Since the Cradle had never permitted flight over a certain altitude, the area colonised by Humans had a road network more reminiscent of Earth than Outremer. The last six months had re-energised a military industrial complex previously engrossed by spaceships to deliver first-class land vehicles for CraSec. The convoys waiting to take the teams in different directions used state of the art hover-mobility. Instead of wheels, the vehicles had powerful magnetic emitters which kept them just a few feet off the road.

Freyr almost didn’t realise they were vehicles in her groggy state. Even the tanks at either end of the column were almost completely silent. She let Osman chuck her into the back of an armoured car, next to Dr Girard and behind Vreta and Agent 595. The Major then jogged around the back and got into the opposite passenger seat. “Ok, allons’y! Package secure. Callsign Tangier, you have a green light to proceed.” With just a gentle hum, the convoy began powering forwards out of the checkpoint.

Osman checked the clock on her HUD. They were running behind schedule already. She turned around in her seat to check out the passengers behind her. “Everybody alright? There is water in the door compartment.” 595 leaned forward and threw up again on her armoured feet. She followed up by spitting out a wad of phlegm, then wiping her mouth. “It’s kicking my butt, what was that?”

Dr Girard pulled the stopper out of one of the water bottles and placed it in Freyr’s shaking hands. “We talked about this as a possibility; that the Cradle and the Object could communicate through us in a more immediate way, like neurons moving through a synapse. You all went inside the Object on Rothia, correct?” 

The convoy took a sharp right, heading off the square and onto one of New Antioch’s main artery roads. Freyr drank deeply from the bottle, then, feeling hot, she poured some on her upturned face. She wasn’t listening to anyone in the car; she was still trying to figure out the voice, or feeling, that’d washed over her in those few seconds back in the tent. Why did it feel so familiar?