“The book is more positive than I am about the potential for communication with a culture-bearing species. It had to be: that was the book’s job. It was meant to encourage research into the problem, not to make people give up on it. But the problem is enormous. There may be a thousand false starts and misinterpretations before we are able to pass a meaningful sentence between us. I could spend a lifetime on the island, working out these problems, and die with my work unfinished.”

“I hope,” Dr. Mínervudóttir-Chan said, “I am able to give you that opportunity.”

“How much time do we have?”

“I wish I knew. But I haven’t had word from outside since I stepped out of the hexcopter. We’ve determined that incoming signals are also dangerous. We can’t afford the risk. So I am as isolated as you. No signals out, no signals in. Altantsetseg has an emergency beacon and the local-level control mechanisms of her security network dampened so they don’t reach much farther than our perimeter. This is, in every sense, an island, cut off from the world.”

“Then who is running DIANIMA?” Ha asked.

“It’s as I told you—none of that ever mattered to me. The business end of things. I haven’t had any day-to-day control over DIANIMA for a decade or more. I’m not stupid enough to think my talent for minds translates to a talent for business. DIANIMA is in the competent hands of the people who most know how to save it. If they can, we have all the time they can buy us here. If they can’t, nothing will save this place. Part of leading is knowing how to place one’s trust in the proper hands.”

“I can’t imagine you trusting anyone,” Evrim said. “It’s never been your strong point.”

“I’m learning, Evrim. I know that for security, there is no one better than Altantsetseg. I wouldn’t trust myself with securing this island, certainly. Likewise, for financial wizardry, DIANIMA has people who are among the best in the world. If they can’t keep us from being consumed by our enemies, nobody can. Certainly not me. The company’s financial fate will be determined elsewhere. Let’s turn our minds to the problem in front of us. How do we cross the chasm?”

“While all of you were sleeping,” Evrim said, “I came up with a few theories.”

“Tell them to us,” Ha said. “All I did last night was have nightmares.”

“What kind of nightmares?” Dr. Mínervudóttir-Chan asked.

“One of them involved the octopus shoving the coral man into my eye socket until it entered my brain. Pleasant things like that.”

“It’s the pressure of all of this.”

“Perhaps.”

“It is,” Dr. Mínervudóttir-Chan said. “Take it from me: I’ve had nightmares all my life. Show us what you have come up with, Evrim.”