“Not just invisible—or nearly so—but also as silent as I can get it. Its propellers oscillate randomly through a series of imitative patterns: seawater bubbling, the fin of a fish, the scuttle of a crab—breaking up and repeatedly altering its sound is a second kind of camouflage. It should be chemically neutral as well: shouldn’t smell like anything but seawater. Maybe a slight mineral variation, but hopefully nothing that would attract attention. Light penetrates into that first space, but farther in it will be dark. The night vision on this submersible might work for the areas beyond, but not in total darkness. But I don’t think they would be living much in the dark: Their communications require light, right?”

“What we’ve seen does, yes. Of course, we don’t know much about any other methods they might have—they might do some of their communicating via chemicals.”

“I didn’t equip the submersible with a floodlight: that would reveal its location, and it would be destroyed like the first one was.”

“Thank you,” Ha said. “It’s incredible. And I think this will help us learn more about them. If anything, it’s much less intrusive. Maybe we can see how they speak with one another, at the least.”

“You don’t need to thank me. It’s my mission, too, after all,” Altantsetseg said. “It’s no use keeping us all alive and safe if we don’t learn anything. Besides, I want to meet her. The octopus.”

“You do?”

“Yes.” Altantsetseg laughed. It was the first time Ha had heard her laugh. “She reminds me of myself.”

When they exited the module, Evrim was on the terrace. Behind Evrim were two automonks. One of them was missing an arm.

“Those aren’t supposed to be here,” Altantsetseg growled. “They aren’t allowed outside the boundaries of the temples and turtle sanctuary.” Then she looked at the damaged automonk. “What happened?”

“These … things…,” Evrim said, “were at the road perimeter. They say they need our assistance. They require the use of your emergency beacon to send a message.”

“You aren’t supposed to be here,” Altantsetseg said to the automonks. “You are out of bounds. This is DIANIMA property.”

The monks bowed.

Altantsetseg turned to Evrim. “What happened?”

“There appears to have been an attack,” Evrim said. “On the temple.”

“By?”

“Monkeys, if I understand correctly.”

Altantsetseg went into the module, leaving Ha and Evrim with the automonks on the terrace. One of them, the one missing an arm, lifted its head and regarded Ha with its glossy honey-and-black light receptors.

“Does it not worry you?”

“Sorry?” Ha said. “Does what not worry me?”

“This place.”

“The islands? No. I have been here before.”

“Not the islands,” the other automonk said. “This place. The hotel.”

“Why should it worry me?”

“They say it was haunted,” the first automonk said. “So haunted that it was abandoned, long before the islands were sold.”