Three others turned from their consoles and followed, eyes gleaming with suppressed tears, their movements stilted with fear. Aeschelus saw worry in the eyes of more, but not so much that they were hampered by it. The noise of the doors closing broke the uneasy quiet, jarring Aeschelus back into action.

‘Vibrations,’ he said aloud, giving voice to the thought the moment it occurred to him.

‘Pardon, brother-captain?’ said Nem­etus.

‘Vibrations.’ Aeschelus slapped his gauntleted hand against the arm of the command throne, the plasteel resonating from the blow. ‘Navigator, do we still have angular momentum carried from realspace?’

There was a pause of several seconds before Kosa replied.

‘As far as I can tell, the potential and kinetic energy is still caught within the Geller bubble. Yes. I would say that we do. But we have no way of using it inside warp space.’

Aeschelus ignored the Navigator’s assessment and continued with his train of thought.

‘And we are in the othersea? There is warp-stuff surrounding us, it is simply not moving.’

‘It is more complex than that, captain. You can’t think of the warp as a substa–’

‘Are we in the warp or not?’ snapped Aeschelus.

‘We are,’ said the Navigator.

‘What would happen if Astropath Fedualis transmitted a message?’

‘Nothing. Like the Astronomican, his thoughts move with the flow of the warp.’

‘Nothing at all? His message just disappears?’

‘Not disappears… Dissipates would be a more accurate description.’ The Navigator let out a wordless, contemplative noise. ‘Any effect on the warp would be so localised it would not help.’

‘Not enough to create traction for a translation?’ asked Praxa­medes, catching on to Aeschelus’ idea.

‘No,’ the Navigator replied bluntly. ‘There would be a faint rippling effect, but that would be absorbed by the dispersing Geller field as we dropped back to realspace. We would rebound from the Impossibility Boundary.’

Aeschelus started to move around the strategium, flexing his muscles in the hope that it would help in flexing his brain matter. He was sure he was on to something, but could not isolate the concept.

‘Rather than translate, could we use that effect as propulsion?’ suggested Nem­etus.

‘Not for long,’ answered Kosa, her tone miserable. ‘I am not sure Fedualis would be able to sustain a transmission state for any useful period. It would be like shouting at full volume without pause for breath. And where would we go? Without the power to translate, we are still prevented from returning to realspace.’

‘Captain, I have Astropath Fedualis requesting access to the strategium,’ announced the deck officer attending to the portal controls. ‘He wishes to speak to you.’

‘Let him in,’ replied Aeschelus. It was highly irregular for non-Chapter personnel to approach the bridge. Navigators, tech-priests and other Adeptus Terra functionaries kept to their own quarters.