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Back Stringers Save as PDF
Chapters (64)
  1. FRONT COVER
  2. TITLE PAGE
  3. DEDICATION
  4. CHAPTER ONE
  5. CHAPTER TWO
  6. CHAPTER THREE
  7. CHAPTER FOUR
  8. CHAPTER FIVE
  9. CHAPTER SIX
  10. CHAPTER SEVEN
  11. CHAPTER EIGHT
  12. CHAPTER NINE
  13. CHAPTER TEN
  14. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  15. CHAPTER TWELVE
  16. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  17. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  18. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  19. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  20. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  21. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  22. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  23. CHAPTER TWENTY
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  33. CHAPTER THIRTY
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  43. CHAPTER FORTY
  44. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  45. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  53. CHAPTER FIFTY
  54. CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
  55. CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
  56. CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
  57. CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
  58. CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
  59. CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
  60. CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
  61. CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
  62. CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
  63. CHAPTER SIXTY
  64. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

“I got dredged too! I don’t know anything...” reported Patton from the rear. I gave him a quick glance. He’d remembered to grab Pickles.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Naecia wasn’t really thinking about the chunks of Scythin that had begun to assemble around them into larger creatures. She was working through the question of why they had come apart in the first place. It was like Aptat had said: they’d gone to sleep. And it seemed their loss of consciousness had coincided with the moment of Silent Child’s arrival.

Her hypothesis was as obvious as it was wondrous. The Switch had reconstituted the Silent Child using the substance of the Fray, which was formed of consciousness itself. Every last thread of it had been sucked out of the Timelance, including that of the Scythin, Oush, Ben, and Patton. Thankfully it had only been temporary, and they hadn’t turned into unthinking meat shells, though she would have preferred that for Ben. It seemed that the Fray behaved much like spilt water and the Switch like a sponge. When touched to the water, it absorbed all that surrounded it. Once pulled away, water seeped back in to fill the void. Why it had seemed to affect the Scythin more profoundly, she couldn’t say.

“We have to go faster!” yelled Ben, yanking Naecia out of her thought.

He was limping quickly along. Far thinner and dirtier than he’d been back on the Child. That, and the two friends seemed to have sprouted synthetic tails.

Most of the chunks had now joined with other chunks to form full-sized creatures. Big, wicked-looking things that flashed with bursts of color. They continuously changed their configurations, with each individual morphing back and forth into confusing shapes.

“This is what they do before merging,” yelled Ben. “That’s bad. They’ll destroy the Silent Child in seconds.”

“The ship is too far for you all,” said Aptat, glancing back to where the reassembled Scythin were already proceeding into the mist. “Ben: do you know how to stop them?”

“They’ll determine their form through murmuration,” he said. “It’s a mass flocking behavior seen in some animals – like birds. It’s how they communicate when in the group.”

“And?” asked Aptat.

“They need to be in contact with some minimum number of other individuals in order to stay in-pattern. The only way to delay them from merging is to disrupt the murmuration. But I don’t know how to do that.”

Already the flocking had begun, and a leathery tumult of bodies began swarming.

Aptat spun around. “You get to the ship! I’ll go ask them to kindly delay their ceremony!” Aptat plucked four Vortu grenades from Naecia’s suit and galloped away.