Page 178 of Alien Burn

Two drones had lost contact in the same sector beneath the canopy; one had returned with corrupted recordings. An old survey boundary crossed that sector. Its exclusions gave conflicting reasons: unstable ground, protected workings, and, on the oldest copy, nothing at all.

“And someone thinks that should stop us looking for two people?” Hawn asked.

“The commander is taking crews in on foot. He's preserved the withdrawal request for the investigation.”

Hawn kept his eyes on the boundary.

“Imagine a clerk telling you that you cannot go where your brother fell.”

Dhomhes remembered the wait for Tivek at the airlock.

“I don't have to imagine very hard.”

When Hawn left, Dhomhes called Olmed with the map still open.

Olmed answered from the Stonebroke with Tori's shoulder visible beside him.

“You called about the sample,” he said. “I remembered something.”

Tori held up a drawing. Two versions of a marker, one crossed out and restored with a question beside it.

“The marker comes in a dream,” Olmed said. “I know where I am until I wake.”

“Send both,” Dhomhes said. “We'll compare them to the survey records.”

“There was growth near the lower opening. Roots. We complained about working around them. That part I remember from the shift.”

Dhomhes noted the distinction. There was still no assay, no name for the material, and no buyer he could question. Now he had something to compare with the disputed survey.

“Is talking about this going to put him in danger?” Tori asked.

“It may. Use the private contact route. Don't circulate the drawings. If anyone asks about the sample, tell me before you answer.”

She studied him, then nodded.

He sent the drawings for comparison without attaching his speculation.

Sereya found him still looking at the map and set a plate beside him.

“One of Roemary's questions about land access has a date now,” she said. “The other might just have been an excursion. I told them to keep both possibilities.”

He drew her close and kissed her hand. “Good.”

She sat with him while he ate. When the plate was empty, he closed the map.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Something overdue.”

They crossed to the dark side the next day with a scheduled supply flight. Dhomhes spent the work shift with his father and the search commander. Sereya visited Sheira, then met him at the refinery's residential entrance with a coat over her arm.

“Is this an inspection?” she asked.

“No.”

“Should I be suspicious?”

“Probably. It will help me feel useful.”