Reaching into the pod, I removed the bodysuit, then lifted her out of the container. Her flesh was as cold as it had been the day I rescued her from the Antarctic ice sheet. Carrying her over to the surgical suite. I laid her down on the operating table—and the giant claw above our heads immediately animated! Surgical lights ignited, scalpels became rigid, the digits of the telescopic robotic hand opened—before everything powered off and went limp.

ABE, what just happened?

A POWER SURGE.

What about Dharma?

DHARMA YUAN IS IN A VEGETATIVE STATE.

No shit. Will she recover?

NOT WITHOUT MEDICAL ASSISTANCE.

Instruct me.

THE CRYOGENIC CHAMBER IS NOT EQUIPPED FOR SUCH A PROCEDURE. HOWEVER, OSCAR’S ECHOLOCATION CAN SUITABLY REPAIR THE NEUROLOGICAL DAMAGE TO DHARMA YUAN’S BRAIN AND CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM.

My arm … I forgot. Oscar fixed it.

OSCAR ALSO REPAIRED THE DAMAGE TO ROBERT EISENBRAUN’S BRAIN. How do you know that?

EACH EPISODE OF NEURAL CAVITATION LEAVES A SIGNATURE TRACE IN THE MIDBRAIN AND FRONTAL CORTEX. THE FIRST SIGNATURE TRACE OCCURRED JUST BEFORE ROBERT EISENBRAUN WAS REVIVED.

Wait. If that’s true, then Oscar would have had to have been inside Oceanus just after I woke up.

CORRECT. IT WAS OSCAR WHO FREED ROBERT EISENBRAUN FROM THE CRYOGENIC POD.

You’re wrong. The staircase collapsed on my pod, that’s what freed me.

INCORRECT. THE ANGLE, WEIGHT, AND RATE OF DESCENT WERE INSUFFICIENT TO HAVE GENERATED THE FORCES NECESSARY TO CRACK OPEN THE CRYOGENIC POD. OSCAR FREED ROBERT EISENBRAUN.

I had a million questions, but Dharma was the priority, her breathing erratic. Turning to Oscar, I extended my hand to the cephaloped—who hesitated before taking it in one of its suckers.

My friend is dying. Please … whatever you did to fix me … fix her.

The squid released my hand and fled the chamber.

OSCAR REFUSES.

So I gathered. Why?

HUMAN FEMALES KILLED OSCAR’S THREE MATES.

Christ … I checked Dharma’s pulse. Her heartbeat was as unstable as her breathing, her pupils dilated and unresponsive. With Oscar as her only hope, I gathered the naked female in my arms and exited the chamber.

The cephaloped was long gone.

I followed the corridor to the next open stateroom, then stopped to drag a wool blanket from a pile of mildewed belongings and wrapped Dharma in the quilt … then froze when I heard a terrifying sound coming from down the hall.

The bee colony had infested the galley. I could hear their low-pitched, agitated buzzzzzzzz, their numbers too frightening to imagine.

I backed away as quietly and quickly as possible, then turned and sprinted down the circular hall, clutching Dharma to my chest as I heard the swarm enter the corridor to give chase.