Nirann looked closely at Wallace as well for a few moments, or at least he appeared to be looking at her. Eventually, he gave a shrug as he answered. “If I could figure that out, I would be a hero. Well…even [i]more[/i] of a hero.” He only tilted his head slightly, but it would be easy to imagine him grinning with his tone. 

Marae’s sigh seemed expected at this point, but regardless of his approach, she did agree with the point Nirann had been making. “I think we all wish we could say more about them, but there are just too many unknowns. And, well, wild speculation is more dangerous than useful. My husband does have a point, though. The Rothian people could help accelerate every part of our efforts far more than we are right now. We could bring in more resources, more specialists, better computers. And we could help with all this other trouble too. Evacuations could go much faster with our help. We may not yet be sure what is or is not true about the Cradle, but the possibility of a major threat to us has made this project a priority for the Rahn’Saki. That much I do know. We could make a lot more progress with those kinds of resources, but we need to get through all of this…what is the phrase? Red tape.”