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"Stupid, stupid," he whispered, even as he took another step

Individual subhuainst the thruht, but not fros were forlanced left and tried to peer through the heavy ht he saw a huht he saw the saht he did The cloud made it hard to trust his eyes

Only then did it occur to hiht, anyway Fallen trunks of shattered wood littered the ground around his He stepped around the huge stump of a kapok tree The smooth, fleshy base ended in a violent mess of splinters Another nearby had been uprooted completely The chill he’d felt before vanished, replaced by huhtly, if only for an instant, and Skyler realized he’d walked into a wide ravine with curved walls The ground beneath hiradually doard

Not ten steps later a wall of earth loomed ahead of him, and then he saw the e circular opening was clearly not a natural formation

Skyler knew then, with sudden certainty, where he was

Souess what The proxi the site …

He’d found one of Tania’s five mystery shell ships Of this he had no doubt The objects had trailed in behind the Belém Elevator’s construction vessel, and then she’d lost track of theht since then Not that he are of, anyway

Sing a growing dread, Skyler crept forward, gun constantly sweeping the fog ahead of him until he reached the , tall as a two-story home, and no backup, Skyler finally stopped He stood there, caught between the sane choice of returning to get help and the intoxicating urge to see what lay within

A vision hit him The colonists, huddled around the co through the speaker, as they debated the proper course of action to explore the crash site If it even was a crash site A slew of other theories were offered Fair or not, the e resonated

"Yeah," Skyler said to hih of debate and consensus"

He set to work on his gun again, taking care to keep noise to aits place once again Backpack re-slung over his shoulders, he took a few tentative steps into the darkness He glanced back with each step, waiting until he could see little of the ground outside before turning on the flashlight The last thing he needed right noas for a slew of subhu in

Root syste, charred and gnarled The air had an overpowering smoke scent to it Exposed rocks dotted the curved wall of the circular passage, so froed this cavity Water trailed down the center of the floor, eroding a jagged path into the darkness

When the trickle of runoff began to widen into a pool, Skyler knew the back of the tunnel looan to shrink as well, and the heat becae, he reached and unzipped his vest Moisture and sweat trickled down his neck and sides

Two steps later he caught the first hints of a shape in the glooled to illu the beaht more clarity, and Skyler was up to his knees in water when he finally had a clear view

A shell ship, just as he thought Perhaps ten , miniature compared to those above Belém and Darwin It rested on the bottoed in the pool of runoff How the Builders’ vessel had forged this cave so irth, Skyler had no idea

The tapered end wasn’t quite circular, he realized, but ovoid The very tip of it folded inward on itself in a sharp beveled edge, not unlike the corners of the aura towers He stepped to one side, staying behind the hulking black fored in the rainwater, obscured by steaap in the center of the vessel, as if part of the shell had torn off The gap spanned three ht and went clear over the top of the vessel

Knee-high in cold water, Skyler froze up He dared not draw a breath

So lurked within

Chapter 6

Belém, Brazil

27APR2283

DESPITE THE INTENSE heat, Skyler shook all over It took a conscious effort to suck in a breath His heart raced unchecked

Contact My God, like this Contact

After a ti akin to nor heart slowed

Skyler sed "Hello?" he said It cahed "Hello?" he repeated No response froht he heard so every instinct he had, Skyler waded forward toward the hole in the ship He kept to the edge of the tunnel as best he could The deeper he went into the water, theto its surface obscured his view Yet he found he couldn’t e of the ship

The water caot a clear view inside the hole A hexagonal pillar rested in the center, perhaps a half-ular protrusions, the tallest no longer than Skyler’s hand

The surface of the object reseeoht, the barest hint of red light pulsed within those patterns, tracing impossibly thin lines in a wave across the surface

Moveht Skyler’s eye

At the base of the pillar, so stirred He took a step back on reflex, and in that sained by approaching the ship Mouth dry, eyes itching from the strain, Skyler leaned in toward the ship even as he backed away

Hands gripped the base of the pillar Human hands, if only in shape The skin had been replaced, or covered, in that same black material