Wiping away the headache tears and refocusing on the display, I stared at a figure and then applied its afterimage to the next, then repeated this again and again. The phenomenon continued. The shapes were made more complete when combined with the afterimage of the one that had come before. They weren’t always oriented correctly, but I could rotate the newer images on the glass until they fit with the previous. Suddenly the shapes were larger, understandable as components. It felt like a breakthrough.

But a breakthrough of what? I was combining shapes to build a larger picture that I couldn’t keep in my head longer than a few seconds. Thousands of figures appeared and disappeared. I built small units of two, and sometimes three, by combining an image on the glass with one of the dual units I’d just built with the afterimages, only to have it dissipate seconds later. I just didn’t have the RAM.85 In fact, my whole system was overloading. I’d lost all concept of time. Ugh. Suddenly, I needed out.

I shut my eyes to break the connection with the dredge, but even in the blackness of my mind, I could see the patterns dancing vividly overhead. It was still connected to my brain. I needed to decouple. Images flew onto the glass, stuffing my visual cortex. I lost control. My mind was a runaway conveyor belt, a thousand car pileup.

I barfed. Straight up in the air like Old Reliable. The geyser sprayed the lid then returned to my face, where it aspirated into my lungs. I coughed and hacked against the breathed-in watery puke. The canopy lifted away.

“I threw up in my eyes!”

The Scythin reached in and effortlessly lifted me out.

Save us. Gone is the Bloom of God.

“I don’t even understand how this thing works yet!” I gagged, dragging my fingers over my eyelids, trying to blink them clear.

The dredge is a mirror.

“Of what?” I said, getting one eye open and fighting the urge to boot again.

Read the reflections for the Note of Jecca.

“The shapes?”

Imprints reflected for you to see.

“I don’t recognize anything being shown to me.”

You will.

“There’s a million reflections down there. How am supposed to keep track of all that? I don’t even know what it is.”

Nectar. They grabbed me by the arm and pushed me toward the door.

“Oh,” I said, feeling my heartrate spike and a rush of blood to the face. “Yes, the nectar will help.” Suddenly, I couldn’t have cared less that my head was covered in vomit. The only thought now was of having my tummy tube reconnected to the holy source.