Passing through them, I could not help but feel that Jak’s ambition to enable the little creatures to adapt so that they could tolerate a brighter, warmer habitat and thereby be able to be relocated so they could consume and transform tainted matter in drier terrain, while understandable, stemmed from the same belief that had led humans to bring the world to the brink of destruction in the first place: the notion that we had the right to change the world and anything in it to suit our needs. Perhaps this belief was connected to the fact that although animals could live completely in the moment, we humans seemed to live almost entirely in our imaginings of the future or our regrets over the past. For if one dwelt completely in a moment, there was no room for thinking about changing it. There was only acceptance.

The gleaming colony came to an end as the base of the rift began to slope steeply upward, and only then did I realise we were no longer walking through water.

The darkness became complete the next time the rift changed direction, but I did not worry about Gahltha stumbling. Aside from the fact that he and all of the other beasts had far keener eyesight than me, he had an awareness of his surroundings that far surpassed mine, another advantage of living fully in the moment perhaps. It struck me that Dameon also possessed an uncanny awareness of his surroundings, and I wondered if the empath had developed the same ability as beasts because his blindness required him to pay attention more profoundly to the things around him.

Suddenly my stomach rumbled loudly, and I could not help but grin at the thought that a humble bodily appetite could also bring you into the present. I turned and dug out another of Javo’s food packages and this time when I offered it, both Maruman and Darga accepted several morsels. I apologised to Gahltha, who gave the equine equivalent of a shrug, saying that he had grazed well that morning.

Tilting my head to drink some of the water from my gourd, I saw light ahead again, but it was too pale and bright to be coming from more of the taint-devouring creatures. We had not gone much further before I saw that the rift had again opened to the sky. Then Gahltha broke into a trot. I stoppered the gourd hastily, thrusting it into my vest, and caught hold of Gahltha’s mane. Seeing that the ground ahead sloped steeply up, it occurred to me with a thrill of excitement that the crack overhead was not merely an opening, but the way out.