‘The results were unexpected but intriguing,’ Goodwill said, with modest satisfaction. ‘And there is something else you may be able to help me with. Something I have been thinking about since I looked up my uncle’s writings in my tribe’s archives. Before he became entangled in events that led to First Contact, he was trying to complete his master’s research into sightings of visitors. As we called you then, before you revealed your true selves. His work involved a visit to the ruins of one of the new cities, where a forest scout saw what he called ghost lights. My uncle didn’t know what they were at the time, but years later he paid a visit to the ruins of another bear city. One that some of my people and some of yours were surveying. He took an interest in it because it was the city where his master had excavated a grave mound years before. And that’s when he saw the ghost lights for himself.’

‘You’re saying that the lights seen by that scout may have had something to do with my people.’

‘Exactly so. In both cases, they were grids of light laid over the land.’

‘Grids of green light.’

‘So you are familiar with them. That’s good.’

‘They’re topographic laser scans,’ Ysbel said. ‘Used to make three-dimensional models of terrain.’

She had seen Ilan’s crew use similar kit on one of the islands near Ogres Grave.

‘The point being, Joyous Hightower purchased a map that appears to show one of your people next to one of the new cities built in the last days of bear civilisation,’ Goodwill said. ‘And some of your people appear to have been surveying the ruins of at least one of those new cities before First Contact. I can’t help thinking there is a connection, but I do not know what it is.’

‘That’s what we call a stretch,’ Ysbel said, but she was thinking of Trina Mersdaughter and Trina’s partner, who was supposedly engaged in field research into bear behaviour. Raia. That was her name. Raia Karysdaughter.

‘What we call a bridge built without supports,’ Goodwill said. ‘Even so, I can’t help wondering what your people were looking for, in the new city.’

‘Can we do all that?’ Ysbel said to Zaquil. ‘Search for images and records of this mysterious railhead project, and look up records of that survey?’

‘If information is on file, I can retrieve it with little difficulty.’

‘And if it’s off the books? Hard copy locked in some drawer, say.’

‘It will take longer, but it should not be impossible. I will need a connection to a comms net,’ the little avatar said. ‘This sliver is currently offline.’

‘We’ll set it up tomorrow,’ Ysbel said.