《Across the Sea, Somewhere》 1.1 - Fitting Before Adelaide set sail, she canceled her Netflix account. It was probably the simplest part of her whole preparation process, and not strictly necessary,, but she made a point of doing it before she stepped on the plane to Bermuda. It wasn¡¯t even much money she would save, in the scheme of things, but it felt like telling the world that she wasn¡¯t going to be back for a while. Stop sending the bills, don¡¯t email ¡ª - I¡¯m unreachable -- truly unreachable -- and I don¡¯t know when I¡¯ll be back. ¡°Or if,¡± she whispered to herself as she looked out the window on the world¡¯s newest and, objectively, shiniest metropolis. Even at midnight, it felt like each window of each skyscraper was lit, illuminating the cranes that seemed to be? squeezing a new tower into every gap in the skyline. And, off the coast on all sides were barges containing even more distractions, some of their signage designed to be seen from the air. And, beyond it all, flickering, were the two huge pieces of metal jutting out of the sea and wrapped in flashing lights up until they joined a thousand feet in the air, beckoning not only her(need some connecting words here) the reason she, and the rest of the world, was focused on this tiny island: the Hershfeld Resonance Induction Array. Or, as she and everyone else always called it, the Bermuda Triangle. *** She woke up in a hotel room that was nicer than she really wanted. She was supposed to be on her journey, at least spiritually, but this room was nicer than the apartment she¡¯d had in Cambridge. That was the benefit of an expense account, she supposed, and she enjoyed the luxury while she could, But she felt a little bit lame as she did. She didn¡¯t feel much better, frankly, walking towards the location for her first meeting of the week. On the one hand, it was a big step - an introduction to a man she¡¯d had recommended by several independent sources and had already wired a distressing amount of money. But it just didn¡¯t feel right to begin at a Cheesecake Factory. She wondered again, as she entered, if she¡¯d gotten the address wrong, or if this was a prank. But there he was, just as advertised - he was even wearing the same black button-down as he was in the photos she¡¯d seen on his LinkedIn. He had beaten her here and was at the bar with an electric blue drink that was contained in some sort of spiral cup with lights on it. He didn¡¯t look up as she entered. But she knew it was him. ¡°You¡¯re Ray Freeman, yes? I¡¯m Adelaide.¡± At that, he looked at her and smiled, a smaller smile than she had expected. He held out his hand, and, once she shook it, pulled the stool next to his out for her. ¡°So you¡¯re serious about this. I wondered if this was a prank.¡± Before she could respond, the bartender approached, handing her a menu. ¡°Hi there, thanks for joining us for breakfast! Do you know what you want or will you need a minute?¡± Adelaide looked up. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m not hungry -¡± Ray interrupted. ¡°Eat, trust me. We¡¯ll get the fried chicken and waffles and the cinnamon roll pancakes. And I¡¯ll take another one of these.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯re at a point in our relationship where you should be ordering for me.¡± ¡°I was ordering for me. Get whatever for yourself, you¡¯re paying.¡± Adelaide ordered some eggs and coffee. When the waitress left, she waited for Ray to resume his conversation. He didn¡¯t. After a minute, Adelaide sighed and asked, ¡°You thought I wasn¡¯t serious?¡± ¡°I did. Now I think you don¡¯t know what you¡¯re doing.¡± ¡°I¡¯m interviewing you, and, just as an update, this is not a great first impression.¡± ¡°I grow on people. Do you know how the Triangle works?¡± ¡°Scientifically, nobody fully understands it - that¡¯s why I¡¯m doing this. But I understand it as well as anyone. Better than you, I¡¯m sure.¡± ¡°Have you been through it before?¡± ¡°No. But that doesn¡¯t mean I don¡¯t understand the operation.¡± ¡°I would have assumed you knew something, just to have heard my name, but you apparently didn¡¯t realize that I don¡¯t do pleasure cruises.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not here for pleasure. This is the first step in a research project. And a profitable one.¡± ¡°Research teams have their own boats, their own Guides. Or, more often, they take off from some aircraft carrier and we don¡¯t know what they bring with them. You are one woman who, if your LinkedIn is accurate, hasn¡¯t even gotten her doctorate.¡± Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°You don¡¯t think you¡¯re up to it?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not the one I¡¯m worried about. But nobody can save you if your plan doesn¡¯t make sense. Has anyone else signed up for this research project of yours?¡± ¡°Some passengers have already been arranged.¡± ¡°Passengers? As in, not crew?¡± ¡°As in people who are paying, Mr. Freeman.¡± ¡°So you want to bring even more complete rookies along? And you¡¯re sure it¡¯s not a pleasure cruise?¡± Their waitress returned, carrying her small plate and both of Ray¡¯s larger ones. He began eating as soon as it hit the counter. ¡°I love this place,¡± he said between bites. ¡°That¡¯s increasingly clear.¡± He put down his fork, and looked at her. ¡°Oh, I get it ¡ª you think this is lame or touristy or cringe. But the Cheesecake Factory has one of the biggest menus of any chain restaurant, with dozens of cuisines represented., And, every day, in every location around the country, they make each and every item on that menu, exactly the same as every other location. Think about that: chefs who¡¯ve never met, never even been in the same city, can make a hundred items exactly the same as each other. ¡°Trust me - if you¡¯d been out there, you¡¯d appreciate the Cheesecake Factory. You just haven¡¯t existed outside of a global supply network.¡± Adelaide smiled at that. ¡°Mr. Freeman, you seem to think I haven¡¯t done my research. But I¡¯m a researcher ¡ª I¡¯ve thought this through. I won¡¯t pretend to know things I don¡¯t ¡ª that¡¯s why I need to hire a Guide, that¡¯s why I¡¯m here eating mediocre eggs and enduring your company. Because one of the things I¡¯ve researched is you. You¡¯ve exercised your Prerogative three times in a row, I hear. ¡± ¡°I have. And every time I was right to do it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what some people say, but others say you¡¯ve lost your nerve. It happens, I hear. Perfectly understandable, apparently.¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t lost anything. I¡¯ve avoided losing things. That was the point.¡± ¡°Maybe, or maybe you just missed your cheesecake. But, from what I¡¯ve read, you may not have another chance. A Guide who pulls Prerogative on his last three voyages may find that they were his last three voyages. ¡°You¡¯ve raised a number of concerns, Mr. Freeman, but they all have one answer: Money. This venture is funded by a major investor because, if we obtain the data I believe we will, everyone involved will become very wealthy. And we will bring passengers precisely because they will pay for their spot. And with that money, I will hire you ¡ª a talented man and an experienced one, but someone without other offers. A man who will take this deal because I will pay you for a full year of your time. ¡°You see, I know exactly how the Triangle works: People like me pour money into it, and people like you follow that money, whatever it takes.¡± Ray smiled, without looking up. ¡°Well, that¡¯s certainly how the Triangle works, you¡¯ve got me there. Let¡¯s talk.¡± *** Adelaide continued to feel very clever until they finished dessert. Ray looked up from the crumbs of his cheesecake before starting to speak. ¡°So, to summarize, you have some kind of fancy physics thing you want to test.¡± ¡°That¡¯s your summary?¡± ¡°Is that wrong?¡± ¡°I mean ¡ª I just explained it in quite a bit of detail. That¡¯s all you took away from it?¡± ¡°Yep. Like I said, you¡¯re the one with a fancy physics thing. But, if I follow, you need to make long trips.¡± ¡°Yes. The longer the better ¡ª there¡¯s an exponential impact in the value of the data the more Nodes ¡ª¡± ¡°And how many Years do you have?¡± Adelaide had done her research, so she caught the capital letter in that question. While currencies of dozens of countries were now common in Bermuda, the economy functioned by translating them all into the only thing that mattered: time through the Triangle. Before anyone went through the Triangle, they had to pay the Resonance Induction Corporation for the time they wanted it kept open; it cost more energy to open a Triangle that would last longer on the Sea side before collapsing. It paid to be cautious ¡ª better to have spent more Weeks than you needed than risk being trapped on the other side. Nobody knew how many of the ships that failed to return had simply overstayed their welcome, but it wasn¡¯t a prospect anyone liked to think about. ¡°Just over three.¡¯ ¡°Three Years?¡± ¡°Just over, yes.¡± Ray looked for the waitress. ¡°You can¡¯t afford this then.¡± ¡°Three Years is a lot of money!¡± ¡°You want long trips, that won¡¯t be enough. You haven¡¯t thought about the staffing price.¡± ¡°I looked at the rates.¡± ¡°Those are for short trips. Your average crew on a short trip gets a bit of cash upfront, but that¡¯s just grocery money for their wives. The profit comes from their Treasure. But, even on a longer trip, they only get one Chest. So they want to go out, fill their Chest, and come back as soon as they can. You want them to stay longer, you need to sweeten their pay. More the longer you want them ¡ª hey, that¡¯s what you¡¯d call ¡®exponential,¡¯ isn¡¯t it?¡± Adelaide ignored the question while she stared into her coffee. ¡°But that doesn¡¯t make sense - the value of the Chest depends on the quality of what¡¯s in it. A longer voyage would be profitable if it allowed for more valuable goods to fill the Chest.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true enough, if you had a big plan to find something valuable that was far off. Do you have a plan like that?¡± Adelaide shook her head. ¡°I figured. And, frankly, it wouldn''t have mattered much if you did. You know how many people have touched down on this island with a big plan for getting something special by going farther? You know how many have come back at all, let alone come back with the promised riches?¡± ¡°I thought it was broadly accepted that there were more unique and valuable finds available deeper into most Seas./¡± ¡°That¡¯s what some people say. And others claim to have found gems piled up on the first beach they landed on. And some people say they¡¯ve met elves. People say everything. Because each Sea is different and no one knows what they¡¯ll find, so they cling to any superstition they dream up. Bottom line: any crew worth working with won¡¯t go on a long trip without a big advance. Especially if the organizer just washed up on shore a few days ago. You need more money.¡± ¡°There¡¯s not going to be any more money.¡± ¡°What happened to the big investor?¡± ¡°He¡¯s tapped. I got Three Years, and I¡¯m not getting more without results. Results that need long trips. So you¡¯re going to need to figure out a way to get this done on that budget.¡± ¡°It can¡¯t be done - you can maybe afford one three- month trip for that price, and that only barely. And not with a crew that¡¯s likely to get you back in one piece. Although¡­ Would you consider yourself a patient person?¡± ¡°I can be. Are you asking me to wait while you think of something?¡± ¡°Oh, I thought of it already. If you want to do this, here¡¯s the only way I can see it: I put a two- week voyage together, which you can actually afford and won¡¯t drain you dry. And then you take your profits from that and put them into a longer trip. If you manage that a couple of times, you can start sniffing the longer journeys you have in mind without betting everything on one go. You pay for my time up front for the whole year, though ¡ª I¡¯m not giving you a whole business plan for two weeks of pay. And you work it out with your paying passengers however you want.¡± Adelaide had to put her coffee down to think that through. It would be a material deviation from her plans; while a two- week trip was more than nothing, it wouldn¡¯t get her near the number of Nodes she¡¯d anticipated. She¡¯d be essentially delaying the actual research to try to turn a profit in a trade that she had never done before. But what was her alternative? Return home and give the money back to Mr. Winfield? See her mother¡¯s face when she admitted what had happened? She¡¯d be better off learning to be a merchant, if that¡¯s what it took. Ray could apparently read her thoughts, because before she so much as nodded, he looked at her and said, ¡°That¡¯s right, Professor. You¡¯ll have to work for a living.¡± 1.2 - Fitting While the view from the plane had been striking, the docks could only really be appreciated from up close. As the demand for dinghies and water taxies had overwhelmed even the eagerest suppliers, entrepreneurs had taken on one of the most ambitious marine construction projects ever imagined; the fact that they had barely coordinated with each other was really just part of the charm. The result was a spiderweb of docks wide enough to accommodate vehicle traffic and equipped with moving platforms. Bermuda itself was increasingly just the spider in the center of the web. Or perhaps an unlucky fly who had landed and had given up on escaping. Regardless, as Adelaide rode along the docks, she could begin to imagine their stretching all the way back to America. FBut, for each tendril of the web, there were dozens of ships, streaming past in hundreds of varieties. There were some functional vessels that wouldn¡¯t have looked out of place in the years before the Triangle, like the tugboats that moved along without regard for the splendor around them. But almost all showed something reflecting the new frontier. Even the little fishing boats that seemed decades-worn were sporting new rods bolted to the deck or nets woven in some exotic polymer, designed to hold marine life larger or stronger than anything in the boring old Atlantic. Speedboats that pushed so hard for hydrodynamics that they barely broke the waterline and compensated with sealed cabins that would keep the unpredictable storms from swamping the boat. And other, stranger vessels had emerged: miniature aircraft carriers loaded with drones, raft-like collections of individual-sized submarines that could split apart and reform as needed, floating greenhouses attached to massive propellers. Along the horizon, barges too big for even the expanded docks formed another island, sporting not only cargo but full resorts with their own pools and casinos, positioned to allow sailors to spend their profits without ever touching steady ground. And, the royalty of the menagerie, there were the truly elite voyaging vessels, designed for trips like Adelaide¡¯s that demanded flexibility and excellence. From a basic frame, the largest stood stories above the water and had filled every inch with features unheard of a decade ago. Engines ran nearly silently on high-capacity batteries, or, at times, well-contained nuclear materials. On deck, adjustable-opacity meshes provided shade, shelter, or ventilation as needed. And, through the wide windows spanning each port and starboard, Adelaide observed sophisticated laboratories, bristling armories, and even room-sized terraria. And the shine of the hulls was more than polish - one of the most profitable types of cargo that could come back from the Triangle were exotic metals which, with careful metallurgy, could form pearlescent hulls that were thinner and stronger than anything terrestrial. It would have been nice if Adelaide was going to one of those boats. ¡°Is this really the best I can afford?¡±, she asked Ray as they approached a ship which nonetheless managed to avoid any impression of majesty. Instead, it looked like it had just been bounced around a dryer for a few hours. The hull wasn¡¯t rusted, fortunately, but it was dented and seemed to have been assembled from spare sheets of metal that had been lying around somewhere. And, although the lack of any windows beyond small cloudy portholes prevented any glimpse of the inside, she doubted she¡¯d find anything gleaming within. ¡°It¡¯s not about what you can afford ¡ª this is what you need. Those sparkly exteriors are just marketing, believe me, and it¡¯s not like you¡¯re racing anyone anyway. You want to get ready for a long journey? You need a ship that can take a beating. And also, yes, this is all you can afford.¡± She had to admit, it looked marginally better as she stepped aboard. It was clean, for one thing ¡ª not shining, but there was nothing out of place. Coils of rope made from a synthetic fiber were carefully coiled at intervals along the sides, and the deck was otherwise left open. And the gentle rocking seemed to legitimize it as an actual seagoing vessel, although it was anyone¡¯s guess how it would handle an actual storm. She was interrupted by a loud voice from behind her. ¡°So, Ray, this is the Professor you brought me?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not actually a professor, I¡¯m still -¡± ¡°Yeah, this is the one. Professor, meet Captain Mattson. Captain, I¡¯m not sure she¡¯s impressed.¡± Mattson just smiled at this, beneath a beard that obscured most of his face but was kept neat on the edges. ¡°Have you been comparison shopping, miss?¡± ¡°You¡¯re the first stop of the day. Ray¡¯s idea.¡± ¡°He must be in a hurry, to bring you to the best right away! And I can tell you think I¡¯m bluffing, but I¡¯m not. I¡¯m an honest man! Do you know the best thing about the mighty vessel on which you find yourself?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t say I do.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine, I can rarely decide myself! But let me highlight two. First is the hull. I know, you think it is ugly, but it conceals a secret. It has layers - beneath the plates you see are another row of plates and, beneath that? Wood! Just like our ancestors.¡± ¡°Wood?¡± ¡°Ah, Ray mentioned you have not been through the Triangle, I will explain. What matters most is not speed or weight or strength, it is reliability. And reliability comes in many forms. To build a hull that never breaks is impossible, for who knows what the Triangle holds? Better to build a hull you can repair! And we can repair this, easily, and quickly. But metal is not so easily found out there. What we find, however, is wood. So! A wooden sub-hull means that you can chop down some trees and build yourself replacement parts as you go. These things matter! Once, we were hunted by a reef that managed to spear it¡¯s way ¡ª¡± ¡°Hunted by a reef?¡± ¡°Ah, you will see. Things are not so simple out there. We must bring the simplicity with us. But I am no luddite! The new developments are valuable ¡ª particularly when they enhance the simplicity! Let me show you. Take two steps back.¡± Adelaide stepped back, noticing a seam in the deck that she had been standing on. The captain pulled a lever on the starboard side and Adelaide realized she¡¯d been standing on a column that had been laying flush with the rest of the deck. It began to rise, until it was perpendicular and revealed itself. ¡°A mast?¡± ¡°With sails! Not fabric - a fancy new polymer, hard to rip. But a sail is vital! The engines are good, and strong, but fuel runs out! Even the new batteries they make, they run out. The wind comes anew every day! No one is stranded with a mast. But, modern ¡ª not so many ropes. It makes it easier! All five of us can sail it as needed.¡± ¡°You only have a crew of five?¡± ¡°Yes, five is the perfect number. More than five and everyone''s tripping over each other, you spend all your money on them, there is no space for Treasure, no one makes any profit. But any fewer, you have no redundancy! If I am swallowed up, you must get back ¡ª you need five. Here, let me show you the Chests and the Hold. Follow me below deck!¡± The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. They descended the staircase to find an unadorned hallway lined with doors, each with a keypad. These were the Chests, a new economic arrangement that had become common for Triangle voyages. Each member of a voyage had their own Chest, a room that served as both their bedroom and their personal storage unit. At the end of the voyage, each voyager was entitled to the contents of their own Chest. For crew, the Chest was a key part of their compensation. Paying passengers hoped that they could convert the contents of their Chest to cover their costs. Not that the trio of passengers Adelaide had found were likely to be overly worried about that. ¡°How many can you hold?¡± Adelaide asked. ¡°A dozen, in comfort!¡± ¡°That¡¯s two more than I was planning to sail with.¡± ¡°If there are extra rooms, we will add them to the Hold! It is not the biggest Hold - we store a lot of fuel. But enough for profit!¡± Adelaide realized again that she¡¯d need to pay more attention to the economics here. The Hold would store things of value that weren¡¯t placed in anyone¡¯s Chest, and everything would be sold and the profits divided between the equity holders on the voyage: herself, Ray, and, if she went with this ship, the Captain. Captain Mattson led them back above decks. Adelaide tried to imagine spending weeks or, eventually, months within the space she¡¯d just toured. The wind begaun to stir, and Adelaide looked over the side at the small waves lapping against the sides. ¡°I never asked - what¡¯s her name?¡± Mattson smiled. ¡°The Foam Strider.¡± Ray looked at Adelaide. ¡°So what do you think?¡± Adelaide turned towards the horizon. ¡°I think she¡¯s perfect.¡± *** It was a nice change to lead Ray around for a bit, even if only for one stop. While Adelaide didn¡¯t have many Bermudan contacts, she did have one. And while Ray complained that it was a diversion, Adelaide insisted on meeting with him before making any further commitments. Ray didn¡¯t appear convinced as they approached the basement apartment he had texted as his address. ¡°How did you meet this guy, if he lives in a basement in Bermuda?¡± ¡°We haven¡¯t physically met. We¡¯ve corresponded.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve corresponded? So, Jane Austen, if you¡¯ve only corresponded, how do you know he¡¯s an actual person and not just some weirdo on the internet?¡± ¡°I think he probably is some weirdo on the internet, but I¡¯m not trying to date him, Ray.¡± ¡°What¡¯s his name?¡± ¡°Percy.¡± ¡°Oh, maybe he is real then - no one would pretend to be a Percy.¡± Rather than dignifying that with a response, Adelaide went to knock on the door, but found that it just swung open. Inside, what was probably supposed to be a living room instead looked like a storage unit for the proceeds of a Best Buy heist ¡ª and, for all she knew, that¡¯s what she was looking aout. On the stone floor, there were stacks of different electronic components, some still in boxes but most with signs of having been well used. Between each stack, there were pathways that were laid out as neatly as if they had been measured with a ruler. ¡°Someone lives here?¡±, Ray asked. Before Adelaide could speculate, a voice emerged from behind a bedroom door. ¡°Oh, Adelaide is that you? One second.¡± The bedroom door opened and out walked Hercules in spectacles. Wearing a white undershirt and pajama pants, the home¡¯s occupant was a touch under six feet tall and but seemed to be 235 pounds of muscle. The undershirt seemed at real risk of tearing, and Adelaide was ready to see what happened next. His whole face, in contrast, was obscured by a giant pair of trifocals. And all of the skin was remarkably pale. Ray looked at the room¡¯s resident. ¡°You¡¯re Percy?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Percy is your name?¡± ¡°Yeah. Adelaide, who is this?¡± ¡°This is Ray, our Guide. He¡¯s not a social butterfly. It¡¯s good to finally meet you! Sorry to barge in, your door was unlocked.¡± ¡°Right, I knew you were coming so I left it open while I was in the lab.¡± ¡°Oh, you have a lab in here? I assumed it was your bedroom.¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s a mix. It used to be more of a bedroom. Now it¡¯s more of a lab. Well, a lab with some weights in it.¡± Percy had already started to sort through a pile of boxes, and there was a long silence while Adelaide and Ray looked at each other and waited for Percy to acknowledge them again. Eventually, Adelaide spoke up. ¡°Percy?¡± ¡°Yeah, can I help you with something?¡± Ray gave Adelaide a knowing look. ¡°Percy, I wanted to see the detector, like we discussed. Is it ready?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s ready. I obviously haven¡¯t been able to test it much but it¡¯s ready. A really fascinating project. I suspect the field testing will suggest some meaningful refinements. Here, you can take a look.¡± Percy had walked over to a pile at the edge of the room and lifted up what looked like something out of a geometry textbook, a cube but with every face convex, like the leftover space where six spheres met. The whole thing was about four feet in every dimension. He handed it to Adelaide, and she almost dropped it when she had to bear its weight - it was much heavier than it looked and the odd shape made it painful to hold. But it was unquestionably beautiful. The light reflected in odd ways off of the surface, and every edge was precisely measured. More than that, it was the keystone of her plans, the fulcrum of the lever that would lift her into her future. ¡°What¡¯s that piece of junk?¡±, Ray asked. ¡°This is the Deresonance Detector that Adelaide and I have been working on. She didn¡¯t mention it?¡± Adelaide scoffed. ¡°I mentioned it.¡± Ray rolled his eyes. ¡°Look, I don¡¯t know how many times you want to act surprised that I don¡¯t care about your dumb physics words, but it¡¯s not going to change anything. How does this thing help the mission?¡± ¡°This thing is the mission ¡ª it¡¯s the whole reason for the entire operation. This is the first one of these ever to be created at this scale: most engineers would tell you that it¡¯s not possible to construct one this small. Percy¡¯s one of a kind ¡ª a real genius.¡± ¡°Do you know how to work it?¡± ¡°¡®Work it?¡¯ Do you think it¡¯s a stick shift? It¡¯s an instrument, and it connects to a computer ¡ª it¡¯s not something you ¡®work.¡¯ And, anyway, Percy¡¯s the expert and he¡¯ll be with us, so I don¡¯t know what the question is.¡± ¡°Percy¡¯s coming with us?¡± Ray looked over at Percy, who had lost interest in the conversation at some point and returned to walking from pile to pile, picking up items as he went. ¡°Percy, have you been through the Triangle before?¡± ¡°Never been.¡± ¡°You live here in Bermuda, right? You do any work on any of the boats? Unloading, maybe?¡± ¡°No. I haven¡¯t historically found the outdoors to be particularly interesting.¡± ¡°You understand the Triangle is outdoors, right? And that you¡¯ll be outdoors once we go through it?¡± ¡°I assume the boat has a lower deck. I can lift weights and do my work down there. Just let me know when we¡¯re leaving so I have time to pack this stuff.¡± And he turned back away from them both. As they got back in Ray¡¯s car, he said, ¡°Well, Professor, so far you¡¯ve added the palest Bermuda resident in history and his giant pile of junk, so I think the mission¡¯s going pretty much how I expected.¡± 1.3 - Fitting ¡°You have a budget. You have a budget. You have a budget. You need to keep to your budget or this will be a two week trip that accomplishes nothing, You have a budget.¡± As far as mantras went, it wasn¡¯t especially profound, but it had the advantage of being extremely true and very needed. Adelaide was always the kind of person who struggled with discipline when she went shopping, and this was the most interesting shopping spree she¡¯d ever been on. ¡°Wow, these drones can see in infrared and ultraviolet! And they transmit audio as well, including up or downshifting frequencies humans can¡¯t hear! That seems incredibly useful!¡± Myrna, the store¡¯s owner, came over and smiled. ¡°You have a good eye! Those are brand new, but I think everyone going through the Triangle will be carrying them soon. It¡¯s worth picking a few up.¡± Ray rolled his eyes. ¡°You¡¯re getting scammed, Professor. I doubt those things have a battery life of more than two hours, and I don¡¯t think Captain Mattson¡¯s going to be eager to divert the power it takes to recharge them. You can¡¯t listen to Myrna ¡ª she¡¯s a snake who will take every Hour you have if you¡¯re not careful.¡± Myrna didn¡¯t seem offended and didn¡¯t bother to deny it. ¡°You¡¯re the one who brought us here, Ray,¡± Adelaide said. ¡°Yeah, because the Top Drawer has a solid supply and all the other owners are even worse than Myrna.¡± Myrna actually smiled at that. ¡°You old flatterer.¡± She was a tall woman, and lean, with short hair and an aquiline nose. ¡°You just want back in my pants.¡± ¡°You say that like I ever left!¡± ¡°Psh, you barely come by anymore. And I can see you¡¯re all business today. So what are you gearing up for?¡± ¡°A disaster, I suspect. A two week voyage with the intention of going back out there for longer, a few times over.¡± ¡°What are you doing out there? Fishing for something really exotic?¡± ¡°Some science thing I refuse to understand. So we¡¯re just going to be sailing aimlessly with a bunch of passengers with no experience at all. You see that we¡¯re destined for fame and fortune.¡± Adelaide let the two of them catch up, and continued her exploration of the store. The Top Drawer was not exactly bustling, but a few people were moving from shelf to shelf. And the shelves were absolutely stuffed and there was no discernable organization to any of it. That probably got annoying for regulars, but, for Adelaide, it just added a bit of surprise to the experience. It was amazing what you could buy if you actually had some money. There were miniature forges that purported to be able to heat themselves to nearly a thousand degrees when needed, designed to allow the forging of alloys while at sea. And there were similar portable chemistry sets that claimed to have an internal stabilization feature that would keep glasses from breaking even in rough seas. Needless to say, there was enough fishing equipment to drain the ocean: nets and rods, of course, as well as exotic tackle and bait that promised to attract even creatures that had never before been seen. But there were stranger approaches - Adelaide was particularly drawn to a large, robotic whale that was piloted remotely and designed to swallow up some exotic find as some ancient whale had supposedly done to Jonah, so that it could be safely transported without exposing it to the crew or vice versa. There was also a lot of garbage. Not that anything was obviously of low quality ¡ª Adelaide didn¡¯t doubt that there was plenty of junk, but she didn¡¯t have the eye to identify it. But there were so many things that, even if perfectly functional, seemed insane to bring through the Triangle. Elaborate closets that promised to be able to store and even launder silks and formalwear, frozen yogurt machines that claimed their ingredients would last for weeks without spoiling, and carpets that were apparently intended to prevent splinters within one¡¯s cabin. But even those seemed like valuable investments relative to the virtual reality helmet Adelaide came across ¡ª who would go into a completely unknown sea and pretend to be somewhere else? When Ray approached her again, she was examining a box that claimed to hold an unfolding baby grand piano. ¡°You play?¡±, he asked. ¡°Not since my mother let me quit my piano lessons after I threatened to bite the teacher. I had told her I wanted to play guitar but ¡­ well, anyway. I was just wondering who would ever bring a piano through the Triangle.¡± ¡°You¡¯d be surprised ¡ª instruments help a lot. There are plenty of slow nights and it¡¯s often too dark to do much. More importantly, there are sounds in the dark that it¡¯s better not to contemplate. We¡¯ll have more sing-alongs then you¡¯d expect.¡± ¡°You sing?¡± ¡°You¡¯ll find out. You get what you came here for?¡± ¡°Mostly, but I wanted to ask Myrna about miniature generators. Do you know where she is?¡± Before RayZach could even answer, Myrna stuck her head around a nearby corner. ¡°You say you need to charge something? I¡¯m always happy to make a sale, but most ships will provide at least some electricity. Unless you have something elaborate that needs charging.¡± ¡°I do, and I doubt anything on the Foam Strider can help. I need to be able to power something that draws 5 kilowatts, and I need to make sure it will last.¡± ¡°What, are you bringing your house with you? What could possibly be pulling that much power?¡± Adelaide reached into her backpack and pulled out her IRAC unit. Even unpowered, it was exciting just to hold ¡ª she couldn¡¯t wait to get it hooked up. ¡°Do you know what this is?¡± Myrna looked closer, and then pulled back. ¡°I do. Do you? Are you sure you wouldn¡¯t rather sell it? I¡¯ll give you a fleet of drones to start with.¡± ¡°Sorry, non-negotiable. Can¡¯t do anything without it.¡± Ray looked at the device. ¡°Is that a computer?¡± Myrna and Adelaide exchanged a look. ¡°It is, in the sense that a space shuttle is a bottle rocket,¡± Adelaide explained. Myrna smiled. ¡°Well, if you¡¯re not selling it, I don¡¯t see any way to power it that isn¡¯t nuclear. I do have a few models that can handle it, but they aren¡¯t cheap.¡± ¡°I understand. It¡¯s unavoidable.¡± ¡°If you¡¯re rolling with such deep pockets, I can¡¯t imagine what you¡¯re doing with Ray. But, can I show you the coolest thing I¡¯ve gotten in months?¡± Unable to resist a pitch like that, Adelaide allowed herself to be led to the back of the store, where Myrna presented a dim, empty room. ¡°Where is it?¡±Adelaide asked. Myrna smiled. ¡°It¡¯s here! It¡¯s a cloaking device!¡± ¡°What?¡± Ray scoffed. ¡°Myrna, that¡¯s the oldest trick on the island. I know she¡¯s new, but she¡¯s with me and I¡¯d appreciate it if you¡¯d lay off such cheap jokes.¡± ¡°Watch!¡± Myrna pulled out a blacklight and shined it in the room. As she did, it revealed a cube about a meter wide and covered in a cloth, which neither Adelaide nor Ray had noticed before. Once the blacklight was gone, the object was barely visible, but only because Adelaide now knew where it was supposed to have been. ¡°How does that work?¡± ¡°The cloth is apparently some material someone found in the Triangle that refracts light in a strange way, coupled with a series of small projectors that help create uniform lighting that matches the surroundings. It¡¯s not perfect, but it¡¯ll help you hide. It¡¯s insanely expensive, but since you apparently can afford an IRAC¡­¡± ¡°The IRAC was the only thing at that level I could even pretend to afford, and only because it was an absolute necessity for me. And, besides, who would I be hiding from in the Triangle?¡± Myrna led them back to the main shelves. ¡°Well, that¡¯s the thing, right? The people who find out the answer to that question never come back to tell us.¡± Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. *** Adelaide had been hungry, but it was Ray who suggested they stop for the day and have an early dinner. He¡¯d driven her here, and she hadn¡¯t asked where he was taking her. She¡¯d figured it would be some little shack the locals loved. Instead, they were at one of the new Marriotts, in a rooftop restaurant called ¡°Salt and Water¡± that overlooked the ocean with a view of the Triangle itself from her seat. Adelaide had developed a suspicion that she confirmed after she looked at the menu. ¡°Are you just trying to get me to buy you the most expensive meal in Bermuda?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know how expensive meals get in Bermuda. And you misjudge me - I¡¯m buying you the best meal in Bermuda.¡± ¡°Really? You¡¯re paying?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the catch?¡± Ray looked at her. ¡°Just enjoy the food - you¡¯ll see that it¡¯s a unique menu.¡± Now that she could draw her eyes away from the prices, Adelaide realized she couldn¡¯t place the fare. She wondered for a moment if she was just insufficiently sophisticated, but even she would recognize something. ¡°Ray, is everything on this menu from the Triangle?¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s the idea. The chef here is committed to serving only Triangle imports. He says he values the sustainability, as no Earth fish are harmed and no Earth waters are polluted. I think it¡¯s mostly marketing: it¡¯s not like he was running a vegan joint before the Triangle opened. But the food is really something, and I like to eat here before a trip out. It¡¯s good luck.¡± ¡°How do I order from a menu of things that have never appeared on Earth before? How does he know how to cook them?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like the same species never recur, you know. And he¡¯s a natural. In terms of ordering, the menu gives you the general flavor profile, but I think we just do the prix fixe. It¡¯s worth it, especially to you since I¡¯m paying.¡± The food was spectacular. The salad course featured lightly dressed blue leaves that had the consistency of spinach but with a flavor more like slices of apple. Just the experience of eating something naturally blue was strange, but Adelaide found she took to it quickly. The part of her brain that told her that food didn¡¯t look or taste like this was quickly overwhelmed by the raw fact of the dish in front of her. The salad was followed by a small plate featuring what appeared to be like an octopus tentacle, but branching off from itself and with suckers all around. The dish had been cooked until it almost dissolved on her tongue, and it was appealingly bitter after the salad. The bitterness in turn proved a pleasant contrast for the pasta that followed, long noodles cooked in a red sauce with a meat that she couldn¡¯t identify with the consistency of hamburger but much sweeter. And then there was the entree: Adelaide and Ray were each served an eel that was about eighteen inches long but with fins every few inches. Adelaide spent some time cutting around the bones before Ray told her that the bones were actually edible and part of the meal. Adelaide assumed this was a prank until Ray cut into his eel¡¯s spinal column and took a bite. When she warily followed, she found that it was surprisingly soft, almost like the fondant of a cake. How such bones functioned Adelaide could only begin to imagine, but she was too busy enjoying the experience to dwell on the biology. As she made her way through a slice of pie filled with fruit that was slightly phosphorescent, Adelaide had to ask Ray a question that had been nagging her since their first course. ¡°If all of this food is from the Triangle, how does the chef get more? And how does he know if he¡¯ll ever get it again?¡± ¡°He buys it, from people just like us. That¡¯s part of why I wanted to bring you here, so that you could see that ingredients are valuable cargo to the right buyer. Not that we are operating a commercial fishing operation or anything, but it¡¯s worth keeping in mind. And, as for the menu, he doesn¡¯t actually know what¡¯s going to be available. Oh, sure, some things are more common than others: those blue leaves in the salad have been on several islands I¡¯ve visited myself, so they can¡¯t be that rare. But some meals here are literally once in a lifetime.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t decide if that¡¯s exciting or deeply sad.¡± ¡°I think it¡¯s just the way it works. It¡¯s always good, that¡¯s the important thing. You want to meet the chef?¡± ¡°How would we do that?¡± ¡°He¡¯s an old friend, and I¡¯ve done him a few favors over the years. That¡¯s why he lets me eat here on the house, as long as I come before the dinner rush.¡± ¡°I thought you said you were paying for dinner?¡± ¡°Look, you didn¡¯t pay, so what do you care? Do you want to meet him or not?¡± Adelaide couldn¡¯t figure out a sensible complaint, given that she¡¯d received a delicious meal for free, and she was eager to see the kitchen. So, when they finished the oddly-spiced teas that were offered instead of an after-dinner coffee, they made their way to the back of the restaurant and through the doors into the kitchen. It was actually hard to distinguish this kitchen from that of any high-end American restaurant. Adelaide looked at the various cuts of meat being prepared, but, now that she thought about it, she didn¡¯t actually know what a cow or pig looked like between when it arrived at a restaurant and when it landed on her plate. But the bustle of chefs preparing one dish after another was stimulation enough, until a tall, thin man in a stained apron emerged and shook Ray¡¯s hand quickly. ¡°Ray, I hadn¡¯t realized you were here. Have you already eaten? It¡¯s a good menu today. The jelly eels are of particularly high quality.¡± ¡°We did, and they were. This is Adelaide. She¡¯s retained me for a new voyage. Adelaide, this is my old friend Chris.¡± Adelaide shook his hand. ¡°It¡¯s an honor ¡ª I¡¯ve never had a meal like it.¡± ¡°I hope that was a compliment. But thank you. And not just for that. Anyone who gets Ray back on the water is doing the world a service. BeErmuda is getting sick of him anyway. I trust Ray has explained that I am always a potential buyer. How long are you going out for?¡± ¡°Two weeks.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s too bad ¡ª almost anything will spoil in that time. Why so long? Fishing ships rarely do more than a day or two ¡ª there¡¯s no need to travel to get to deep water, of course.¡± Ray rolled his eyes. ¡°Do we look like fisherman? We¡¯re going deep. And this is just the first step: we¡¯re planning even longer voyages next. What will you buy that keeps?¡± ¡°A few things, I suppose. Interesting salts if you find some that are accessible. If you dry peppers, I¡¯ll consider those. Or plants, but most will wilt well before you return. Unless you have a freezer with you?¡± ¡°We weren¡¯t planning on it.¡± ¡°A shame. Although it would take a level of expertise that you lack to make much use of one. Even valuable fish and game must be prepared appropriately before being frozen if it is to retain any value.¡± At that, a short woman with dyed hair, who had been gutting a brightly colored fish, interjected. ¡°I could go!¡± ¡°Ms. Silver, have you been eavesdropping rather than attempting to ruin less of my food?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been eavesdropping and preparing your food perfectly. And I can go with them! If you lend me a freezer, I¡¯ll fill it with whatever we find that¡¯s valuable. You know I have a good eye for it. And you can buy it off me at a price you won¡¯t believe.¡± ¡°An intriguing proposition. I would enjoy seeing the kitchen without you in it for a few weeks. Ray, do you have room for one more?¡± ¡°We have two empty spaces, but what do we get out of this arrangement?. It¡¯s not a pleasure cruise.¡± The younger chef spoke quickly. ¡°I can cook for you! I¡¯m sure I can do a better job than whatever sailor manages to scramble an egg on whatever ship you¡¯re taking. And I¡¯m a good hunter, and you¡¯ll all benefit from having someone who can turn food into profit. ¡± Ray looked to Chris, who said, ¡°I can¡¯t speak to her martial prowess, but Ms. Silver has some small competence. I would say that a ship¡¯s galley may be a perfect match for her talents.¡± ¡°Adelaide, what do you think?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know how else we¡¯d fill the space before we leave, and I don¡¯t mind the idea of eating well. Ms. Silver, what¡¯s your first name?¡± ¡°Emma, miss.¡± ¡°Call me Adelaide. Welcome aboarroad, Emma.¡± Emma gave her a hug, quickly, and then practically bounced off her to try to do the same to Ray, who sidestepped it. ¡°You¡¯ll need to get ready quickly, kid. We set sail the day after tomorrow.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be there! You won¡¯t regret it!¡± Chris rolled his eyes, and pointed back to Emma¡¯s station . ¡°We shall see how they feel upon their return. In the meantime, you have fallen even farther behind. I think the time for conversation has concluded.¡± Adelaide and RayChris took that as a sign and made their goodbyes. As they left the kitchen and walked past the restaurant¡¯s bar, Ray suddenly stopped short. ¡°Jim, is that you?¡± A tan, bald man sitting at the bar turned on his barstool and nodded at Ray. ¡°Heya, Rey. Who¡¯s your date?¡± ¡°Not a date, a client. Adelaide, this is Jim. Jim, I¡¯m surprised to see you on land. Adelaide, JimRay is one of the most experienced travelers you¡¯ll find - I think he spends more time on that side of the Triangle than this one.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the goal anyway. Nice to meet you, Adelaide. So you¡¯re rolling the dice with Ray?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the plan, although I¡¯ve already begun having doubts.¡± Jim smiled. ¡°It¡¯s good to keep your eyes open. When do you leave?¡± ¡°The day after tomorrow. We¡¯ll be out two weeks.¡± ¡°Two weeks? You have room for one more? Ray knows the conditions.¡± Adelaide paused. ¡°We do, but I¡¯m at a loss. Why would you want to join us? What do you do?¡± ¡°I travel. I always travel, as much as I can. I¡¯ll offer you what I offer everyone I travel with. I¡¯ll give you half the space in my Chest and will contribute to the voyage however I can. In exchange, if I tell you I see something I need to investigate, you¡¯ll let me do so. Nothing that jeopardizes the voyage, but I must absolutely insist, on your honor, that you agree to investigate my request in the unlikely event that I makde one.¡± Before Adelaide could even respond, Ray said, ¡°You¡¯re in. Like I said, Professor, Jim has experience, and that¡¯s something we are sorely lacking.¡± Adelaide paused briefly before nodding and saying, ¡°I suppose it makes sense. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll be glad to have you. Welcome to the adventure.¡± Jim smiled. ¡°You would think, that when a man has been through the Triangle enough, the adventure would fade. But no, it is always a new sea. I look forward to meeting this one.¡± 1.4 - Fitting Adelaide passed a day in other small preparations: picking up items from the Top Drawer, calling to make final goodbyes to those at home, and trying desperately to think of everything she would later kick herself for forgetting. Ray was otherwise occupied in ways he declined to disclose, and the day passed more quickly than Adelaide noticed. She even managed to sleep a bit, albeit fitfully. And then it was Sunday morning, and she was back on the docks, standing before the Foam Strider. Ray was there before she arrived, talking to Captain Mattson at the base of the gangway. They saw her approach, and the Captain yelled out, ¡°Adelaide! A glorious day for it, no?¡± ¡°It is. Although I suppose it¡¯s really the weather in the Triangle that matters, right?¡± ¡°Right you are! But every sailor knows that it is good to leave in fair weather. Some things are true even if they don¡¯t matter!¡± Adelaide smiled and started towards the gangplank, but Ray stopped her. ¡°The Captain is going to give everyone an introduction and a tour before anyone gets to board.¡± ¡°It is easier to wait for everyone than to repeat myself!¡± Mattson explained. Luckily, the passengers began to arrive before Adelaide could protest. Jim was first, with three duffel bags made of a dark brown material that likely kept the water off. He smiled at Ray and Adelaide before shaking the Captain¡¯s hand. ¡°Captain, it¡¯s good to see you again.¡± ¡°Jim! You¡¯re returning to the Strider! The crew will be glad to see you!¡± ¡°It¡¯s always a pleasure to travel on such a fine vessel, Captain.¡± Emma was only a few minuted behind, riding in the passenger seat of a pickup truck with luggage in the back. A large metal cube appeared to be the freezer that Chef Chris had sent, but Adelaide was less clear why there were so many long, thin cases. Emma jumped off the pickup as soon as it stopped and bounced over to Adelaide. ¡°Hi! Look at everyone! This is going to be great, I just know it. Thanks again for bringing me along. I brought a lot of food in the freezer, which should be fine as long as we eat through it before I need to store something new in there.¡± ¡°Good morning, Emma. I¡¯m glad you made it. I have to ask though, what is all of the other stuff you brought? Cooking equipment?¡± ¡°A bit, but mostly weapons! We need to hunt, right? I¡¯m great with weapons and I brought everything I owned . Everything from a bow and arrow to a rifle that can pierce a hide a foot deep..¡± The next arrival would have been instantly noticed walking into a crowd of a hundred, let alone towards the five people standing alone on a dock. A tall man, he had an elaborate haircut which was both asymmetrical and highly flattering. It looked almost as if he had chosen it to match his outfit, a long green coat that evoked a pirate¡¯s greatcoat while looking like it would barely keep the rain off of his body. But most striking was the outfit¡¯s collar, which shone light directly into his face, keeping him lit as if on stage. While Ray and the Captain just stared, Adelaide approached. ¡°You must be Alessio, right? I¡¯m Adelaide. I¡¯m glad you made it.¡± Alessio pulled Adelaide into a side hug, and said, ¡°Ah, Adelaide, so wonderful to meet you and to be here and can I say that I love your name? So classic. Let¡¯s take a quick photo or ten, just as a start. Smile!¡± As he said that, he pulled out his phone, and the lights around his collar flowed and flashed. ¡°Thank you, truly. I know it¡¯s an imposition, but I¡¯m absolutely desperate for content, given the blackout we are about to experience. I must say, though, it is quite helpful that you cut the initial voyage down.¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad it helps you, at least.¡± Adelaide raised an eyebrow at that, but continued on. ¡°Even two weeks will be a challenge, but it¡¯s worth it. I do believe in this project! Let me get some shots of the ship herself before we board.¡± As he walked away, Ray approached. ¡°Who is that and what is he doing here?¡± This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°That¡¯s Alessio. He¡¯s a paying customer.¡± ¡°What does he want on our trip?¡± ¡°He¡¯s an influencer ¡ª most people would know him, at least from one or two videos, but you don¡¯t strike me as a big Instagram guy. He thinks there¡¯s real content potential in a longer Triangle voyage and paid for a spot.¡± ¡°You understand the liability someone like that represents? Does he know this isn¡¯t a pleasure cruise?¡± ¡°Do you know how much he paid to get here? And everyone in the world knows this isn¡¯t a pleasure cruise, because you keep telling them.¡± Percy was the next to arrive, with a cart containing several large plastic containers. He briefly said hello to Adelaide before opening one case and removing a metal device with several faces that he began to open, twist, and close. Adelaide approached him and asked, ¡°Percy, what is that thing.¡± Without looking up, Percy said, ¡°It¡¯s a puzzle - sort of like a Rubik¡¯s cube but in more dimensions. And each hinges has adjustable resistance, so it¡¯s a small workout trying to solve it. It¡¯s good for boring moments. And I¡¯m hoping that guy won¡¯t take my photo if I don¡¯t look at him.¡± Before Adelaide could discuss further, a white Lexus drove down the dock. The driver began unpacking the suitcases that had filled the trunk, and the passenger stepped out wearing Dolce and Gabbana sunglasses and five inch heels. ¡°Ade!¡± she yelled, and ran over for a hug. ¡°Hey Trish,¡± Adelaide responded while returning the hug. ¡°I¡¯m glad you made it.¡± ¡°Ugh, I¡¯m sorry I¡¯m so late, it was a crazy morning getting everything together. I really appreciate everyone¡¯s waiting for me!¡± Adelaide silently congratulated herself on having told Trish that they needed to arrive an hour before they were actually supposed to ¡ª as it was, she was only fifteen minutes late. Externally, she said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Anyway, the tour¡¯s about to get started.¡± Captain Mattson, seeing his final guest arrive, cleared his throat. ¡°Welcome! Welcome to the Foam Strider! I am Captain Mattson. We will begin with the Tour! Leave your bags here for now!¡± Everyone followed the Captain up onto the gangplank. He stepped up onto a box and stood above everyone, before yelling, ¡°This is the deck! It is very good to spend time here ¡ª fresh air! And you can see very interesting things! But you must be aware of one rule: when the alarm goes off, you must follow the crew¡¯s direction. The alarm does not go off very often, but you must pay attention when it does!¡± Captain Mattson pointed at the metal door to a room at the front of the ship. ¡°This is the Bridge! I am there most of the day! It contains many sensitive instruments, which you may not touch under any circumstances. Now we go below deck!¡± Descending from the deck, they found themselves in a large, open room with an iron door at the front and a wooden one aft. There were thin, narrow couches lining the walls and a few tables with folding chairs scattered around. ¡°This is the Commons! Everyone is welcome at all times. Meals are served here, and we can have meetings as needed. There are temporary walls that can divide the space - just ask the crew, who you will meet once we are sailing - right now, they are very busy! The galley is through that wooden door - I understand there is a fancy chef aboard?¡± Emma nodded, and Adelaide thought she might have been starting to blush. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m --¡± ¡°It is great to have a fancy chef! Very exciting! We do not have a fancy kitchen, but you can cut things up and make them hot, which should be enough! Now let us go downstairs.¡± Descending the stairs, they entered a long corridor with a dozen doors branching off of it, each with a keypad. The Captain opened the nearest to reveal a room the size of a walk-in closet with a hammock strung along it and a small porthole. ¡°These rooms are your Chests! Each of you has one and each of you may do with it as you choose! Anything you keep in here is yours, and yours alone. Anything you want to take home with you must be in your Chest or it is community property, like in Monopoly! Meaning we can throw it overboard, and may do so. The rooms are simple, but you can have a feather bed if you want to use your space on one. Or you can fill it so much that there is no room for your body and sleep under the stars!¡± Tish stuck her head in. ¡°Are you saying that we can only bring whatever fits in one of these rooms?¡± ¡°You can bring more, but if you do you are donating it! On the Foam Strider, property is the Chest. Most things, we share. But the Chest is yours alone. If you try to enter another person¡¯s locker, you will be shot!¡± Tish laughed and Adelaide smiled before looking at Ray and Jim and seeing them entirely unamused, if also untroubled. ¡°You will see another metal door at aft - that leads to the engine room. You should not enter it! But other than that, you have the run of the ship! There is none better! ¡°We do not have clearance to queue for the Triangle until noon, so you have a few hours to organize yourselves. If there is anything you do not wish to bring, we can arrange to have it stored. And if you¡¯ve forgotten anything, needless to say, this is your last chance! I will blow the horn three times when we are about to go - your Guide will have words for you! See you all soon!¡± 1.5 - Fitting Once she¡¯d unpacked, Adelaide was struck by how little she had. She¡¯d left the hammock strung where it was, and it still dominated the room. Her clothes - she¡¯d packed only underwear, socks, t-shirts, hiking pants, bathing suits, and sweaters - were still in their suitcase, as buying and packing a set of drawers seemed like a waste. The only thing she¡¯d left out were her new shoes and coat, each purchased from the Top Drawer. They were each sold to her as waterproof and appropriate for all weathers; she normally wouldn¡¯t believe that, but Ray had recommended them. Outside of clothing, she had a few books and her IRAC, hooked up to the unnervingly-nuclear battery pack, and a small medical kit that had just seemed like a good idea. Even a small room couldn¡¯t be filled up by that little. But she supposed that a sparse room now just meant more room for whatever spoils she managed to pick up. She was still adjusting to the idea of this as a profit-seeking venture. She still had over a Year left, even after all of these expenses, but Ray was right: if she wanted to keep going for twelve months, she¡¯d need to start making a profit, especially in order to get the long voyages that would let them visit large numbers of Nodes. And, while the media depicted the Triangle as a money machine, she knew it was no such thing. Even when people came back at all, plenty brought back nothing but junk and nightmares. She might have spent the day in melancholic contemplation had the sounds of Trish¡¯s frantic unpacking not begun to annoy her. Adelaide had managed to stay out of sight as Trish tried to fit a dozen suitcases into her Chest, as any attempt to commiserate would wind up with Adelaide storing Trish¡¯s nonsense in her own Chest. In the interest of continuing to avoid that outcome, Adelaide walked up to the deck. The Foam Strider¡¯s crew ¡ª to whom she had still not been introduced, she would have to fix that soon ¡ª was bustling, getting ready for the imminent departure. She didn¡¯t want to stop them from battening down whatever passed for hatches here, and was glad to see Ray staring out to sea. He gave her a small smile as she approached. ¡°You¡¯re early ¡ª my speech isn¡¯t for a few minutes. You unpack already, Professor?¡± ¡°Yeah. It didn¡¯t take as long as I expected.¡± ¡°A good sign. I¡¯m glad you packed lighter than your friend, anyway. Who is that and what in the world were you thinking bringing her with us?¡± ¡°She¡¯s Trish Winfield. We were roommates for a while in college.¡± ¡°Wait, do you mean Winfield like Winfield Pharmaceuticals?¡± ¡°That¡¯s her dad, yeah. So she¡¯s not exactly used to roughing it. She¡¯s actually sweet once you get to know her. Mostly.¡± ¡°So the mysterious financier¡­¡± Adelaide sighed. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s him.¡± ¡°You mean, I¡¯m not actually Guiding someone who secured VC funding or something based on the strength of her research plan? I¡¯m actually just taking someone who convinced her roommate¡¯s billionaire father to spend a few million dollars to keep his daughter out of his hair for a while?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that characterization is entirely fair. But, well, yes, it¡¯s also not untrue.¡± Ray looked out at the Triangle on the horizon and then chuckled to himself. ¡°Ok, well, I guess it doesn¡¯t make a difference. Let me assemble everyone for my big speech.¡± Ray spoke to a crewmember, and the ship¡¯s horn blew three times a few moments later. The passengers all assembled on the deck, and Ray stood beside the gangplank. ¡°For anyone who doesn¡¯t know, I¡¯m Ray. I¡¯m the Guide here. What that means is that I get to make decisions once we are on the Triangle. I leave the actual operation of the Strider to the Captain, but it¡¯s my ultimate decision where to go and when to stop. That¡¯s what we call my Prerogative: at any time, I can tell the Captain to send us home and he¡¯ll do it. And if anyone objects, the crew will support me and someone can take up their complaints once we get back. My job is to make sure you get back, and I take it seriously. ¡°My first act as part of that job is to explain what we are about to go through. I know many of you think you know how the Triangle works. Some of you might even be right. But you¡¯re all going to listen to me. I¡¯m not a physicist - I don¡¯t understand that stuff, although several of the passengers here seem to. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°All I know about is what actually happens. In a few minutes, we are going to approach those big pieces of metal known as the Triangle. As soon as we pass through, we will be in a new Sea. What I mean by ¡°new¡± is that we will be somewhere no one has ever been before. There will be no Bermuda, no Florida, nothing like that. There are likely to be other landmasses, but we won¡¯t know where they are. And there will likely be new plants and animals. Again, we won¡¯t know what those are either. We will spend two weeks exploring, and then we will return. ¡°What you may be realizing is that I do not have any more experience with the Sea we are about to enter than you do. All I have is my wits and my instincts. That¡¯s all any of us have. You will need to make use of both, as there is every reason to expect danger. ¡°I say all of this now because this is the very last chance to leave. Once we pull up this gangplank, that¡¯s it. There are no early exits: we are not turning the Strider around because you realize you made a mistake joining us. And there is no communication with this world until we return. If we do not make it back, no one in this world will ever know what happened to us. So please, take this chance seriously: if you want to leave, I won¡¯t think any less of you.¡± The wind stirred, and Adelaide looked at the other passengers. None made a move to leave. ¡°Alright then. Captain, put us in the queue.¡± *** As they approached the Triangle, Adelaide found herself next to Ray. ¡°That was a hell of a pep talk.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve had some practice. I¡¯m half surprised I didn¡¯t scare anyone off this time, the rookies you¡¯re dragging along.¡± ¡°Maybe they¡¯ll surprise you.¡± ¡°Maybe. Probably they won¡¯t.¡± ¡°How far back in line are we?¡± ¡°Almost there. Just this thing in front of us.¡± Ray gestured dismissively at a massive cruise liner that dwarfed the StriderTreader. Passengers lined the top deck, holding their drinks while reggae blasted from the speakers. These sorts of cruises had become increasingly popular, although Adelaide didn¡¯t see the point. Insurance issues prevented the passengers from going ashore anywhere, and the ships were so large and loud that they drove off any nearby wildlife, so it wasn¡¯t clear how the passengers even distinguished the trip from a normal journey to sea. It seemed strange to pay a premium to visit a Sea you¡¯d never actually notice. Bragging rights, Adelaide supposed. ¡°See, that is a pleasure cruise,¡± Adelaide said. ¡°I told you I knew the difference.¡± Ray actually laughed at that. ¡°I¡¯ll give you credit for that one.¡± They watched as the cruise ship approached the arms of the Triangle, which towered above even its top deck. The Triangle¡¯s arms glowed and flickered, and the passengers all started to shout with excitement. There was a flash, and then the cruise liner was gone. And now it was the Foam Strider¡¯s turn, and Adelaide felt the engines kick up. ¡°Any guesses as to what we¡¯ll find?¡± Ray asked. ¡°We can¡¯t know, right? Beyond the fact that we¡¯ll be in the sea, I suppose.¡± Ray looked at her, ¡°Are you sure about that?¡± ¡°What do you mean? Everyone who has described the other side of the Triangle starts on the sea. Same with the Devil¡¯s Sea. And Mount Kenya is always mountain - that¡¯s how they work.¡± ¡°Sure, but that¡¯s just the people who return. For all we know, everyone who didn¡¯t return found their ship dropping onto a dry seabed. Or into lava. Or vacuum.¡± There was silence for a moment, broken only by the humming engines. ¡°That¡¯s terrifying.¡± Adelaide said eventually. ¡°Think I should work it into the speech?¡± They were nearly to the Triangle now, and Adelaide had to crane her neck up to see where the arms met. She looked back at the docks and the Bermuda shore, and tried to take in the skyline that would be the last trace of civilization she would see until she returned. She just had to trust that she¡¯d be back, and hopefully with enough profit to begin another trip. ¡°I got you something, by the way.,¡± Ray said. Adelaide looked and saw that he was holding a paper bag with the Top Shelf¡¯s logo on it. She opened it and pulled out a small wooden box with strings across it and panels on each side. As she began to unfold it, Ray explained. ¡°It¡¯s a foldable guitar - they hold up better our here and take up less space.¡± Adelaide looked him in the eyes. ¡°That¡¯s - that¡¯s incredibly thoughtful. Thank you.¡± Ray gave a small smile. ¡°It gets quiet out here, like I said. And it can be slow. You¡¯ll have a lot of time to practice this year, Professor.¡± Before Adelaide could respond, the Triangle began to flicker and flash, and Trish heard a loud hum come from the air all around them. She looked quickly behind her at Percy, who was fiddling with the Deresonance Detector, which he¡¯d attached to her IRAC. She returned her gaze to the Triangle, which was now only meters in front of them. The hum intensified as the lights on the Triangle¡¯s arms began to flash more and more quickly. The wind picked up, blowing Adelaide¡¯s hair. As she cleared her eyes, she thought she smelled something, and the hum seemed like it was going to make her teeth vibrate out of her skull. She was about to ask Ray if this was normal when there was a bright flash and ¡ª Interlude 1 Interlude 1 The sun came out from behind the clouds, and she sighed. They said that, whatever Sea you were in, the sky didn¡¯t change color. That was apparently physics or chemistry or something like that, but she didn¡¯t care: this sky was a clearly different shade of blue than what they had back home, something greener. And that was reflected in the water, and the whole thing was really too beautiful to handle. Marie was going to miss that sky when the Crackerjack returned to Bermuda. She figured they had just over an hour. There was no visual indicator of where the Triangle was. Technically, it didn¡¯t exist on this side. But the passageway was there, and, while it was invisible, it was easy to find: it was always magnetic north. Apparently this was some effect of whatever physics-thing kept the passage open. This made returning home easy: just point yourself north and you literally couldn¡¯t miss it. Knowing your distance wasn¡¯t quite as simple, but any ship planning long voyages had an automatic system that tracked orientation throughout the voyage, and it had told them they were less than a day away. Personally, Marie wouldn¡¯t have minded another few hours. This was a particularly beautiful Sea: beyond the sea and sky color, there were archipelagoes that dotted the horizon and semed so close that you could jump between them. There had been bright seabirds in the sky and passive but majestic frog-whales in the sea. And it had been incredibly profitable, not least due to those frog-whales, whose passivity had rendered them easy prey. Spending the money would be fun, but it was even better to look out at the waves and dream of spending it. It was easy to love a trip on the Crackerjack. Marie had Guided voyages on ships of all sizes, but it was hard to deny the appeal of being on one of the truly elite vessels like the Crackerjack. Some of that appeal came from the creature comforts, with ample living space and even a small hot tub that was fed with seawater. But more important was the palpable ease with which it cut through the water. It was even worth putting up with Captain Wilson, who, for all of his delusions of living in the Age of Sail, was unquestionably competent. Rob nodded as he came to stand alongside her. ¡°It¡¯s been a good voyage, Marie. Long, but good.¡± ¡°It has. You ready to be home?¡± ¡°Of course. I¡¯m ready to go home as soon as we get started. And then as soon as I¡¯m home I want to go back out.¡± Marie laughed. ¡°I get that.¡± ¡°But, in the meantime, have you thought about my offer?¡± ¡°I have. It¡¯s intriguing, but I don¡¯t see where we get the capital. Ships are expensive.¡± ¡°Capital? Are you kidding? We are sitting on it! I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ve done the math, but we are going to be well in the black after this one.¡± ¡°Not that far in the black.¡± ¡°More than you might guess, by my math. Anyway, I have some saved, and I can find some investors. The point is, I¡¯m sick of losing so much of my money to a guy who just sings sea shanties while he sails in a random direction out and then north all the way back. We could do that ourselves!¡± This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ¡°I think there¡¯s more to it than that. And you''re a terrible singer.¡± ¡°Maybe, but we can learn! We¡¯re a great team - we¡¯ll figure it out.¡± Before she could respond, Marie heard Captain Wilson yell out, ¡°Ship approaching starboard!¡± Marie rolled her eyes. ¡°You¡¯re right, though, that I could do with less of his cosplay. Especially when it doesn¡¯t even make sense.¡± When Rob didn¡¯t respond, she looked over and saw that he had pulled out his binoculars and was now staring at one of the islands off to the East. ¡°Rob?¡± ¡°It can¡¯t ¡­ There can¡¯t be ¡­¡± She snatched the binoculars and scanned the horizon until she saw it. There was, impossibly, a ship out there, moving towards them. It was hard to judge size or speed, but it looked like something from three hundred years ago, giant sails and all. People had built some ships like that, when concerns about fuel had briefly defined construction trends, but they¡¯d been phased out for more sensible vessels like the Crackerjack. Not that it mattered, because nothing was supposed to be in the Sea with them. ¡°Rob, how can there be another ship? I mean, there can¡¯t be, but ¡ª¡± ¡°Maybe it¡¯s the elves?¡± ¡°There are no elves! And why would they be sailing some sort of fucking galleon? Can someone else have entered our Sea?¡± ¡°I mean, I don¡¯t think anyone¡¯s proven it¡¯s impossible, but it¡¯s never happened! Or shit, maybe we entered their Sea? Maybe they¡¯ve been stuck out here?¡± Marie couldn¡¯t respond, because she found herself unable to process what she was seeing. The impossible new ship kept getting closer and closer, and now the binoculars revealed a puff of smoke. And, although she tried not to believe it, it seemed like, coming towards them, almost casually, almost slowly, there was ¡ª ¡°Christ, Marie, is that a cannonball?¡± The only answer was the crack as the cannonball smashed against the Crackerjack¡¯s reinforced sides, which shuddered and bent with the impact. Before Marie could even draw breath, Captain Wilson¡¯s voice boomed over the ship¡¯s intercom. ¡°Fire! Fire everything!¡± Marie had never been so happy to be on a hunting voyage. Because they hadn¡¯t known what they¡¯d find, they had brought every kind of weapon they could fit on board. That included not just the lasers they¡¯d used to bring down surfacing whales without damaging the valuable feathers, but also artillery capable of launching harpoons with explosive tips, drones that carried bombs that could be dropped from above, and small torpedoes with razor tips designed to penetrate hard shells. Within moments, all of those instruments were flying towards the still approaching galleon. Once it was sinking, they could investigate what the hell it had been. Marie braced for the explosion. And then her shoulders sunk as everything just ¡­ everything just went through it. She saw the splashes, the waves as torpedoes passed, the drones that dropped bombs directly into the ocean. And it was still coming, somehow. Rob yelled next to her. ¡°We need to run! As fast as we can - we¡¯re almost home! We can make it!¡± Marie wasn¡¯t sure if Rob thought he could make that true by shouting or if he just couldn¡¯t avoid yelling out something. And maybe he was even right. They were accelerating as much as the engines could handle, and they were supposed to be close. Marie could have misjudged, maybe they were only 15 minutes from the Triangle. Maybe they¡¯d be through it any minute. But she saw the smoke as a dozen impossible cannonballs took flight. And, even as they were rattling the Crackerjack, she saw another dozen coming. And then she felt the ship begin to list, and she heard everyone screaming. In the end, Marie turned away, and watched the smoke cloud that strangely green sky. 2.1 - Embark ¡ª and Adelaide was surrounded by darkness, she couldn¡¯t see anything, but she could hear screaming, something had gone wrong, where had she gone ¡ª And then she saw the stars, and a waning moon on the horizon. And then her eyes kept adjusting and she realized ¡ª ¡°It¡¯s night,¡± she said to no one in particular. Only then did she realize the screaming had come from the other passengers and crew. Trish was still screaming, and she thought she heard Emma and Alessio calming themselves down. Even with the sliver of moonlight, it was staggeringly dark, and Adelaide wondered if the ship had any ¡ª ¡°Lights on! Mr. Whitworth, the lights! Mr. Grinston, kill the engines!¡± Captain Mattson yelled. And then lights set into the railes flashed on, and Adelaide¡¯s eyes had to adjust the other way. Once she had stopped blinking, Adelaide saw that everyone was, fundamentally, alright. But even the crew seemed to be catching their breath a bit. Adelaide looked at Ray, who was looking down at the water. She said, haltingly, ¡°I didn¡¯t realize ¡ª I never thought about the possibility that it would be night.¡± Ray smiled his small smile. ¡°It always takes you by surprise. But it¡¯s supposed to be good luck, they say. And it gets the blood pumping.¡± Trish wandered over and grabbed Adelaide by the hand. ¡°Ade, did we just travel in time? No one mentioned we could travel in time - do we know what year it is? How do we know what year it will be when we get back?¡± Adelaide tried not to catch Ray¡¯s eye. ¡°We didn¡¯t travel in time, honey.¡± ¡°But it was the morning and now it¡¯s night!¡± ¡°Remember, we are somewhere totally new. Why would it be the same time zone?¡± Trish paused at that. ¡°Oh. I guess that does make sense. I feel silly for not thinking of that.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t - it didn¡¯t occur to me either. But Ray says it¡¯s lucky!¡± ¡°We can definitely use luck. Wow, look at those stars!¡± Adelaide followed Trish¡¯s gaze upwards. Even with the ship¡¯s lights on, there were a staggering number of stars visible. It made sense, given that they were presumably the only source of light pollution in the world. ¡°They¡¯re beautiful.¡± ¡°Yeah, but it¡¯s so weird not to have any of the constellations! You¡¯d almost think this could just be the middle of a random ocean, but the stars are all in the wrong place.¡± Adelaide hadn¡¯t noticed that, although she¡¯d known it was coming. Almost as soon as people went through the Triangle, they¡¯d tried to use the stars to figure out where they were. What they¡¯d found was that the stars they saw didn¡¯t match the constellations from anywhere on earth. Nor was the Triangle¡¯s sky consistent; just like the islands and the wildlife, the stars were never exactly the same, although the Astronomers who had gone through purported to see some particular stellar bodies recur. Triangle astronomy had apparently created a schism in the astronomer community, with some scientists seeing it as a distraction to the study of the stellar bodies in the Earth¡¯s actual sky and others seeing it as a chance to better understand fundamental dynamics of stellar bodies. Adelaide herself was no astronomer, and she didn¡¯t even have Trish¡¯s sense of the constellations. But the sky was .. off, now that she looked at it. The few constellations she could recognize, like the Big Dipper and Orion, were obviously missing. But stranger were the things that felt like they would have to be constellations if they were in the normal sky. Like those seven bright stars in a line - that would definitely be something, right? And that clump of reddish stars near the horizon - was that something that could even happen normally? Ray cleared his throat and tried to get everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°Alright, everybody - they always say night entries are lucky, so we¡¯re off to a good start. You¡¯re welcome to stay here or to head below decks. Emma, catch up with me for a second so we can discuss meal timing - while everyone can eat whenever, we¡¯ll try to space things out so that we¡¯re on something resembling a normal schedule by the time the sun sets tomorrow. So let¡¯s pace ourselves - no need to be falling asleep at noon. Other than that, make sure to alert me or the Captain if you need anything or see anything of interest. Remember, no one has ever been here before, and we¡¯ll all need to keep each other informed.¡± The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Percy nodded at Adelaide and headed back down below deck. Before Adelaide could move to follow him, Trish stopped her. ¡°Ade, I wanted to thank you for this. For bringing me with you.¡± ¡°Of course!¡± ¡°No, really. I know I haven¡¯t done stuff like this before, but I think this will be great! Something really new, right?¡± ¡°It¡¯s definitely new.¡± ¡°Exactly! Anyway, I¡¯m going to get some sort of like ¡­ night brunch? Something like that. See ya!¡± As Trish walked away, the Captain approached. ¡°So! Now that we are through, I trust you have our course?¡± ¡°No, not yet - I thought Ray had explained.¡± ¡°He told me that you would be dictating our course based on ¡®some science thing¡¯ and that you¡¯d tell me what we were doing once we arrived.¡± Adelaide looked over at Ray. Even though she could only see the back of his head against the dark sea, she knew he was very deliberately not turning around. ¡°It¡¯s - it¡¯s a bit more complicated than that. Percy¡¯s working on it, but it¡¯ll probably take a couple hours. He¡¯ll come find me once it¡¯s done, and I¡¯ll go to you, ok?¡± The Captain nodded. ¡°I hate to waste the time, but it is hard to travel before our first sunrise. But come to me as soon as you have direction.¡± Adelaide knew she should sleep - almost everyone else had apparently headed to their rooms already. It was going to be a long day, and there wasn¡¯t anything to do until Percy finished his calculations. If she could take even a quick nap, she¡¯d be more awake when the new sun rose and they¡¯d have to begin. But Adelaide couldn¡¯t look away from the water. Other than the stars, it was impossible to tell it apart from any other night on the open ocean, but Adelaide knew that it was unique. Nobody had ever seen these waves before. Well, actually, every wave was in some sense new, but these felt like they had been made just for her. And so she sat, looking out at the horizon, unaware how much time was passing or when she¡¯d get hungry enough to grab something to eat. Her head was almost clear of thought when she saw something move through the darkness and hit the water with a splash. ¡°Whoa!¡± escaped her mouth automatically. One of the crew ran over to her, a young man with curly hair cut short who was a bit taller than she was. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°I saw something fall into the water from the sky.¡± ¡°Like hail?¡± ¡°No, more like ¡ª I think it was a bird of some kind? It looked like an eagle diving for a fish.¡± ¡°Could be. We¡¯ll keep an eye open for another.¡± ¡°I wonder, though, how anything could see a fish from way up in the air in so little light. It must either have eyes the size of dinner plates or using something other than light to sense them.¡± ¡°Sounds like a very interesting bird.¡± ¡°I mean, it could be anything. But I wonder what would drive a bird to evolve to hunt at night - competition from other predators during the day? But that seems unlikely all the way out here.¡± ¡°Who says they evolved?¡± Adelaide looked at him, ¡°You don¡¯t believe in evolution?¡± He laughed. ¡°Back home, sure. But who says the Seas use the same system? Hell, who says they even have a past? For all we know, these just spring into existence the moment we go through.¡± Adelaide thought for a second. ¡°Have you seen things that make you suspect that possibility? Any ecosystems that couldn¡¯t have lasted?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure - it¡¯s not like we normally have time to explore whole biomes.¡± ¡°I suppose it could be - maybe we¡¯ll find out, although I can¡¯t imagine how. I¡¯m sorry, I was so caught up in that, I forgot to ask your name.¡± ¡°Grant, ma¡¯am. Good to finally be introduced,¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t call me ma¡¯am. How long have you been sailing on the Strider?¡± ¡°Two years.¡± ¡°Any tips for those of us on out first trip out?¡± ¡°Simple stuff - remember to stay hydrated and to eat regularly even when it¡¯s busy or interesting. Trust your instincts. But no real secret advice. You have to remember - it¡¯s the first time here for all of us.¡± 2.2 - Embark ¡°I don¡¯t care what some computer says, we¡¯re not doing it!¡± ¡°Look, it¡¯s just the traveling salesman problem. If you have a better algorithm, I¡¯d be happy to see it, but I somehow doubt it.¡± Adelaide was already exhausted, and the sun hadn¡¯t yet come up. Percy had come to her with completed calculations, and the two of them had proceeded to the bridge. Adelaide didn¡¯t fully understand how Ray had known to join them, but his quietly staring at her with a smirk was annoying her nearly as much as the argument that Percy and Captain Mattson had been having since they started talking to each other. ¡°What does a salesman have to do with any of this? Do you think there are a lot of sales opportunities out here? Ray, why did you bring me these people?¡± Adelaide interjected. ¡°Captain, how about we start over? Clearly you weren¡¯t given the background I had intended¡± ¡ª Ray managed not even to blink at this ¡ª ¡°and I understand why that¡¯s frustrating. Let me try to explain.¡± ¡°I am happy to listen, but I don¡¯t know how anyone can explain this!¡± ¡°Well, to start with, I trust you saw some of the equipment Percy was using as we passed through the Triangle? That equipment is the reason we¡¯re here. Percy took some very detailed readings, and then, over a few hours, managed some complicated mathematics to identify these Nodes which ¡­ or, we cancall them points of interest, ok?¡± ¡°What makes them so interesting?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that there¡¯s necessarily anything there, it¡¯s the way they relate to the readings we took.¡± Percy took that moment to jump in. ¡°Specifically, each point corresponds to a subset of identified ¡ª¡± Adelaide interrupted him. ¡°The math isn¡¯t worth worrying about, Captain. Maybe Nodes is just easier, whatever. The point is that our research requires us to travel to as many of these Nodes as we can before we return home.¡± Adelaide gestured at the tablet that Percy had brought, which showed a circle with them at the center and a dozen glowing points scattered around. ¡°Percy has spent some time charting a way for us to visit four in two weeks, and his math indicates that it¡¯s the path that lets us travel to the largest number of these nodes before the Triangle closes. But we of course want your input, Captain ¡ª we know we can¡¯t do this alone.¡± Percy rolled his eyes. ¡°There¡¯s not room to argue with the math here, Adelaide.¡± Captain Mattson laughed. ¡°So, to do your math here, how did you decide how fast we¡¯d be going?¡± ¡°I looked at the records from your last voyages and took an average. And I adjusted down a bit to be conservative.¡± ¡°Conservative! What if there¡¯s a storm? Or, Christ, what if there¡¯s a giant island in the middle of the path? Did you just assume this is a big circular bathtub?¡± ¡°Weather should be reflected in the averages, as should wind. We don¡¯t know how these factors will apply, so there¡¯s no principled way to incorporate them into an algorithm.¡± ¡°Oh, well as long as it¡¯s principled! But let me ask another question. These are just random points? They might just be in the middle of nowhere? Right?¡± ¡°Right, we don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°So, even if we don¡¯t hit a storm that causes us to miss our return window and be trapped here forever, and even if we make it to all four of these points, when do we actually make any money?¡± Adelaide had to pause at that. When she and Percy had planned their research, when she¡¯d pitched this voyage, she hadn¡¯t expected to worry much about making an actual profit, even if she¡¯d had fantasies of finding treasure. But she would never be able to fund a year¡¯s worth of voyages if she couldn¡¯t generate at least some money from each trip. And, as the Captain was reminding her, the crew was expecting at least the opportunity for profit. Mattson softened as she reflected. ¡°I understand this is new for you. I should not yell - you will learn. But there are ways to make these journeys profitable. The key is land. You can see some islands on the horizon - what we need to do is go there first. Sometimes, profit is simple! Ray, you know I¡¯m right. Can you help me explain it?¡± ¡°This whole thing is the Professor¡¯s errand,¡± Ray said. ¡°She calls the shots. If she wants to sail us around in circles, you know that you¡¯ve agreed for this voyage.¡± Adelaide looked down at the map. ¡°Captain, you¡¯re right that we need to make money and that we don¡¯t know what obstacles might be in our way. But, you have to trust me, I can¡¯t abandon the mission here. What if we just did two of the points? That would give us some slack, and we can investigate anything that looks profitable as we go. Percy, can you identify the two that give us the most time to work with?¡± ¡°Sure, I could do that,¡± Percy said. ¡°But do you realize what you¡¯re giving up? If we halve our input¡­¡± ¡°I understand. But we need to think beyond this one trip. Can you and Captain Mattson please be professional to each other long enough to chart a new course?¡± Mattson and Percy began to pass the tablet back and forth, discussing a variety of two-node paths. They were both large men, and Adelaide began to feel like she might be crushed if she didn¡¯t step away. She turned towards the window and saw the island Mattson had referenced. She grabbed a spyglass the Captain had left and raised it to her eye while smiling at the affectation. Raising it to her eye, she realized she had misjudged if she thought the Captain would prioritize romanticism over practicality. There was an entire user interface in here that was currently set to rangefind but could also take photos and, apparently, apply some sort of night-vision. She looked first at the island, and saw what seemed from a distance to be large flowering shrubs covering a small hill. As she turned East, she was impressed to see that the spyglass automatically compensated for the rising sun, allowing her to look at the horizon without being blinded. And, while there was no land in that direction ¡­ Adelaide twisted the device to zoom in and confirmed it ¡ª the water was bubbling near the horizon. And it looked like¡­ ¡°Ray, do you see what¡¯s happening over to the east? In the water?¡± Ray took the spyglass and looked where she had pointed. Moments later, he called for the Captain, who looked for even less time. Captain Mattson flipped on the ship¡¯s intercom. ¡°Everyone get inside!¡± Adelaide stared out of the windows as the foaming of the sea approached from the horizon. Her normal vision now sufficed to see what the spyglass had revealed ¡ª something was emerging from the sea. Or, rather, many somethings. It was hard to see them for all of the spray that they were kicking up, but they didn¡¯t look large individually, less than a foot in length each. And while they were leaping out of the water, they didn¡¯t seem to be returning to it - there was a cloud of the things forming and approaching the Strider. Something about the process ¡ª either the creatures or the water they kicked up, Adelaide wasn¡¯t sure ¡ª gave the illusion that there was something shining, even metallic in the water. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°Captain, what are they doing? Do you think they¡¯ll know to avoid the ship?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never seen them before! But I do not think they will want to crash themselves against ¡ª¡± Before he could finish, they heard the sound as the creatures began to pound themselves against the hull. A few of the stronger ones went farther and began to pelt the deck itself, with a few thumping against the windows of the bridge. ¡°I guess I was wrong! Blind as bats, maybe! I¡¯m glad we are inside!¡± ¡°Will these windows hold?¡± ¡°The windows are reinforced! These are not the first things to try to break through!¡± And then, as quickly as it began, the thumping ended. Adelaide looked west and saw the same pattern repeating itself to the west, outside of the Strider¡¯s shadow. Captain Mattson triggered the all-clear intercom signal, and then turned and said, ¡°You see, Percival? Unexpected things happen every morning! Was this in your computer?¡± Cautiously, Adelaide opened the bridge¡¯s door and walked over to one of the strange animals, flapping on the deck. It had the body of a thin fish, but it had extended fins that were almost as wide as the body was long. Adelaide picked it up, avoided dropping it as it wriggled, and saw that these fins must have been what allowed the strange animals to glide. The Captain looked at the animal she held. ¡°They look like bats! So perhaps they really were too blind to see the ship!¡± ¡°But bats aren¡¯t actually blind. And, look, it has eyes - four eyes, actually, although they¡¯re small. And they can¡¯t be blind ¡ª if they were, why would they wait until daytime to do this whole routine?¡± Before the Captain could speculate, Emma walked up onto the deck. ¡°I heard all that noise - what happened?¡± Ray walked over to her and handed her one of the creatures. ¡°You¡¯re the expert, Emma, but I think breakfast just got delivered.¡± *** They weren¡¯t bad, as it turned out. Emma had cleaned the creatures, which the Captain had taken to calling ¡°dawn bats,¡± and fried them up. They tasted pretty much like any fish did when it was fried - tasty, but not exactly exotic. And Emma reported that they didn¡¯t actually have much meat on them. She put the ones they didn¡¯t eat into the freezer in her locker, but she didn¡¯t seem optimistic about their sale value. Adelaide was pleased to see that everyone was willing to try them, at least. Not that she¡¯d worried about the crew Mattson had selected ¡ª she couldn¡¯t imagine there was room for a picky eater through the Triangle ¡ª but she didn¡¯t know how many of her own passengers had experienced this kind of eating-what-you-kill living before, let alone with a strange fish-bird no human had ever tasted before. But Percy, Alessio and Trish all dug in without complaint, even if Alessio spent a lot of time taking photos of the food rather than actually eating it. As Adelaide was finishing up, a member of the crew sat next to her at the folding table that had been pulled out in anticipation of the meal. A tall man with blonde hair, Adelaide had seen him walking the ship but they hadn¡¯t yet been introduced. He began to eat, and Adelaide asked, ¡°How do you like it?¡± He looked up at her. ¡°It¡¯s good - nothing fancy, but it¡¯s nice to have hot fresh food out here. You don¡¯t always get that.¡± ¡°I suppose it¡¯s another lucky break. I¡¯m Adelaide, by the way.¡± He shook her hand. ¡°Tom Grinston. I hear you were with the Skipper when these dawnbats popped up?¡± ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s lucky I was inside ¡ª I wouldn''t have wanted to take one of these to the face.¡± Tom laughed a bit at that. ¡°I¡¯ve had worse, but no reason to get hit with any more weird fish bats then is strictly necessary.¡± ¡°That¡¯s more or less my thinking. But it is something, to get our first real glimpse of the fauna out here. The only really new thing I¡¯ve seen.¡± ¡°What about those shiny things?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t see them when you were up on the deck? Let me show you.¡± Tom scarfed down the rest of his plate and led Adelaide back up to the deck and pointed over the westerner rail. ¡°See them?¡± Adelaide saw them immediately, in the shadow of the Strider. It looked like there were disco balls bobbing in the waves. There were dozens of them, but they were concentrated in a relatively small area near the Strider itself. ¡°Have we pulled any of those up?¡± she asked. Tom shook his head. ¡°We can, though. If you think they might be worth something.¡± ¡°I think it¡¯s worth a shot.¡± Tom and another crewmember whose name she hadn¡¯t caught cast out a net woven from a dark purple fiber. A few minutes later, they pulled it up, wet and containing two silver spheres. ¡°Can you put one of those on the bench here?¡± Adelaide pulled out a utility tool she¡¯d purchased at the Top Drawer and unsheathed a small knife that she¡¯d been told would keep an edge even if she tried to cut a rock with it. And, for all she knew, cutting a rock was exactly what she was about to attempt. She pressed the tip to the sphere and the silver coating immediately began to flake off as if it were gold foil. Her knife then began to snag as it entered something with the consistency of a tough sponge. Some sawing and body weight let her keep making progress, and eventually she¡¯d carved out enough to take a look within. The shiny outer layer appeared to be thin scales, much thinner than those of any fish she¡¯d seen but otherwise similar in texture. Those scales were pearlescent, glittering and throwing off light even as they flaked away from the cut edge. And then there was just the spongy material she¡¯d cut through, which was a nondescript sort of off-yellow. There were, however, a few dark off-color bits, like seeds but smaller and less firm. ¡°What is it?¡± Tom asked. ¡°I have no clue,¡± Adelaide responded. ¡°I wonder where they come from.¡± Captain Mattson walked over. ¡°What have you found?¡± They showed him the little shiny sphere they¡¯d cut open. ¡°Interesting! But Adelaide, I came over because we¡¯ve settled on a course and are ready to go. Unless you want to look at these things for longer!¡± Adelaide was tempted. There was something interesting happening here, and it seemed almost rude to sail away. But she wasn¡¯t a biologist, and this wasn¡¯t an entomological expedition. There was no reason to believe she could actually figure out what sort of creature or plant or whatever was responsible for these strange silver spheres even if they spent their whole two weeks on it. And wasting time on this would prevent them from doing the actual research she was qualified for. The weird thing was that this moment was maybe the only chance anyone would ever have to figure out what these spheres were. Sure, sometimes some creatures appeared in multiple Seas, but plenty had been seen once and never again, at least so far . So there was every chance that nobody would ever see these things again and nobody would ever know any more about them than she did right then. On the one hand, that arguably made further investigation even less important, but it also made walking away feel more tragic. But there wasn¡¯t really any choice. Her own research was more important and, if successful, would hopefully make dilemmas like this less common. ¡°We should get going.¡± Adelaide paused. ¡°But scoop up as many of these as you can first. They might be worth something.¡± Mattson laughed. ¡°Now you¡¯re getting it!¡± 2.3 - Embark Adelaide was falling asleep at noon, but she knew her only hope of getting on a normal schedule was to push through to sunset at least. She tried to spur herself with the thought that this was a unique vista that no human would ever see again, but it was pretty much just water and she was too tired for generalized wonder. She briefly focused on the clouds before she remembered that all clouds are unique and fleeting, and that made her unreasonably sad for a minute. At least everyone else seemed similarly tired. Percy was downstairs, but most of the rest of her crew was sitting somewhere on the deck. Trish had either fallen asleep tanning or had accidentally left herself to tan while taking a nap - regardless, Adelaide was resigned to waking her at some point, but she wasn¡¯t in a particular rush to do so. Jim had found a shady place and was reading something on one of those industrial Kindles they¡¯d marketed for Triangle voyages, with the solar battery and the waterproofing. Emma was doing some extremely low-impact yoga near the back of the ship, and it was not entirely obvious that she wasn¡¯t also asleep. And Ray and Mattson were in the bridge, probably not napping but very possibly drinking. The only one who seemed to be actively working was Alessio, who had screwed so many attachments into his iPhone as to make it almost unrecognizable. He was wielding the combined gizmo deftly, having taken a full tour of the Strider and now surveying the panorama. Adelaide had heard him talking to himself earlier, but he was silent now. Adelaide decided that watching him work was better than having him inevitably film her sleeping on deck. As she approached, he turned his head without so much as shaking the camera. ¡°Hey. I¡¯m filming, but I don¡¯t need this audio. It¡¯s beautiful, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Yeah. Have you spent a lot of time on the water?¡± ¡°A bit. Enough to make sure I wouldn''t get seasick before I wandered off with you all. But this is something else. How often do you get to be all alone? I mean, obviously I¡¯m not alone, you¡¯re here, but you get my meaning.¡± ¡°Yeah. You filming anything in particular?¡± ¡°No, just b-roll. The stuff I¡¯ll talk over in some video I¡¯ll put together tonight. I always try to grab that as soon as I can. You think you¡¯ll have all the time in the world, but then things get interesting. And you can¡¯t reuse one little shot of waves: people actually react really negatively to reused backgrounds without even realizing it. I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s about perceived laziness or a need for variety, but I learned that you need to mix that up. So I grab it while it¡¯s quiet, as much as I can.¡± ¡°That makes sense. I do hope you get something interesting to show everyone. Although hopefully things aren¡¯t too crazy, for all of our sakes. Did you hear about the dawnbat thing?¡± ¡°I did - I¡¯m annoyed I missed it, but I¡¯m hoping it repeats tomorrow. People love that kind of thing. I did get a whole little cooking video with Emma though, so it wasn¡¯t a total waste.¡± ¡°You¡¯re doing cooking videos?¡± ¡°I¡¯m doing everything. I mean, you know what a risk this is for me, right? Two weeks is an eternity, and I need to be generating content that¡¯s worth it. So I¡¯m going to get everything I can.¡± Adelaide thought of how many times she¡¯d been busy researching and had barely left the lab or the library for two weeks. ¡°I don¡¯t know how you keep going like that.¡± ¡°I mean, you live every day, right? I just need to make sure I¡¯m living something interesting enough for everyone to look at. And that¡¯s the way I¡¯d want to live anyway. So it works out. The challenge here is just the delay. But I prerecorded some stuff and have my assistant releasing it unless it becomes out of step with the moment. That¡¯s the weirdest part if you ask me ¡ª not knowing the news. I mean, anything could have happened and we wouldn¡¯t know! We could be at war with France or something, and we¡¯d be the only people in the world not to know. I think that¡¯s crazy.¡± ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought of that! But you¡¯re right. We could come back to anything at all. I mean, we probably won¡¯t, but we could.¡± Alessio pressed a button and stopped the recording, folding his attachments and putting the phone into his pocket. ¡°We¡¯re going to be traveling together, and I want you to trust me. That¡¯s why I just put my phone away - I want you to feel like you can speak candidly right now. Because the real question is this: What are we doing out here?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I mean that I did my research before agreeing to this, and I can tell there¡¯s something big happening. You¡¯re a scientist, but still a young one, and not exactly famous. No commercial work, no links to any big funders. And no Bermuda connections. Now Trish tells me you got an investment from her dad. He¡¯s not known to throw money around, but I guess he could make an exception for his daughter¡¯s friend. But if this was just a weird luxury, why this ship? And why are we sailing in a random direction, ignoring islands as we pass them? You have a plan, and I want to know what it is.¡± Adelaide forced herself to pause and tried to keep her face neutral. She was definitely too tired to be doing this right now. ¡°Even if you were right, why would I tell you? Why would I make something like that public?¡± ¡°Are you kidding? You knew my job when you brought me in! What did you think, I wasn¡¯t going to look into what the point of this voyage was?¡± ¡°I thought this was sort of a human interest thing ¡ª like you¡¯d show what life is like, the food, weird animals, that sort of thing.¡± Alessio smiled. ¡°Ah, so you didn¡¯t do your research into me. I get it. But I¡¯m here now.¡± Adelaide closed her eyes for a second, trying to think. Why hadn¡¯t she thought this through more? Alessio was a paying traveler, but still ¡ª she should have considered the privacy implications. Not that the project could remain totally secret forever, but she definitely wasn¡¯t ready for it to become completely public as soon as they got back. ¡°Ok, let me propose this. I can¡¯t get into everything right now, in part because I¡¯m totally jetlagged. Shiplagged. Whatever. But I get where you are coming from. I¡¯ll tell you this: we do have a destination, and we¡¯re scheduled to reach tomorrow at about 2:15 pm. So set up your filming accordingly.¡± ¡°What¡¯s going to be there?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe nothing. But that¡¯s the most I can do to help you find something interesting.¡± ¡°Alright, Adelaide. But you should think carefully about this. I¡¯m not going to be distracted forever, and two weeks is a long time to fill.¡± *** It was probably something about the time change, but Adelaide found herself starving before the sun set, even though she hadn¡¯t especially done anything physical all day. She headed down to the kitchen ¡ª although she supposed it was a galley or a mess or something? ¡ª to see if she could scrounge something together and found Emma leaning over a countertop. Emma heard the door open and looked over her shoulder. ¡°Do you need me for something?¡± The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Oh, no, sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to bother you. I was just poking around ¡ª was going to see if I could find something to eat.¡± ¡°And spoil your appetite?¡± Emma smiled and waved a knife in the direction of a small fridge. ¡°There¡¯s some smoked meats in there. Nothing exotic, just stuff we sailed out with. Kind of fun, I think. People have been bringing barrels of that stuff with them on the water for what? Three hundred years?¡± ¡°Probably more. I¡¯m happy to be part of a legacy,¡± Adelaide said as she crouched down and stuck her head into the fridge door. ¡°What were you up to in here?¡± ¡°Looking at these weird shiny things you had them pull in. They¡¯re interesting: I have a few ideas for preparing them, but I¡¯m not sure how they¡¯ll work in practice.¡± Adelaide made what she hoped was an intrigued and interested noise around a mouthful of beef jerky. It seemed good enough for Emma. ¡°Yeah, like the outside probably isn¡¯t worth anything nutritionally, but I could see people using it as fancy decoration. Like gold leaf but organic. The spongy stuff seems like it¡¯ll be tough to eat, but if you saute it or fry it it could wind up being ok. I think it¡¯s like a super dry tofu, but with a different flavor. But the seeds in it ¡ª I don¡¯t know what they actually are but you see the little things I¡¯m talking about ¡ª those won¡¯t fry well at all, they sort of split and break up the spongy bit.¡± ¡°In an interesting way?¡± ¡°No, in a gross and kind of slimy way. So the only thing I can think of is to slice it up and then use these tweezers to pick them out. I¡¯ve been putting them in this glass - I might try to figure out something to do with them later.¡± Adelaide peered at the dozen-odd seed things in a glass. ¡°You know, Emma, I appreciate your cooking for us, but we brought enough food to last us. You don¡¯t need to try to cook the exotic stuff if it¡¯s too annoying.¡± ¡°Nah, it¡¯s fine. What else am I doing all day? Anyway, we want to sell this stuff when we get back, and I¡¯ll get a better price if I can give a little info on how to cook it. Not that anyone will listen to me, but it¡¯s a starting point.¡± ¡°Ok, well, if you don¡¯t mind too much, it¡¯s certainly interesting. Want some help? It¡¯s not like I have so much to do right now.¡± ¡°Sure! Grab a tweezer and I¡¯ll cut you a slice. That¡¯ll speed it up a lot.¡± Adelaide found the work calming ¡ª it wasn¡¯t like this was brain surgery, so she didn¡¯t beat herself up too much if she sometimes scooped out a bit more than she needed. And it kept her occupied pleasantly until she looked at the glass of strange seeds and a question occurred to her. ¡°Emma, how do we know this stuff isn¡¯t poisonous or something?¡± Emma looked over at her. ¡°You want to know the funny thing about that question?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t ask it the first time I cooked some weird thing we found out here.¡± Adelaide dropped the ball she was working on. Emma laughed. ¡°I¡¯m mostly kidding. It¡¯s actually sort of impressive you noticed at all. Plenty of people never consider the possibility, and early voyages had a couple of casualties for that exact reason. That¡¯s what led to the testing kits.¡± Emma handed Adelaide a red and white striped pouch that was ripped along one edge. ¡°This is the one I used before. It tests for problematic interactions with skin and digestive systems.¡± Adelaide pulled the pouch open. It was sticky, with some sort of warmish fluid leaking out. ¡°How does it do that? You could test for known toxins, but that seems insufficient ¡ª what if some totally unknown chemical is out there that causes problems?¡± ¡°Yeah, I mean, I¡¯m not a biologist, but I think those things actually contain some sort of living skin and stomach lining, and then it tells you if those things died faster than expected.¡± Adelaide put the bag down very carefully and went to wash her hands. ¡°I need to ask fewer questions.¡± ¡°Hey, if you¡¯re squeamish, you went through the wrong Triangle. And you might not love dinner - I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s going to be really tasty or really weird.¡± *** It turned out to be both. The texture was exactly that of the sponge it looked like, and it took forever to chew. But it was unquestionably tasty, with a rich and meaty flavor that persisted throughout each bite. And Emma had taken the little seed things and cooked or reduced them or something and made a really bitter sauce that was somehow paired wonderfully with the sponge stuff itself. And there was some normal food too, prepared in case the spongey stuff was unappetizing ¡ª salad and some steamed chicken. Emma looked around the table, and it seemed like most people were losing steam. This had been the first meal they¡¯d all had together in a semi-organized fashion, now that they were more aligned with the time zone they¡¯d found themselves in. Adelaide had sat near Captain Mattson, and he had done all of the talking, telling a story about a previous journey to her and Trish while Adelaide focused on shoving more food into her mouth. She¡¯d only been half listening: there had been a whole part about how they navigated a specific current that had caused her to lose focus, and now somehow they were talking about cat-like things on some island. ¡°So did you manage to catch any?¡± Trish asked. ¡°It was challenging! The suction cups meant that they would run up the walls and onto the ceiling if they got spooked. You should have heard them - POPOPOPOP! It echoed!¡± Trish and Adelaide both laughed. ¡°But we got some in the end! We pulled a piece of sheet metal off the boat and covered it with the fungus stuff we¡¯d seen them eating. Then, when one of them came over and popped his way onto it, we just grabbed the sheet and hauled it back to the boat!¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t they jump off?¡± Trisha asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but they never did, even as they howled and popped all around the thing. Maybe they were too stuck!¡± Adelaide thought about that for a second. ¡°I wonder if they could even jump. I don¡¯t know how I¡¯d jump with suction cups for feet, and why would they need to have evolved that? They already have a way to get up high, as you said.¡± ¡°Very possible! Anyway, we got a bunch of them, grabbed a lot of the moss so they¡¯d be happy on the trip, and then we were on our way home!¡± ¡°What did you do with them once they got back?¡± ¡°Sold them off - there are some pet stores that connect critters like that with buyers.¡± ¡°How on earth would anyone know how to take care of something like that?¡± ¡°They don¡¯t always, but they do their best. And there are some people who¡¯ve become experts. Did you see the zoo before we left?¡± Trish shook her head. ¡°I meant to! I definitely will after this.¡± ¡°It¡¯s worth the trip. I know some of the keepers there, they are good folks. And they¡¯ve got funding like you can¡¯t believe! Anyway, they wound up buying most of those little sucker cats.¡± Trish smiled. ¡°That¡¯s so sweet, I¡¯m tearing up! Although maybe I just had one too many glasses of wine!¡± Adelaide tried to stop her eyes from rolling; she¡¯d seen Trish do a dozen jello shots, it wasn¡¯t like an extra glass of white wine was going to make a difference. But people were shifting in their seats, and Adelaide figured that as soon as the first person stood up, everyone would just go to bed. That sounded pretty good, actually ¡ª she was beat and would probably be woken up early by some bump or other. Which was why she was so surprised to hear herself ask, ¡°So what are we going to do now?¡± Everyone looked at her, and she worried she was blushing. ¡°I mean, unless people want to go to bed, that¡¯s obviously fine.¡± Emma smiled. ¡°I¡¯m not tired yet ¡ª I¡¯d be up to hang out a bit. Assuming people help me with the dishes.¡± Trish stood up. ¡°I think it¡¯s obvious! Karaoke!¡± Time slowed for Adelaide, and, for a moment, she gained the ability to see the future, watching as the group grimaced their way through the fifth performance of Blank Space. It was a grim future, but the grip of predestination had already seized Adelaide¡¯s vocal chords. Looking around the table, she saw others facing the same grim realization. Until Ray spoke. ¡°I don¡¯t have the energy for that tonight. Let¡¯s watch a movie. Back to the Future.¡± Jim smiled knowingly, but Alessio was the one who finally asked, ¡°Why Back to the Future?¡± ¡°Everyone likes Back to the Future.¡± And everyone did. 2.4 - Embark Adelaide watched for an hour before it actually appeared. She¡¯d known when to expect to see something, roughly. The course that Percy and the Captain had worked on together called for them to approach the first node at 2:15, and there hadn¡¯t been anything that slowed their progress materially. But Adelaide hadn¡¯t wanted to miss anything, so she¡¯d arrived an hour before the node was expected to cross their horizon. And then she¡¯d spent the whole time vaguely anxious, because there was no guarantee that there would actually be anything visible where the node was. As Captain Mattson had pointed out, it could just be a completely blank spot in the middle of the ocean. And, from a research perspective, that would be fine. Even economically, it would be ok; they had time now to detour to some island and grab whatever seemed valuable. But Adelaide still felt like a kid waiting for a package in the mail, a little knot in her stomach twisting at the idea of sailing uneventfully across an unremarkable bit of sea. And then, just on schedule, she saw it. At first, it looked like a really small island. Like not quite a New Yorker cartoon with just one palm tree, but still small enough to be easily taken in at one glance. Adelaide felt that she could probably walk the entire perimeter in about 45 minutes. Although it did look like she¡¯d need some really good boots ¡ª it looked weirdly steep. And it appeared to be all rock, with some prominent dark spots that could have been metal. As she studied it, she noticed some birds approaching the island in slow spirals. This was a strange place for them ¡ª there certainly weren¡¯t any trees on the little scrap of land that could support a nest, and it was hard to imagine there was much hunting to be done. Although, now that Adelaide thought about it, weren¡¯t there sea birds that laid their eggs on the edges of cliff faces or something like that? She felt like she had a memory of seeing that on a documentary, but couldn¡¯t remember why the birds would want to nest there. Not that it really mattered ¡ª this was some new species, and they could lay their eggs right on the rock if that was what they had evolved to do. Ray walked up next to her. ¡°So that¡¯s your node thing?¡± ¡°Looks like it. Well, the node is actually just a point in space, but it looks like the point in space is somewhere on that little island.¡± Ray reached out his hand, and Adelaide gave him the periscope she¡¯d borrowed from Mattson. She¡¯d already added one of those to her shopping list for when they returned. Although there were probably a lot of different options on the market ¡ª ideally, she¡¯d like something that could record bits of video, just to have little mementos of the experience. Ray interrupted her thoughts by saying, ¡°Did you see those birds?¡± ¡°Yeah. I was wondering why they¡¯d want to land there. Doesn¡¯t look like there¡¯s much to eat.¡± ¡°Take a closer look. They aren¡¯t landing.¡± Adelaide took the spyglass back and peered at the surface of the little island. It took a minute to reorient her perspective, but then she saw it. The darker parts of the island¡¯s surface weren¡¯t actually the surface at all ¡ª they were tunnels. Even as she watched, one of the birds tucked its wings and dove down into the island, presumably entering one of the tunnels on the top of the hill, although she couldn¡¯t see which one. They were still too distant for Adelaide to get a sense of what the birds looked like, even with the spyglass. But she didn;t see the birds emerge - whatever they wanted down there, they were taking their time getting it. ¡°That¡¯s wild. What kind of weather or erosion would carve tunnels like that? And why would those birds want to go in there?¡± ¡°How close to these node things do you need to get?¡± ¡°The closer the better. Why?¡± ¡°Because I have a weird suspicion we¡¯re going to be finding out what¡¯s in those tunnels for ourselves.¡± *** As they approached, Adelaide tried to distract herself from what she was realizing she was going to do by thinking about how she could have avoided this situation altogether. There were the obvious things, like not developing a professional interest in the Triangle, never pursuing this line of research, or never pitching this project to Mr. Winfield. Or she could have made any tiny change that would have affected the raw randomness that had led her to this Sea. Or she could have chosen a different node to visit. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Or she could have decided the data they already had was enough. She¡¯d checked with Percy first, to make sure she understood the importance of proximity for the data collection. And he¡¯d been exactly as mathematical and unhelpful as she¡¯d expected: closer was better because it increased the odds that what they collected would contain what they needed. But there was no way to know what the odds were from what distance or if the extra bit of data from getting one foot closer was actually worth whatever risks might be involved. Instead of the excuse she wanted, Percy had given her the little device that was now strapped to her wrist. He¡¯d told her that it would point her in the direction of the Node¡¯s calculated location, and Adelaide had asked how he¡¯d managed to get something so small to detect deresonance. And then he¡¯d given her a long look and quietly handed her the big backpack that held the Deresonance Detector and told her that she shouldn¡¯t take any risks that jeopardized the device. It was unclear if he was concerned about any risks to her personally. But, even then, she didn¡¯t have to go. She could have just said it was fine to take the data they had. She hadn¡¯t needed to ask for Grant to drive a dinghy to take her closer, and she hadn¡¯t needed to get in it. She had been touched that Ray insisted on coming and brought Jim, and not entirely surprised that Alessio volunteered to join them: it did seem like it would be good content. But she could have called it off at any time. And she didn¡¯t need to do what she was about to do. Because, as they¡¯d gotten closer, she¡¯d gotten a clearer sense of the texture of what they were approaching. And it was harder and harder to pretend that it was made of rock or dirt or anything like that. Or even coral ¡ª coral would have been fine. But she recognized this texture, the way that there were little pores, the recurring patterns, and she was just waiting, because eventually someone was going to say that ¡ª ¡°It looks like a beehive,¡± Alessio whispered. And here it was, the moment when she could so easily say, ¡°I was thinking the same thing, seems like we should turn around, thanks for coming with me.¡± Literally no one would blame her, and it probably wouldn¡¯t even undermine the data collection much. That would be it, they¡¯d get back on the Strider and be off, and it would all be fine. But she somehow had known the whole time she was going to wind up saying, ¡°I think you¡¯re right, but I¡¯m going in there anyway.¡± Nobody responded, and there was yet another opportunity to change her mind. But, instead, Adelaide continued, ¡°None of you need to come with me.¡± Ray just rolled his eyes at that. Alessio, however, seemed to be considering it. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve really seen any insects, have you? Do we have any reason to think anything actually lives in there?¡± ¡°Ray and I saw some bird dive into it, so I assume that thing wanted to hunt. But no, we don¡¯t really know.¡± ¡°And why exactly do you want to go in there?¡± ¡°I need to ¡ª it¡¯s a bit technical, but I need to collect some readings from somewhere in there.¡± ¡°But you don¡¯t know what we¡¯ll find in there and you can¡¯t explain why the readings matter?¡± ¡°Well-¡± Jim interrupted. ¡°Kid, that¡¯s how this goes. You go out here, you see wild things. You never know what¡¯s coming - we¡¯re lucky to know this is sketchy ahead of time. You need to find your own reason why this matters to you, and if you don¡¯t, you shouldn¡¯t come out to Sea.¡± Alessio rolled his eyes. ¡°I never said I wasn¡¯t coming. I¡¯m just trying to get the whole story, like always. But, yeah, of course I need to know what¡¯s in there.¡± Ray looked at Grant and said, ¡°You need to stay out here ¡ª we¡¯re all screwed if the boat capsizes while we¡¯re inside. But, Professor, the rest of us are with you as far as you need to go. Let¡¯s just hope we find our way out.¡± *** Adelaide took a deep breath and, unable to think of more ways to procrastinate, reached up to touch the hive itself. The texture was surprising ¡ª she had expected it to be sort of porous, like styrofoam, but it was hard and unyielding. It was also oddly warm ¡ª not burning but noticeable, like a countertop that had had a tray of cookies cooling on it. It made it much harder to think of it as natural, but Adelaide reminded herself that nothing out here was artificial beyond what they¡¯d brought with them. Adelaide managed to pull herself into the small tunnel without tipping the dinghy over, which she quietly regarded as a serious achievement. Jim and Ray approached quickly behind her, and Alessio managed to make the climb while holding his camera out in front of him. He did a full rotation before entering and then pulled out a red-tinted lamp that he snapped into his phone. With that light, Adelaide could see farther into the tunnel, which appeared to branch a few meters away. She looked back over her shoulder at her crewmates. ¡°Anyone bring any breadcrumbs? This place may not be that big, but I still don¡¯t love the idea of getting lost.¡± Alessio raised a hand. ¡°I¡¯m recording, so we can look back at the tape if we need to.¡± ¡°Good point. And I guess the light from the outside might help.¡± Jim pulled out a glowstick. ¡°I have a few of these. Think of them as breadcrumbs that light up. Should help.¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s perfect. Ok, let¡¯s get going ¡ª and if anyone sees anything interesting, let everyone know. Same goes for anything dangerous.¡± As she crawled, her eyes began to adjust to the light and Adelaide noticed that the walls were scratched and rough. That seemed odd ¡ª why would there be anything routinely entering or exiting that was too big for the tunnel? Maybe it was something intentionally making the marks ¡ª something sharpening its claws on the walls. Adelaide decided to keep that image to herself. When they rounded the first corner, Adelaide was pleased to see that the path back was clear from the light streaming in. But, before she could say anything encouraging, she started to hear a sound, a rhythmic pattern of wind rushing against the walls of the tunnel. Everyone heard it too, and froze, although Ray and Jim were reaching for their holsters. But there was nothing to see, and then the sound stopped. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Professor,¡± Ray said after a moment. ¡°There¡¯s no reason to turn back. It¡¯s just a sound, and, anyway, we don¡¯t know whether it''s behind us already.¡± Adelaide didn¡¯t respond, but she resumed progress. She worried that the directional device would prove useless, but the passage wasn¡¯t the labyrinth she¡¯d expected. There wasn¡¯t anything like an anthill¡¯s branching corridors or a termite nest¡¯s incomprehensible whorls. This was one path, rough on the edges, that made some turns but mostly moved in one direction. And, strangely, it was the direction she wanted to go. Or that she needed to go ¡ª the direction she wanted to go was behind her, she kept reminding herself. The rhythmic sound and the rush of air repeated itself, but the group still didn¡¯t see any obvious source. In fact, they hadn¡¯t seen anything alive at all. Adelaide eventually began to wonder if there was anything left alive here, if the birds were circling and diving because there was some sort of simple food source, either vegetable or the carcasses of some past colony. She did eventually begin to hear some cries and caws, but she told herself they could be the scavenging birds they¡¯d observed. After a few minutes, Adelaide realized she¡¯d have answers soon, based on three indicators. First, the tracer suggested she was getting quite close; second, the sounds were getting closer; and, third, she was beginning to see light ahead of her And so, when they reached the end of the tunnel and the sunlight hit her eyes, she was expecting it. She wasn¡¯t shocked until she saw what was already in there. 2.5 - Embark In a detached way, Adelaide realized she¡¯d misunderstood the geography. She¡¯d been imagining a dome, but the actual shape made her think at first of a chocolate lava cake ¡ª a mound that caved in, and the part they were in now was exposed to the open air. What that meant was that, when they¡¯d thought they were seeing birds diving into tunnels, they were actually seeing them diving past the rim and into the caldera into which Adelaide and the rest of her companions were now staring. And those birds were still diving, and, now that she had a clearer look, Adelaide understood why. All of the birds were carrying things in their claws ¡ª and they were claws, not talons, now that Adelaide looked more closely. In fact, each of the ¡°birds¡± had a set of four wings, more like a dragonfly than anything avian, and a set of four claws like those on a crab. The things didn¡¯t look like they could land, but what they could do was carry the silver orbs that the Strider¡¯s crew had seen, collected, and dined upon. The bird-things would drop their payloads and then dive down into the pools in the valley. But it wasn¡¯t really a valley, and it wasn¡¯t chocolate lava cake, because, once you saw its primary inhabitant, you couldn¡¯t avoid realizing that the entire thing that they had once thought was an island was in fact a giant, floating nest. And in the center of it was a bigger bird than Adelaide had ever imagined. Adelaide called it a bird because it had wings, feathers, and something like a beak, but the similarities mostly ended there. It had four massive wings and no legs that she could see. And the wings couldn''t possibly lift it ¡ª it was the size of a schoolbus. Its head was only a massive beak that yawned open to lay almost flat, with no eyes that Adelaide could see. This maw was where the smaller birds were dropping the silver spheres, and the Mother was swallowing them without pause. And it was clearly a Mother, because, even as Adelaide watched, it gave birth. An orifice opened on the side of the its body, between the wings, and four smaller creatures spilled out. There were no eggs, just a series of larval bird things covered in goo that immediately began to screech. The Mother barely seemed to register their having emerged, let alone their condition, so it was unclear what the screaming was for. Until the Mother flapped her wings. Although they couldn¡¯t move her, each wingbeat cleared the amniotic fluid away from the newborns and pushed them towards the pools the diving birds had landed in. The wind was powerful enough to cause Adelaide to tighten her grip on the edges of this nest, and she realized the source of the repetitive noise they had been hearing during their journey. The babies, meanwhile, began to flap their own little wings, pushing themselves along until they plunged into the pool full of a pinkish liquid. ¡°This is the grossest and most amazing thing I¡¯ve ever seen,¡± Adelaide said, and then wished she¡¯d taken a moment longer to find something with a bit more gravitas. Alessio was filming avidly, and she already wished posterity could forget the way she¡¯d just put that. ¡°How much closer do we need to get?¡± Ray asked. Adelaide looked at her wrist. ¡°Just down to the edge of the flat part would be perfect. But, I mean, look at the size of that thing ¡ª you think we can make it without it getting mad at us?¡± Jim looked down at the space before them. ¡°There¡¯s no way to know. But I don¡¯t exactly see a security system. That giant thing is too big to move, I don¡¯t see it chasing us. And isn¡¯t there something where ants won¡¯t attack you once you¡¯re inside their hive? They might not even notice us.¡± Hearing no objections, Adelaide began to slide very slowly down the incline. Her eyes were locked on the Mother, but it didn¡¯t seem to notice anything. Adelaide supposed that shouldn¡¯t have been surprising ¡ª it wasn¡¯t clear if the giant creature even had sense organs. And it was making so much noise flapping its wings that Adelaide could barely hear her own footsteps. Still, she didn¡¯t take her eyes off the massive beak. Which was maybe a problem. If she¡¯d been watching her steps, she might not have slipped on a bit of uneven surface. As it was, she failed to regain her balance, tumbled for about ten feet, and finally stopped , laying face down at the edge of the pool filled with that strange golden liquid. The first thing she noticed was that the tracker on her wrist had binged ¡ª this was apparently close enough. That led her to her second thought ¡ª had she just broken the Deresonance Detector? She quickly pulled open her backpack and sighed in relief ¡ª everything looked ok. It was only then she had her third thought, which was, ¡°I wonder if a giant bird monster is about to eat me.¡± Before she could even look up, Ray was there, pulling her to her feet. Her tumble didn¡¯t appear to have disturbed the natives, meaning that the effort spent on stealth had probably been wasted. Ray looked her over and asked, ¡°Are you ok?¡± ¡°Yeah, fine. Embarrassed ¡ª do you think he caught that on film?¡± ¡°No comment.¡± ¡°Well, anyway, I got close enough ¡ª we can go now.¡± Ray looked at the pool beside her and beckoned Jim down. ¡°We will, but I want to take this stuff with us. I have no idea what it is, but it¡¯s the kind of weird that can sometimes be profitable.¡± This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. ¡°You think people will want to buy weird juice that some giant bird bug things make?¡± ¡°People buy honey.¡± Adelaide couldn¡¯t argue with that, and soon Jim and Ray were filling their backpacks with what she now thought of as honey, although this was clearly less viscous. Adelaide saw now why Ray had insisted they spring for expensive backpacks for everyone. Having something watertight enough to use as a container for liquid was already proving invaluable. Unless the honey was worthless, but still. It was Alessio, still by the edge of the tunnel, who first noticed it. He shouted, and everyone looked up. It was hard to recognize by looking at any one bird-thing, but collectively, they were clearly growing agitated. Some of the birds in pools were taking flight, and some of those circling above waiting for an opportunity to drop their cargo were now descending in slow spirals, getting closer and closer to ¡ª well, to Adelaide. ¡°Ray ¡ª¡± she said. ¡°I see it. Run.¡± And Ray was already on the move, using his hands as he reached steeper terrain on the way to Alessio and the tunnel through which they had entered. It was everything Adelaide could do to not look back, not look up and see if something was getting closer. There was no reason to check, she told herself, and it would only slow her down to look over her shoulder. She just looked at the ground in front of her and put one foot in front of the other, as fast as she could, and never looked back, just didn¡¯t turn around. Until she heard it. It was so high-pitched, that was the horrible thing. Something massive like the Mother should have had a low-pitched roar, something that shook the ground beneath them. But this was just like a seagull plugged into an arena¡¯s speaker system. And suddenly she wasn¡¯t looking forward or looking back, she wasn''t looking at anything consciously, her limbs had taken over and she didn¡¯t have a conscious thought until she was in the tunnel, running. Only then did she notice that nothing had followed them in and briefly wonder why, before she heard that horrible caw again and her body went back on autopilot. When they reached the dinghy, Grant was looking anxiously at the sky, where flocks of bird-things were now doing rapid loops around the island. ¡°You folks make someone mad?¡± ¡°Something like that,¡± Ray said. ¡°Let¡¯s go quickly ¡ª they don¡¯t seem eager to pursue, but let¡¯s not test them.¡± But nothing followed, and Adelaide finally felt her heart stop racing. She looked back at what they had just left, and realized she still didn¡¯t know what to call it - an island? A hive? A nest? She had no idea where it had come from, and she was thinking about it when she heard one last cry, distant but still unmistakable, and shuddered. Ray put a hand on her shoulder. ¡°It¡¯s alright, Professor,¡± he whispered. ¡°That was your first time seeing something like that, and now the worst is behind you. It¡¯ll never be your first time again.¡± *** Adelaide could finally think as the surface faded over the horizon and the Foam Strider was once again on uninterrupted ocean. The emptiness was a comfort ¡ª in the face of such vast expanses, it was hard to imagine that those cramped tunnels could even exist. But they did, and Adelaide found she couldn¡¯t stop trying to understand them. Start with the surface itself. What was it? It didn¡¯t seem to be rock ¡ª it was too warm, although it could have been heated by something. But there was a reason she had thought of it as a hive: it was porous and felt like an organic product. That would imply that it was made by the bird-things, but how? They didn¡¯t seem to have anything that would let them make something on that scale. And how would they start? Bees started with pre-existing surfaces, but this was in the middle of the ocean. Was there a tiny island somewhere at the bottom that had been built out? Where had that horrible Mother been while the construction was happening? The Mother was clarifying in some ways. It seemed clear, now, that the silver balls contained something that fertilized the Mother ¡ª Adelaide thought back to the afternoon spent picking seeds out of them and realized what she¡¯d likely been touching. And what everyone had eaten. But that made the silver balls make sense: they were designed to attract the attention of the drones, who probably selected the shiniest packages. But where and what were the fathers? What made those things, and why would they leave the nest/hive just to try to send their seed back to it? Or were they so dimorphic that the fathers couldn¡¯t live in that habitat for long? But the weirdest thing was: why were there tunnels? On the way in, they had seemed like giant versions of the tunnels in an ant colony. But the center here was open to the sky, and that was the way the drones made their deliveries. They had seen nothing that lived in the tunnels, and they weren¡¯t needed to access the Mother, so what were they there for? And what had made them? None of the birds seemed to have the right equipment. And the worst part was, no one would ever find out. They hadn¡¯t brought a biologist, and they probably didn¡¯t have time for one to solve this riddle even if they had. In a short time, they would sail back across the Triangle, and these creatures would vanish forever. There was an active debate about whether Seas vanished or simply became inaccessible, and normally Adelaide had very strong feelings about the physics implicated in that issue, but right now she just felt like she¡¯d poked her head through the wardrobe into Narnia and then had the doors slam shut before she could walk through. Except Narnia was filled with horrible bird monsters, which maybe it was in one of the later books, she couldn¡¯t remember. She was watching the sun set over the horizon when Trish approached, standing next to her at the railing. ¡°How was that today?¡± Trish asked. Adelaide paused and took a deep breath. ¡°It was interesting, and for a few moments I felt like a real adventurer. But, honestly, just between us, it was mostly just really, really scary.¡± Trish wrinkled her nose. ¡°I¡¯m sorry about that. I¡¯m glad you¡¯re safe though! And, anyway, on to something new, right?¡± Adelaide turned to look at the horizon towards which the Strider was sailing and found a smile coming to her face. ¡°Yeah. Something new.¡± Interlude 2 Interlude 2 Somehow, he hadn¡¯t come to hate the tourists yet. Normally, people working at the Hershfeld Memorial Museum and Visitors Center hated every single guest within their first week. Many didn¡¯t even take that long. The record, according to local folklore among the staff, belong to Brandon Underhill, who had developed a profound sense of disgust at the very notion of travel within three hours. The circumstances grew in the telling, but consistently involved someone vomiting over a railing and all over the scale model of Bermuda. But it had been two years for Aaron, and he still didn¡¯t hate the tourists. He even, occasionally, found himself appreciating them, in a distanced sort of way. Sure, most of them just wanted some air conditioning and a place to dazedly walk through before they hit the gift shop, but a few seemed actually interested, at least enough to look up and maybe even read a caption or two. Especially some of the kids ¡ª among the legions of TikTok brats, there would be a few quiet kids who took their time in each room. Aaron almost liked those kids. Of course, it was easier for him because he didn¡¯t actually have to interact with the sunburned masses as part of his actual job. He couldn¡¯t call himself a scholar without imagining his father rolling in his retirement home, but he was as close as a place like this would find. So he didn¡¯t have to interact with guests much, although he was sometimes called to public areas while they were in use. That¡¯s why he was listening to the looping movie explaining the Induction Array again as he adjusted a display of items from the Irma Mae, returning a few pieces that he had just finished regular conservation work on. Putting them back on the shelves was hardly a high-level responsibility, and he could probably have delegated it, but he didn¡¯t want to risk some hamfisted volunteer snapping something in half. And, anyway, he¡¯d heard this video enough that he could recite it. ¡°-- returned, even though they had no way of seeing the effect they¡¯d passed through. When they did, they shared the things they¡¯d seen with Professor Hershfeld himself. Their observations confirmed what his calculations had anticipated: the Resonance Induction process had the ability to open passages into another world.¡± Aaron always admired the way the narrator said ¡°another world.¡± It was clearly eager and excited, but not so much so as to give the impression that the narrator or the museum didn¡¯t understand what was going on. It seemed like a delicate balance, but the disembodied recording hit it every time. That was probably why they¡¯d gone with Jennifer Lawrence to do the narration in the first place. The script had been written by Marian Simmons, the museum¡¯s Vice President of Guest Experiences and a local who had actually been there for much of the development of the Triangle¡¯s ecosystem, and she¡¯d apparently been considered to narrate it herself. But Aaron knew she¡¯d never have been able to avoid making it all sound like a big mystery, and that wasn¡¯t what anyone wanted. ¡° ¡ª very same principles are at the heart of the Array that has come to define the Bermuda skyline. While the greater size of the Array allows for longer windows, the principles are the same from the Irma Mae¡¯s initial voyage. A window is opened to a new dimension, or ¡®quantum enclosure¡¯ that has never been accessed before and will never be accessed again when the window closes. These Seas, which were totally isolated from each other and from our world, can now be briefly visited on one occasion.¡± Aaron always rolled his eyes at that point. The narration was so confident in the assertion that the Seas never connected and were never revisited, and most of the visitors took it as gospel. Or, well, most of the visitors were staring at their phones or trying to clean ice cream off of their childrens¡¯ hands, but the ones who were listening just nodded along. But those sentences were eliding over one of the most fundamental questions of the moment. The mainline position, to be sure, was that there were no confirmed incidents of returning to a Sea and the amount of possible dimensions made the odds of a return infinitesimal. But there was a community online that pushed back, asking: How do we know there haven¡¯t been returns? It¡¯s not like there¡¯s some detailed record that gets compared after every voyage. Would people really be able to tell if they saw the same rocky island on the horizon that some other voyage visited three years earlier? And why were seemingly identical species observed on multiple seas? If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. But there was no space for that dialogue in the official channels. For some reason, it was extremely important to the powers that be that every Sea be a unique and irretrievable instance. There was probably some like legal liability thing in play there, but Aaron didn¡¯t even want to start trying to think about that type of issue. All he knew was that management had made it clear that all exhibits should reflect the scientific consensus of unique instantiation. He carefully positioned the next piece of the display, the pen and pad that Maria Estevez had used to document her first observations on the Irma Mae. He¡¯d read the notes, of course. Not that the content was new; those notes had been scanned and made available to scholars just after the Irma Mae¡¯s voyage became worldwide news. But it had been a particular pleasure to review the original pages, to look at the strong, decisive penmanship and imagine the woman who¡¯d kept her hands steady even as she left the only world she¡¯d ever known behind. He wondered if she ever imagined that the notepad itself would be on display, what any of the Mae¡¯s crew would think of this museum, of the way he presented the story. The movie was wrapping up. ¡°But what those men and women have found has expanded our very conception of the possibilities of nature, the ecosystem, and life itself. As you¡¯ll see in the next room, the Museum has been blessed with specimens reflecting the tremendous biodiversity explorers have found.¡± This was true. Aaron had worked hard to make sure the taxidermied specimens in the next room were not only perfectly preserved but were displayed in a way that would capture their dynamism and majesty. And, as the credits rolled and the tourists moved on, Aaron heard, just on cue, a few gasps at the six-headed lizard he¡¯d mounted just through the door. It was actually more accurate to say it was six-mouthed: the ¡°heads¡± barely had brain cells, and the neural activity actually took place at the front of the torso, nearer to the tiny eyes. But the effect was still a good one. Aaron took his time perfecting this display, making sure that every item was oriented correctly in a way that was both secure and visible. By the time he closed the cabinet, the video had already restarted and was working its way through the story of Hershfeld¡¯s first experiments. He quietly closed the door behind him as Jennifer Lawrence was saying, ¡°The decision to walk away from his position was a fateful one, because it set the stage for the first observation that ¡ª¡± It was already 3, and Aaron had hours of cataloging to finish before he left. Not that anyone would notice if he put it off, but that led to chaos. As he sat as his desk in the archiving room, Aaron began to sort through the latest donations. An interesting looking fossil that someone had apparently found at the edge of a massive crevice. A bag of blue flower petals that magnetically repulsed each other when exposed to sunlight. A skeleton of a mammal the size of a mouse with two tails, one prehensile and one with a venomous stinger. Most of these would never be displayed, just quietly cataloged for the unlikely possibility that some scientist would want to look at them. A few would be saved for special temporary exhibits or displays; the mouse-thing was visually attractive enough to be shown as an example of asymmetrical biology, which was vastly more common in the Seas than on good old Earth. Aaron worked silently, and without incident. But his stomach grew uneasy, which had been happening more and more. That was always where he felt it when he was developing an instinct, and this was a discomfiting one. He wasn¡¯t a scientist or a real scholar, but he did know about museums. And, in that training, he had developed a sense of how things should be grouped, how they related to each other. It wasn¡¯t anything he could ever submit as proof of anything, but he felt it. And, the more he cataloged, the more he felt it: these weren¡¯t just isolated artifacts from isolated quantum bubbles. They were parts of a whole. 3.1 - Blessing It had been smooth sailing, for a while there. But the smoothness was actually stressing her out. They were on course to reach the second node with eight days left on their voyage, and with a return trip that could be comfortably completed in 24 hours of sailing, even under the Captain¡¯s cautious reckoning. There hadn¡¯t been a storm or a big reef or some sort of sentient whirlpool or anything else, which was good news, but it meant that they probably could have gotten another node in. She knew that wasn¡¯t how you were supposed to think about precautions, it didn¡¯t make sense to resent paying for health insurance just because you happened to stay healthy, but that unrealized third Node rankled. This would still be a productive trip with two, but that third Node would have been ¡ª well, a 50% increase in productivity would have meant a lot. She¡¯d even gone to Percy, to see if they could squeeze a third Node in at this point, but he¡¯d explained that the window to do so had passed. He hadn¡¯t said anything critical of her earlier caution, but she felt a certain smugness from him anyway. Unless she was imagining that. The upshot of this, however, was that they were now faced with some extra time, and, as they had sailed towards the second Node, it had become clear how to spend it. They were approaching a true landmass, something big enough that they couldn¡¯t see its edges as they approached. Without taking the time for reconnaissance, there was no way to know if it was a decent-sized island or a massive continent, but it didn¡¯t really matter. It was clearly bigger than they¡¯d have time to fully explore. Using the Captain¡¯s rangefinding tools, Adelaide confirmed what she''d already suspected ¡ª the Node was not on the coast, but instead a few dozen miles inland. That meant that there would be no expedition to go out and back within a few hours: there would be a landing party. And not a small one ¡ª other than the Captain and one of his crew left behind to look after the Strider, the entire team would be camping for about a week. Frankly, it probably wouldn''t have mattered if the Node were right on the coast. As the land had been sighted and grown on the horizon, the mood on board had shifted. The Strider started to seem like a commercial airliner making its final descent ¡ª everyone was doing the nautical equivalent of gathering their belongings and returning their tray tables to their locked upright positions. What that meant was a little different for everyone: she was struck by how Emma seemed to be taking actual glee in packing away the armory of hunting gear she had brought aboard. But almost everyone seemed to be sharpening a knife or filling some canteen whenever Adelaide saw them. The exception, unsurprisingly, was Percy. Faced with the prospect of setting foot on truly virgin territory upon which no man had ever tread, he''d announced that he would be just fine in his Chest on the Strider. When people had been surprised, he''d just referenced the effect of sand and water on electronics and walked away. That was the sort of situation that Adelaide found herself expecting someone else to sort out before remembering that she was nominally in charge. And she had been tempted to just let him spend the week alone in his room ¡ª it wasn¡¯t like she was his social coordinator or anything. It was actually Ray who had changed her mind, probably inadvertently. He¡¯d said that, even if Percy didn¡¯t come this time, there would be ¡°plenty more field trips.¡± But Adelaide realized that was actually the issue: if she let him stay behind now, it would be even more difficult to get him out the next time. Ultimately, she¡¯d convinced him with a two-pronged approach: she told him she was worried that he¡¯d be needed for maintenance on the Deresonance Detector, and she promised him that if he hated it, she wouldn¡¯t bug him about it again in the future. He¡¯d rolled his eyes, but he¡¯d agreed to go with them. Frankly, Adelaide wasn¡¯t thrilled about the prospect herself, although she was hoping no one noticed. She couldn¡¯t have told anyone why; she didn¡¯t know herself. Part of it was practical: she was likely facing a long hike in entirely unfamiliar territory, with limited comforts. But she also felt worried about her role ashore: on the Strider, she set the course but left the actual operations to Captain Mattson. This was going to be much more hands-on. It felt like she was suddenly signing up to be a camp counselor or a Girl Scout troop leader, but she¡¯d barely stepped into the woods growing up. And, she had to admit, she was probably still a bit shook up. The last Node had been a success, but it still didn¡¯t feel like one, even now that they had sailed away. There was no reason to think there would be anything like that Bird Mother again but¡­ As Adelaide watched the island draw nearer, she nearly convinced herself that she could¡¯t still hear those cries. *** ¡°Wow, this is beautiful!¡± It wasn¡¯t exactly ¡°One small step for man.¡± but it wasn¡¯t horrible as first words went. Adelaide hadn¡¯t really expected that she would be the first one off of the first boat, but Ray had privately insisted. Adelaide thought it was odd how much he pushed her into roles like that ¡ª he was the Guide, and she would have assumed that the Guide would be the visible leader. Anyway, there was no denying that she was right ¡ª they had found somewhere truly beautiful to land. The sand was a pale shade of orange, contrasting beautifully with the water. The beach extended back to a rocky outcrop. Palm trees would have fit the stereotype, but the vegetation visible was something Adelaide didn¡¯t think existed on Earth: hard trunks with large fern-like leaves growing along their sides, with flowers on the top. Adelaide couldn¡¯t figure out what would make them grow like that ¡ª it seemed like growing something that didn¡¯t face up would be ridiculously inefficient for photosynthesis ¡ª but it created a very lovely visual as they flapped in the wind. The rocks themselves, meanwhile, were covered with a flowering moss. Adelaide wasn¡¯t sure if moss ever flowered in the real world, but she didn¡¯t know of any reason it couldn¡¯t. Regardless, the red and white bulbs were strikingly pretty. And, for a moment, the vista was hers alone. No one else had seen this little beach, ever. She felt so lucky in that moment, so blessed to have been alive in the era of the Triangle, to have had the intelligence needed to investigate its physics, to have been randomly paired with Trish in a tiny college dorm room, leading to the funding for this trip. But then everyone else landed, and the vista was not only shared but rapidly cluttered. Not that Adelaide had any right to complain - it was all being done for her eventual convenience, as part of her voyage. The biggest and loudest project was the assembly of the Shelter. Tents were simple, and there were still voyages that used them, when they planned to move frequently; Adelaide had a packed tent with her in case the Node proved to be multiple days away. But it hadn¡¯t taken long for people to realize the importance of setting up a temporary base of operations that was protected from the rain, off the ground, and reasonably sturdy. Shelters were the market¡¯s solution to this problem: they were sets of modular, light-weight walls, floors, and roofs that could be assembled or disassembled within a few hours with practice and without the need for tools beyond a hammer. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! So that was what was happening now ¡ª a few of the crew members and Jim were swinging away. By sunset, it would be up, and that¡¯s where everyone would sleep. It wouldn¡¯t exactly be a luxurious experience, but Adelaide¡¯s understanding was that there would be multiple ¡°rooms¡± in which to sleep. They¡¯d set up a chemical toilet once they were done: Ray had described that as a relatively-clean port-a-potty. Ray, meanwhile, was getting a fire lit. Here, again, they were hardly roughing it. Ray had insisted they pick up a ¡°portable fire pit¡± at the Top Drawer. Adelaide had suggested that a Guide should be able to start a fire alone, and Ray had told her that if she wanted to sit in cold dirt rubbing sticks that was her business, but professionals used tools. So they¡¯d grabbed the device Ray had just unfolded: a dish about a meter in diameter that was apparently made of something fireproof, onto which you piled whatever seemed flammable when you landed, plus a few charcoal briquettes that came with it. Once you¡¯d stacked enough on, you pressed a little button and a little current ignited some fluid in the base of the pit, starting the fire. It was really quite simple, but it would have seemed like magic to anyone doing it the hard way. Adelaide kept herself busy helping collect materials for the fire. The big fern-leaves went up too quickly, like flash paper; they¡¯d have been useful for getting a fire started if they didn¡¯t have so many conveniences, but they wouldn¡¯t keep burning in the way they needed. So Adelaide¡¯s job was to look for other sources of fuel. The frond-trees¡¯ wood looked perfect, but the lack of branches seemed like it would make that approach impossible. But, after Adelaide climbed up on the ridge, she found that lots of the trunks had cuts made in them, almost like someone had gone at them with a crude stone ax. Sometimes, those cuts had scraped off chunks of wood that were now just sitting beside the trees. Or, when cuts were deep enough or close enough together, Adelaide found she could use her pocket-knife to free a chunk big enough to be worth burning. Beyond that, the moss proved to burn steadily, with a sort of peppery aroma that was odd but not unpleasant. Pulling up the flowering moss was hugely laborious, as it seemed to grow out of cracks in the stone and held in with re\markable tenacity. But there were sections where the flowers were missing ¡ª Adelaide wasn¡¯t sure if they had never grown, had died or had been eaten by something ¡ª and in those places the flowerles moss was strangely loose, like it had lost the will to hold on. As Adelaide gathered, she decided that this was a perfect illustration of the Triangle¡¯s version of survivalism. In light of the costs of the Days needed to initiate a voyage, it was worth it to invest in specialized technology to make every task as close to trivial as possible. But space remained at a premium on all but the most industrialized vessels, so raw materials were brought only in volumes designed to ward against emergency. That led to this: a scientist gathering moss and chipped wood like a neolithic gatherer only to feed it into a convenient fire pit that made the ignition effortless. By the time Adelaide returned with her fourth armful, the rest of the passengers were stepping out of the dinghy and onto the orange sands. Alessio had apparently decided to go with a POV approach, wearing some sort of headband that allowed his phone-and-accessories Megazord to operate like a Go-Pro. He looked ridiculous, but Adelaide supposed that the video didn¡¯t pick that up. Emma, meanwhile, looked like Legolas and Rambo had a baby who inexplicably turned out to be a 5¡¯ 2¡± woman: she had some elaborate compound bow over one shoulder, a rifle on the other, and she was wearing something that combined a quiver, a bandolier, and a backpack. And then there was Trish. Adelaide was embarrassed to realize she¡¯d had an image in her head since before they left of Adelaide landing on a desert island with a big poofy dresses and oversized sunglasses. She hadn¡¯t consciously considered it, but as soon as she did, she realized she was pretty much expecting something between Ginger and Lovey Howell on Gilligan¡¯s Island (the show had enjoyed an obvious-in-retrospect revival on streaming services when the Triangle became a public fascination). It was nothing like that. Trish looked good, for sure, as she always seemed to. But it was a simple good: her perpetually lustrous hair was in a tight ponytail, and she was wearing a chocolate-brown long sleeved top with a complimentary green pants. The day was still warm, but she was carrying a black jacket over her shoulder. And, while she was wearing sunglasses, they were beneath a sensible hat and were even attached using one of those strappy things. Even her backpack was large, canvas, and sensible, although Trish had apparently sewn this purple smiley face patch onto the side. Trish saw Adelaide descending and ran over to give her a hug, which she sort of awkwardly managed around the wood and moss Adelaide was holding. ¡°Hi! Isn¡¯t this incredible?¡± Adelaide smiled. ¡°It definitely is. You have any plans for the week we¡¯re here?¡± ¡°Exploring, of course! All I¡¯ve done so far is lay around that boat ¡ª not that I¡¯ve been having a bad time, but I need to stretch my legs!¡± Adelaide paused. ¡°I get that. Just, you know, be careful. It can be dangerous out here. Maybe we should use a buddy system or something.¡± ¡°I mean, sure! But I¡¯ll be fine, really! You always worry so much. Anyway, let me get out of your way so you can bring that wherever you¡¯re taking it!¡± And with that, Trish bounded off towards the nearly-assembled shelter. Adelaide reached the fire pit shortly afterwards, and dropped this latest collection in the pile Ray had directed her to. Ray, apparently content to have a small fire steadily burning, had pulled his hat over his eyes and laid his head down on a small rock. He lifted his head at the clattering sound of Trish¡¯s harvest hitting the pile. ¡°Don¡¯t let me disturb you from whatever kind of sleep you get using a rock as a pillow,¡± Adelaide said. ¡°If you can¡¯t sleep on a rock yet, you¡¯re only one long night away from learning the trick. And once you¡¯ve got it down, you¡¯re never without a bed again.¡± Adelaide rolled her eyes. ¡°Anyway, it looks like we¡¯re nearly set up. When do you want to head out for the Node?¡± ¡°I mean, it¡¯s up to you, but I¡¯d strongly advise that we spend the first night in camp.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°For one, we don¡¯t know what nights are like here yet. Not that we¡¯ll ever totally know, but a first night might give us some sense of at least the loud or obvious problems. And you want to face anything like that at camp. And, second, you want to manage the mood for a night. People get different on land, sharing a space. You take off right away, they¡¯ll have put a pig¡¯s head on a stick when you get back.¡± ¡°I doubt they have pigs here.¡± ¡°They¡¯ll find something. And, anyway, why rush? We¡¯ll give ourselves time, but don¡¯t forget that the crew is here to try to make some money, and if you can organize them, everyone will end up richer for it. It¡¯s not like we¡¯re going to leave here early if we hike out tonight.¡± Adelaide nodded. ¡°I suppose.¡± Ray looked at her. ¡°You still spooked, huh?¡± Adelaide turned to face him. ¡°I mean, I guess I¡¯m-¡± Adelaide was spared from answering by what she, at first, thought was a scream. Her head was already turned and Ray had jumped to standing before Adelaide realized it was actually a squeal, and a squeal she knew well: Trish was excited. And, sure enough, Trish was pointing up at a higher outcrop, where Adelaide saw what had undeniably excited Trish so much, what everyone was now looking at. She whispered under her breath, but she knew that Ray would hear her. ¡°Christ, it¡¯s a fucking unicorn.¡± 3.2 - Blessing It was dinner, and the conversation Adelaide had been dreading had finally started. Trish¡¯s scream had, fortunately, scared the thing off rather than attracting it. And then everyone had scattered, trying to see where it had gone and generally making enough noise to ensure it wouldn¡¯t be returning anytime soon. And, because Emma was one of the people most aggressively chasing the thing, they didn¡¯t get started on dinner until everyone gave up looking. And, once they¡¯d managed to heat up some never-spoil sausage things, they spent a few minutes before the inevitable topic arose. Adelaide had tried to savor those moments of quiet chewing, because she knew what was coming. Emma had broken the seal, mentioning how they should make an early night so they could start their hunt before the sunrise. And then Trish had sort of looked at her and furrowed her eyebrows, and then looked at Adelaide, and now she was finally asking, ¡°You¡¯re not going to hunt the unicorn, are you?¡± There was a pause, and Adelaide thought she actually heard people rolling their eyes. Emma looked around in the hope that someone else would jump in, and then she said, ¡°Well, yeah, Trish. That was the plan.¡± ¡°When did we make that plan? Why on Earth would we kill it?¡± ¡°Well, you know why, Trish. It¡¯s the same reason we got those egg-spheres and those bat things. It¡¯s the same reason we¡¯re out here: we get things to sell. Hunting is a big part of that, and that thing is exactly what you come out here hoping to hunt! That horn looked pretty long, and there¡¯s normally a good market for things like that, plus whatever value we can get for the meat.¡± Adelaide noticed that Alessio had started filming. She wished she could get him to stop without making herself look horrible, but no one else was paying attention to him. Instead, everyone was staring at Trish. Trish was gradually increasing in pitch and volume. ¡°We¡¯re going to poach unicorns? Really? Kill a rare and amazing creature for a horn and meat? What year is this?¡± Emma openly rolled her eyes before saying, ¡°We have no idea if they are rare. They could be all over this place, as common as rats. I get environmentalism, I do, but it doesn¡¯t apply our here. And it¡¯s not like we are hunting them into extinction: we don¡¯t have the time or resources for that, even if overhunting in a Sea was possible or coherent.¡± Trish scoffed. ¡°You¡¯re really going to say a unicorn isn¡¯t rare?¡± Jim spoke gently. ¡°They really aren¡¯t. I mean, who knows about these creatures on this island, but in general, they aren¡¯t. Lots of Seas have things with one horn that people call unicorns. One central horn is just a really sensible design.¡± Ray nodded. ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s right. Frankly, it is strange that there isn¡¯t something like that back home. We have narwhals but no unicorns ¡ª that ever seem strange to anyone else?¡± Nobody responded, and Ray coughed quietly. ¡°Well, anyway, the first few times someone found unicorns, people flipped out, but after it kept happening, interest waned. They don¡¯t do anything magical ¡ª it¡¯s just a different kind of antelope or whatever.¡± Adelaide remembered that era. When the Triangle opened, people were so conditioned to believe that they had found their way to some specific universe: nerds wanted it to be Faerun or Middle-Earth, religious people wanted it to be Eden or Elysium, and religious nerds were certain it was Narnia. And so there was a big rush of confirmatory news every time someone found something that looked like a mythical creature. Adelaide hadn¡¯t noticed when that sort of thing trailed off, but there was no denying you heard fewer stories like that nowadays. Trish looked back at Adelaide, but responded to Ray. ¡°What do you even mean, not magical? This whole situation is magical! And we don¡¯t know anything about these things. But they don¡¯t need to be magic to be worth our respect. Even if it was just a horse, would we really hunt it?¡± ¡°I would. For sure.¡± Adelaide looked over at Olivia, one of Captain Mattson¡¯s sailors. They hadn¡¯t spoken much, but Adelaide had been sort of generally pleased to see that the crew wasn¡¯t all men. Olivia was lean and tan, with her kept hair short. She had a tattoo on her left forearm that Adelaide hadn¡¯t managed to get a good look at. ¡°I¡¯ve hunted horses plenty of times. Sometimes for us to eat, sometimes just because we¡¯ve hoped they¡¯d be worth something to sell.¡± ¡°So you¡¯d kill anything? Just wander the savannah killing elephants? Cut down passenger pigeons and buffalo by the shipload?¡± ¡°Back home, of course not. But this isn¡¯t like that. There aren¡¯t consequences to what we do here. As soon as we pass back through the Triangle, this whole Sea will vanish! It¡¯ll just be quantum foam, and that includes any unicorns, alive or dead.¡± ¡°You are wrong,¡± Jim said. He didn¡¯t raise his voice, but everyone stopped and looked at him. ¡°These worlds do not vanish. Our actions matter, here as anywhere.¡± Trish nodded, happy to take any allies, even if it wasn¡¯t obvious that Jim intended to support her conclusion. ¡°Exactly. I mean, I - I thought I was getting to know you all, but apparently not. Like they say people who don¡¯t learn history are doomed to repeat it, but isn¡¯t this a bit on the nose? We¡¯ve just walked into some new land and you¡¯re all saying to ignore our moral instinct because the things here aren¡¯t real and don¡¯t have consequences? That it¡¯s your manifest destiny to take anything you think you can sell for a profit? I don¡¯t actually have to point out who you sound like, right?¡± Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Olivia laughed. ¡°This is coming from you? You think I don¡¯t recognize your last name on the manifest? You¡¯ve grown up with more money than any of us will ever see and you want to invoke colonialism? Shit, I¡¯m sure if we run back up your family tree we¡¯ll find some dudes in dumb hats taking everything they could get their hands on - and harming actual people! And now, while you¡¯re enjoying their wealth, you¡¯re going to try to stop the rest of us from hunting something that will probably go for tens of thousands of dollars each?¡± Adelaide tried to intervene. ¡°Hey, let¡¯s¡ª¡± Olivia kept going. ¡°Frankly, I don¡¯t know why this is a debate. It¡¯s not like we were relying on Ms. Trust Fund to hunt for us, or do anything else. No one is asking for your help, so we don¡¯t need your opinion.¡± Trish actually smiled in response. ¡°Frankly, I think it¡¯s very telling that you¡¯ve resorted to these sort of personal attacks. It shows that you know I¡¯m right and you¡¯re uncomfortable with your position. And that¡¯s because what I¡¯m saying is so obviously right: Killing intelligent things is wrong, even if we aren¡¯t going to see them again.¡± Adelaide tried again. ¡°I think ¡ª¡± Emma¡¯s frustration got the better of her. ¡°What would you know about ¡®intelligence?¡¯ There is zero reason to think that thing is any smarter than the cow that you are literally eating right now! This isn¡¯t a storybook - it¡¯s just an animal with a cool horn!¡± Adelaide stood up and whistled, a loud high whistle she¡¯d practiced at baseball games with her dad as a kid. Everyone looked at her, and she made them wait before she began. ¡°First of all, I want to make something clear: we are a crew, and that means we treat each other respectfully. So no more personal attacks, and, if anyone doesn¡¯t listen when I start talking, they can go back to the empty Strider to reflect on their manners. Ok?¡± Olivia scowled, but didn¡¯t object. ¡°What I was trying to say is that I think it¡¯s clear what we need to do. We don¡¯t really know anything about this thing, right?¡± Nobody spoke up to disagree. ¡°Well, why don¡¯t we fix that first?¡± *** ¡°Do you have a better idea?¡± Ray raised an eyebrow. ¡°Did I give you the impression that I didn¡¯t approve of the plan?¡± ¡°No, I wasn¡¯t being indirect - I¡¯m legitimately wondering if you have a better idea. Because I was trying to come up with something, but I won¡¯t pretend I feel great about it.¡± Adelaide had, essentially, just tried to delay the fight that was about to break out. She¡¯d proposed ¡ª or ordered, but she¡¯d phrased it as a proposal ¡ª that everyone who cared about the issue spend two days trying to learn as much as they could about these creatures, and they¡¯d make a decision once everyone had shared everything they could. Everyone had agreed not to hunt in the meantime, which pleased Trish but which Emma seemed to see as an opportunity to prepare for the hunt she assumed was coming. So everyone had calmed down for the moment, but Adelaide worried that would only make someone madder when the decision was made. In the meantime, she and Ray were setting off to actually find the Node. That also seemed weird, for them both to go and leave everyone else behind. But Ray had insisted that he be present if she was going to wander off into the woods. And when she¡¯d suggested bringing Jim along as well, Ray had urged her to leave Jim behind to keep order. So, in short, she had postponed a massive internal schism and would come back in two days (assuming she didn¡¯t get like eaten by frogs or something) and hope that nobody had killed anybody else. Which is why she was sincerely open to a better plan, even if she had to awkwardly run back into camp to announce it. ¡°I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anything else you could do,¡± Ray said. ¡°You¡¯re giving us time to get this thing done, and you¡¯ll have more of a reasoned basis to tell Trish that we have to hunt these things. But you know her - do you think she can see reason?¡± ¡°I hope so. If someone can come up with some evidence that they¡¯re just fancy deer, she¡¯ll accept it. But what I worry about is if no one really learns anything and she doesn¡¯t see any reason to move off of her position. And I don¡¯t know what part matters ¡ª if they aren¡¯t intelligent but they have some trait that seems magical to her, will that do it?¡± ¡°If you need to, can you go against her? Tell her that you¡¯re sorry she doesn¡¯t see it that way, but we have to do this to keep going?¡± Adelaide raised an eyebrow. ¡°Worried I¡¯ll be overcome by friendship and unwilling to make the tough call?¡± ¡°No, Professor - I was wondering if there¡¯s a problem if the daughter of our illustrious financier becomes morally distraught.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Adelaide hadn¡¯t considered that. Mr. Winfield seemed so far away in that moment, but Trish could call him the second they got back. ¡°It¡¯s a good point, but I don¡¯t think she¡¯d do that to me. And he¡¯s not exactly the sentimental type. Choosing profit is something he¡¯ll understand, I assume.¡± ¡°I suppose men like him don¡¯t tend to believe in fairy tales.¡± ¡°No.¡± Adelaide paused, looking at the fern-tree-things around them. They would have to pick up the pace ¡ª she felt like she could almost hear the sounds of camp behind her. ¡°You think there¡¯s any chance she¡¯s right?¡± ¡°Right how? That they¡¯re actually magical?¡± ¡°No, that I can¡¯t imagine. Even if they can do something amazing, what would it even mean for it to be magic? Magic just means something that can¡¯t be explained, but everything has some explanation, even if you can¡¯t find it yet. I have to think that¡¯s still true. But I was thinking more that they could be intelligent and harmless.¡± Ray kept walking, but turned to look at her as he said, ¡°Out here, you¡¯re more likely to find magic than something truly harmless.¡± 3.3 - Blessing As she walked, Adelaide occasionally reflected on the fact that she had once considered herself to be in shape. She had realized that traveling through the Triangle was going to be physically taxing, and it wasn¡¯t like she hadn¡¯t prepared herself ¡ª she had gone to the gym semi-regularly and read a bunch of survival guides aimed at Triangle venturers. And she¡¯d made sure to do a big backpacking trip with some friends, camped overnight all that stuff. But, upon reflection, she had maybe skipped a few of those gym days, and the backpacking trip had been the kind of thing where some material percentage of their backpacks were filled with wine, and at no point had she been climbing over rocks that she was literally the first person ever to touch and that had accordingly never bothered to become anything even vaguely resembling a path. And she hadn¡¯t spent so much energy then on the wildlife, while she couldn¡¯t look away here. They hadn¡¯t seen any of the unicorn things yet, but there was such a variety on display that Adelaide could almost sometimes put that pending crisis out of her head. It would have been ideal to try to learn something about how the unicorns fit into this ecosystem, but, as Adelaide tried to convince herself, that was an inherently unrealistic goal: imagine walking around Yellowstone for a day and deducing the social structure of a wolf pack. And that was without the novel creatures that were around every bend. An early and striking example were the butterflies with wings the size of her hands. The wings were nearly transparent, with only a band of green around each edge and a sparse lattice of blue veins supporting what looked almost like saran wrap. Adelaide imagined it to be camouflage to hide from predators, but it was more than that. Adelaide watched one gently flap a dozen feet above a pool of stagnant water before slowly descending. As it inched downwards, other insects failed to notice either its clear wings or its now-barely-perceptible flaps and collided with those wings. And then they stuck there, to be joined by many of their fellows. Once the butterfly had nearly reached the water, it flapped upwards and began to run its tongue along its wings, slurping up the flies without apparent difficulty. Adelaide later saw why the butterfly had so carefully avoided the water. Ray had grudgingly consented to a short break beyond a small pond they¡¯d found near a cliffside. Adelaide had been interested to observe what looked like lily pads, because they were flat and non-flowering. But, when she got close, she realized she was actually looking at another strange little predator. It was shaped like a long thin gecko, but it was laying upside down underneath the surface of the water, with six massive feet laying on the surface of the water, their surface area allowing the creature to float. Whenever anything landed on one of these pads, it would snap shut like a mousetrap. Any notion of cooling off with a swim quickly lost its appeal. Nor were the occasional streams they passed more appealing ¡ª there was a large eel that would flash back and forth from bank to bank. Adelaide wondered how anything living on land managed to get a drink in these waters. Even as she marveled at these creatures, Adelaide knew she was dramatically underestimating the scale of the differences. For every flashy difference, there were likely a dozen vital points she was overlooking. The bugs she¡¯d seen get eaten by butterflies and watertrappers were the perfect example: Adelaide thought of them as flies, but they were probably some unique indigenous species that had differences that would thrill an entomologist. Adelaide tried to focus on the boundless marvels around her and not on how much her feet hurt, but Ray seemed to read something into her expression as he finally suggested they call it a night. And it did seem to be getting dark , so Adelaide didn¡¯t even feel guilty as she accepted. She flopped on the ground before an arched eyebrow from Ray reminded her that she needed, yet again, to gather firewood. Luckily, the weird fern-trees were still here, and several had the same crude cuts she¡¯d observed back at camp. Ray had the fire ready to go almost as soon as she returned. ¡°Thank you for doing that. I did a lot of practicing but ¡ª well, I¡¯m glad to have it expertly handled.¡± ¡°It¡¯s effortless with a lighter. You got the wood.¡± ¡°Yeah, but these trees have chunks taken out of them by something. Or not trees ¡ª I don¡¯t know what they are, honestly.¡± ¡°Someone else having lunch, I¡¯d imagine. Although¡­¡± Ray stood suddenly, and walked over to the nearest fern. ¡°Is there a big fruit up there?¡± ¡°Up where?¡± ¡°On the top of the trunk.¡± ¡°Oh, maybe. It¡¯s hard to see but - yes, I think so, in that flower right?¡± ¡°Yeah, exactly. I¡¯m going to go get it.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t we pack dinner?¡± ¡°Never pass up an opportunity to forage. Especially when it¡¯s fresh fruit the size of my head.¡± ¡°But we can¡¯t eat some random fruit! What if it¡¯s poisonous?¡± ¡°No one makes poisonous fruit ¡ª the whole point of fruit is for someone to eat it. And we can roast it anyway.¡± ¡°That seems like a pretty big assumption to bet our lives on!¡± But he was already climbing, steadily and without obvious effort. When he reached the top, he cut off the fruits and began to throw them down to her. They did look great ¡ª they were purple and taut, sort of like giant grapes. Adelaide had just caught the last one when she spotted something running up the tree. ¡°Ah! Ray! Something¡¯s coming up at you!¡± This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Ray, still holding himself against the trunk, managed to unsheathe his knife as he looked around. Only then did Adelaide process what she was looking at ¡ª it was the size of a large mouse, but with scales and long claws that it was using to climb. It had been scurrying quickly up the tree, but when it saw Ray and his knife, Adelaide could have sworn she saw it do an actual double take before turning around and scurrying into the body of the tree itself, using a small hole she hadn¡¯t noticed. It all happened before Ray even saw the thing, and he was still looking for it, knife out, after it was gone. Adelaide burst out laughing, and still hadn¡¯t regained her composure when Ray returned. ¡°Was that your idea of a joke? I thought you had more sense than that, Professor.¡± Adelaide calmed herself. ¡°No, there was something there ¡ª a little lizard guy. It just ran into the tree before you saw it.¡± ¡°So what were you laughing about?¡± ¡°It was just ¡ª he sort of spun around ¡ª and your face ¡ª I can¡¯t explain it, I guess. Maybe I¡¯m just tired.¡± Ray smiled. ¡°It happens. Anyway, I guess I¡¯m glad it wasn¡¯t some sort of flying spider or whatever. But I didn¡¯t expect you to be the sort to be spooked by something that small. Don¡¯t you have to like do experiments with rats all the time to be a scientist?¡± ¡°What? Do you think there¡¯s just like a big thing called ¡®science¡¯ and the same people do rat experiments and molecular physics? Like are you imagining a hundred people in lab coats walking into a big white building with ¡®Science Headquarters¡¯ written on the door?¡± When Ray declined to confirm her suspicions, she decided to fill the silence by saying, ¡°Anyway, I never had to work with rats, I took as little biology as possible.¡± ¡°And then you decided to spend your professional life tromping around eating every weird plant and animal you could find?¡± ¡°I do appreciate the irony, but it¡¯s not like there was another Triangle that led to, like, different kinds of Starbucks. And you¡¯re the one who wanted to eat this weird fruit and probably poison us all.¡± ¡°I¡¯m cooking it, aren¡¯t I? It¡¯ll be fine. So why did you become whatever non-rat-touching kind of scientist you are anyway?¡± ¡°I mean, it¡¯s not like there was a dramatic revelation or anything. I was good at physics and I thought it was more interesting than the pure math classes. And the Triangle opened up, and I was living in a world with a real live scientific mystery, and I couldn¡¯t avoid thinking about it.¡± ¡°So you didn¡¯t grow up dreaming of being a physicist?¡± ¡°No, back then I ¡ª well, I didn¡¯t have this in mind back then. Not that anyone had this in mind back then.¡± ¡°You¡¯re certainly right about that.¡± Ray passed her a slice of the roasted fruit. It was weird to eat something so sweet off of a fire, but it was tasty enough and richer than she¡¯d expected. ¡°But, actually, that makes me wonder: what did you do before all of this?¡± ¡°You did your research. I¡¯ve been a Guide for a long time. Not always so successfully, but this is what I do.¡± ¡°Yeah, but you had to have had a job before the Triangle opened in the first place. Like what is the entry level job that leads to Guiding? Were you like a pirate or a mountain ranger or something?¡± ¡°Before the Triangle?¡± Ray looked up at the trees around them. ¡°God, who remembers?¡± *** It was still morning when they got close. Adelaide had worried she wouldn¡¯t be able to sleep ¡ª they were using a small tent, but she was still in unfamiliar territory, with all manner of strange lizards and the possibility of a unicorn trampling them in the night. But she must have underestimated her exhaustion, because as soon as Ray had sealed them off and settled down beside her, she had been out like a light. But, as if to make up for it, the morning had been spent in increasing anxiety. She had this feeling that it was going to be a mess again, that there would be some horrible guardian like the Bird Mother. She knew that there was no reason to expect that. And she knew that it was totally understandable that she was worried anyway, because she¡¯d experienced something terrifying. And knowing both of those things was still no help at all. But it was quiet as they got within yards of the Node. Indeed, there were no animals in sight at all. Instead, there was a ring of the fern-tree things they had seen all over the island, growing in a circle. Adelaide and Ray had to sidle between the trees, with Adelaide¡¯s backpack strap briefly getting caught. But when she freed it, there was only a pond of still water. As Adelaide approached, she had a premonition of looking at the surface and seeing a shark rising to eat her, or a ghost reaching an arm to pull her in. And yet she walked forward, feeling a sudden kinship with horror movie protagonists who opened a creaky door because they¡¯d heard something thump behind it. But she''d apparently seen too many horror movies, because there was nothing. It was just pure, clear water. She could see all the way to the bottom, which looked to be about a dozen yards down, and there wasn¡¯t anything moving anywhere. She just saw her own reflection and the trees behind her. And then the Detector binged, and the mission was complete. She looked up and caught Ray¡¯s eye, and neither of them knew what to say. Looking back, she¡¯d wonder what would have broken the spell if one of the little lizard-mice from the day before hadn¡¯t scampered down to the water to drink. ¡°That the thing you saw yesterday?¡± Ray asked. ¡°Yeah, it was one of those.¡± ¡°Well, I suppose we leave him to it,¡± he responded, and they slipped back through the trees. Adelaide looked back, and then at Ray. ¡°Did that seem weird to you?¡± ¡°What do you mean? Did you see something?¡± ¡°No, I just ¡ª I don¡¯t know, I felt like I was trespassing.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t overthink it. Let¡¯s hustle back. I think we can make better time in this direction, and I¡¯d like to arrive before they start brawling.¡± ¡°Ugh, yeah, I¡¯d almost forgotten. Let¡¯s go.¡± Adelaide started walking, and then turned to look back over her shoulder one more time, just to check. But there was nothing but the wind rustling the ferns. 3.4 - Blessing Nobody had killed each other, which was a start. But there was a corpse, which was a problem. They heard the argument before they saw what it was about - the words were hard to make out, but Adelaide recognized the tenor of Trish¡¯s anger. She looked at Ray, and they accelerated through the last yards of brush. When they emerged and saw the campsite, it reminded her of the splash page from one of her old comic books. On the edges were the minor players in the drama ¡ª Percy was on the far left, turning over his shoulder to see what the commotion was about after having apparently been reading a book, while Alessio filmed the group from the right. And then, moving closer to the center, she saw the combatants, with Trish on her knees just left of center while Emma and Olivia stared at her from the right. And, in the center was the obvious cause of the commotion ¡ª a unicorn corpse, laying on the sand. Before Adelaide could act, Emma turned, saw her, and yelled, ¡°We didn¡¯t do it!¡± Trish didn''t¡¯ even turn her head. She looked like she¡¯d been crying as she yelled, ¡°How can you possibly expect anyone to believe you?¡± ¡°Because it¡¯s true - we found it like this.¡± ¡°You found it in the middle of camp?¡± Ray asked. ¡°No,¡± Emma said, ¡°we were exploring on the ridge, and came across this thing after it had already died. So we brought it here. That was the idea, right? To try to show that these things aren¡¯t magic or intelligent or whatever? And look, now we have one to examine. This was the whole idea, right?¡± Trish had walked towards Adelaide, and now addressed her alone. ¡°Do you really believe this story? They just happened to find a dead unicorn after they promised not to kill them but clearly wanted to? And they brought it here rather than having us all go see where it happened?¡± Adelaide descended and gave Trish a hug, earning some barely-concealed eye rolls from Olivia. ¡°Hey, Trish, I get it. Breathe. We¡¯ll figure this out.¡± But, even as she said it, Adelaide was still averting her eyes from the corpse itself. There was no question she¡¯d have to examine it soon. It wasn¡¯t like Adelaide hadn¡¯t realized that survival and success beyond the Triangle involved hunting and skinning game. She knew that, particularly for long voyages, it was an essentially universal process. She¡¯d even researched it: she¡¯d read books that discussed common organ systems and how to identify them and best practices for avoiding contaminating the meat or yourself. And she¡¯d watched some YouTube videos where men skinned and dressed both terrestrial and Triangle animals step-by-step, before that led the algorithm to start thinking she was the kind of person who built a fallout shelter and wanted to hear people explain who was really controlling the government. But her preparation hadn¡¯t actually involved touching any, you know, actual animals, and that was beginning to seem like a big oversight. Jim spared her the need in the immediate term, kneeling down next to the body without apparent concern for the smell that Adelaide was trying to ignore. ¡°Trish, they didn¡¯t kill it.¡± ¡°Why do you say that?¡± ¡°The way it was killed. I know Emma brought an arsenal, but there¡¯s nothing here that¡¯s like an arrow or a gunshot wound. This thing bled out, but from a lot of very small cuts. Probably a fight with something, although I haven¡¯t seen the animal that could do this. But, unless you think Emma fired a hundred sharpened paper airplanes, it wasn¡¯t them.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± Trish said. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Emma.¡± ¡°I told you! I don¡¯t know why you just assumed I¡¯d lie to everyone!¡± Trish closed her eyes for a few seconds. Adelaide had seen this before ¡ª it was one of Trish¡¯s signature moves. And it was part of why Adelaide had been comfortable bringing Trish here, and why she¡¯d been willing to leave the camp behind. ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± Trish said. ¡°I could have thought to check the way it was killed. But I didn¡¯t really even need to, because you wouldn¡¯t lie. We disagree, but you haven¡¯t done anything to make me think you¡¯re dishonest. And I can tell you¡¯re smart, and it would be dumb to lie in a way that you¡¯d be caught doing. So, again, I¡¯m sorry. I was surprised, and I haven¡¯t been doing this long.¡± This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. That was the surprising thing about Trish ¡ª she could apologize. Really apologize, not some half-apology, just an unvarnished admission that she was wrong. It was the reason they¡¯d stayed friends, despite all of the ways in which Trish could be ¡ª well, all the different ways she could be. And it was why Trish hadn¡¯t just been popular but stayed popular, seeing friends from years before. Emma reacted to Trish the way most people did: she blinked three times and then sort of swallowed and said, ¡°Oh. Well, it¡¯s ok. I get it.¡± And then Ray said, ¡°Well, if that¡¯s settled, why don¡¯t we see what we¡¯ve got here?¡± *** Having been spared the dissection, Adelaide tried to pay particular attention to the presentation, and not to get distracted by the bits of blood and gore clinging to the bones on display. Ray, Jim and Emma had taken the afternoon to do a dissection which, if not necessarily up to medical standards, was certainly better than anything Adelaide could have managed. She had done a dissection project in high school and had sworn off biology forever. Ray was holding the skull as he said, ¡°Well, we can say that these things are predators. It¡¯s clear from the teeth ¡ª sharp canines in front. Nothing like horse teeth, nothing that suggests they are eating grains or moss or whatever. And when we opened the stomach, we found bone fragments..¡± Jim pointed to the teeth in the back of the mouth. ¡°These things that look a bit like molars are actually closer to the teeth a hyena has to crush bone. I¡¯d bet these things hunt something smaller and eat every bit of it.¡± ¡°And that also seems to be consistent with the way this horn works,¡± Emma continued. ¡°If you look closer, it¡¯s clear that it isn¡¯t really like a ¡°unicorn¡± horn at all, or even the horns of a gazelle or a rhino. Those are like long spikes, yeah? This is like a knife - flat and sharp. It¡¯s even serrated.¡± Adelaide walked up and examined what she was probably going to continue thinking of as a horn, even though it really was unlike any horn she¡¯d seen back home. The comparison with a knife was undeniable. And it was oriented sideways, so it wouldn¡¯t work for attacking something right in front of the creature. ¡°It certainly doesn¡¯t look like a dueling weapon.¡± Ray nodded. ¡°That¡¯s our feeling as well. Even if they used some sort of weird sideways fighting style where you¡¯d want it oriented this way, there¡¯s no reason to make it serrated like this. That¡¯s just inviting it to be broken.¡± ¡°And this was a female, and it¡¯s rare for a species to have female dueling behavior,¡± Jim said. Adelaide thought back to the gashes in the tree-things she¡¯d seen when collecting firewood after their arrival. ¡°I¡¯m sure we¡¯ve all seen the cuts in the trees ¡ª that must be what these are for, right?¡± Percy spoke up, approaching to see the horn. ¡°But why would they want to chop at trees? They don¡¯t eat plants at all, remember?¡± Adelaide nodded. ¡°There could be a lot of reasons ¡ª but as long as we are seeing cuts in trees and animals with saws on their faces, I feel like it¡¯s not a coincidence. Ray, what else did you see?¡± ¡°I mena, we aren¡¯t biologists. We probably missed more than we noticed. But, in terms of other stuff that stood out, Emma thinks they are really more like big goats than horses.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Emma answered. ¡°It¡¯s about the leg and hoof structure. The legs aren¡¯t actually that long. I know, it looked majestic when we saw it, but it¡¯s actually pretty squat. And the hooves are split and flexible, like goat hooves. Horses have one-part hooves so they can go faster. We cook enough different kinds of weird goats and horses that I¡¯ve learned the difference, trust me.¡± Adelaide considered asking if she¡¯d been fed horse meat at Salt and Water, but thought better of it ¡ª it wasn¡¯t like she was going to draw a distinction like that anymore anyway. ¡°I guess that makes sense ¡ª there¡¯s so much rocky terrain here. So we have a goat with a saw on its head that eats meat. Anything else?¡± Ray exchanged a glance with the others before accepting he had apparently drawn some sort of short straw. ¡°One other thing. We looked at the brain and, look, none of us are neurologists, but it¡¯s really small. Like less than a horse, if I had to guess. You can see it in the skull: the support for the horn takes up most of the room.¡± Olivia smiled. ¡°So there we go. They aren¡¯t smart, and there¡¯s no reason not to hunt with the time we have left.¡± Everyone looked at Trish, who had been sitting quietly. Adelaide was surprised to see how calm she looked. Not the ¡°trying-to-stay-chill¡± look she sometimes had, but a sort of unworried look of someone who knows she has what she needs. So she knew something was coming, even before Trish started speaking. ¡°That¡¯s really interesting, and I think it explains a lot. But I think you¡¯re wrong to focus on brain size. There are smaller animals, like cats, who are smarter than animals with much larger brains. And I think your focus on that has made you overlook what they do with their horns. ¡°They use them for writing.¡± 3.5 - Blessing 3.5 Adelaide didn¡¯t expect anything, until she saw it. There had been kind of an awkward walk over. Everyone, fortunately, had had the tact not to openly doubt the possibility of Trish¡¯s claims. But the atmosphere was reserved, rather than actually inquisitive. It was good, Adelaide supposed, that people were at least showing some decorum. But they weren¡¯t actually listening to her. They were just waiting to declare victory. Or maybe Adelaide was just projecting. She didn¡¯t mean to diminish Trish¡¯s intelligence ¡ª she was often clever and observant. But the dissection had seemed definitive: there wasn¡¯t really any room for a sophisticated brain, and nothing in their biology suggested such a thing would be necessary. And, underneath it all, Adelaide kept reminding herself: there was no reason to think these things were smart or sentient or anything. They had one horn, and it had looked very pretty, but that wasn¡¯t actually a reason. They hadn¡¯t wondered if the dawnbats were sentient. Or the eels she¡¯d seen in the river. Or ¡ª or anything else. And maybe that¡¯s why she wasn¡¯t expecting anything when Trish stopped in front of one of the frond trees they¡¯d seen all over the island and said, ¡°I¡¯ve spent the last few days looking at the environment, with my eyes actually open for signs of cultivation and intelligence. And I kept coming back to these trees, and now I can¡¯t unsee it. Look at these carvings.¡± Adelaide approached and saw the same gashes she¡¯d noticed when they first landed, the cuts that had made it so much easier to gather firewood. And, now that she looked at them more closely, it was impossible to see them as anything other than the product of the horn she¡¯d examined earlier. The cuts just seemed to match the thickness and serration of that horn. Although it wasn¡¯t like Adelaide was some sort of forensic expert. But, in the absence of some other saw-horned animal¡­ Adelaide looked at Trish and tried to phrase her thought delicately. ¡°I definitely think it made these cuts, but ¡ª well, lots of animals interact with trees, and that always seemed like what the horns were for. And I think it¡¯s pretty functional looking, don¡¯t you? It doesn¡¯t really seem like writing to me.¡± Trish rolled her eyes, but smiled. ¡°Ade, I didn¡¯t mean those huge gashes. I meant these.¡± And she pointed, and Adelaide followed her finger, and saw it. On a section of the trunk below the gashes, there were smaller cuts that didn¡¯t disrupt the structure at all, carving onto the trunk rather than digging into it. There wasn¡¯t an obvious pattern that Adelaide could see, but there was a break between carvings, like someone had lifted their pen. Adelaide felt her heart sink a bit. This was just about the most problematic sort of evidence they could have found. If it had been really simple or speculative, it would have been easy to dismiss Trish¡¯s concerns ¡ª or, well, not easy to do diplomatically, but Adelaide¡¯s beliefs would have been clear. And if they had found like a little unicorn society with a library and a town hall, that would have been extremely wild, but it would have been really clear that the hunt was off. This was the inconvenient middle. It was enough that Adelaide was unsure what to think, but not persuasive enough to change the minds of people committed to a position. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. As if on cue, Emma spoke up. ¡°How do we know these are writing and not just like random scratches? I mean, I get that they could kind of look like writing if you squint, but it¡¯s not like there¡¯s exactly grammar. There are like five scratches on a tree. I could think of a lot of reasons for that other than intelligence or communication or whatever.¡± Trish nodded. ¡°I had that thought, of course. I didn¡¯t even notice these at first, given the bigger gashes. And they could absolutely be just little nothing scratches, but this isn¡¯t the only tree.¡± And then Trish began the tour. *** It still wasn¡¯t obviously writing, but it was obviously something. Trish had shown them a dozen trees, all of which had bigger gashes on them. But, around the gashes, there were also the smaller marks. They were all crude, but, after viewing enough of them, it was hard not to think of them as characters of some kind. And some of them recurred. Not precisely, of course, and not even so clearly that you could be sure it was the same thing, but there were four trees that had a carving with something like a U that had a sideways T coming out the side. And three had an O with a line on the top. Again, these were very rough ¡ª it was like if a toddler was carving with a crayon. But it did look like something was being drawn, not just accidentally scratched. ¡°Do you have any idea what these mean?¡± Adelaide asked. ¡°No,¡± Trish admitted. ¡°I am not even like close to trained to do that. And I bet even a linguist would need ages! And I¡¯m not even sure they could do it then. Who knows what their culture is like! They could be expressing ideas we have no concept for!¡± Olivia scoffed. ¡°I think ¡®culture¡¯ is a little rich for some scratches.¡± ¡°How¡¯s it different than a cave painting?¡± ¡°Oh come on. These aren¡¯t representational. And look - here, the gash was cut right through the little carving. Why would anything intelligent do that?¡± She was right ¡ª Adelaide hadn¡¯t noticed, but there was half of a little shape that had been broken by one of the more aggressive gashes. Ray looked down at the bark. ¡°Maybe it was a way to erase something? Or someone disagreed with the message?¡± Emma spoke up. ¡°Look, we are making a bunch of very big leaps very quickly here. We are going from some markings to symbology to sentience. But lots of animals leave markings. Dogs pee on trees to mark them; that¡¯s not exactly writing.¡± ¡°Sure, but the bar here shouldn¡¯t be that high,¡± Trish responded. ¡°I¡¯m not saying we know anything for certain. But these things are making some kind of symbols. Even if we don¡¯t understand everything about them, isn¡¯t that enough to not murder them?¡± A voice from the trees responded. ¡°But the unicorns aren¡¯t making those marks.¡± ADelaide jumped and spun before she saw that it was Percy, who had apparently climbed one of the trees at some point. ¡°What are you doing up there? And what do you mean?¡± ¡°The markings can¡¯t be by the unicorns. Everyone was looking at our eye level, but that¡¯s just because that¡¯s what¡¯s easy. So I climbed up here to see if it would show anything. And I found the same kinds of carvings. I mean, I don¡¯t know that the individual symbols are the same, but the look is similar. So unless you think a unicorn managed to climb up here, something else made these marks.¡± And then Adelaide figured it out. 3.6 - Blessing It was lucky they had brought so many ways to cut things. It would have been convenient if Adelaide had known how many different cutting implements they had before she collected a bunch of firewood using a pocketknife, but whatever. It was more important now. They were standing in front of one of the fern trees which had both the obvious gouges and the smaller carvings that Trish had identified. And Ray was holding what was essentially a small chainsaw, and waiting for Trish to give the final go-ahead. She nodded, and he began the blades spinning, preparing to cut a wedge out from the trunk right below where the gouges had been made. But Adelaide didn¡¯t even have to wait for the blade to make contact before her prediction paid off. As soon as the sound started, two of the little lizard guys Adelaide had seen on her way to the node popped out of a hole near the flower on the top of the fern and jumped to an adjacent tree, where they scrambled into a small crevasse and disappeared. ¡°Did you see that?¡± Adelaide shouted over the chainsaw blades. ¡°I told you they were in there! Ray, you can shut that off.¡± Ray had already removed a chunk of the bark. When he pulled it away, Adelaide saw that the trunk wasn¡¯t fully hollow but instead had grown a large tunnel that curved and broke off at various points. Ray had exposed it near a junction, and Adelaide could see two paths that splintered off. Emma looked at the newly exposed passageway. ¡°So there a little lizards living in the trees?¡± ¡°Yeah - Ray and I saw some when we were hiking, but I didn¡¯t make the connection right away. But I think it¡¯s pretty clear: the unicorns are chopping into these things to try to find the lizards. That¡¯s what they¡¯re eating. I bet if we looked at the other trees, we¡¯d see that the gouges expose similar little internal tunnels.¡± Emma nodded. ¡°That makes sense, and it explains why the blade doesn¡¯t face forward, so that they can saw effectively. But what does it matter?¡± ¡°Because the little guys are making the carvings, not the unicorns. They have the right kind of claws for it, and they can clearly get up higher.¡± Trish turned to Adelaide. ¡°So you think the little lizards are intelligent? And they¡¯re writing to each other?¡± Adelaide took a breath before responding. ¡°No, I¡¯m not saying that. A lot of animals make markings, like we were saying before ¡ª dogs peeing on trees and so on. And I certainly don¡¯t know that it¡¯s writing, like with a language. But, I mean, they seem more sophisticated than anything else we¡¯ve seen, as far as I can tell. Look in here ¡ª you can see they use different tunnels for different things.¡± Adelaide shined her phone¡¯s flashlight in the tunnels so everyone who was interested could take turns see what she had noticed. There was one fork, running down and to the left, that was covered in fruit pulp, and you could barely see but easily smell a ripe mass of the stuff at the bottom. And, although the other fork quickly bent around again, it had parts of the front surrounding it in a way that suggested a nest. ¡°That sort of division of space seems a little sophisticated to me. And, although I don¡¯t have any proof, I would bet that these guys killed the unicorn we saw, working together. But, I mean, I¡¯m speculating.¡± This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Trish looked at the new incision in the trunk. ¡°Ugh, now I feel bad about our cutting into their little house! So what would the writing mean?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not saying it is writing, or that it means anything. It could be territorial, or it could be a way of tracking which trees have fruits on them ¡ª they don¡¯t all seem to, but a lot do? I think it has to do with the flowers, but that doesn¡¯t really matter. My point is, I think the unicorns are hunting these guys, and that¡¯s only connection they have to the marks Trish noticed. Unless anyone has another view?¡± Adelaide paused, but no one jumped in. Adelaide made eye contact with Trish, but Trish just sighed. ¡°Ok, then that¡¯s settled, I think. Emma and Jim, let¡¯s plan a hunt. Obviously no one has to participate, but I plan to.¡± *** ¡°So, how do you think I handled it?¡± Adelaide hadn¡¯t consciously sought Ray out when they got back to camp, but she had to admit she¡¯d been glad to see him. There had been relative peace as the hunt was prepared, but Adelaide hesitated to let her guard down. ¡°Are you sure you aren¡¯t a biologist, Professor?¡± ¡°Haha. But really, do you think that was the right tone? The right approach?¡± ¡°You know that better than me. You know Trish. You wouldn¡¯t have left it where you did if you didn¡¯t know she¡¯d be ok.¡± Adelaide nodded. ¡°Maybe that¡¯s right.¡± ¡°I think it is. But are you going to ask me the other question?¡± ¡°What other question?¡± ¡°Whether everyone bought that.¡± Trish didn¡¯t say anything. Ray continued. ¡°I mean, I think the lizard observation was very clever. But you know that all sorts of animals make nests and markings and even team up to hunt. And you were smart to get that out in the open. But it¡¯s not the actual question, and I don¡¯t think you tricked yourself.¡± ¡°I mean, the carvings were the thing that made us worry, right?¡± ¡°Yeah, but the question was whether the unicorns were intelligent. Even if the lizards are something close to it, that doesn¡¯t answer the question. But I think you got everyone to act like there was a dichotomy. Even though smart prey might suggest a smart hunter.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you bring this up before?¡± ¡°Are you saying you didn¡¯t think of it?¡± ¡°Jesus, Ray, is that what you think of me? Do you think I¡¯d intentionally trick everyone?¡± ¡°What? No, I just ¡­ I didn¡¯t mean to imply that. But it¡¯s like once, a few years ago, I was Guiding and this sailor and I were on an island, scouting, and it just started to pour. Absolutely buckets and buckets. And we found some little rock to hide under and we were still soaking. And there¡¯s just absolutely no way we can travel in this, the whole island was mostly mud already. So we are sitting there for most of an afternoon and an entire night, and the whole time he¡¯s asking me how long we can be out there without missing out exit, and how long the group will wait for us, and on and on. And no one sleeps a wink, and we don¡¯t even notice the sun rise until the rain stops, all of a sudden, and we realize it¡¯s nearly noon. ¡°So we¡¯re walking back and he is saying how lucky he feels, and how good it will be to be back. And I¡¯m nodding and talking about the coffee I want, but all I can think about is that there was a river we went past for a while on the way out, and if it has spilled its banks or shifted course in that rain, we have no way to cross it. And I keep seeing all these trees that I¡¯m pretty sure were standing the day before, and I¡¯m sure we¡¯re going to come across a river blocking us and¡­ I just don¡¯t say anything. I can¡¯t freak him out, and we¡¯re already on the route we¡¯re on. ¡°That¡¯s what I think you were doing. You didn¡¯t mention something, because you knew it wouldn¡¯t help anybody, and we¡¯re already on our path. I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a bad thing. Not at all.¡± ¡°So, you¡¯re comfortable?¡± ¡°I¡¯m with you. You looked at everything, and you made a decision. I¡¯m going to be hunting right next to you. If you¡¯re comfortable, I¡¯m comfortable.¡± Adelaide didn¡¯t have a response to that. 3.6 - Blessing After all of that, Adelaide still wasn¡¯t ready when she saw one. She¡¯d seen the first unicorn on the ridge when they arrived, and she¡¯d seen the corpse, but both of those were more like conversation pieces than anything else. They had created issues she¡¯d needed to solve and provided information on how to do so. The idea of the unicorns had dominated the journey, but she¡¯d only seen a live one for about a minute. Until now. She¡¯d offered to hunt with Emma as a way of casually checking if there was any lingering resentment over Adelaide¡¯s management of Trish¡¯s objections. And things seemed totally fine on that front. Emma had been chatty as they prepared their gear, helping Adelaide figured out how everything snapped on and asking questions about what Trish and Ray had seen when exploring. But the other reason had been that Emma really knew how to hunt and would have been fine on her own, while Adelaide knew the best she could hope for was not screwing anything up as she tagged along. And Emma hadn¡¯t disappointed here either. Adelaide had been relieved when Emma tacitly understood that Adelaide wasn¡¯t actually going to be doing any of the marksmanship here. But she hadn¡¯t understood initially how much went into the preparation process, before they saw an animal. Adelaide had been shown the error of her ways during a few hours baiting traps at Emma¡¯s direction. Emma had explained the scattershot nature of their attempts as they went. ¡°It¡¯s a weird discipline, hunting unknown species. Figure for most of history, nobody had to discover how to hunt. People inherited that knowledge from their forefathers. That occasionally changed when colonizers or whatever would show up, but even then, they¡¯d often hire someone actually from the area to do all of the hard work. You have to look to very specific, weird examples: arctic explorers who got icelocked and had to eat seal livers to fight scurvy, that kind of thing. ¡°Anyway, we have an advantage because we know so much more about these things than Triangle hunters normally do. We know it¡¯s a carnivore, we know its size and movement capacity, we even have some guesses about how it finds its prey. Plenty of hunts are done when you don¡¯t even know that anything of note exists! So we¡¯re ahead of the game. ¡°But it¡¯s still not even close to a thousand years of ancestral knowledge, obviously. So we try a lot of things and see what gets us there.¡± Trying a lot of things had included, as a sample, placing one big piece of raw meat (Emma had apparently brought some for this purpose with her from the Strider) on the ground, placing many small pieces over a small patch of ground, leaving one big piece in one bush and small pieces in another bush, placing pieces of different sizes at different heights on trees, spreading the smell of raw meat over a patch of ground without any actual meat there, putting fronds that smelled like raw meat over the ground, and burying pieces of meat at several different depths in the ground. After a few hours of this, Adelaide was confident that nothing could possibly smell more like prey than her own hands, which was actually kind of terrifying. And then there had been a long period of laying, covered in mud, beneath some fronds, on a slightly elevated bit of rock that gave them as close to a view as they were going to get of the different baited locations. Not that that spot had started off muddy ¡ª it had been Adelaide¡¯s job to get a bunch of mud from a riverbank (worrying about eels the whole time) and bring it over so that they could cover themselves in it. Emma insisted that this was a normal and vital way to avoid smell disrupting the entire process, and Adelaide recognized that it made sense, but she couldn¡¯t help feeling like it had been done specifically to make Adelaide uncomfortable. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. And she had sat, muddy, uncomfortable and silent, for hours. Or it felt like hours ¡ª Emma had given her a look when she pulled out her phone to check the time. But that time now seemed relaxing, because there was a unicorn, and he was right there. Maybe two hundred feet, so not like something she could touch, but still. Right there. She could smell it. Actually, she couldn¡¯t avoid smelling it ¡ª even through the mud, it was a really clear odor. Sort of a mix of a citrus that was closer to a lemon than a lime and a sort of wet-dog dead skin smell. It was extremely unpleasant, and Adelaide had a hard time imagining a creature that could smell like that all the time while hunting. She wondered if he was in heat, and then realized she had no idea of the gender. Or if these things even had genders. Although they probably didn¡¯t reproduce asexually. It was approaching one of the trees where they had left the meat. Adelaide had felt a little bad about drawing attention to a tree in case some lizards lived there, but then she decided this would hopefully spare any of them from being attacked. And the unicorn was walking right to it. And then it stopped. It turned to look at the chunk of raw meet, first with one eye, then the other. And then it looked from side to side, and Adelaide couldn¡¯t help reading a thought from the expression: it was saying, ¡°What the hell is this doing here? Is anyone else seeing this?¡± And for a second, Adelaide was convinced it was intelligent. And she was about to turn and tell Emma to hold on, when two things happened. First, the unicorn shot its tongue out. The thing extended about a foot out from its mouth hitting the meat and wrapping up a segment. The mouth then met the returning tongue, and teeth began to cut through the meat. It all took less than a second, but it shattered the empathy Trish had felt for the creature. It made sense, given that the thing was used to eating out of trunks, but it deanthropomorphized the creature. The second thing that happened is that Emma shot it. Adelaide didn¡¯t really know about guns, and she hadn¡¯t visited an armory back in Bermuda to see the variety of guns and bullets that had now become available. But even she knew how rapidly that industry had grown. It wasn¡¯t surprising in retrospect: even when hunting was purely for sport, people had spent a frankly irrational amount of time thinking of newer and more expensive guns and composite bows and so on. Now that there was an actual economic advantage to killing new things in specific ways, it was like some primal well of innovation that had been leaking out for the last century came through in a flood. But it wasn¡¯t something Adelaide had ever focused on. So Adelaide didn¡¯t know why Emma cared that the bullet she fired was non-fragmenting or why this specific caliber had been chosen. Emma had tried to explain, but Adelaide had been busy smelling like mud and raw meat. So all she knew was the effect, which was like a little cylinder of the animal had turned to blood, while the rest of the thing seemed unaffected for a moment. It swung its head, raw meat still in its jaws. But there was no search now ¡ª it had heard the shot, and it turned directly towards them. And then it charged. It didn¡¯t even seem angry. It was just like a rock falling down after it had been thrown up in the air. Except very sharp. And fast. And falling directly at Adelaide. Who discovered that she wasn¡¯t even screaming. She was just looking at that blade and reflecting on how, if the head was lowered, the orientation of the horn-blade still seemed like it would get the job done. And then Emma shot again, and the sound of the shot matched the sound of the leg breaking, and the creature fell. Emma nodded. ¡°Got it. Sorry if that freaked you out.¡± Adelaide just sort of coughed in response. Emma went to look over the creature, which was still turning its head back and forth, scraping the horn against the ground. ¡°Tough thing. But we know how to get them now. I¡¯ll finish this now, and then we can go grab something to bring it back with.¡± And then she pulled out a knife. Adelaide didn¡¯t watch that part. 3.7 - Blessing After all of that, Adelaide still wasn¡¯t ready when she saw one. She¡¯d seen the first unicorn on the ridge when they arrived, and she¡¯d seen the corpse, but both of those were more like conversation pieces than anything else. They had created issues she¡¯d needed to solve and provided information on how to do so. The idea of the unicorns had dominated the journey, but she¡¯d only seen a live one for about a minute. Until now. She¡¯d offered to hunt with Emma as a way of casually checking if there was any lingering resentment over Adelaide¡¯s management of Trish¡¯s objections. And things seemed totally fine on that front. Emma had been chatty as they prepared their gear, helping Adelaide figured out how everything snapped on and asking questions about what Trish and Ray had seen when exploring. But the other reason had been that Emma really knew how to hunt and would have been fine on her own, while Adelaide knew the best she could hope for was not screwing anything up as she tagged along. And Emma hadn¡¯t disappointed here either. Adelaide had been relieved when Emma tacitly understood that Adelaide wasn¡¯t actually going to be doing any of the marksmanship here. But she hadn¡¯t understood initially how much went into the preparation process, before they saw an animal. Adelaide had been shown the error of her ways during a few hours baiting traps at Emma¡¯s direction. Emma had explained the scattershot nature of their attempts as they went. ¡°It¡¯s a weird discipline, hunting unknown species. Figure for most of history, nobody had to discover how to hunt. People inherited that knowledge from their forefathers. That occasionally changed when colonizers or whatever would show up, but even then, they¡¯d often hire someone actually from the area to do all of the hard work. You have to look to very specific, weird examples: arctic explorers who got icelocked and had to eat seal livers to fight scurvy, that kind of thing. ¡°Anyway, we have an advantage because we know so much more about these things than Triangle hunters normally do. We know it¡¯s a carnivore, we know its size and movement capacity, we even have some guesses about how it finds its prey. Plenty of hunts are done when you don¡¯t even know that anything of note exists! So we¡¯re ahead of the game. ¡°But it¡¯s still not even close to a thousand years of ancestral knowledge, obviously. So we try a lot of things and see what gets us there.¡± Trying a lot of things had included, as a sample, placing one big piece of raw meat (Emma had apparently brought some for this purpose with her from the Strider) on the ground, placing many small pieces over a small patch of ground, leaving one big piece in one bush and small pieces in another bush, placing pieces of different sizes at different heights on trees, spreading the smell of raw meat over a patch of ground without any actual meat there, putting fronds that smelled like raw meat over the ground, and burying pieces of meat at several different depths in the ground. After a few hours of this, Adelaide was confident that nothing could possibly smell more like prey than her own hands, which was actually kind of terrifying. And then there had been a long period of laying, covered in mud, beneath some fronds, on a slightly elevated bit of rock that gave them as close to a view as they were going to get of the different baited locations. Not that that spot had started off muddy ¡ª it had been Adelaide¡¯s job to get a bunch of mud from a riverbank (worrying about eels the whole time) and bring it over so that they could cover themselves in it. Emma insisted that this was a normal and vital way to avoid smell disrupting the entire process, and Adelaide recognized that it made sense, but she couldn¡¯t help feeling like it had been done specifically to make Adelaide uncomfortable.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. And she had sat, muddy, uncomfortable and silent, for hours. Or it felt like hours ¡ª Emma had given her a look when she pulled out her phone to check the time. But that time now seemed relaxing, because there was a unicorn, and he was right there. Maybe two hundred feet, so not like something she could touch, but still. Right there. She could smell it. Actually, she couldn¡¯t avoid smelling it ¡ª even through the mud, it was a really clear odor. Sort of a mix of a citrus that was closer to a lemon than a lime and a sort of wet-dog dead skin smell. It was extremely unpleasant, and Adelaide had a hard time imagining a creature that could smell like that all the time while hunting. She wondered if he was in heat, and then realized she had no idea of the gender. Or if these things even had genders. Although they probably didn¡¯t reproduce asexually. It was approaching one of the trees where they had left the meat. Adelaide had felt a little bad about drawing attention to a tree in case some lizards lived there, but then she decided this would hopefully spare any of them from being attacked. And the unicorn was walking right to it. And then it stopped. It turned to look at the chunk of raw meet, first with one eye, then the other. And then it looked from side to side, and Adelaide couldn¡¯t help reading a thought from the expression: it was saying, ¡°What the hell is this doing here? Is anyone else seeing this?¡± And for a second, Adelaide was convinced it was intelligent. And she was about to turn and tell Emma to hold on, when two things happened. First, the unicorn shot its tongue out. The thing extended about a foot out from its mouth hitting the meat and wrapping up a segment. The mouth then met the returning tongue, and teeth began to cut through the meat. It all took less than a second, but it shattered the empathy Trish had felt for the creature. It made sense, given that the thing was used to eating out of trunks, but it deanthropomorphized the creature. The second thing that happened is that Emma shot it. Adelaide didn¡¯t really know about guns, and she hadn¡¯t visited an armory back in Bermuda to see the variety of guns and bullets that had now become available. But even she knew how rapidly that industry had grown. It wasn¡¯t surprising in retrospect: even when hunting was purely for sport, people had spent a frankly irrational amount of time thinking of newer and more expensive guns and composite bows and so on. Now that there was an actual economic advantage to killing new things in specific ways, it was like some primal well of innovation that had been leaking out for the last century came through in a flood. But it wasn¡¯t something Adelaide had ever focused on. So Adelaide didn¡¯t know why Emma cared that the bullet she fired was non-fragmenting or why this specific caliber had been chosen. Emma had tried to explain, but Adelaide had been busy smelling like mud and raw meat. So all she knew was the effect, which was like a little cylinder of the animal had turned to blood, while the rest of the thing seemed unaffected for a moment. It swung its head, raw meat still in its jaws. But there was no search now ¡ª it had heard the shot, and it turned directly towards them. And then it charged. It didn¡¯t even seem angry. It was just like a rock falling down after it had been thrown up in the air. Except very sharp. And fast. And falling directly at Adelaide. Who discovered that she wasn¡¯t even screaming. She was just looking at that blade and reflecting on how, if the head was lowered, the orientation of the horn-blade still seemed like it would get the job done. And then Emma shot again, and the sound of the shot matched the sound of the leg breaking, and the creature fell. Emma nodded. ¡°Got it. Sorry if that freaked you out.¡± Adelaide just sort of coughed in response. Emma went to look over the creature, which was still turning its head back and forth, scraping the horn against the ground. ¡°Tough thing. But we know how to get them now. I¡¯ll finish this now, and then we can go grab something to bring it back with.¡± And then she pulled out a knife. Adelaide didn¡¯t watch that part. 3.8 - Blessing Ultimately, they got a dozen of them. Adelaide felt underwhelmed, at first. For all of the discussions they had had, for all of the anguish, it seemed like they hadn¡¯t gotten all that much from it. But, then again, she was actually sort of relieved to have had only a small impact: it made the consequences seem less real. Emma told her it was actually a great result, much better than Earth hunters would have expected. This was what came of Triangle hunting ¡ª there were no other humans who had ever set foot here, and predators like the unicorns were completely unready for anything above them on the food chain. That changed when she saw them preparing the bodies for transport back to the Strider. Their window was closing and it was time to leave, but they had planned for this and were executing an orderly and unrushed reembarkation. And the first step was taking their relatively-fresh kills back on board, where they could be better preserved. Emma, Ray, and Jim had worked to dress the kills and had applied some sort of cold blanket designed for this purpose, but it was imperfect. So the bodies were the first transport priority, and they¡¯d been laid out carefully. Encountering a dozen dead things, laid out right next to each other, triggered something primal in Adelaide, some instinct that something has gone very wrong. It felt like a sign that something dangerous had come by, that she needed to hide from whatever massive predator or calamity had done this. And she knew that the only calamity was her own crew, acting at her own direction. But knowing it didn¡¯t help her calm down. So she walked away. She would be the last one to leave anyway. And, since no one would ever come back here, she was happy to take one last look around. She tried to take it all in, to really notice everything she could. Not to remember it, exactly ¡ª Allessio had gotten hours and hours of video, no doubt. But those videos would fade from everyone¡¯s awareness after they had gotten enough likes, just as the countless videos of previous expeditions lingered unwatched on some servers somewhere. There was already more than enough footage of Triangle ecosystems to fill as much viewing time as anyone had, but other than some very specific researchers, no one cared. They were like photographs of sunsets ¡ª they nominally depicted something special and unique, but it was hard to care about any of them individually. So all you could do was to take it in, to experience it. Adelaide let herself wander the coast, where she hadn¡¯t really spent much time. And there were little wonders to discover here as well. There were little pink fish that sometimes bounced up onto the shore for a minute and ate some sand before scooching themselves back into the water. And there were crabs ¡ª they looked like regular crabs, but Adelaide decided to believe they were special and unique in their own crabby little way. She didn¡¯t consciously intend to find Trish, but she wasn¡¯t surprised either. Trish had placed herself on the beach as soon as the hunting began and had spent her time there for the duration of the hunts. And Adelaide saw her now, standing by a little tide pool. As Adelaide approached, she saw Trish was holding a shell.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Adelaide asked. Trish smiled. ¡°Just a shell. Nothing more than it looks like. Although I do think these are particularly beautiful.¡± And she passed it to Adelaide. It was striking. It had more twists than the shells Adelaide remembered from the beach trips her parents had taken her on when she was little. Those had had little spirals one one end, but the other part normally opened up ¡ª or at least, that¡¯s what Adelaide remembered. She¡¯d later read somewhere that there was a relationship to the Fibonacci sequence, in the spiral. This shell had a few different spirals, including one that folded back on itself. Adelaide wondered if there was that same Fibonacci thing here. ¡°It is really lovely,¡± she said, handing it back to Trish. ¡°Thanks. I¡¯ve been collecting them. I¡¯ll keep one or two as a souvenir, and figure someone will probably buy the rest off me. I mean, it¡¯s not the most commercial thing in the world, but, you know¡­¡± ¡°Yeah. How are you ¡ª I mean, how are we ¡ª¡± ¡°Ade, it¡¯s ok. We¡¯re good. I mean, I¡¯m not like thrilled, but I get it. Or, well, I¡¯m not going to like abandon our friendship over it!¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s good. More than good. Because I wouldn''t want -¡± ¡°But, honestly, I don¡¯t love it. Like, you were probably right about the markings. And I get that people need to make money. It¡¯s a privilege to come all this way and just come home with shells.¡± Adelaide didn¡¯t say anything to that. Trish had always had an odd relationship to her own wealth. She would bring it up casually, because it was a fact of life for her. But when other people tried to reference it or speculate about how it made her feel, Trish would get quiet. So Adelaide tried to avoid the subject in what she hoped seemed like a comfortable way. ¡°The thing is,¡± Trish continued, ¡°I¡¯ve realized it wasn¡¯t really about whether they were intelligent. I mean, we¡¯d never know that. We will never know that! We don¡¯t even know that about normal animals, right? Like we have a guess, but who really knows! But let¡¯s say the unicorns weren¡¯t intelligent or social, that they were just animals, they were dumber than cows. I eat meat. And this is about as far as you can get from factory farming. So I shouldn¡¯t really be upset. But I am. ¡°Because, like, if they weren¡¯t intelligent, if nothing here is intelligent, then that means its just us! We were the only things here that ever got to make a choice. The history of this little world was just our time here. And all we did was kill things! Not because we were hungry, not because we needed to. Just because we thought it would be to our advantage. That¡¯s the whole history of intelligent life in this world.¡± Adelaide let that sit. She could see the dinghy in the distance, weighted down with the spoils of their venture. It was bobbing up and down on the same waves that, minutes later, would be crashing against the shore here. Eventually, Adelaide spoke. ¡°Thank you for telling me that. But I do think you¡¯ve missed something. We didn¡¯t just kill. We studied, we learned, and we made the best decision we could. And there¡¯s only one reason that happened ¡ª because you made it happen. I don¡¯t think that¡¯s such a bad history of intelligence, as far as it goes.¡± Trish looked up at her. ¡°That¡¯s sweet of you to say. But even then ¡ª we made a choice. Not just you. I made the choice to stop the fight. We thought about it, and this was our choice.¡± ¡°Well, maybe some day it won¡¯t be, even if its not here. That¡¯s what intelligence is, maybe. The ability to make a different choice tomorrow.¡± And then they walked together, picking up shells as they went, 3.9- Blessing It was lightly raining when they approached the Triangle. Or, rather, when they approached the place where they understood that the Triangle was, on the other side. Everyone knew there would be nothing to see, but everyone was there, watching anyway. It was one of the fundamental acts of faith involved in travel through the Triangle: trusting that there would be a way back, even though you wouldn''t be able to see it. And Adelaide knew the physics, but the math was cold comfort right now. She wanted to see the nothing with her own eyes, and apparently everyone else did too. Alessio was filming, of course, no doubt planning to capture the moment when Bermuda flashed back into view. But everyone else was just sitting, watching the sky or the water quietly, huddled beneath their jackets and ponchos. It wasn¡¯t awkward, the quiet ¡ª there had been enough action that everyone had gotten used to the tired silence that came after long days. But it seemed wistful to Adelaide. Or maybe she was just projecting. As far as Adelaide knew, everyone else was in good spirits. It had been a reasonably successful trip by most estimations, although the market would only fully reveal itself upon their return. Everyone had filled their Chests with enough to make the voyage individually and collectively profitable ¡ª beyond the unicorns and the dawnbats and the material they¡¯d collected from that hive, there had apparently been a great deal of fishing and crabbing ¡ª or the relevant equivalent ¡ª during the period when Adelaide had been thinking about unicorn ethics. And, of course, Adelaide had gotten the data she wanted. They hadn¡¯t parsed it yet, and two Nodes wouldn¡¯t reveal much, but it was a real start. The first two steps on a road that would lead to the transformation of life around the Triangle, if she was right. But Adelaide still felt sad. As she looked out through the drizzling rain, she saw an island in the distance, and she knew no one would ever see it. If it had its own unicorns or dragons or parasitic moss or diamond caverns, no one would ever find out. It would only ever be what it was just then: a wet dark shadow on the horizon. For a mad moment, Adelaide wished they could change course and do a quick visit. But doing so would risk missing their return window. And then they¡¯d spend the rest of their lives out here, sailing endlessly and aimlessly, until they eventually hit a bad storm or ran out of edible food or suffered some other mishap. Or maybe not ¡ª maybe they could go forever. Maybe they could have found a pleasant island without many dangers and set up a little camp that would become a little village. And then they could have children and then this would be the world for some future generation that would never know of anything else. Or maybe the whole place would blink out of existence when the Triangle closed. It was an area of debate.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Regardless, she wouldn¡¯t find out if she wanted to. Captain Mattson wouldn¡¯t listen to her on this issue, and all of the passengers would no doubt have thrown her overboard before missing out on their own return ticket. She looked at everybody and wondered who would actually come back with her on the next trip. Ray, the Captain and the crew were certain, but the others could leave if they insisted. She thought Percy would be as open to the next journey as he had been for this one ¡ª mostly indifferent ¡ª but she wondered about the others. Especially Trish. They had talked about old friends and memories since getting back aboard, but Adelaide still thought she saw something sad in Trish¡¯s eyes. And then it happened. There was no flash, no building energy, no pressure. The clouds just vanished, and Bermuda replaced them. It was night, which Adelaide supposed she could have anticipated, but the effect wasn¡¯t as dramatic as it had been last time. The Triangle was well lit and the Bermuda skyline glowed. Adelaide looked over her shoulder, back through the Triangle. But all she saw was more Bermuda, more of the world. *** Adelaide¡¯s wistfulness had been sandblasted away by the experience of finding a hotel in the middle of the night. Everyone else either had a permanent place in Bermuda or had planned better for this extremely predictable return. So Adelaide was alone in finding that most places were full, or at least not answering their phones. She¡¯d resorted to making an account on an app that promised last minute rooms, and it had found her something for an unreasonable price on the opposite side of town. She was bouncing in the back of a taxi, and she was surprised by how qucikly the lights and the noises and the traffic had resumed feeling natural. The world she¡¯d been in felt imagined, and she wouldn¡¯t have been surprised if the goods turned to fairy dust when they checked them. Tomorrow, she¡¯d have to do this journey in reverse, because she and Ray were meeting at the Foam Strider to manage the sale of their goods and to make purchases for the next venture. She hadn¡¯t even booked a second night ¡ª it wasn¡¯t that she expected they''d be leaving that quickly, but she hoped she could find something better for the next night. Or at least she wasn''t ready to emotionally commit to multiple nights here. Her cab stopped, and Adelaide pulled out her one suitcase. She¡¯d only brought some personal essentials: most things she¡¯d left in her Chest on the Foam Strider, where she only just now realized she could probably have spent the night for free. The grumpiness at that realization, combined with the time change, kept Adelaide awake even after she¡¯d brushed her teeth. She pulled out her iPad to pass the time and lull her to sleep when she was hit with a realization. She¡¯d canceled her Netflix account. Interlude 3 Interlude 3 Just by asking the guy a question, Rico had broken one of his own rules. Rico was big on rules. Ignoring them had gotten him where he was, and his hope was that following some would help him from falling any farther. Rico had been a real Guide once, managing some high-stakes voyages. And then, one time, he had let someone wander off from the camp after dark, and things had gotten bad. Not only had the moron gotten himself killed, he had angered a bunch of big lizards with hooves, and they had rampaged back to the camp. And the people who survived blamed Rico, not unreasonably, and word had gotten out. And then the only people who would bring him back were those who were up for some additional risk. Stunningly, the sort of people who went with a disgraced Guide to save money didn''t make the best decisions. And then word of that had gotten out, and before you knew it, he was here. Specifically, he was on the Bon Temps (whose name he had never heard pronounced correctly by a single guest so far). The Bon Temps was what was known as a ¡°there-and-back¡± vessel. Instead of pooling resources to achieve some goal or obtain a profit, the Bon Temps just ferried passengers to whatever islands it could find within a few days. The crew didn¡¯t have any particular goal, and they made their money by taking it from the passengers, in exchange for alcohol or drugs or the prospect of a flush draw. Once the passengers were dropped off at an island, what they did there was their own business, as long as they made it back by the time the ship started its return voyage. If they made it back. Plenty didn¡¯t. Sensible and competent people didn¡¯t go on these trips ¡ª those people became crew or Guides on real voyages. And people who wanted to relax quietly went on cruises or smaller pleasure vessels. That left, well, morons: thrill seekers who didn¡¯t have the sponsors to organize a trip of their own, young men who wanted to party too hard or too loud for a cruise, and survivor types who were going to go face the woods with no idea what they were doing. ¡°There-and-back¡± was the formal name. Everyone called them ¡°suicide cruises.¡± And that left Rico with the nominal job of protecting people who were beyond saving and who had paid specifically to be left alone to destroy themselves. Rico went through the motions of setting up camps on islands, answered questions when someone thought to ask, and tried to be ready for an emergency that would call for a mass evacuation. But it was a pretend job. That¡¯s why Rico¡¯s Rules now included a firm prohibition on getting to know any of the passengers. The alternative never went well. If he liked the person, he would just get attached and then bummed out if they didn¡¯t come back. But, more often, he just hated whatever idiot he was speaking with, and he got grumpier and drunker (the crew was perfectly happy to take Rico¡¯s money, but he now filled his Chest with alcohol before setting off). This guy had tricked Rico, because he looked smart. He had a nice outfit on ¡ª not the insane fashion party clothes the party morons often showed up in, but a well-made outfit that was practical and timeless. And he read books. That¡¯s what he was doing when Rico saw him: reading some big thick novel with a name like ¡°Invisible Interiors¡± or ¡°The Ones Who Were.¡± The sort of book that you just knew wasn¡¯t going to have a car chase in it.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! He caught Rico staring, and he lowered his sunglasses. Before Rico could turn around, the man spoke to him. ¡°Excuse me, you¡¯re Rico, yes? The Guide?¡± Rico nodded. He tried to say as little as possible. ¡°Splendid. When is landfall anticipated?¡± Rico looked at his watch, and then realized his watch wasn¡¯t going to have the answer and felt dumb. ¡°Early morning. Probably like 7:45. On that big one over there.¡± And Rico pointed at the island they were sailing towards. As if this guy hadn¡¯t realized that they were going to the island they were sailing towards. Rico reflected on the fact that he was already a drink or two in. ¡°Thank you.¡± The man stood and pulled out a pair of binoculars, which Rico immediately recognized as the new Fortis Ospreys. Using only a solar battery, they managed to pack in not only thermal and night-vision but also a rudimentary GPS. They cost substantially more than this voyage. ¡°It looks decently vegetated, at least, don¡¯t you think?¡± Rico looked away from the binoculars and towards the island. ¡°Yeah, a bunch of trees, it looks like.¡± And then, feeling like that was too dumb to let sit, Rico asked a question. ¡°You looking for anything in particular?¡± The man paused for a minute. ¡°That¡¯s an incisive question. On the literal level, I suppose I¡¯m looking for an abundance of fresh water and some edible vegetation. But the question evokes something more than that. I suppose ¡ª well, let me ask it this way. Have you made decisions you regretted? Choice you struggled to live with?¡± Rico laughed. ¡°Sometimes I wonder if I made any others.¡± The man nodded. ¡°Quite. But that wasn¡¯t this world. You could sail these seas for a hundred years and you¡¯d never find any evidence of your previous mistakes. This is tabula rasa.¡± Rico felt a headache beginning to stir, and he wasn¡¯t sure whether to blame this conversation or the fact that he had had one drink too many. Or one too few. Whichever it was, he wasn¡¯t thinking clearly when he said, ¡°Yeah, but I¡¯m still me. I¡¯m the evidence.¡± He knew right away that he had fucked up. The man¡¯s eyes flashed with anger, and for a second Rico thought they were about to fight. But then the man took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he said only, ¡°Well, that remains to be seen.¡± And then he walked off, and Rico went back to his Chest. Rico didn¡¯t see him again until the next morning, when he¡¯d cleared a bit of a landing space and thrown up in a hopefully discreet part of the woods. The man was on the first dinghy, and he looked like he was about to go to a cocktail mixer to close some sort of business deal or something. Except for what he was carrying ¡ª he had a huge backpack and was carrying a big duffel bag beside. He walked up to Rico and shook his hand. ¡°Farewell, Rico,¡± he said. Rico nodded back. ¡°Enjoy yourself ¡ª I never got your name.¡± The man smiled. ¡°I thought that anonymity was a watchword here? Well, you can call me ¡­ Victor.¡± Rico released his hand. ¡°Have a safe trip, Victor.¡± The man gave a tight smile, and then walked calmly into the woods. Almost as soon as he left, Rico realized that Victor was not coming back. He wasn¡¯t sure at first how he knew ¡ª maybe the quality of the gear was part of it. Or the way Victor never looked back. But, the next morning, when the hungover and the injured stumbled into the last dinghy back without any sign of Victor, Rico realized what it was: Victor hadn¡¯t asked when they had to leave. He hadn¡¯t cared. As they left the island forever, Rico wondered if he saw a bit of smoke coming off the island. He thought about getting his own binoculars to see if he could spot a campfire. His weren¡¯t Ospreys, but they would work for this. But then he decided not to check. After all, his first rule was never to give a shit. 4.1 - Discharge It looked so small, now. When she first saw the Foam Strider, she had been comparing it to the other ships, and there had been plenty that were smaller and sleeker. And for two weeks, it had been the world. Or, well, not the world but the part of the world with people in it. It had been civilization. And now it was just a boat. Or a ship. But it certainly didn¡¯t seem like a place where a whole bunch of people could live comfortably. Even though they had. And it had only been like 8 hours. All she¡¯d done was take two cab rides, fall asleep on a lumpy mattress, and grab coffee and a wrap from Starbucks. It shouldn¡¯t look different at all, but she barely recognized it. Ray, in contrast, was exactly the same. She hadn¡¯t reflected on that before, but it was undeniable ¡ª Ray managed to look the same on the water as he did when she¡¯d met him at the Cheesecake factory. It was probably because he was equally uncomfortable in each situation ¡ª she wondered what he looked like at home. Did he just scowl at the TV by himself? She must have been smiling at that thought, since, when he turned and looked at her, he asked, ¡°What¡¯s so funny?¡± She shook her head. ¡°Nothing really. How was your night?¡± ¡°Oh, uh, fine. Slept well, considering. How about you? Ready for the day¡¯s adventures?¡± ¡°Yeah. Where are we headed?¡± ¡°All over, but our first appointment is here.¡± ¡°Here?¡± ¡°Yeah. Did you think I wanted to meet here just because I don¡¯t know other places?¡± ¡°No comment. So, what, there¡¯s a merchant who does house calls? Or boat calls? Why do we rate that kind of treatment?¡± ¡°How do you think it would go for us to try to put a couple unicorn corpses in the back of an Uber?¡± Adelaide smiled at the image. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be great for my rating, you¡¯re right. I thought we were selling those to Emma¡¯s boss. Chris?¡± ¡°Yeah, Chris. And maybe. But there¡¯s more to do with these things than eat them. And Marty¡¯s a friend.¡± Adelaide heard a deep, quiet voice from behind her. ¡°Don¡¯t say that, Ray. You¡¯ll ruin my reputation before I¡¯ve even introduced myself.¡± Adelaide turned. Marty was only an inch or so taller than Adelaide and thin. He was dressed in a fitted black sweater and tight blue jeans. Adelaide went to shake his hand, saying, ¡°No need to worry ¡ª I don¡¯t take anything he says seriously. I¡¯m Adelaide.¡± Marty¡¯s handshake was brief but very firm. ¡°Good to meet you. I understand from Ray you found some striking subjects.¡± Ray led them onto the Strider and started walking them towards the freezer in which the unicorns had been stored. ¡°Yeah, you¡¯ll like them. We froze them given the travel time, but we pulled one out for your review.¡± It was good Ray spelled that out, because it would otherwise have been really weird to see a thawing corpse on the table where Adelaide had eaten her last few meals. Marty approached it without breaking stride. ¡°Mm, you mentioned it was a unicorn derivative. Always a nice market. Interesting presentation, though, and definitely not a typical alicorn. I doubt there¡¯s much value from the alicorn alone. People don¡¯t insist on the spiral the way they used to, but this wouldn¡¯t even look like it came off anything equine if you pulled it out.¡±The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Does that matter for horns?¡± Ray asked. ¡°I thought the horn market was for miracle cures and sex powders.¡± Adelaide had heard about that market ¡ª some people somehow still hung to the belief that Triangle animals could have magical properties. It was hard for Adelaide to sympathize with that sort of superstition, but it had essentially ended the poaching of elephants and rhinos, so she supposed it was for the best. ¡°Matters hugely for that stuff. People who buy random powders know they¡¯re going to get some sort of Triangle rat bone dust if they¡¯re lucky. They need to see the alicorn themselves before it''s powdered or boiled or whatever. And the sort of romantic who believes these stories cares a lot about how it all looks.¡± Adelaide winced at the image of someone snorting bone dust. Marty must have misunderstood her expression, because he continued, ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry, there¡¯s still some real value here. The overall presentation is solid and should taxidermy well.¡± ¡°Who buys them taxidermied?¡± ¡°The word is actually ''taxidermized.'' And it¡¯s a mixed market.. You¡¯d think the market would be saturated, but there¡¯s a big world if you sail away from Bermuda the normal way, and a lot of people are still excited by exotic and mythical-evoking subjects. It¡¯s easy to feel like the sort of maximalist aesthetic that the Triangle has inspired is fading, but that¡¯s less true than one might guess in much of the world. And unicorns have particular appeal to certain business-people. I don¡¯t know if you¡¯re familiar with the venture capital world, but they use ¡®unicorn¡¯ for a billion-dollar business. It¡¯s now become something of an expected gag gift to get founders a unicorn subject. ¡°But do you know one of the biggest markets for these kinds of subjects?¡± Adelaide shook her head. ¡°Right here in Bermuda, to tourists who left without finding anything good. You¡¯d be amazed how many people want fake trophies.¡± ¡°That¡¯s odd,¡± Adelaide said. ¡°I¡¯d have thought people would have too much ¡ª well, maybe not integrity, but something. Pride, I guess.¡± ¡°One of the Triangle¡¯s little alterations of the social fabric,¡± Marty responded. ¡°There used to be a stigma for traditional hunting, and I think it still applies. But the market apparently feels differently about Triangle trophies. I suppose the unreality of the subject, but I¡¯m hardly a psychologist. Ray, you say you have a dozen?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ¡°Wonderful. My men will be here shortly to haul them to my facility. I¡¯ll call to give you a final offer once I¡¯ve examined each subject. Did you have anything else for me to look at?¡± Ray pulled out one of the preserved dawnbats. ¡°Only these.¡± Marty handled it briefly. ¡°Ah, a pretty fish, but I¡¯ll leave that with you.¡± He looked at Adelaide as he continued. ¡°No one wants to think about the Triangle as leading to just a bunch of water.¡± Adelaide thought of the frothing sea from which the dawn bats emerged. *** It was odd watching Marty¡¯s men carry them off. Adelaide knew that they were just doing their job, but she still sort of expected them to at least notice that they were carrying unicorns out of a freezer. But they were as bored as if they had been hauling boxes of frozen pizzas. And then they were gone, and she and Ray were in front of a nearly-empty freezer. Ray broke the silence. ¡°Marty does his diligence on everything he buys, but he¡¯s fair. You don¡¯t have to worry about him carrying them off without paying.¡± ¡°Oh, no, I wasn¡¯t. If you vouch for him, I¡¯m satisfied. And he seemed knowledgeable. I was just wondering if I¡¯ll every see one of those again.¡± ¡°Were you expecting to?¡± ¡°No, I hadn¡¯t been ¡ª well, I didn¡¯t think that far. But it¡¯s just odd to see them vanish from our world so quickly.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the business, Professor. The evidence is what we sell. Someone else gets the proof, and we have to content ourselves with the memories. And the money. Mostly the money.¡± ¡°Yeah, I suppose you¡¯re right.¡± But then Adelaide had an idea. She grabbed one of the frozen dawnbats and ran to catch up with one of the men Marty had sent. ¡°Excuse me,¡± she said, ¡°but can you bring this to Marty?¡± The man looked at it. ¡°A fish? Marty didn¡¯t mention a fish.¡± ¡°I know. This is for me ¡ª ask him to quote me a price for one taxidermy job.¡± The man seemed a little confused, but didn¡¯t object. Adelaide smiled as she walked back towards Ray. It was a waste of money, she knew, but she would keep a little memory for herself, of the first new life she ever met. 4.2 - Discharge Adelaide hadn¡¯t been to a church in years, but she was pretty sure this wasn¡¯t what they were supposed to look like. It wasn¡¯t the architecture ¡ª Adelaide knew that religious groups can and would meet anywhere from a stunning cathedral to the basement of a strip mall to underneath a sheet of aluminum siding. And Bermuda had become a striking example of the mutability of architecture. Everything had started growing so quickly with so little land to work with that there was no hope of getting specific buildings custom-built for specific purposes. People just started building and figured out what would go in there when they were done. So the fact that the Church of His Frontier was in a smallish, beaten-up warehouse wasn¡¯t too surprising. And it even made a certain sense that there would still be so many boxes present; plenty of congregations just rented their space. The issue was what everyone was doing. Specifically, everyone was working out. It wasn¡¯t like a traditional gym ¡ª there weren¡¯t many machines, although there were several treadmills. It was more like one of those intimidating Crossfit-plus work-out-like-a-marine classes that the really intense people posted about on instagram, where people would voluntarily do something called ¡°The Crusher¡± or ¡°Double Busters¡± and then post about how many they had done. A lot of boxes that were being pushed forward and jumped on. But the people didn¡¯t exactly look like intense-work-out types. Some of them did, and they seemed to be the instructors. But plenty more looked normal ¡ª skinny or slightly overweight, trying their best without a lot of success. It was like it was a ¡°New members only¡± day, but nobody was asking questions or taking a tour. Perhaps because of how much space this took up, there wasn¡¯t really room for the sort of religious trappings Adelaide expected. Instead, just a mural that ran around the room, and even that was a simple, with a repeating pattern. It was an abstracted view from a beach, with waves crashing into the shore about two feet up from the wall, and the horizon about five feet up. The sea was choppy, and there were clouds in the sky except for where a sun was rising. The only thing that marked it as religious iconography at all was that sun, which was yellow except for a bright red cross that split it in half. ¡°I didn¡¯t peg you as a spiritual man, Ray,¡± Adlaide said. ¡°No? I wonder what makes you think that ¡ª I¡¯d remember if we¡¯d discussed it. But we¡¯re not here for our souls. I know someone here, and I think we have something he wants.¡± Ray led them to the back of the room, past two men who nodded at him, and into an office that lacked any of the athletic trappings of the main area. Instead, the bare walls were lined with cheap filing cabinets. The only distinctive things in the room were the desk, which have been carved from a single piece of wood so large Adelaide struggled to see how they had gotten it in here in the first place, and the man sitting behind the desk. If he hadn''t been wearing a clerical collar, he would have read much more as a football coach or a soldier than as a pastor. Even before he stood, Adelaide could tell he was tall, and he towered over her when he rose to greet them. ¡°Mr. Freeman, welcome. Whom have you brought with you?¡±If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Hello, Reverend. This is Adelaide ¡ª we just got back from her first trip. Adelaide, this is Reverend Underwood.¡± Reverend Underwood reached out a hand. ¡°Please, just call me Paul ¡ª I¡¯ve told Ray to do so, but I¡¯m committed to being stubbornly formal as long as he is.. Welcome.¡± Adelaide shook his hand. ¡°It¡¯s an unusual sort of religious activity you have going here.¡± The Reverend smiled. ¡°It depends on what you¡¯re used to, I suppose.¡± ¡°Do you see it as part of spiritual growth, working out?¡± ¡°The Lord never suggested that we should do anything but honor our physical selves. But there is a practical reality as well, of course. The worlds that have opened to us require pilgrims who can live without modern comforts.¡± ¡°Adelaide just experienced that. But, Reverend, I wanted to come regarding geographical data.¡± ¡°Ah, and I¡¯ll be glad to have it.¡± ¡°What data?¡± Adelaide asked. The Reverend gave Ray a look. ¡°Have you told this poor young woman nothing?¡± Ray ignored that, and looked at Adelaide. ¡°The Reverend buys the maps that we generate as we travel in order to calculate our distance from the Triangle. Since we make them automatically, I come here after each voyage.¡± Adelaide furrowed her brow. ¡°Those maps are incredibly low resolution, and of a Triangle instance that closed. Why would you want it?¡± The Reverend folded his hands. ¡°We are called to know all of the Lord¡¯s creation, are we not? I would love higher resolution, but we make do with what we have.¡± Ray spoke up before Adelaide could respond. ¡°Well, that¡¯s the other thing. I know you want better maps than people normally make. So I thought Adelaide would be perfect. You see, she has this thing, I don¡¯t really understand it, but it¡¯s a physics thing, and it seemed like it was capturing the kind of map information you want. What was it called Adelaide? The Deresonance ¡ª¡± Adelaide saw something in the Reverend¡¯s eyes, a little flash of recognition and a quick pull on the side of the lip, but it vanished before Adelaide could interrupt Ray. ¡°Oh, Ray, that¡¯s not ¡ª that¡¯s not geographical data at all. Nothing to do with maps.¡± ¡°But I thought ¡ª¡± ¡°Ray, I¡¯ve explained this over and over, there¡¯s no reason to do it again here. I¡¯m sorry, Reverend, I wouldn¡¯t have wasted your time if I understood Ray¡¯s intentions.¡± ¡°No waste at all. And you should not be so quick to dismiss your value, or the value of your ideas. I have an interest in many things, and the Lord provides us with the ability to compensate for them. What sort of data have you collected?¡± Adelaide tried to smile casually. ¡°It¡¯s really wonky physics stuff. That¡¯s what I do ¡ª I¡¯m a physicist. I let Ray handle the exploration and he leaves the science to me, or at least normally! Haha.¡± ¡°Haha,¡± the Reverend repeated. Ray looked between them, but thankfully let it rest. ¡°Well, ok, I guess I was wrong. But, Reverend, I¡¯ve got the normal map here. Two weeks, although not all sailing time.¡± The Reverend took the flash drive from Ray. ¡°Of course. I¡¯ll wire you under the Church¡¯s normal arrangement. And, Adelaide, please don¡¯t hesitate to come back if your data starts to accrete into something. I¡¯m always happy to learn more.¡± Adelaide kept smiling. ¡°Thank you, Reverend, but I doubt it will come up. Like I said, this is very wonky physics stuff. Nothing that would interest you or your congregation.¡± The Reverend¡¯s smile never faded. ¡°One never knows, Ms. Curran. The Lord moves us all in to fit His design.¡± 4.3 - Discharge People had fantasies about what it was like to explore the Triangle. It had become an instant topic of fiction and movies, and those depictions had converged on certain cliches. Giant storms, those were big. Mutinies, very common. A stowaway who earns the respect and, ultimately, love of the captain was so universal that SNL had done a sketch about a version of Tinder designed to make those matches happen. So far, none of that had been true, not that she¡¯d expected it to be. Maybe some of the fundamental beats ¡ª she had set sail, met challenges, returned. But there wasn¡¯t anything that had made her go, ¡°Oh, this is just like the movies.¡± Until now, because this looked like where they shot the scenes from the action movies where people bought the special weapons that would allow them to behead a kraken or whatever. There were a bunch of ostentatious sword and spears surrounding the door, and there was even a skull and bones on the sides of the nameplate displaying ¡°Steel and Thunder¡± in black lettering. Adelaide looked over at Ray. ¡°This is the dumbest place you have ever brought me. Please tell me we are not about to spend our money on an axe called ¡®The Nightbringer¡¯ or a ruby-plated six-foot sniper rifle.¡± Ray scowled. ¡°Sometimes I wonder what you must think of me to ask me that. But don¡¯t let the appearance fool you.¡± ¡°You¡¯re saying this is not dumb?¡± ¡°Oh, no, it¡¯s extremely dumb. But that¡¯s to lure in dumb people and take their money. Doesn¡¯t mean we can¡¯t make some actual money here.¡± Adelaide was glad that Ray didn¡¯t even attempt to lead her through the showroom ¡ª she wasn¡¯t sure she could have kept her eyes from rolling out of her head if she had experienced a sales pitch from this place. Instead, they walked around back and through a door labeled ¡°Procurements.¡± There was a secretary reading a magazine who gave Ray a nod as they walked into a lab. Adelaide hadn¡¯t realized how much she¡¯d missed that lab energy until the door closed behind her. It was that certain mix of noise and quiet ¡ª people too engrossed in their own projects to talk while machines hummed and clicked. And then people would get bored and all start chatting, and then break back into silence. It seemed so peaceful and safe to her now, although she recognized intellectually that she had spent a lot of her lab hours exhausted and stressed. A guy in a black t-shirt who had tremendous lab-head energy put down a notebook when Ray walked in. He smiled without standing, and motioned them over. ¡°Hey, Ray. Who¡¯s your friend? And what do you have for me?¡± Ray pulled out a small glass container which contained some of the goo they¡¯d taken from the nest near that node. ¡°Adelaide, meet Austin, the proprietor of this fine establishment. Austin, this is Adelaide. We managed to pull a couple liters of whatever this is.¡±If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Austin picked up the jar and spun it a bit, watching the liquid flow. ¡°That¡¯s it? Why didn¡¯t you get more?¡± Adelaide thought back to that moment and heard the screeching. ¡°It was a high-pressure situation. We couldn¡¯t really hang around.¡± Austin didn¡¯t even look up. ¡°Mm, I hear it gets like that. I¡¯ve never been. For that reason, I suppose. Regardless. Have either of you observed any particular properties of this stuff?¡± Ray shook his head. ¡°No. But it was in the center of this ¡ª well, it seemed important to these bird things that were all around it. So I grabbed a bunch, I figured it could be useful.¡± ¡°Useful to those things, maybe, but we¡¯ll have to see for ourselves. But you¡¯ve had good instincts before. The normal arrangement?¡± Adelaide looked over at Ray, who explained. ¡°Austin will work with his team to figure out what they can make using this stuff, if anything. If it¡¯s anything, we can either take some of what he comes up with for ourselves or just take payment for the material.¡± Adelaide blinked. ¡°That seems really taxing on your team.¡± Austin looked up at that. ¡°Yeah, well, that¡¯s Triangle economics, you know? You can¡¯t build an assembly line when you don¡¯t know if you¡¯ll ever run back into the materials you¡¯re working with again. So we¡¯re back to being artisans. Really tech-savvy artisans, but artisans. And what that means is that, if we make something, we aren¡¯t making it again.¡± ¡°That ¡ª I can¡¯t decide if I¡¯d find that depressing or inspiring.¡± ¡°Well, if you worked here, you¡¯d find out how you felt really quick. We all love it. That¡¯s why we stay ¡ª plenty of people I hire burn out. But who wants to make the same thing over and over? Nothing stays exciting when you repeat it.¡± ¡°What sort of stuff do you come up with?¡± ¡°Not a fan of the showroom, I guess? There¡¯s more than just big swords out there, you know. Some clothing, when someone brings us a useful hide or fiber. Some insulated materials you won¡¯t find anywhere else. Other bits of utility. And, yeah, we make a lot of weapons. Partially that¡¯s because people bring us dangerous or sharp stuff they find, and that¡¯s what makes sense. But also because people really, really like having bespoke weapons. They name them.¡± Adelaide briefly imagined herself wearing a bespoke rapier, made from some one-of-a-kind metal that never bent, and then she shook her head. The cliches were seeping in from the front room. ¡°Do you take requests?¡± she asked. ¡°I mean, we don¡¯t have that much control. But if you tell me something you want, I can keep an eye out for potential and let you know. Why, you have a vision?¡± ¡°Not exactly. But I might have something later ¡ª maybe after our next voyage.¡± ¡°Well, my door¡¯s always open for Ray. But no promises. Like I said, nothing comes around here twice. Anyway, I¡¯ll get back to you on this stuff as soon as I can.¡± And then Austin was back to his notebook, and Ray and Adelaide took the hint. As they walked back into the sunlight, Ray smiled. ¡°Admit it, you kind of want to go buy something now, don¡¯t you?¡± Adelaide didn¡¯t respond, but Ray laughed anyway. 4.4 - Discharge Adelaide had been trying to avoid it, trying to escape the inevitable, but there was no more delaying it. She just had to take a deep breath and come to terms with what she had always known. She was going to buy something expensive. It hadn¡¯t even been her idea to return to the Top Drawer. Ray had suggested it, to see if there were supplies that she wanted in light of their first voyage. They didn¡¯t know how much money they had raised exactly, but it should be more than a few Weeks, all told. And while it made sense to save most of it, it wasn¡¯t unreasonable to make a few new purchases. Adelaide wasn¡¯t sure if he¡¯d anticipated how unable she¡¯d be to restrain herself. The fact that he¡¯d left her alone suggested otherwise. Because now she was seriously looking at a drone. She was comparison shopping between different drone brands. She was thinking up reasons to buy two drones. She hadn¡¯t come in thinking about drones, even. She had had a plan to move deliberately between specific targeted areas, and then she had been immediately distracted by a display of different binoculars and telescopes. She was realizing that Captain Mattson¡¯s model was actually a few years old and not nearly as fancy as they could get, and she had been looking at which one to buy when she¡¯d seen an adjacent display of desalination tools that promised not only to remove salt but also all other possible contaminants. She didn¡¯t really understand how that was even possible, and maybe it wasn¡¯t ¡ª some of these also apparently carbonated and flavored water, so maybe they weren¡¯t targeting the most hardened travelers. And on and on. It was funny, Adelaide hadn¡¯t thought of herself as especially materialist before. She¡¯d never really gone for expensive brands or dreamed about some sports car. She¡¯d bought nice laptops for class, but never indulged in anything where the keyboard glowed different colors even if she sort of thought that sounded cool. She wasn¡¯t an ascetic or anything, but she¡¯d never been a particularly notable spender, not that she¡¯d had the money to find out. But this evoked the way she had felt as a kid. Not just in the obvious ¡°kid in a candy store¡± way, but in the sense that these items all appealed to her because of the possibilities they evoked. She remembered feeling like, if she could just get a certain bicycle, she¡¯d be able to ride into town. Or if she got the ice cream truck playset, her American Girl doll would really be able to take off economically. Or if she got a chemistry set, she¡¯d be able to invent something really brilliant and skip middle school altogether. Ray snapped her out of her reverie, saying, ¡°I thought we discussed these drones last time.¡± Adelaide nearly blushed. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s crazy! Look, we spent that whole trip going to dangerous places. I don¡¯t know that future Nodes will be in dangerous locations, but there¡¯s every chance they will be. Why should we be doing all of that ourselves when we could use one of these?¡± Ray considered that. ¡°Well, you know better than me, Professor. But isn¡¯t there some really fancy thing you use that goes bing when you get to whatever place you¡¯re going?¡±Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s exactly how I would have put it.¡± ¡°And you¡¯re going to strap your fancy thing to a drone? And then send it somewhere dangerous? Do you have another fancy bing thing if the first one falls in a whole or gets eaten by a lizard or whatever?¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°Yeah, it seemed expensive to me.¡± ¡°Ok, that¡¯s fair. But, even if we still have to go ourselves, think about the scouting! I mean, wouldn¡¯t it be nice to know what we¡¯re getting into in advance for once?¡± Ray nodded. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s a good point. And it¡¯s not a bad plan, although there are some other ways to do that that might be less ridiculously expensive. We can do that, if that¡¯s what you want to prioritize.¡± Adelaide was glad not to have been shut down entirely before she remembered that she was in charge and could do any dumb thing she wanted, technically. But she felt silly about having forgotten that, so any inflated sense of self worth was short lived. She decided to take Ray¡¯s hint. ¡°What other priorities are you imagining?¡± ¡°I can think of two. First, more advanced survival techniques. We have things for normal voyages, but normal voyages mostly just avoid especially dangerous places, unless it¡¯s a Suicide Cruise or something. But your little science map is going to pull us places I wouldn¡¯t normally expect us to go. So we should think about buying some things that let us travel or camp more safely.¡± ¡°You want to go back and buy a katana from the lastplace?¡± ¡°Hilarious. No, I am thinking about clothing and tents that can handle more temperatures or conditions, that kind of thing.¡± ¡°Yeah, I mean, if you¡¯re saying our lives depend on it¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m not ¡ª we can leave or avoid places that seem too rough. And I¡¯ll use my Prerogative to make sure we do. But that¡¯s less bings for your science machine.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the other idea?¡± ¡°We can invest in tools that help us make more from the places we visit. We don¡¯t really have mining equipment, for example. We¡¯re never going to be a commercial operation, but we could invest in some way to take advantage if we come across some obvious gold vein or whatever. Or they have these all-terrain luggage train things that let you carry more with you. We could buy one and carry more back with us when we wander off into some jungle.¡± ¡°Hmm, I see what you mean.¡± ¡°Or we can save it. Have more flexibility the next time we come here.¡± Myrna¡¯s voice came from behind a nearby shelf. ¡°Nope, saving it is illegal, you have to buy something.¡± Ray banged the shelf she¡¯d been hiding behind. ¡°Buzz off, Myrna. We know you¡¯d sell us some sort of flying spoon for a Month and a half.¡± Myrna laughed as she walked towards the door, where a new customer had just entered. ¡°Look, we can think about it,¡± Ray said. ¡°No wrong choices, just different approaches.¡± Adelaide smiled at that, but she knew the way their next trip could change based on what she chose. 4.5 - Discharge In a just world, she would have been asleep already. The problem had been that Trish had texted to check in on her, and Adelaide had mentioned her hotel drama from the night before, and Trish had insisted that Adelaide take one of the rooms where she was staying. Adelaide had felt she couldn¡¯t say no. Beyond normal social niceties, she wanted to make sure Trish wasn¡¯t upset, and it would be good to get a sense of whether she was planning to stick around for another trip. And, also, Trish always stayed in incredibly nice places. This had been no exception, and Adelaide had put her bags down in a beautiful bedroom that was apparently just part of the place Trish¡¯s family owned, staffed, and barely visited in Bermuda. And Adelaide was thinking this would be fun, like college ¡ª watch a movie, talk a bit, fall asleep. But now it was actually like college ¡ª wait while Trish takes too long getting ready, don¡¯t have dinner until late, agree to a quick drink, and then get dragged out to a club. And then just having her eardrums melt while she tried to get a bartender¡¯s attention and wondered how long before she could go back home. It was a stroke of luck, at least, that there was an outdoor bar here. It was warm out, but not as sweaty as inside, and the volume was loud rather than intolerable. Adelaide had finally gotten another drink when Trish approached her. ¡°Fun, right? People said this place is the best, and it¡¯s not bad for Tuesday!¡± Adelaide smiled. ¡°It¡¯s like old times.¡± ¡°Exactly! But also isn¡¯t it so crazy that we were on a boat like 48 hours ago or whatever! Totally different world.¡± ¡°I mean, literally.¡± ¡°Yeah! This is fun though. But I was surprised how little stuff I actually missed from normal life while we were out there. Like obviously it would be different if we had kids or whatever, but I didn¡¯t really find myself thinking of home too much while we were gone.¡± ¡°You know, I didn¡¯t really consider it one way or another until now, but I think you¡¯re right.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that weird? Like every time I go on a normal vacation, I spent a ton of time thinking about home. I post stuff and I see what my friends are doing while I¡¯m gone and I compare the food and the clubs and the weather. But I didn¡¯t have that at all. I wonder if it¡¯ll be different next time.¡± Adelaide turned to Trish, who was holding something that looked both fruity and extremely alcoholic. ¡°So there will be a next time?¡± ¡°Of course! I mean, you don¡¯t mind, right?¡± ¡°No, not at all! I just - I know we talked about it, but the way things ended¡­¡±Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°I get it, but come on! I¡¯m going to miss a whole world? No way. We have to see what¡¯s out there!¡± Adelaide smiled, until she saw who was approaching them. Not that she knew him ¡ª she was pretty sure she¡¯d never seen him before in her life. But he had an expression that she¡¯d long since learned to read as saying, ¡°I probably have a shot with one of them, right?¡± And sure enough, he walked a step too close before saying, ¡°Hey, great night, right? Can I buy you both a drink?¡± And that wouldn¡¯t be a problem, normally, because Adelaide would just decline except, right on schedule ¡ª ¡°Oh, we just got these, but maybe in a bit?¡± Trish responded. ¡°And yeah, it¡¯s really pretty out! Do you come here a lot?¡± Adelaide never understood exactly what Trish was doing in these moments. If you¡¯d never met her and just saw he respond to dumb flirting, you¡¯d think the was really into every guy that approached. But she almost never went home with these guys. So maybe you¡¯d think she was too naive to figure out they were flirting with her, but she was normally really astute about social cues. And if she was just too shy to turn them down, she didn¡¯t need to ask so many follow up questions. Anyway, this gentleman did not have the wealth of experience that Adelaide did with Trish¡¯s reactions, and thus began a deeply inane conversation. Adelaide decided to charitably assume he was drunk and that was why he couldn''t do much more than say how cool the music was and list other clubs on the island he liked. But Trish acted like she was hosting a podcast or something, asking him question after question. Apparently, that was all the encouragement he needed to pull out a little baggie and ask, ¡°What do you say, want to really party? I even have some more at my place.¡± Despite herself, Adelaide looked at the contents. She wasn¡¯t a narcotics expert, but she would have thought she would have at least heard about something that looked like this. The baggie was full of bright, red, shiny spheres that seemed too big to snort, but they looked like they would feel like ball bearings if you swallowed them. Did they have red drugs now? ¡°What is that?¡± Adelaide asked. He gave her a weird look. ¡°You know. It¡¯s the Triangle¡¯s latest.¡± Before Adelaide could even respond, Trish cut in. ¡°Oh, thanks, but we are actually leaving really soon. But it was nice meeting you! Bye!¡± It took a few seconds for his synapses to bounce that one around, but once they did he seemed to accept the rejection. Or, at least, he wandered off, back into the club. Once he was gone, Trish asked Adelaide, ¡°Do you really not know about the Triangle drugs?¡± ¡°Do I seem like I have a lot of time for experimental drug use nowadays? But I figure it has to marketing, right? How could you have a consistent drug line through the Triangle.¡± Trish furrowed her brow in a way that was barely condescending at all. ¡°Yeah, I mean, that¡¯s the point: they don¡¯t. It¡¯s not consistent ¡ª it¡¯s just what people call whatever rolled in recently.¡± ¡°That ¡ª that¡¯s so dumb.¡± ¡°I mean, it¡¯s not like drug use is ever brilliant, but yeah.¡± ¡°People just do stuff without knowing what it will do to them?¡± ¡°Sure, but that¡¯s not so unusual. And the dealers will tell you ish what it does. The real problem is, what if it¡¯s addictive? You do a bunch, get addicted, and then supply runs out, potentially forever. Cold turkey, like it or not, safe or not. So you run to the next thing.¡± ¡°Jesus.¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s a problem. Poor kid.¡± Trish looked up at the night sky for a minute. Compared with the visibility of stars in their voyage, it looked like a piece of black felt. ¡°Anyway, come dance with me for a bit before we go! Take advantage of it while we can!¡± So Adelaide danced, and she even came close to enjoying it. 4.6 - Discharge She kept telling herself that she wasn¡¯t all that hungover. Trish had somehow woken up like a Disney princess or something, windows open and sunlight streaming in. Adelaide had managed to shower and take a few Advil before heading out to meet Ray for breakfast before their afternoon departure time. And so now she was back in the Cheesecake Factory, but she was now really grateful for the coffee. She was sort of just sipping it with her eyes closed before she suddenly realized that was a very odd thing to be doing when not alone, and opened her eyes to see Ray politely not looking at her. That was something she appreciated more and more about him. At their first meeting, his habit of looking down at his menu or off into space had seemed dismissive, like she wasn¡¯t worth his attention But now it seemed almost comfortable ¡ª like he was giving her space not to be social for a few minutes. Adelaide wondered if it was a Triangle thing, born of cramped spaces. Or maybe it¡¯s just how he was. Anyway, he seemed to recognize that she had rejoined the waking world. ¡°So did you get a renewed head count?¡± he asked. ¡°Everyone¡¯s back in.¡± ¡°I figured.¡± ¡°You did? I thought you thought they were all tourists looking for a pleasure cruise?¡± ¡°Who said they aren¡¯t? But I wouldn''t expect any of them to get scared off from that first trip. Not when everything went so smooth.¡± Adelaide paused before responding. She wouldn¡¯t have put it that way, but now that she thought about it, it was hard to say that anything had gone really badly. It had been tense, and she¡¯d been frightened once, but overall¡­ So she wasn¡¯t sure why she asked, ¡°You think that went as well as that?¡± ¡°I mean, it wasn¡¯t exactly finding the City of Gold in terms of profit, but we made our investment back plus quite a bit, even enough for those gizmos you picked up. And everyone came back in one piece.¡± ¡°You deserve plenty of credit for that.¡± ¡°I did fine. And so did you, by the way. But that just wasn¡¯t really dangerous, as those things go.¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Adelaide heard the Mother¡¯s cry in the distance, and then shook her head. ¡°I guess you¡¯ve seen worse.¡± She hadn¡¯t meant that as a challenge, but she saw his shoulders tense as he looked past the walls behind her. She was about to apologize, but then he said, ¡°Nothing wanted to kill us. Don¡¯t take that for granted. We saw dangerous things, in a way, but only because we were poking them. Sometimes they come for you, and you just hope you can run. ¡°I was out about a year ago, with a group. They were trying to mine.. No fancy exploring, no biology, no treasure seeking. Just make landfall at the first island we saw of any size, dig, and turn around. And they found something that seemed fine and were digging a clean shaft, with a nice prefab camp outside of it, buildings and everything. I wasn¡¯t supposed to even have to go in, just to guard the outside in case something tried to get in. ¡°And then, one day, one branch of miners just didn¡¯t come back. So I took a few guys I¡¯d brought with me, to see if we could find them. We brought weapons, but I wasn¡¯t expecting to use them. Not that I was optimistic but ¡ª well, mining is dangerous all by itself. And these were freshly dug tunnels. So what could be in there? ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have even seen them. I just got lucky. I was turning to look back at someone behind me who had dropped their flashlight, and it happened to point up at the ceiling, and there it was. It was like a centipede the size of a cat, crawling on the ceiling. And I turned, and there were a dozen of them. And more coming. They were waiting to get numbers on us, I know it. And then the first one I¡¯d seen just dropped. Like a rock, and it landed on one of the guards I brought and he didn¡¯t even scream, just fell down. The rest of us just ran. ¡°But where had they come from, right? Well, we leave, and I¡¯m trying to convince the mining bigwig we need to go, that I¡¯m going to use my Prerogative, and he¡¯s telling me that we can handle it, we¡¯ll just deploy guards, and then I hear something. And I take him outside, and the roof of our prefab shelter is covered in them. Hundreds. Even then, he still had his men drag out the last bit of ore they¡¯d mined.¡± He fell silent, and Adelaide didn¡¯t say anything as she put a hand on his arm. And then he shook his head and looked at her. ¡°Anyway. All I¡¯m saying is, we need to be careful. Unless I¡¯ve scared you off?¡± Adelaide thought about it. She¡¯d known, of course, that death was possible, but their first trip had made her feel like it would be manageable. But, of course, there was every chance they¡¯d find something they couldn¡¯t handle, or something that surprised them. Something that didn¡¯t scream, just acted silently. Or something that wasn¡¯t alive at all. Because that was the thing with the Triangle ¡ª no one had found a way to know what was coming. Ray looked at her. ¡°What are you thinking?¡± She took a sip of coffee to compose her thoughts. ¡°Please don¡¯t think I¡¯m ¡ª it¡¯s not that I don¡¯t appreciate what you¡¯re saying, or what you went through. But ¡­ well, honestly, I¡¯m still excited. Even with all of that. I still really want to get back out there.¡± Ray smiled. ¡°Well, Professor, I think I can officially say it: welcome to the life. I think you¡¯re going to be here a while.¡± Interlude 4 ¡°Come on girl, it¡¯s showtime.¡± Brienne wondered if Sparkles understood her, or if she had just come to recognize the rhythms of their days. Brienne knew it was natural to anthropomorphize in these situations. She wouldn¡¯t be the first trainer to think she had some unique bond with an animal and start to ascribe it intelligence it could never actually attain. And that could be dangerous ¡ª the day you started thinking about an animal like a person was the day before it took your arm off. But, on the other hand, who knew with Sparkles? It wasn¡¯t like a bear or something that had been part of human culture since time immemorial. Sparkles had been caught on a voyage a year ago, and had spent most of her life since then with Brienne. Brienne supposed that made her the world¡¯s leading expert on whatever species Sparkles was, so she had more right to anthropomorphize it than anyone. And Sparkles really did seem to know what was about to happen. It shifted a bit on its paws, pulled its wings together behind it, and lowered its head. It was impossible not to read it as thinking, ¡°Ok, here we go again, let¡¯s get it over with.¡± Or maybe Brienne was projecting. She tried not to grumble. The Expedition of the Seas was actually a pretty good gig. It paid well, especially given that your expenses were essentially nil. But because it did such short cruises and always came back to Bermuda, it was possible to actually have a bit of a life, comparerd with the 9-month terms of workers on traditional cruises, or even the ones that did the New York to Bermuda to Triangle to New York loop. See friends between voyages, have a bar where you were a regular, that kind of thing. Sure, you had to do it in Bermuda, but there were enough weirdos like her working for someone to make that workable. And she had a role to fill, as did Sparkles. Pretty much as soon as the Triangle opened, someone had the idea to ram a cruise ship through it. They would have regardless, but the fact that it was literally in Bermuda was too convenient. And consumer demand was huge. But there was an obvious problem with a Triangle cruise: you had no idea what was on any of these weird islands. You couldn¡¯t just let people down onto a beach if it was going to be filled with poisonous crabs or predatory seaweed. Cruise ship passengers could barely handle a buffet without hurting themselves. LEtting them wander untamed shores was just a complete nonstarter. So Triangle cruises didn¡¯t actually let the passengers off the ship. They would look around, enjoy their meals, swim in the pool, take some photos, and so on. And people were pretty happy with that, mostly. But they needed something. They didn¡¯t need to actually explore, but it wasn¡¯t going to be enough to just see a landscape. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.That¡¯s what Brienne and Sparkles offered them. Along with a bunch of others, of course ¡ª Triangle sourced food in the extra-fee restaurants, some fancy cocktails using Triangle-distilled liquor, and a gift shop where you could buy shells and fossils from Triangle expeditions. But the showstopper, the thing that they all showed photos of when they got back, were the animals. And Sparkles was a star. Her music finished playing, and Brienne walked out to applause and gasps at Sparkles sitting on her shoulder. They performed on a small, outdoor stage. Other shows with other animals would use the bigger theater on Deck 5, but Sparkles wasn¡¯t that big and benefited from a more intimate audience with more space to perform. Brienne waved until the crowd quieted, and then said, ¡°Wow, what a great welcome! Thank you all! I¡¯m Brienne, and I¡¯d like to introduce you to Sparkles!¡± Sparkles leapt up into the air at that, and the crowd went wild. Brienne watched her do the loop and reflected on what a tremendous find Sparkles had been. Any cruise animal needed, first and foremost, to be safe, and Sparkles could barely break the skin if she bit, which she didn¡¯t. And it needed to be able to digest conventional food, and Sparkles seemed to eat everything without issue. To be so trainable was an incredible plus. And she was beautiful. She looked like a silver-furred fox, but with white wings that came off of her back and two shiny patches beneath her eyes. Beyond photogenic, even if Brienne was biased. Brienne had her patter automatic by now, and didn¡¯t even bother listening to herself talk about the variety of Triangle animals and the made-up nonsense about how Sparkles had tagged along with the humans who visited her island. Instead, she looked at the island they were docked near and thought about what she wanted to do for dinner and if that cute barista might be available. The audience didn¡¯t notice that Brienne was going through the motions, mostly because they didn¡¯t care about her. They just wanted to see Sparkles fly, and eat treats placed at the top of little poles, and use her little nimble hands to open boxes. It was maybe because Brienne wasn¡¯t paying attention that she noticed the sound. The cruise wasn¡¯t exactly a quiet environment, but they did their best to limit the ambient noise in the immediate area while Sparkles performed. That¡¯s why Brienne was able to hear the low whooping sound. But she would have caught it anyway, because of how Sparkles reacted. Her ears shot straight up over her head, and she froze in the middle of her trick. The audience grew silent too. And then Sparkles leapt straight up in the air, way above the crowd, higher than any routine called for. For a second, Brienne thought Sparkles was leaving. And there was an impulse to let her go, even if Brienne would have been out of a job. But then Brienne noticed the sharp turns Sparkles was making. It looked ¡ª and again, she was anthropomorphizing but ¡ª it looked like she was scared. So Brienne blew the whistle she hadn¡¯t had to use regularly since their first months of training. Sparkles looked down at her and began to make short, high-pitched barks that Brienne had never heard before. And then Sparkles dove, head first, onto Brienne¡¯s shirt and clung to it. The audience gave a standing ovation at what they apparently assumed was a planned dive move. Brienne decided that was as good a chance as any to take a bow and call it a day, leaving before the applause faded. Sparkles settled a bit once they were back in their room, but she kept chirping all night and didn¡¯t stop until the engines turned on and they left the little island behind. 5.1 - Pod She¡¯d known it was a different Sea as soon as the wind hit her face.. Well, she¡¯d known that it would be before, of course. But she would have known anyway. It wasn¡¯t something specific that stood out to her as different, just a mix of smells and humidity and ¡ª she needed a more scientific way to say ¡°vibes.¡± But she¡¯d known it ¡ª it was like the opposite of walking into your childhood home. Or, well, it was like stepping off a plane into a new city. She wondered why she hadn¡¯t had that feeling last time. The shock of the darkness, probably ¡ª by the time she recovered from that, she was already past the initial moment. This time, there hadn¡¯t been a noticeable time change. Instead, a sunny day was replaced with an overcast one, with ominous clouds closing in around them. Not that there had been room for doubt once they¡¯d looked around. It was the water ¡ª it was a different color, more of a green and with a lot of seaweed. Well, Adelaide didn¡¯t actually know if it was technically seaweed or even if seaweed referred to a specific organism or if it was just a word for ¡°ocean plants that float near the surface.¡± Really, she should have spent more time learning biology ¡ª it was becoming embarrassing to just have no idea what she was looking at. Regardless, the seaweed had given them something to do while Percy ran the programs to find possible Node paths. The crew had found some nets, and they had pulled in nets of seaweed with the plan of drying and reselling it later. Adelaide had wound up with a net small enough for her to throw and pull back herself. It was relaxing work - a bit of exertion pulling the net back, followed by a process of peeling off strips of the seaweed and laying them on fabric to dry. Emma said it was possible to sell this stuff for sushi at a reasonable price, and it wasn¡¯t like they had anything else to do. People were passing the time chatting about what they¡¯d done with their shore leave, short as it was. Adelaide mostly let it wash over her ¡ª Trish was talking about their clubbing and the rest of her time exploring Bermuda¡¯s restaurant scene with Emma, and Adelaide knew she¡¯d get the benefits of whatever recommendations were procured when Trish inevitably dragged her back out. She¡¯d instead just looked at the seaweed in her hands. There were three distinct colors. The most common were green blades that looked to her untrained eye like something she would have seen at home. But there were also red frondsthat had strange little hooks on them, causing them to stick to the cloth on which they were drying; it was hard to imagine anyone rolling sushi in these. And there were small purple ones that spread out from each other to make little networks that Adelaide tried not to break. That had continued until two events happened in short succession. First, Percy¡¯s analysis concluded, and Adelaide was called to a meeting to agree on a course. Luckily, there was no controversy this time. There was only one plausible path, it hit three nodes with plenty of time to return to the Triangle when they finished. So she had given Mattson the all clear to set sail. Almost as soon as the engines started, rain started to fall. They quickly packed up the seaweed, and by the time they had finished, it was pouring. Adelaide felt an odd temptation to go out anyway, braving the weather like a true explorer, but there was no reason to do that and she wasn¡¯t actually doing anything to make the ship go anyway. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. So she was now sitting in her room, rereading the instruction manuals for the drones she¡¯d picked up. She¡¯d gone with something smaller and with a longer battery life in order both to save money and to focus more on exploration. But part of buying something with bells and whistles was the long process of learning how to operate it. Not that she didn¡¯t enjoy that process ¡ª it felt like a mix of doing a puzzle and learning a magic trick or something. The context here, however, added pressure ¡ª she might actually need to operate these things in a high-stakes situation. She¡¯d need to find time to practice, but doing so in the rain seemed needlessly risky. So she was just reviewing the manual when there was a knock on her door. She felt briefly like she¡¯d been caught doing something she wasn¡¯t supposed to before she remembered that she was an adult, she¡¯d bought these, and there was no reason to be embarrassed. She deliberately left them on her bed as she said, ¡°Come in!¡± Alessio walked in, and it took her a minute to realize why he looked so different ¡ª he wasn¡¯t holding a camera. Or, at least, not any camera that Adelaide could see. He bent over to look at the drone she¡¯d been inspecting. ¡°Ooh, that¡¯s nice. Did you just get it?¡± ¡°Yeah. I thought it would be helpful, with all the exploration we¡¯ve been doing. Or at least that we did last time. But I¡¯m kind of intimidated by the controls, to be honest.¡± Alessio grabbed the controller. ¡°Don¡¯t be, these are easier than they look. You¡¯re right that there are a lot of options, but you mostly don¡¯t need them when you start. Just focus on takeoff and landing for a while, and you can figure out the rest as you go.¡± ¡°You know how to use these?¡± ¡°I mean, I¡¯m not an expert, but yeah. I messed around with drone photography for a while, but it never really did numbers. Fun though!¡± ¡°Maybe you can show me sometime when the weather is clearer.¡± ¡°Sure. I¡¯m glad to see you got to go shopping while you could.¡± ¡°Yeah ¡ª hard to resist, honestly. How have you been? How did the content do?¡± ¡°The stuff I ran while we were out was a touch mediocre, but livable. But the new stuff ¡ª I am pacing it, but I dropped some of the dawnbat content this morning and it was already trending well by the time we left. So we¡¯ll see, but I¡¯m optimistic.¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad! Hopefully this trip gives you something else interesting to show. Not that I want danger or anything, but ¡ª well, you know what I mean.¡± ¡°Yeah. And, actually, that¡¯s what I wanted to talk to you about. I want to interview you.¡± ¡°Now? You have a hidden camera or something?¡± ¡°No, not now, unless now is best for you. But this isn¡¯t an ambush. I just think it would be good to have your perspective on all of this. And it gives you a bit of control.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t really think I¡¯m what people will be interested in.¡± ¡°Never underestimate the human element. And you¡¯re a young woman leading an expedition ¡ª that isn¡¯t as common as it should be. Maybe showing people that helps inspire a few people, and make it seem more normal for the next generation.¡± ¡°I doubt I could ¡ª but let me think about it, ok?¡± Adelaide tried not to be flattered, but it was a compelling idea. And maybe more press could lead to more funding somehow. She realized she was already imagining her answers and ¡ª ¡°Of course. And look, in the spirit of not ambushing you: I didn¡¯t forget about my big question. I still don¡¯t know what we¡¯re doing here. And I¡¯m not done trying to find out.¡± Alessio left with that, and closed the door behind him. Adelaide picked up the instructions and tried to focus on them. 5.2 - Pod 5.2 She had really been proud of herself for not getting seasick. She¡¯d wondered about it, before she arrived. Not that she had any particular reason to worry ¡ª she¡¯d been on the water before and been ok, and she¡¯d never been someone who had problems reading in cabs or whatever. But she kept envisioning herself greeting a new world by throwing up into it. And then she¡¯d been totally fine their entire first voyage. She¡¯d slept like a baby, eaten big meals, all of that. And sure, there hadn¡¯t really been a storm or anything, but it had unquestionably been life on the open sea, and she¡¯d been fine. Until now. A day into their trip the waves had become not just larger, but oddly choppy and sporadic. It wasn¡¯t just going up and down ¡ª Adelaide told herself she could still handle that. It was going up and up and down and up and down and down and up and down. She couldn¡¯t let it fade into the background, and so she couldn¡¯t feel better. She seemed to have company, at least. She¡¯d heard groaning and stumbling from the hallway around her all night. And, when she¡¯d dragged herself to breakfast, she saw that there were just some bagels and toast laid out for anyone who felt up to grabbing them ¡ª apparently, Emma had either read the ship¡¯s mood or she wasn¡¯t feeling up to cooking. The food had helped a bit, which Adelaide decided meant she was up to go up to the decks. Sea air was supposed to be good for this kind of thing, right? And there was just something offensive about the idea of missing one of the handful of days mankind would ever have in this little world. She¡¯d been expecting, at the least, a storm on the horizon. But it was the same sort of generalized gray sky they¡¯d had so far, without anything particularly ominous. It wasn¡¯t even particularly windy. It was just the waves themselves, rising and falling in odd groups. Adelaide had quickly realized that sea air was not sufficiently medicinal and decided she needed to sit down. She knew she¡¯d probably need to go down to her cabin to actually feel better, but that would have required standing up. And they were supposed to be nearing a Node ¡ª she wanted to be able to see it when it came close. Closing her eyes, things weren¡¯t actually so bad. She couldn¡¯t see anything staying still or moving or whatever, and so the sense of wrongness abated. She tried to forget her body, forget her situation, forget the stakes, and just let herself be moved up and down. And, in that mindset, the sea air actually did seem helpful ¡ª it was cool but not frigid, and she focused on the feeling of each breath in her nose and mouth. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. She began to drift. At first, she was confronted by practical considerations. Alessio¡¯s interview request was worth considering seriously, but she knew it would be hard to maintain any kind of confidentiality once she¡¯d spoken with him ¡ª it was his job to extract secrets, and she was very new at keeping them. And was it even realistic to keep it? I mean, she obviously wouldn¡¯t keep it forever, but the commercial realities demanded discretion. Maybe that¡¯s the part she was really unused to: the secrecy. Sure, labs could be a secretive, but not at such a fundamental level ¡ª people knew what you were looking into, at least. And the best practice was always to preregister your expectations. And why do it differently now? This wasn¡¯t exactly the Manhattan Project ¡ª it was a big idea, but not a dangerous one. It was just the fear of getting scooped. But, even if someone else did it first, would it really matter? Well, personally, it would, both for pride and for her future. But the world would keep spinning. Hell, for all she knew, someone was already working on it. A dozen ships could be pursuing the same idea. And that was the problem: this way was so lonely. She enjoyed her companions, but only Percy really knew what they were doing, and he wasn¡¯t exactly chatty. She would have loved another scientist to bounce things off of, instead of Ray¡¯s remarkable inability to make it three words into one of her explanations. She wondered how Ray would react if she found another scientist to join her. A biologist would honestly make the most sense ¡ª if they kept coming across strange wildlife, it was silly not to have as close to an expert as there was. Although people like that were probably really in demand. But Ray might know someone. Ray seemed to know everyone. One day, she¡¯d get to the bottom of Ray. She¡¯d read his resume and asked around, but she knew nothing of his life before all of this. It seemed worth knowing¡­ Adelaide wasn¡¯t sure if she¡¯d drifted to sleep or just let her thoughts wander, but she was nonetheless stirred by a hand on her shoulder. She opened her eyes to see Grant looking down at her. ¡°Feeling the sea a bit?¡± he asked. ¡°Less than before, but yeah. I assume it¡¯s old news to you, but I apparently am not ready for this yet.¡± ¡°You¡¯re doing alright. Better than most, I¡¯d say. You¡¯d be amazed how many people lose their stomachs as soon as we cross the Triangle. It can be a bathtub, they¡¯re still green. And this is a tough day for everyone ¡ª not like a normal storm. Just chop.¡± ¡°That does make me feel better, even if you¡¯re probably just being nice.¡± He smiled. ¡°Well, anyway, Captain told me to get you. You see, we¡¯re approaching that Node you gave him, and he has a question.¡± Adelaide bounced up, nausea forgotten. She looked over the railing, then turned, then turned back. She didn¡¯t see ¡ª she couldn¡¯t quite find ¡ª Grant continued, ¡°Specifically, his question was, ¡®Where the hell is it?¡± 5.3 - Pod ¡°Can you explain again why this is a problem?¡± Adelaide took a deep breath before responding, looking out the windows of the bridge. She knew it was right, and frankly inevitable, to call Ray in on an issue like this. And it wasn¡¯t unreasonable for him to take the time to understand the confusion, even if she wasn¡¯t sure she had another explanation in her. Unfortunately, Percy didn¡¯t wait for a breath before saying, ¡°Ray, I think we need to accept that this is beyond you, and you need to trust us that this is inconsistent with our calculations.¡± Adelaide flinched, Ray handled it better than it deserved. He ignored Percy, turning to Adelaide and saying, ¡°You already knew these things could be in the middle of the ocean. So here we are, it¡¯s in the middle of the ocean, why are we worried?¡± ¡°Because we aren¡¯t getting a signal,¡± Adelaide responded. ¡°Yes, you¡¯re right that the Node could be on water. But we passed the point it was supposed to be, and we didn¡¯t get a reading. That¡¯s not supposed to happen.¡± ¡°Could the detector be broken?¡± Adelaide looked to Percy, who shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s impossible to be certain about,¡± he said. ¡°I checked it. It seems to be working. But how would we know if it malfunctioned in some unexpected way? It¡¯s not like I have a Node in my pocket to test it against.¡± ¡°So it might be broken?¡± Adelaide sighed. ¡°Yeah. But if it is, that means this whole voyage was wasted, at least from a data perspective. And, again, we have no reason to think the detector is broken.¡± ¡°Other than that it¡¯s not detecting anything?¡± ¡°Other than that, yes.¡± ¡°And could we be in the wrong place?¡± Percy interjected. ¡°We¡¯ve been over this ¡ª¡± Adelaide waived him off. ¡°We mapped the Nodes when we entered, and we¡¯re relying on the ship¡¯s navigation beyond that. So unless you think the ship¡¯s systems are extremely off ¡ª in which case we will never find our exit Triangle and we will die out here ¡ª this is where the Node is.¡±Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Can it have moved?¡± Adelaide was halfway through rolling her eyes when she realized she had never thought of that question before. A Node was mathematically derived ¡ª it was like asking if the local maxima of a graph could move, that would just be a different graph. But that wasn¡¯t to say it was impossible ¡ª just that it wasn¡¯t anything they¡¯d considered. Adelaide looked at Percy. ¡°I know our model doesn¡¯t really fit it ¡ª¡± Percy nodded. ¡°But it¡¯s not impossible. We could test it, I suppose ¡ª let me rerun this.¡± Percy seemed to have transitioned from insulting Ray to testing his ideas with no friction and no sense of either pride or guilt. Adelaide would have brought up the rudeness in the interest of crew cohesion, but Ray was so obviously unbothered she decided to let Percy work. While Percy worked, Captain Mattson jumped in. ¡°I still don¡¯t understand what these Nodes are, but I¡¯ve been happy enough to let you route us to them. But if we start spending time in the middle of the ocean, not hunting, not generating any value¡­ profit is an important thing!¡± ¡°I get it, Captain. But this is worth testing. We need to understand this system. And I¡¯m not looking to endanger us or derail the trip.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t doubt you! But it would be good to understand better what we are all doing out here. Beyond waiting around!¡± Adelaide was spared from answering that by Percy, who showed them the updated Node display. ¡°Ok, yeah - it¡¯s moving. Or it moved, at least. I can¡¯t tell if it¡¯s still moving yet, but I¡¯ll run again now to estimate the momentum.¡± Adelaide wasn¡¯t sure how to react to that ¡ª the possibility of Node movement was not only outside of her theory but also a huge practical issue. They calculated routes on the assumption that Nodes were stationary. If the others moved ¡ª ¡°Percy, did any other Nodes move?¡± ¡°No, just this one. That¡¯s how I know there wasn¡¯t just an error in the last round of calculations.¡± ¡°How far did it go?¡± ¡°Not far, relative to our speed. We can be to its current position within a few hours. But what we¡¯ll find there, or how much farther it will have gone¡­ there¡¯s no way to know.¡± Captain Mattson turned back to Adelaide. ¡°We¡¯ll go, if you really think it best. But these sorts of detours, without a hope of profit, are challenging on the crew!¡± Adelaide thought about it. On the one hand, it was entirely possible that they would waste time traveling, find nothing, and miss their window to see the other Nodes. That would be a disaster by itself, independent of the lack of profit that might kill the entire project. On the other hand, it seemed important to understand how a Node could move, even independent of her curiosity. It should have been a harder decision. But Adelaide was smiling when she asked, ¡°Come on, Captain. Haven¡¯t you ever wanted to have a real chase?¡± 5.4 - Pod It had been odd, chasing something you couldn¡¯t see. It would have been impossible if not for Percy, who was both doing almost all of the work and having almost all of the fun. He¡¯d managed to get a system that pinged the location of the Node every few minutes, and then there was apparently a whole segment of algorithm design focused on how to evolve a chasing route with imperfect information. Even Adelaide had only followed so much of the math, but he seemed very excited about it. That led Captain Mattson to have a bit of a mixed experience. On the one hand, this process involved Percy giving the Captain new directions every five minutes, which had begun to openly annoy the Captain after about twenty minutes. On the other hand, the Captain seemed to enjoy the excuse to run the engines hot and make quick, precise turns. Adelaide wished again that she had more experience, so that she would have the context to appreciate what she was seeing. Other than keeping an eye on that dynamic, Adelaide hadn¡¯t had anything to do but wait. She¡¯d alerted Alessio to the situation, assuming that he would want the chance to film whatever it was they were chasing. If it was a physical object. And not invisible. He¡¯d been appreciative, and had set up a stabilized tripod that had the odd affect of making the camera much steadier than the deck itself. The word had spread, and everyone had been there, waiting. Which was good, because anyone who had missed it would have been really grumpy afterwards. They could have missed it if they hadn¡¯t been looking closely ¡ª it never fully broke the surface. But, with everyone¡¯s eyes looking for something, there was no mistaking that this was definitely something. It was hard to make out the exact proportions ¡ª it was still under the surface of the water, mostly. But it was massive ¡ª nearly the length of the Foam Strider itself. It was the shape of a rounded football, and appeared, through Adelaide¡¯s binoculars, to be covered in scales like an alligators ¡ª each individual plate had to be the size of a couch or something. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. And all of it was spinning ¡ª it was almost like a perfectly thrown football, except gigantic and moving through the water, churning the water into spray when it came closer to the surface. Adelaide wondered what kind of muscles would be required to get it spinning like that, but whatever did it, it didn¡¯t seem like something you¡¯d want to stop before you needed to. Other than shouting and gasping when they first saw it, nobody said anything. Adelaide didn¡¯t want to look away, but she thought she knew what everyone would be doing. Jim would be gripping the railing with both hands, knuckles turning white, while Trish leaned her head over the railing. Alessio would never pull his eye from the camera, and Emma would be wishing they had anything that could come close to piercing those scales. It was a relief, in a way, that there was no question of hunting this behemoth. Even if they had something that could pierce those scales ¡ª and Adelaide struggled to imagine the rocket-powered harpoon that could do so as they spun ¡ª there would be no way to keep something that big. They¡¯d have had more luck hollowing it out to make a new ship. After a few minutes, it descended a bit and became impossible to make out under the waves. They could still track it from its peculiar spinning wake, but the spell was broken. For now. Adelaide found Ray in the bridge. ¡°I think that¡¯s the thing we¡¯ve been chasing.¡± ¡°Well, Professor, I can¡¯t say I disagree with you there. Captain, you ever see something like that?¡± ¡°Not spinning like that. The spinning is going to be the problem. We¡¯ll have a hell of a choppy time getting close. How close do we need to get?¡± Adelaide looked at Percy, who was already calculating the next pathing update. ¡°It¡¯s probabilistic, but, given that it¡¯s a bit underwater¡­ pretty close? Like within 100 yards? Can you do that?¡± ¡°Can I do it? Of course! You forget you are on the Foam Strider! But it will not be a comfortable ride. Let¡¯s hope that anyone without sea legs can grow them quickly!¡± Adelaide already felt her stomach churning, before Ray added, ¡°And that this thing doesn¡¯t see us as a big metal snack. Or a rival. Or a mate.¡± That was an image that Adelaide instantly knew would stick with her the rest of her life. However long or short that wound up being. 5.5. - Pod Adelaide really hoped this didn¡¯t turn out the way it seemed like it was going to. The problem was that there was only one real possible ¡°plan¡± ¡ª get close to the creature, run alongside it for a moment, and then leave. No one had thought of another approach, given the constraint that they had to get close to it and it was moving. Absent some lateral thinking, the question was just whether to try or to give up and move on. And Adelaide really believed she could have turned away ¡ª this isn¡¯t something with an abstract risk that was difficult to assess, so if the crew didn¡¯t think they could handle it, she would have had no choice. But Captain Mattson had assured her that the Strider could handle the wake. Although maybe she could have asked some more follow up questions. Like ¡°When you say handle, does that include the kind of handling where some parts fall off?¡± or ¡°Will the people on board, for example myself, also be able to handle it or will we all be vibrated into goo?¡± As they followed, Adelaide looked back fondly upon seasickness. This was like riding a horse on a plane that was in a thunderstorm. She wasn¡¯t even really sick ¡ª she was being bounced around too much for that. She was instead looking forward to the moments when her feet touched the ground, and trying to avoid flying into anyone who looked like they were doing something important otherwise. They were gaining on it, but not as quickly as they should have been. They were approaching it on a diagonal, and they apparently didn¡¯t want to run their engines as hard as they could in light of the chop. They were still faster, but the waves were getting rougher and rougher, so it wasn¡¯t clear how much longer they¡¯d keep making progress. And now it was closer to the surface again, which threatened to make the wake even rougher. Suddenly, there was a huge burst of water, and Adelaide madly imagined that the thing had just self-destructed somehow. But it was still there, and it took Adelaide a minute to realize that it looked odd because it was no longer spinning. That¡¯s what the splash had been: it had stopped spinning so suddenly that some of its scales had been propelled in different directions, along with a green sphere that Adelaide hadn¡¯t noticed before that was sailing off to the left. To port? Whatever. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The creature had lost some real momentum in that process. It was still moving forward, but much more slowly, having lost so much energy to the sudden displacement of water and no longer generating force through its spinning. It was an opportunity they couldn¡¯t miss, and Captain Mattson seized upon the sudden decrease in the creature¡¯s momentum to gun the engines. As he accelerated, the wave from the creature¡¯s sudden move caught up with them, and the Strider seemed to go almost vertically up. Adelaide envisioned capsizing and drowning or navigating an overturned ship from within. But then they crested the wave, and the world was so still that Adelaide held her breath. And then they crashed down. But that was the worst of it, and they spoon got much closer than ever before. Adelaide got her clearest glimpse of the creature. There wasn¡¯t much more to see: it really did appear to be a big oblong covered in huge scales. But, now, Adelaide could see what she assumed were its eyes - a ring purple orbs set near the front of the creature. They didn¡¯t blink while Adelaide was looking at them. And then it started spinning again, and the Strider turned away. Adelaide agreed that had been as close as it was reasonable to get ¡ª if that hadn¡¯t done it, it wasn¡¯t going to get done. As the creature swam away, Mattson killed the engines. The water was now littered with some of the scales that had been cast off, and Adelaide¡¯s first thought was that those would probably be worth something to somebody. Her second thought was to wonder why those creatures would intentionally stop their spinning and lose so much mass. And her third thought was to notice that she¡¯d thought about profit before discovery, and wonder if that should upset her. But all the thoughts were dismissed when Percy arrived, shaking his head. Adelaide gasped. ¡°We didn¡¯t get it? We were so close!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think we were,¡± Percy said. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I just did another mapping, and the Node isn¡¯t there,¡± he said as he pointed at the departing trail of the creature they¡¯d followed. ¡°It¡¯s there,¡± he said, pointing off to the left. Adelaide followed his finger. She knew what she was looking at, but she pulled out her binoculars to confirm. It was another trail. Their creature wasn¡¯t alone. 5.6 - Pod As she watched the footage, Adelaide was unduly pleased with herself for buying the drone. She¡¯d come up with ways to justify, strategic arguments and claims, but the emotional reality had never really gotten away from the fact that it was extremely cool, and there were cool things she wanted to look at. How it would actually get used was something she was confident she¡¯d figure out eventually. And here they were! When they had realized that the Node moved away from the creature they had been following, there had been this temptation to set off for the new wake trail and try to catch it there. But Adelaide had been forced to play keep-away enough on various playgrounds to realize where that led. What they¡¯d needed to do was understand where the Node was going to be before it got there, so they could meet it midway. While the Captain kept pace from a less nausea-inducing distance, Adelaide had looked with Percy at the map of Node locations thus far. One thing that became clear immediately was that it would have been great to get a higher sample rate. When they had been assuming it was moving along with a big spinning scaly whale, it had been natural to draw a mostly continuous curve. But now that they¡¯d seen the deviation, it opened up the possibility space dramatically ¡ª for all they knew, it could have been teleporting around. But they¡¯d observed the creature¡¯s path for enough to confirm that it had been where the Node was for several observations. By comparing Percy¡¯s math to the path the Strider automatically maintained as part of the navigational process that allowed them to know their distance from the Triangle, they had realized that the Node had diverged from the leviathan only shortly before the Strider¡¯s nearest approach. Since then, it was following the wake of the other creature, although they hadn¡¯t observed that creature long enough to know how long it had been moving in that direction. So that¡¯s what they were doing now: using the drone to watch the creature from above as they moved gradually closer, taking Alessio up on his offer to fly the thing because Adelaide didn¡¯t think that above a gyrating leviathan was the right place for her personal tutorial. If the Node stayed on this new leviathan, they would try another close approach, but they¡¯d get some more perspective before they did. In the meantime, it was fascinating to watch. Adelaide wasn¡¯t sure if it was the quality of the drone¡¯s camera or the comparative reduction in her own nausea, but she got a much better sense of the creature than she had when she¡¯d been physically closer. For one thing, it was now clear that it was eating as it moved ¡ª it didn¡¯t exactly have a mouth so much as a series of vents into which seawater flowed. And there were other vents lower down its body where the water was released. Adelaide was reminded of a centrifuge, and she wondered if the creature spun for exactly that reason ¡ª maybe it was separating the nutrients or prey it needed from the rest of the seawater. But it also seemed to be enabling the motion. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. She could have watched it for hours, just spinning its way through the sea. And, she suddenly realized, that was what it had been doing, forever. Before they entered this Sea, it had been spinning and spinning forever. And this thing didn¡¯t seem like it was noticing them, so it would probably keep on spinning long after they were gone. And then it did the same rapid stop the other creature had done. Adelaide felt a moment of panic for the drone as a few scales shot into the air. But they didn¡¯t reach that height, and, as they fell, Adelaide saw the same green ball she¡¯d noticed the last time, now shooting off away from the creature. Ray was looking at the same monitor, and as she turned to face him, it was clear he¡¯d seen the same thing. He yelled to the Captain, ¡°Can we match course with that green thing?? ¡°Probably, but you¡¯ll have to show it to me. What green thing?¡± Ray rewound the feed, and Adelaide turned to Alessio. ¡°Can you get the drone to follow it?¡± ¡°I mean, I generally use these more to like look at people at secret weddings than to follow speeding objects, but I¡¯ll do my best.¡± He lost it a few times, but Captain Mattson managed to anticipate its course well enough, and, within a few minutes, Adelaide saw the drone following it approaching the Strider itself. It was still hard to make it out exactly what the green ball was, as it was under the waves, but it was moving towards them. Adelaide heard a chime and looked at Percy, who gave her a thumbs up without looking away from the terminal. Her instinct had been right ¡ª the green thing was the Node, and they¡¯d gotten close enough for their reading. They hadn¡¯t been wasting their time on this crazy chase, and they wouldn¡¯t need to call it off fruitlessly. Adelaide turned to the Captain. ¡°We got what we needed. You can break course now.¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad for your readings, whatever they are! But don¡¯t you want us to catch it?¡± ¡°Catch it?¡± ¡°Sure ¡ª I mean, who knows, but we can throw down nets for it! We might be able to pull it in, and maybe it¡¯s valuable!¡± ¡°Why would it be valuable?¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it the fancy thing from your readings?¡± Adelaide paused at that. She had been so focused on the chase that she hadn¡¯t thought about the prospect of harvesting the ball itself. But it could definitely have monetary value, and it definitely seemed interesting. And it was a Node that moved ¡ª that seemed like a vital clue all by itself. But then she thought of the spinning leviathans and paused. She didn¡¯t know how it would affect them, or if it would at all. But it seemed like the process of sending it out was effortful, and presumably not done pointlessly. She couldn¡¯t exactly explain why the prospect of disturbing those spinning creatures mattered to her, but she found herself hesitating. ¡°It¡¯s approaching!¡± the Captain said. ¡°Are we moving to intercept?¡± Adelaide swallowed and made a decision. 5.7 - Pod ¡°Are you worried at all?¡± Adelaide looked out at the water while she thought about how to respond to Ray. They had realized that a bunch of the scales or plates or whatever were still floating on the surface, and everyone had started pulling them in just on the general principle that people would probably buy something like that. A bunch had been pulled in with nets, and now the crew was taking out the dinghy to grab the others. Adelaide was already picturing them being melted down into some dumb breastplate for someone who wanted to swing a cutlass around before he drowned or something. She noticed how negative her thoughts were growing, and internally apologized to their hypothetical future customer she had just mocked ¡ª his armor would probably look great and he was probably a capable swimmer. It wasn¡¯t his fault that Adelaide felt like she¡¯d ruined something, not least because he didn¡¯t actually exist. Anyway, it was time to respond to Ray. ¡°You second guessing me?¡± As soon as she said it, Adelaide regretted it. But she didn¡¯t apologize, and another moment stretched out in silence. Ray eventually broke it. ¡°I wasn¡¯t saying you made a mistake. But I thought I had the right to do so, if I did.¡± ¡°You do. You¡¯re right, I am worried. I¡¯m not taking it well.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°I mean, what did I just fuck up by pulling this thing in? Like it was clearly something, right? They were passing it, or chasing it. I have no idea why, but they won¡¯t find it now! Hopefully they have a spare or it¡¯s not that important. But it probably is. For all I know, I just killed the whole species. Maybe now they just spin hopelessly until they die.¡±Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Ray didn¡¯t respond at first, and Adelaide listened to the sound of the scales being pulled into a dinghy. ¡°Ok, I have two reactions.¡± Ray said eventually. ¡°First, I think you need to recalibrate your sense of your own importance.¡± ¡°Gee, an insult, thank you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not an insult, Professor, just reality. You probably did not commit genocide in a moment. Even if it is something important, you don¡¯t think there are other things around here that occasionally disrupt their process, assuming it is a process? You don¡¯t think there¡¯s something that tries to eat it or lay eggs in it or something? I¡¯m not the scientist, but I don¡¯t think anyone gets to do whatever they want without obstacles, no matter how fast they spin.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good point, but humans disrupt plenty of ecosystems. That¡¯s nothing new.¡± ¡°Sure, but you have a reason, right? You¡¯re not just messing around for no reason ¡ª you are out here to study Nodes, and now you have one to put under a magnifying glass or whatever.¡± ¡°Do you actually think modern science involves magnifying glasses?¡± ¡°Whatever. Anyway, you have it now ¡ª have you even looked at it?¡± Adelaide turned and walked over to the Node, which turned out to be more of a gem shape than the sphere it had looked like in motion. The faces were rough and not sharply delineated ¡ª there were curved edges, and many nicks. It was about three feet long and had almost been too heavy to haul up. But it wasn¡¯t some sort of giant emerald - it was opaque, with little variation between each side. ¡°It¡¯s hard to know what to make of it,¡± Adelaide said. ¡°Nodes are features of the readings we pull in ¡ª they are like points on a graph. I didn¡¯t expect one to be a physical object. I don¡¯t even know what to do with a physical object like this. And what about when we take it back? Will it be a Node then, even outside the Triangle? What would that even mean? I mean, I had to take it because of those questions, but I have no idea how to begin solving them.¡± ¡°I bet you¡¯ll figure it out.¡± ¡°I wish I were so confident, but thank you. But you had two reactions, right? What was the other one?¡± ¡°Oh, well, when I asked if you were worried, I wasn¡¯t thinking about ethical concerns. I was wondering if you were worried one of those giant guys was able to track this thing and would want it back.¡± Adelaide froze, and then started laughing so hard she had to sit down. Interlude 5 Interlude 5 Sometimes, Terry missed being a regular criminal. Obviously that had had its problems too ¡ª more violence, more fear of the cops, more competition. And this was unquestionably more interesting, and, so far, more lucrative. And this was the new shit. It was good to be where the action was. He liked action. But at least in the old days, there wasn¡¯t any fucking confusion. When you sell heroin, everyone understands that crimes are happening. They come to you because they want to buy something illegal, you have the illegal thing, they pay you and everyone knows that they just did something illegal. It¡¯s scary, maybe, but it¡¯s clear. Now, he had to deal with this asshole, who was trying to sell him some animal parts that were completely legal. ¡°So what do you think? I¡¯m aware of the value here,¡± the asshole said. Terry very much doubted that, because anyone who understood the market for Triangle ivory would understand that it was actually completely legal, and actually extremely commonly sold. Someone like that wouldn¡¯t be bothering Terry, and their hands wouldn¡¯t be shaking as they held a suitcase full of pieces. Of course, dealing with morons had its advantages. Terry picked up what looked like a tusk and pretended like he was concerned someone would oversee them from the street. He considered shutting the blinds conspiratorially, but that seemed like overkill, so he conspicuously looked to both sides before saying, ¡°There¡¯s some quality, sure, but you have to understand the risk I¡¯m taking. I¡¯ve got to keep myself safe, and that¡¯s not cheap.¡± The jerk gave a knowing nod, and Terry knew he was set. A few minutes later, he had picked up some miscellaneous ivory at a price that would allow him to walk into a legitimate shop tomorrow and make an effortless profit. There were enough dummies that buying stuff that people thought was illegal was a measurable part of his business. That was the thing about the Triangle¡¯s black market ¡ª everyone knew there should be one, but it wasn¡¯t immediately obvious what it was for. Bermuda didn¡¯t try to charge people a percentage of Triangle imports beyond normal sales tax ¡ª an ¡°import¡± tax would be unmanageable for goods that had no market value, and the government had, in a rare accomplishment, decided to avoid choking the golden goose. But the ships coming in made it seem obvious that there should be a black market. Terry figured nimrods like that guy were probably just so caught up in a narrative where they sold stuff to a shady criminal that actually having contraband was a secondary. Not to say that there weren¡¯t actually illegal things to do ¡ª Terry wasn¡¯t in this just to con losers, although that was fun enough. There were the drugs, but, after serving as Terry¡¯s entryway, they hadn¡¯t remained a major part of the business. Business had been great until someone realized that it wasn¡¯t actually illegal ¡ª how could there be a law against some shit someone had just found for the first time ever? And then Bermuda had passed some supposed omnibus ban, but even that was mostly toothless ¡ª they couldn¡¯t exactly have dogs ready to smell shit out, could they? And no one could really form a distribution network anyway. So, while there was business there, it was increasingly removed from Terry¡¯s life, focused instead on whoever had connections to dumb kids at clubs. Much of what was left were things that people didn¡¯t want to have publicly bought or sold, even independent of their nominal legality. Poisons were the classic example there. People found a lot of crazy poisonous snakes and gophers and birds through the Triangle, so supply should have swamped the market. But, if someone had just opened ¡°Poisons R Us¡±, law enforcement everywhere would have had a lot of questions for whoever shopped there. And what legitimate customer would shop there? If you were trying to kill cockroaches or rats, there were plenty of good options from your regular old Wal-Mart. People who wanted an exotic Triangle poison wanted it for a reason they didn¡¯t want to share, and that¡¯s why they came to Terry. Terry knew Guides who appreciated a chance to sell what they found, and he had the discretion not to ask what anyone wanted anything for.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. And then there was what Terry had been driving towards since he left that dumbo: sales of living shit. That was the one thing Bermuda did strictly enforce. As soon as the Triangle opened, a bunch of scientists started yelling about invasive species or whatever, saying how the wrong like fish or plant could destroy the oceans. But unlike most of the times scientists yelled, someone with money apparently agreed, because Bermuda was clear: anything alive could only be sold to specific registered institutions, like a zoo or a university. No cute Triangle pets. Anyone who didn¡¯t take them seriously would find their Triangle privileged permanently suspended, which was mostly redundant given the length of the jail sentences that were being handed out. So that was why Terry had his whole biohazard set up in the trunk. He wasn¡¯t exactly running his own zoo, so he had to move living merchandise quickly, but he had some contacts who specialized in longer-term holding for harder to place critters. But he got demands for pets faster than he could fill them: nothing made rich assholes want something more than being told they couldn¡¯t have it. He tried not to sell someone two of the same critter, and so far he hadn¡¯t destroyed any biospheres as far as he was aware. But, when he got to the empty parking lot where they had agreed to meet, the guy in the yellow baseball cap was just holding a metal box, not some sort of like kangaroo with horns. They both did tough guy nods at each other before the guy asked, ¡°You¡¯re the person Mike mentioned? ¡°That¡¯s me. So what¡¯s in there?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need to know about that.¡± ¡°What, you think this is Deal or No Deal? I¡¯m not buying a fucking mystery box.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll buy this one, because it¡¯s free.¡± Terry started to back away. ¡°Look, I don¡¯t know what this is ¡ª¡± ¡°Let me explain. I¡¯ve got a buyer arranged, and he¡¯ll pay me separately. I¡¯m going to give this to you, and tomorrow he¡¯ll contact you to pick it back up and he¡¯ll pay you for your efforts.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you just give it to him yourself?¡± ¡°We¡¯ve never met, and it¡¯s important we keep it that way.¡± ¡°Ok, that¡¯s very exciting and clandestine of you all, but I still don¡¯t know what I¡¯m fucking selling.¡± ¡°It¡¯s better that you don¡¯t.¡± ¡°Look, I don¡¯t do like bloody bioweapons. I¡¯m not equipped to contain that sort of shit.¡± ¡°This isn¡¯t anything like that. No danger. Just hold it, sell it, and never speak of this again.¡¯ And so, hours later, Terry was staring at the metal box in his apartment. It wasn¡¯t the kind of offer he could turn down ¡ª too much money that was too certain. But it felt weird having some mystery thing in his apartment. He knew it was beyond dumb to open it. It was dangerous, in many ways he could imagine and more he couldn¡¯t. Worse, it was unprofessional. He was paid for his discretion, and opening something like this was the opposite. He tried to open it anyway, of course, but it was locked. Hopefully the buyer had the code, or else this was going to be very dumb. He made the handoff the next day, at an IHOP. The new guy waved at him when he walked in, actually waved, like they were friends. And he ordered a coffee and chatted with the waitress before even starting to talk business. He was on the short side, with a well manicured beard. He smiled when he said, ¡°So it¡¯s in there, yes? All ok overnight?¡± ¡°I was told not to open it. I have no idea what¡¯s in there.¡± ¡°Truly? Well let me take a peek.¡± And then the dude just opened it. Inside the box was a white surface with what looked like moss growing on it. The first thing that Terry noticed was that the moss was there only in certain lines, lines that made right-angle turns in a pattern Terry didn¡¯t recognize. What Terry noticed next was that the moss was still growing, fast enough to see, extending the lines. And that was the last thing Terry saw before the case snapped shut again. ¡°All looks well!¡± the man said. And he dropped a duffel bag on the ground between them. ¡°Your work is appreciated, and the bag should have everything you need. Farewell.¡± And then he drained his coffee and walked off. Before he could even glance at the bag, the waitress came with his pancakes. As Terry ate them, he reflected again on the nostalgic joys of being a regular criminal. 6.1 - Spire So far, nothing seemed to be chasing them, so that was nice. Of course, there was every possibility that something was following them, beyond their ability to detect. The spinning leviathans hadn¡¯t been subtle before, and they hadn¡¯t seen them since, but they could have some sort of stealthier mode. Or there could be some other creature they had just attracted, maybe something that flew and would swoop down on the ship, or some sort of insect that was burrowing into the hull. Or the thing itself could be the problem. So far, all they had found is that it kept reading as a Node. Adelaide had decided they wouldn¡¯t cut into it until they got it back ¡ª she wanted some control before she risked disrupting whatever was giving off those readings. So now it was just sitting there, apparently stationary, but that was only so much of a comfort. It might be radioactive or toxic or filled with some unknown microbes that would turn their guts into diamond. Or it could be full of tiny bugs that would hatch and crawl into their ears and eat their brains. It was such a crazy thing to do, to wander into some unknown ocean and just hope nothing ate you. And they didn¡¯t just take a look from a distance, or interact in controlled conditions like real scientists. They just turned on their engines, smashed into things, and took whatever seemed shiny. It was surprising more people didn¡¯t have their brains chewed out by tiny bugs. But, honestly, tiny neurovores sometimes sounded better than the alternative. Well, not better for Adelaide personally, or for the crew. But, like, cosmically better to have hubris punished than to just get away with it. If they could just run in and take something that clearly had some importance to those leviathans and nothing happened ¡ª or if it made Adelaide rich and famous ¡ª that seemed to raise real questions about moral desserts. Adelaide closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to calm down. She did believe in what she was doing. She knew that. She was just anxious. There was science to be done once they got back, and not doing it right now was causing her to catastrophize. Because first they had two Nodes to visit, and they were getting close. It had been foggy and wet all day, which had both driven most of the team below deck and obscured their destination. But, by the time Adelaide felt ready to open her eyes, she could see what had to be the island they were heading towards. It was beautiful, and it made her heart fall into her stomach.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Even through the rain, she could tell that it was overgrown with plant life. It would have been verdant if the plants were green, but they seemed to be a mess of colors, like a color-by-numbers done by a child who wasn¡¯t interested in following rules. And they were on display because the island¡¯s geography was shaped to present them ¡ª there was a small rocky beach in the center, with two steep mountains on either side. The plants spiraled around each mountain, like mounds of rainbow soft-serve. She hadn¡¯t done any sort of math, and she hadn¡¯t checked the readings with any specificity. But she knew what was going to happen when she did. The Nodes were going to be on the top of those two mountains. She was going to have to climb up one of them, then all the way back down, and then all the way up the other one. It would be tight timing, even if nothing went wrong. And there was every reason to think something would go wrong. She removed her binoculars and saw that Alessio was filming. She couldn¡¯t help herself from imagining that footage as the background while he foreshadowed whatever adventure they would wind up having. Eventually, a still frame of it would have his face superimposed on it as a thumbnail with a description like ¡°Venomous Snakes ¡­ That Fly!?!¡± or ¡°Watch What Happens When Quicksand Follows You!¡± She must have laughed or coughed or something because he turned and waved her over. She approached and he paused the recording. ¡°It¡¯s beautiful, isn¡¯t it? Look at all those colors!¡± ¡°I know. It will be interesting up close ¡ª I feel like I¡¯m not really processing it from this distance.¡± ¡°Yeah. Hopefully the rain at least lifts enough for some better lighting. Even if it¡¯s as we¡¯re leaving. Otherwise I¡¯ll have to mess with the saturation and it¡¯s never the same. Anyway, which one of those peaks are we going to climb?¡± Adelaide blinked. ¡°Why do you assume we¡¯re climbing them?¡± Alessio gave her a half smile. ¡°Because I pay attention. You go where the action is. I don¡¯t totally get why quite yet, but you keep leading us right into the most interesting places around. You went into a giant nest ¡ª I am assuming you''re going to want to scale one of these. Although I don¡¯t understand why you didn¡¯t find a thrill-seeking crew if that was what you were planning on. Captain Mattson runs the ship well, but they can¡¯t be thrilled to keep escorting you into nonsense rather than making money.¡± ¡°We spent all that time hunting unicorns!¡± ¡°We did, but you and Ray went off for your own rendezvous. Where did that take you, I wonder? Surely you didn¡¯t just want alone time?¡± Adelaide straightened up. ¡°Listen, Ray and I did¡ª¡± Alessio interrupted. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m being a jerk. I¡¯m acting like I¡¯m doing some gotcha, when you¡¯ve really been great. I know you¡¯re focused on whatever your mission is. I¡¯m just getting antsy trying to find out what it is. Really, you should just tell me ¡ª let me help you.¡± Adelaide smiled. ¡°We¡¯ll do an interview eventually. But, first, I have some mountains to climb.¡± 6.2 - Spire After a few hours, she almost wished it was a harder trip. After Percy had confirmed that the Nodes were at the tops of the two peaks, Adelaide had budgeted a few days for each peak ¡ª that would leave them enough time to return, although not enough to dawdle. And she¡¯d need to move quickly between each ascent. That was why she had insisted that Ray not join her, as much as he argued. Well, not argued, really ¡ª he hadn¡¯t exactly marshalled arguments as much as he had flatly refused to entertain the idea for hours while everyone prepared to make another landing. It was only when they were on the dinghy that she had managed to get him to admit that any chance of getting both Nodes in time would require that, while she climbed the first peak, the path to the second was explored enough to identify any major obstacles in advance. And the central camp would similarly need to be managed ¡ª there wouldn¡¯t be time to address issues between the two trips. So she¡¯d left Ray behind. She¡¯d barely looked at the new basecamp they were creating ¡ª no grabbing firewood this time. She trusted him to manage things while she was gone, and she had no doubt she¡¯d come back to a camp in good condition. What profit the crew would be able to find while she was gone was something she¡¯d leave to them ¡ª the colorful plants would be potentially interesting at a minimum, but who knew what was possible. Regardless, it wasn¡¯t her focus. She¡¯d set off with Jim and Alessio. Ray had insisted that she take Jim, which seemed loosely paternalistic and patriarchal but it also happened to make sense to her, so she¡¯d left it alone. And Alessio had insisted on joining them. He said he wanted to capture the views and the journey, but Adelaide was sure he was hoping to advance his investigation. But, for all of that, he was highly capable, and she frankly preferred to keep him where she could see him. Before they set off, Adelaide had steeled herself for a journey so difficult that she had to abandon the hope of reaching the second peak. She wasn¡¯t a mountain climber, and this was a much more vertical experience than she¡¯d had before. There wasn¡¯t any guarantee that there would be a realistic way up at all ¡ª while it didn¡¯t look like Everest or anything, it was possible that they¡¯d find a sheer cliff beyond their ability to surmount. And that was before they had to deal with whatever fauna was in their way. But, for the four hours they¡¯d hiked so far, it had been remarkably smooth. There had been a break in the vegetation ¡ª for now, bright orange vines that spiraled around on themselves ¡ª and they had all agreed that it seemed like as sensible a place to start as any. And then, it had just sort of¡­ continued. They had been able to move between the vegetation in a generally uphill direction without having to turn around or deal with any major obstacles. It was a demanding hike, but something a reasonably capable amateur could have comfortably handled. For Adelaide, it was taxing, but not nearly as bad as she¡¯d feared.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. But that ease had created a new problem: the social dynamic. Adelaide had imagined they¡¯d be busy hacking their way through a hostile landscape. But they were sort of just walking, and now it was become clear they didn¡¯t actually know how to talk to each other. Adelaide and Jim and normally been content to give each other some quiet space, but that felt odd now that Alessio was here. And, while Adelaide and Alessio had had pleasant conversations before, it was hard not to see it all as an interview now, and Adelaide found herself even more anxious given that Jim was presumably listening to everything they said. What that left was Alessio and Jim, which had proved to be more awkward that fruitful. Adelaide listened as the pattern that had been recurring with variations every fifteen minuted occurred again: A seemingly causal question from Alessio: ¡°What beautiful flowers, don¡¯t you both think?¡± A noncommittal ¡°Mmm, yeah¡± from Adelaide, and silence from Jim. An undeterred follow up from Alessio: ¡°What¡¯s interesting is that I haven¡¯t seen any bugs. I wonder how they can possibly be pollinated without insect life. Of course, we haven¡¯t observed for long, but still ¡ª I¡¯d expect some bugs. Not that I¡¯m complaining!¡± Silence from everyone. A question that Jim couldn¡¯t politely ignore, along with a nominal basis for asking: ¡°Jim, have you seen any bugs around? I brought bug spray if we wind up needing it.¡± Jim¡¯s response: ¡°I haven¡¯t been looking, but I don¡¯t think I have seen any.¡± Alessio¡¯s immediate response, with an invitation to expand: ¡°Fascinating. Flowers without insects: what a combination! I will have to edit these little videos together into a montage, maybe one of those ones you go to sleep to. And get some for myself ¡ª there is something so striking about truly new flowers! Although, Jim, I suppose you must have looked at flowers everywhere you¡¯ve been!¡± And Adelaide felt herself settle back into the silence she was anticipating, before Jim broke the pattern. ¡°I used to.¡± Adelaide nearly tripped, and recovered while she waited for Alessio to follow up. That was journalism, she supposed: trying things over and over until you got a tiny crack, and then wedging it open. But no follow-up questions came. Adelaide looked at Alessio, and he smiled but said nothing. And so she kept walking, listening to the wind stir the flowers. Spire - 6.3 When she saw it, she realized she¡¯d been waiting for it. They had continued to make steady progress for their first day of walking ¡ª the trail got a bit steeper as they went, but they managed to continue avoiding obstacles. And then it had grown dark, and they¡¯d stopped based on a general sense that it would be hubristic to walk up an unfamiliar mountain at night. It had been a quiet evening ¡ª after they got a fire going, Jim went to sleep almost instantly while Alessio had started editing video and making notes on his phone (Adelaide thought he was already on his second portable battery pack of the hike, but she could have missed one). So she¡¯d sat by the fire and looked at the island around her. There had been some of that feeling she¡¯d had even in the well-charted forests of her childhood: hearing something rustle or crack and feeling a fear in your gut that it was a wolf or a bear or a lion coming towards you. Back then, of course, she¡¯d been able to tell herself that she was overreacting, that they didn¡¯t actually have predators like that in these woods, and that she¡¯d seen a squirrel make an extremely similar sound fifteen times that day. Here, there was no such comfort. It was only as she was sitting by the fire that she realized she hadn¡¯t actually seen or heard animals moving during the day as far as she could remember. If Ray had joined them, she would have asked him for his thoughts, if only for the comforting silence that would follow, the sense that it wasn¡¯t all on her to figure everything out. But he wasn¡¯t, so she had just tried to comfort herself with the idea that any animals they hadn¡¯t yet seen weren¡¯t likely to bother them and drifted off to sleep. When morning came, she had been struck again by the remarkable variety in plant colors. They¡¯d passed beyond the orange vines and into these sort of turquoise things that sort of looked like bamboo, and now those were starting to give way to yellow conifer-looking things. It was an amazing experience to walk through, but she was finding it harder and harder to accept. She¡¯d mentioned it to Alessio as they walked. ¡°Have you been paying attention to the changes in the plant life?¡± ¡°Of course ¡ª what else is there to look at here? And they are incredible, especially in the sheet variety.¡± If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°Yeah. But I just can¡¯t understand why they¡¯d be like that.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Well, aren¡¯t plants green because that¡¯s a good color for photosynthesis or something? Why would that be different?¡± ¡°Hmm. Maybe there¡¯s a chemical in the soil or something? Or some other process that they are trying to facilitate?¡± ¡°Sure, possible, but why would they all be different colors? Maybe there are a bunch of different chemicals, or they want to attract different animals or something, that seems plausible. But even if this island gave some reason for there to be all of these different plants, why wouldn¡¯t they all mix with each other?¡± Jim had apparently been listening, because he¡¯d chimed in. ¡°It could be that different elevations have different conditions. So there could be a nutrient in the soil at one elevation that makes it advantageous to be orange, and some animal higher up that makes it attractive to be turquoise, and so on.¡± Adelaide hadn¡¯t been able to explain why that didn¡¯t make sense to her, so she¡¯d let it go. And they¡¯d continued to ascend, continued to make good progress for a few more hours, and then eventually the red ferns that had replaced the yellow conifers had started to thin out a bit, and then they were at the top. And that was when she¡¯d realized what had been bothering her, and what she¡¯d been waiting for. It wasn¡¯t just that it had been too easy a walk. And it wasn¡¯t just that they hadn¡¯t seen any animals or, as Alessio had noticed, even any insects. And it wasn¡¯t even that she couldn¡¯t understand why the plants were growing the way they were. It was all of them, together, that had formed an impression she hadn¡¯t spelled out until it was made completely explicit by what they saw. It was an arch, made of one rock balanced on top of the next to form two pillars with a bridge of stones that connected them. The stones themselves weren¡¯t particularly large ¡ª she figured they were generally about the size of a large pizza and then wished she¡¯d picked a more majestic metaphor. It wasn¡¯t so amazing, out of context. It was probably twenty feet tall, and not particularly refined. Back home, she would have thought that it was kind of neat and moved on. But here¡­ Jim was just staring at it, and Alessio was filming it, which was his version of staring at something. And no one had said anything, so Adelaide decided it was her job. ¡°So, does anyone have any way to convince ourselves that that wasn¡¯t made by somebody?¡±