“Besides, we’ll have one of Cam’s lot watching over us, like a mothership,” Lee pointed out. “It’ll be like Star Trek. And you’ll be able to talk to us wherever we are, right? You’ve got the tech for that.”

There was already a network of Nissa expeditions, spanning many different Earths. It was part of a programme they’d been pushing for generations. Of all the different civilizations that had arisen, on all the different Earths, only the Nissa had grown up from barbarism to civilization knowing that they weren’t alone. There were colossal machines across the Nissa’s home world that could open portals with the expenditure of vast quantities of energy. Other machines drew energy from the world tree, from the interaction between its branches that could power everything they needed.

This begged one question that Lee had been mulling over. “If the first plan had gone through, and all the worlds had been separated, what would that have done to your people, Stig?”

His eyes swivelled about, the usual embarrassed-looking act the Nissa put on. “Nothing good,” he said at last, spreading his big hands. “Lose a lot of what we have, probably. Lights going out, transport stops, still a little power coming in but mostly we have to make do without.”

“Nobody said that. Ever,” Lee pointed out. “Murther, Auruthmer and you—you never said, ‘We can’t do this, it’ll destroy us.’ ”

“We thought, if we don’t do it, everything gets destroyed. Where’s the choice, then? But this is better. Thanks to Dr. Khan. And you.”

It was Lee’s turn to feel awkward, but she was saved by a sudden drop in temperature. Rain turned to sleet in a column of air three metres across. The shimmering figure of Charen Volkovska appeared, hazy as a ghost. She seemed simultaneously bounded within that circle and far, far away along some ethereal axis. Mal and Lee were getting their outward fare paid this way, without drawing on the Nissa’s reserves of power.

“Are you ready?” Her voice was faint, but the dashes of sleet seemed to shiver with the rhythm of her words.

“Good to go,” Mal confirmed.

“Then your carriage awaits.”

Lee still wasn’t sure about Volkovska. Whether she was still human or not at all. Perhaps her final translation into the ice meant they were communicating with something completely other, her image as shallow a mask as Cam’s dangling avatar.

Mal gripped her hand tightly. “Shall we?”

As Lee nodded, Charen raised a wisp of a hand. “I should warn you. In recent days, my hosts have begun to take notice. They’ve realized their work has been involved in affairs beyond its original purpose.”

Lee took a moment to disentangle her words. “You mean the fish-people are waking up?”