We waited just long enough for the party to step out onto the surface, although even with the telescopes there was nothing we could see of that. After a few minutes Rackamore said that they’d found Loftling’s entrance, and that Mattice was already following Loftling’s guidelines on opening the lock.

At the door to the bone room, before we spun the wheel, we experienced a moment of collective hesitation, a silent exchange of looks, both of us knowing that we had to push aside our doubts and rise to the moment. My throat was dry, my hands clammy.

I spun the wheel and we went inside.

Without Cazaray to squeeze some of the space out of the room, the skull seemed larger. I moved around it as if seeing it for the first time, picking my way through the loom of supporting strings, wondering again at the long-dead creature that had once owned these bones.

‘I’ll start at one end,’ Adrana said, taking the two sets of neural bridges from the wall. ‘You the other. If we meet in the middle without getting anything, we’ll know no one’s sending.’

I took the pins from my hair so that I could flatten it close to my scalp, and put on the neural bridge, jamming it down as tight as possible. I plugged in, closed my eyes, and emptied my thoughts. There was nothing from the peripheral input. I gave it long enough to be sure, then moved along to the next location. The skull quivered in its springs. Adrana moved her input at the same time as mine, disturbing the skull no more than necessary.

Nothing on the second nodes, for either of us.

We opened our eyes, met each other’s gaze, nodded, carried on.

On the third I felt a prickle.

‘Something . . .’ I whispered.

‘What?’

‘Quiet.’ I should have kept my trap shut – Cazaray would have chastised me for that – but the prickle was still there. Something was sending, or trying to send. But the signal was weak.

‘I’m moving to the next input. It might be stronger.’

‘All right,’ Adrana said doubtfully.

I uncoupled, plugged in again. The contact was clearer this time. I shivered a little.

‘Better?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then tell me what you’re getting.’

‘It’s not clear yet.’ I was speaking and trying to hold my mind empty at the same time. ‘Let me work on it.’

‘Is it near or far?’

‘I can’t tell. Chaff it – let me concentrate.’

I moved to the next node. Nothing coming through on that one. I returned to the previous site. The signal was still there, but I was pretty sure it had got fainter.

‘Well?’ my sister demanded.

‘I don’t know. It’s not as strong.’

‘Let me try.’

‘Because you’re always better than me?’

‘In this case – yes.’