Freyr thanked the big robot, but quickly got annoyed when Nirann didn’t let her go. “Put me down!” Freyr wiggled her limbs until she touched the floor again. “I’ve noticed your kind love to manhandle.” She chuckled. “Lead on, I can walk behind. Let's go out onto those floating platforms.” 

Faced with this freedom of choice on where to go, the scientist felt a pang of guilt. Her team were still stuck inside, and her family were still missing. A wave of emotion bubbled up from her core to her throat, and Freyr clamped her jaw in place to fight it back. [i]We’re networking, with Wallace, to continue the mission. Just please relax[/i] She assured herself.

As they slowly navigated the flotilla, moving toward the stage, Freyr realised that each platform may have been primarily a collection of loosely affiliated friendship groups. Or cliques - some of the groups looked quite different from one another. While a lot of people were on the move, an equal amount of people were stood dancing together, yelling conversation into each other’s ears. The spine of a few platforms was raised, producing a few bits of seating which at the moment was swamped.

“What we just talked about back there - seems like an interesting lead, no?” Freyr yelled, looking back at the orb. Wallace was lost in the throng, but the ship was still putting on a light show.
[hr]
A few miles away, a man in a suit leaned against the bonnet of his car in a quiet parking space. He pressed long range binoculars against his eyes and scanned the concert as it unfolded some way along the shoreline. Vapour rose and disappeared into the night from a stim-stick hanging from his lips. After a moment, his gaze returned to the mostly-submerged craft at the edge of the flotilla, then zoomed in further to watch the trio of obfuscated shapes moving through the crowd.