It hadn’t been cold before. She understood now that her assessment had been a foolish human foible, born of a comfortable life in a temperate climate. The trees had vanished too. She was now staggering drunkenly along the floor of a narrow canyon, and either side of her rose walls of ice. Light shone down from high above, a weak sun that felt as though it was twice as far away as it should be. And Lee thought helplessly, Is this fucking Mars? Europa? She took in a whooping breath of air that lived a long way on the wrong side of freezing, feeling as though someone had rammed an icy knife through both lungs.

She managed another few steps before she was on her knees, which stuck to the ice below her. Her body was shivering frantically, trying to generate warmth, but she reckoned “warmth” was something this place hadn’t seen since maybe forever. She could hear her pursuers behind her, but reckoned they all had other things to worry about right now.

She forced her eyes open, feeling her tears freeze. The ice wall closest to her shimmered and moved—no, something was moving within it, fracture lines and cracks tracing the passage of unimaginable mechanisms.

She was on her side now, though she couldn’t remember how. The cold seemed to be gone, although part of her was aware that her ability to feel it had withered away. This was a bad sign. Probably. Almost a relief, not being able to do anything about her impending demise. Her only regret was that she had finally been shown the true weird heart of things, and she would never know how it worked or what was going on…

She had wanted to see Mal.

Before the end.

Still, never mind.

Then huge hands lifted her up, and she stared into a shimmering faceplate. It didn’t seem to be made of anything more substantial than rainbows and dreams. Behind it was a broad, robustly ugly face, a man—no, a woman? It had a wide mouth and heavy, overhanging brows.

Something happened, and she wasn’t in the cold place anymore. The shift into the warm July she distantly remembered was shocking, and agony to her fingers and toes. She was on the ground—no, on a carpeted floor—and her rescuer was doing something…medical to her?