She left his bunk with a head full of static. A headache was beginning to throb behind her eyes, as if a leech had attached itself to the inside of her skull. She lay down on her hard cot—Natalya and Hunter had not returned to the room yet—and drew the flap of her foil thermal blanket up to her chin. So much new information, she thought. She had to take time to process and adjust her frame of reference. Eos was not just a place to live and explore. It was the site of something momentous, like the first flyby of a Planck star. Something that could change their understanding of physics—of the universe—itself. How did she feel about that? She didn’t know. She didn’t know if she’d felt much of anything, even when she still believed it was just the site of a future colony. Had anything changed? Her role was still the same. The job they’d hired her for was still the same. That they’d lied to her—and the non-conscripted others—didn’t play into it. She could understand their reasons, rationally. Couldn’t she?

What would happen if it were all true? she wondered then. If understanding this anomaly really could help things on Earth, if it could make terraforming easier? What if they could “fold” acid oceans, sulfur deserts—the barren traverses of space? Manipulate and merge dimensions, topographies, and reshape them as they pleased?

Dangerous, was her first thought. Dangerous, dangerous. It was the power gods wielded.

And yet . . .

What could never be settled before could be a blank canvas now. Humanity could spread to all corners of the galaxy. And they were due for the next big leap in technological advancement. Since the ISF had invented the lambda engine and faster-than-light travel, decades ago, things had slowed to a technological crawl—except for the increments by which androids and artificial intelligence improved. People on Earth were so preoccupied with coming up with ways to combat the Comeback—with preserving things before they were lost to the plants—that they hadn’t been able to do more than survive for years. This anomaly could be far more important than a single colony mission. She shouldn’t be insulted by the deception. Their discoveries here could change things for the human race on a grand scale.

If it worked the way they hoped it did, she thought. If it wasn’t just another dud, like the Icarus Stargate or the ansible. If they weren’t courting disaster just by being here.

If. If. If.