round the shambolic cabin. There was still a tang of ozone and burnt plastic in the air. It had taken them over three hours to deal with all the power cells and their associated ancillary systems, which had to be disconnected as well. There wasn’t much to show for all that work, and they hadn’t even begun repairs. ‘You’re right,’ she admitted.

Joey was in the service compartment, staring at a panel they’d opened on the ceiling to expose an environment system unit which had suffered in the power surge, shutting down to protect itself. His arms and legs were now twitching constantly, preventing him from doing any precise work. But Laura watched in fascination as wires and electronic modules moved obediently as he manipulated them with telekinesis. Even screws unwound themselves under his control and hovered in a neat three-dimensional stack to one side.

‘Cool,’ she said.

‘Thank you.’ His mental tone was one of relief. ‘I do have a use after all.’

‘You’ve had a use right from the start.’

‘Yeah, right.’

‘Come on, you’re not some first-life sympathy junkie. All anybody does in this age is think. We don’t measure people by their physical ability any more.’

Joey emitted a low grunt of disparagement. ‘That might just be about to change once we reach the surface. No bots down there; it’ll be back to physical labour for us.’

She arched an eyebrow coyly. ‘A Brandt doing manual work? We’re doomed, then.’

He let out a guttural laugh and focused on the complex innards of the unit he’d exposed.

Laura airswam into the forward cabin and took a look at all the display screens and holograph projections. The drone flock was still surrounding the tip of the tree, though it was down to sixty-three operational units now. There was no sign of Ibu or Rojas, no signal from their suits. The exopod remained in place, holding station where Rojas had left it. And her burnt hand hurt like hell.

‘Ouch! Bollocks.’ Laura pushed stray fronds of hair back inside her padded helmet with her good hand. Like a child, she’d imagined that everything would have come right while she was away giving her attention to the shuttle’s screwed-up power systems.

‘Take a rest,’ Ayanna said. ‘You’re exhausted.’

‘So are you.’

‘Grouchy, too.’

‘I’m . . . Ah, crap.’

‘It’s okay. I’ll wake you in a few hours. I need sleep, too; you’re right.’

‘We have to do something.’

‘The shuttle’s falling apart. We’re too strung-out to think objectively. Nothing out here makes any sense. We don’t have enough data. You want me to go on?’

‘No.’

‘Get something to eat. Spray some painkiller on that hand. Go to sleep. Trust me, I won’t let you have long.’

‘Right.’ Laura nodded in defeat. She drifted to the rear of the cabin where they’d stowed thermal bags of food. ‘You know what worries me more?’

‘More than Ibu and Rojas? You’re kidding.’

‘I guess they’re a part of the worry.’

‘Go on.’

‘Where everyone goes.’ She opened a medic kit on the bulkhead above the thermal bags. ‘I get that the tree snatched Ibu and Rojas, or zapped them, or teleported them back outside the Void or something. But the Vermillion, too? Everybody vanishes apart from us. Why? What’s different about us three?’

‘Ask a Skylord. They’ll tell you it’s because we’re not fulfilled.’

‘Screw the Skylords. There’s got to be some reason.’

‘Eat. Sleep. Once we’ve all recovered from the tank yank, we’ll have some functioning neurons and know what to do.’

‘Sure.’ Laura sprayed some salve on her red-raw hand, wincing at all the little blisters, then peeled the wrapper off a taco – meals in freefall were always tacos or something similar; bread produced crumbs that messed with the filters and jammed in bad places. ‘How long are we going to give them?’

‘We’ll find them. Don’t worry.’

‘You said it. The shuttle’s screwed. If we’re going to help them, we need the Vermillion. Crap, I hope they got down okay.’

‘Once we’re outside the Forest, we’ll make contact again.’

‘Joey couldn’t spot them on the surface.’

‘Okay, either you go to sleep, or I grab an aerosol from that medic kit and put you under.’

‘All right. All right.’ Laura settled on a couch and fastened the straps – not too tight. It was pointless because she knew she couldn’t sleep. Her hand throbbed. She chewed on the taco again, tasting nothing. She was about to start asking what Ayanna thought about using the Viking drill on the tree itself, when she fell asleep.

*

Something shook Laura roughly. For a confused moment she thought she was being tank yanked again; the whole thing was like a fading dream that was just too real.

‘Wake up,’ Ayanna was saying, her face centimetres away. Behind the face, thoughts shone with delight and relief – a lot of relief. ‘Wake up. They’re back. They’re coming back.’

‘What?’ Laura asked sluggishly. ‘Who?’

‘Rojas and Ibu. The exopod is coming back.’

‘Huh?’ She tried to sit up. The couch straps dug in, and she fumbled round to release them. ‘How?’

‘I don’t know,’ Ayanna said, her expression half fearful. ‘We’ve lost most of the Mk16bs now. I noticed it was moving a minute ago.’

‘Hell’s teeth. What did they say?’

‘There’s no contact. All I know is the exopod’s coming, and it’s not the greatest bit of flying I’ve ever seen.’

Laura felt a little burst of alarm. ‘No contact? Is the signal down again?’

‘No. The exopod is transmitting. They’re just not saying anything. Hell, that’s no surprise. Our systems have taken a real beating from the Void.’

Laura tried to get her breathing under control. She looked round the forward cabin. There were a lot of red symbols shining on the console. Five of the blue emergency lighting strips were dark. And she was sure it was several degrees colder. ‘What’s their ETA?’ As she said it, she noticed her exovision time display. Ten hours! She’d been asleep for ten hours. ‘Why didn’t you wake me?’

Ayanna gave her a sheepish glance. ‘I fell asleep myself. Only woke up an hour ago.’

Laura winced as she finished releasing the last strap with her burnt hand. The skin was still red, but the salve had turned the blisters hard. For one silly moment she wondered if the Void had glitched the spray’s chemical structure, rendering the salve useless – or worse.

Several screens on the console were running feeds from Shuttle Fourteen’s external cameras. They all showed her the exopod gliding sedately towards them.

She anchored herself on the front couch and stared through the windscreen. Sure enough, the exopod was close enough to show as a small speck against the glowing crystal, its strobes still flashing away faithfully. ‘It’s them,’ she said in amazement.

‘I told you,’ Ayanna said happily. ‘They’re back.’