New pictures kept tumbling in, and as the spaceships grew closer to planet e, the resolution improved. Mid-afternoon, ship time, Kira received a message from the Darmstadt saying:

Of interest?—Horzcha Ubuto

Attached was an image from the southern hemisphere that showed a complex of buildings secreted in a fold of protective mountains, smack-dab in the middle of the terminator. At the sight of it, Kira felt a chill of ancient memories: fear, uncertainty, and the sadness born of regret. And she saw the Highmost ascend a pedestal, bright in the dawn everlasting—

A small gasp escaped her, and Kira felt a sudden certainty. She swallowed hard before opening a line to Falconi. “I found it. Or … I found something.”

“Show me.” After studying the map, he said, “Seems like I keep asking this, but—are you sure?”

“As I said before we left: as sure as I can be.”

“Okay. I’ll talk with Akawe.” The line clicked dead.

Kira made herself another cup of chell and warmed her hands around it while she waited.

Not ten minutes later, Falconi’s voice sounded over the intercom throughout the ship: “Listen up, everyone. Change of plans. We have a destination on planet e, courtesy of Kira. We’re going to do a burn straight there and drop off Kira and a team to check out the location while the Wallfish and the Darmstadt continue back out to the asteroid belt to refuel. It’ll only take four or five hours to reach the belt, so the ships won’t be too far away if we’re needed. Over and out.”

3.

Kira returned to Control and stayed there for the rest of the afternoon, watching as new discoveries continued to pop up on their screens. There were scores of artificial structures throughout the system, both on the planets and in space: monuments to a lost civilization. None appeared to have power. By the gas giant floated the hull of what looked to be a ship. By planet e, a cluster of junked satellites parked in what would have been a geostationary orbit if the planet hadn’t been tidally locked. And of course, there was the Dyson ring (if that’s what it was), which seemed to be filled with technological relics.

“This place—” said Veera.

“—is a treasure house beyond compare,” finished Jorrus.

Kira agreed. “We’ll be studying it for centuries. Do you think these were the aliens who made the Great Beacon?”

The Entropists inclined their heads. “Perhaps. It very well could be.”

Dinner that night was a subdued, informal affair. No one bothered cooking; everyone’s stomach but Kira’s was still in a delicate state from cryo. As a result, it was prepackaged rations across the board, which made for a monotonous, if healthy, meal.

The Marines still didn’t join them. Nor did Nielsen. The first officer’s absence was conspicuous; without her quiet, steady presence, the conversation around the tables was sharper, more hard-edged.

“Tomorrow,” said Vishal, “I would like to see you, Ms. Sparrow, for a checkup. It is necessary to make sure your new organs are working well.”