The ships’ telescopes weren’t the largest—neither the Wallfish nor the Darmstadt were scientific vessels—and given the distance, the resolution of the images wasn’t the highest. But Kira did her best, examining each one for anything that seemed familiar.

Unfortunately, nothing struck a chord. There was evidence of habitation (helpfully outlined for her by Gregorovich and Horzcha Ubuto): faint lines that might be roads or canals along a section of the northern hemisphere, but nothing notable.

She lost herself in the images, barely paying attention to her surroundings. When she went to drink the chell, it was already cold, which annoyed her. She sipped at it anyway.

The door to the galley scraped open, and Trig entered. “Hey,” he said. “Did you see what Gregorovich found?”

Kira blinked, slightly disoriented as she cleared her overlays. “No. What?”

“Here.” He bounced over to her table and activated the built-in display. An image popped up of what appeared to be part of a space station, now broken and abandoned. The shape of it resembled no human-made structure. It was long and jagged, like a length of natural-grown crystal. The station obviously hadn’t spun in order to create a sense of weight for its inhabitants. That meant either they had artificial gravity or the aliens hadn’t minded spending their time in zero-g.

“Well,” said Kira slowly. “I think we know one thing.”

“Yeah?” said the kid.

“It sure doesn’t look like the ships the Jellies or the nightmares are building these days. Either they’ve changed styles, or—”

“Another species.” Trig beamed, as if this was the best piece of news ever. “The Vanished, right? The captain told me.”

“That’s right.” She cocked her head. “You’re enjoying this, huh?”

“Because it’s cool!” He poked at the display. “How many alien civilizations do you think are out there? In the whole galaxy, that is.”

“I have no idea.… Where did Gregorovich find the station?”

“Floating in the Dyson ring.”

Kira drained the last of her chell. “How’s your wrist, by the way?” The kid didn’t have a cast anymore.

Trig rolled his hand in a circle. “All better now. Doc says he wants to see me again in a few weeks, real time, but other than that, I’m good to go.”

“Glad to hear it.”

The kid went to get some food, and Kira returned to studying the survey images of planet e. There was already a new batch waiting for her.

The work wasn’t so different from the prep they’d done before arriving at Adrasteia. Out of habit, Kira found herself scanning for evidence of flora and fauna. There was oxygen in the atmosphere, which was encouraging, and nitrogen too. Thermal imaging seemed to show what might be areas of vegetation near the terminator line, but as with all tidally locked planets, it was difficult to be sure given the screwy atmospheric convections.

While she worked, the crew came in and out of the galley. Kira exchanged a few words with them, but for the most part, she kept her focus on the pictures. Nielsen never appeared, and she wondered if the first officer was still ill from cryo.