Sorry, I should have warned you. Those are the drones I detected on our way here. I’ve ordered them to head for the frigate, but they had to dig their way out of the ground first.

<How fucking stupid can you be?> Nancy raged. <I thought we were under attack! >

Hey, I said I was sorry.

<From now on, you even think about doing something, you clear it with me first. Do you hear me?>

Yes, Nancy, I hear you.

Dakota did her best to ignore the flash of resentment she felt at Nancy’s tone, as she headed for the nearest slope. The spiders had already scaled the summit and were well on their way back to Trader’s yacht.

Trader himself kept abreast of her as she ascended the hill, Nancy not so far behind them this time. Dakota glanced back and saw that debris was still slowly raining down on the ancient ruins. The drones were by now out of sight.

Dakota turned away and pinged the drones, finding they were functioning at peak capacity, and all accelerating hard towards the frigate. She fired a warning to Lamoureaux to make sure the others understood they were not being attacked.

<All right, for what it’s worth, that was some pretty spectacular shit,> Nancy sent, her tone almost bordering on respect.

Just doing my job, Dakota sent. Once we’ve got these field-generators back on board, I want to take the ship down inside the cache. We should take a good look at it while we’ve got the chance. Do you have any objections to that?

<None. That was the plan anyway, wasn’t it? And, by the way . . . those explosions around the cache. That was the drones?>

Yes, why?

<So what’s causing that glow coming from inside the cache?>

Dakota stopped to look back at Nancy, who was standing just a little further downhill, with one foot up on a boulder. Beyond her, the interior of the cache had indeed become brighter, emitting light that flickered as if derived from a hundred different sources, each one moving constantly in relation to the rest. It was as if a horde of giant fireflies was flying up the mouth of the cache from somewhere deep inside.

Dakota loped up to the crest of the hill with long, striding bounds to look back down at the cache from a slightly higher vantage point. When she looked again, the light had grown brighter, becoming noticeably more so even as she watched. Another tremor rolled through the ground beneath her feet. She glanced over at Trader, who had also turned to look back, and she felt an unpleasant churning sensation inside her chest.

Trader, what the hell is that light?

<I have no idea. Query the drones, see if they have an explanation.>

Dakota felt a chill. Those probes you said you’d lost, is it possible they ran into something down there?