“Hold on. Mmm… yes. I am currently flying it in small loop-de-loops.”

“The station didn’t blast it out of the sky. Didn’t reach out and grab it, either. That’s two promising outcomes. Let’s move in.”

Elena would have gripped the arms of her chair tightly if it had arms, but it was a cushion full of smart-gel just like the jumpseats on the Raven. The seat could be firm or more yielding as needed, but it was hardly built for luxury, and it was currently about as comfortable as the chair in a principal’s office when you were in trouble in middle school.

There was almost no sensation of movement, but the Axiom station got bigger in the window. Elena couldn’t see it all at once. Before long the crazy ragged tangle of crossing and intersecting and overlapping tubular structures filled their screen. “Where did your ship enter, Elena?” Callie said.

She tried to think back. “Are we coming at the station from the same side the Anjou approached on?”

“Uh, maybe?” Ashok said. “It’s the same side you departed from, anyway. I jumped us a few kilometers straight out from the position where the Anjou jumped.”

“Then… I think, there, the lower-most segment, on the left?”

“That’s our docking location, then,” Callie said. “Right on the edge, like the last trailing root on a plant. Moving in. Prepare to be snatched up and sucked in and torn apart by welderbots.”

The canoe got closer, and closer, and closer, and then Callie cut thrust and maneuvered them broadside to the station. They were within a hundred meters of the structure, but the station was entirely inert. “Were you closer than this when it grabbed you, Elena?”

“Absolutely not. Much farther out.”

“So it either doesn’t recognize us as a ship, or this is another change to their protocol.”

“Do we get to cut it open?” Ashok said.

“I do have a wonderful array of implements in this body,” Shall said.

“What do you think, Lantern? Any advice on how to get in?”

“You will not be able to breach the walls with your tools. But it should be fairly easy to open from the inside. The Liars worked in such places, once upon a time, and there will be an interior panel I can manipulate.”

“Ah, so to get inside, we just have to get inside first? Brilliant. I’m so glad I brought you along.”

“You have my personal point-to-point wormhole generator. That is the only way to get inside.” Lantern’s tone was matter-of-fact, which impressed Elena. She would have been tempted to sound a little snide.

“Oh. Right. The old triple-pee-double-you-gee. I just enter the distance I want to go, right?”

“I am happy to make the journey if you wish,” Lantern said.