I placed myself in the fungal quarter and summoned pieces that belonged there. It was a little difficult to keep it all in order because my knowledge of Kingdom Fungi was so limited. Thanks to Patton – oh, Patton, my friend, forgive me – and his underground, drug-farming Aunt Lisa, I was able to round out my organizational system with the names of the magic mushroom strains he liked to bring along to spice up our fishing trips. He considered himself a pothead more than a psychonaut, but the monotony of fishing often required more colorful stuff. Liberty caps. Flying Saucer. Philosopher’s Stone. Florida White. Wavy Caps. Blue Meanies. Blue Ringer. Blue Foot. Pajaritos. Golden Teacher.

The Blue Quadrant, Fungi, was thusly organized according to fungus drugs.

I pulled back from Blue and felt for missing pieces. Reflections streamed up to me and I placed them into the structure. My pulse quickened as I gathered and ordered a series of clusters for Yellow, threw them where they belonged, connecting here, lengthening there. I was racing now. Within seconds, I collected the parts for a huge energy generation module constructed from one thousand, three-hundred and nineteen separate reflections, and fit it precisely where I knew it would go. I built feverishly, forgetting to breath. I was a termite, an ant, a bee, conjuring the hive.

And then it went warm. No, hot. The entire superstructure glowed, forcing me to avert the gaze of my mind’s eye.

I heard the blood swishing through each ear. Cheeks flushed. I saw the build as if I was looking at it through a window. But I saw more than that. I saw through it. I saw it moving and working. Functioning. This place. The Chime is here. This place. This place called–

“Aszerat!” I cried out, blown free of my trance. “Aszerat!” I yelled again, pounding the glass. Aszerat. I screamed the name over and over. The lid opened and I flew past Jezzer and over to the neighboring dredge.

Aszerat? Jezzer questioned.

“Yes! Whatever the fuck that is. Get him out!” I hammered on the glass. “Patton!”

Jezzer calmly disengaged the machine and the lid’s segments opened.

Patton’s eyes were wide and dull. Short breaths hitched through his clenched teeth, his chest rising and falling like a machine caught in a loop.

I reached in and lifted him out – oh, he was so light. His legs buckled. “Help me get him up! He needs tube food, he needs nectar!”

Jezzer just stood there.

“Aszerat is as big as a fucking moon, and if you think I’m gonna dig around for one more second trying to find the Chime in there, you got another thing coming, motherfucker! Find it your goddamned self!” I held Patton under his arms. “Let us out!”