"I don't know who's watching this," Via's grandmother continued. The recording seemed so realistic that she could have been standing in Via's bedroom. "But if you're someone who knew and loved me, then I'm so sorry for what you must be going through right now."

Inky darkness surrounded the old woman, but a strange light shone from her forehead. Via squinted, then smiled as she recognized Kaitlyn's favorite headlamp, the one the woman always took into the field when collecting samples of night-side flora.

Kaitlyn ran a hand through braided white hair, revealing the delicate silver wristband that the unmodified woman had used to command nanites. "It feels strange to offer condolences for my own death, but I do." Her eyes softened. "I'm so sorry I'm not there with you anymore. Know that I love you dearly."

Via's jaw trembled, and fresh tears spilled down her cheeks.

Oblivious, Kaitlyn's shoulders sagged in a sigh. "To be clear, I might be dead of perfectly natural causes, so don't get all up in arms just yet. I'm old. I may still have a few decades left, especially with Lifesupporters lurking around to heal every paper cut and sniffle. But I'm entering my twilight years. I'll be seventy tomorrow, after all."

Via frowned. Her grand ma had created this recording a little over a month ago, then. But why? What had she been afraid of?

"So yes, if you're seeing this, it's possible I died of natural causes." Kaitlyn offered a rueful smile, "But if my death was by less-natural causes, then you need to know why." She drew a deep breath, then jerked her head to the side. "Take a look at this. Nanites, follow the line of my gaze."

The view swung away from Kaitlyn's face, and Via's heart lurched. "Wait!" She reached for her grand ma, but the recording couldn't hear her, of course. She swallowed hard as the scene expanded and her grand ma disappeared.

A narrow black lava tube opened into a vast cave. Via recognized the natural basalt columns that seemed so common in night-side rock formations. Yet her jaw dropped. There was nothing familiar about this cavern.

"Strange, isn't it?" Kaitlyn's voice seemed to come from just behind her.

Strange was putting it mildly. Suspended between hexagonal basalt columns and hanging stalactites like a massive hammock, an enormous tangled web dominated the chamber.

The outermost edges stretched into the lava tube, and as Via reached out to touch, the recording fed her sensory information that the nanites had collected. Faintly warm, the fibrous substance left traces of a tacky amber resin on her skin. She lifted her hand to her nose, taking in a sweet scent, and then pressed a fingertip to her tongue. A flavor reminiscent of honeyed barley bread filled her mouth even as a sense of indigestible macronutrients filtered into her mind. Like so much else native to this world, the substance couldn't nourish any Earth species, but local lifeforms might be able to eat it.

As she accessed the recording's telescopic capacities to zoom in, she realized her mistake. This wasn't just a food source but some kind of elaborate structure. The breath caught in her throat as she took in the woven walls and support columns, yawning openings, and thin fissures in giant tuber-like protrusions.

And xenos. The entire thing crawled with xenos. The fuzzy blue and white creatures drifted up and down to access the openings. They squeezed out of the fissures like stuffing from a child's teddy bear. They caressed the support columns, weaving glistening strands of fiber into new web. They carried globs of resin to and fro between pups that tackled one another in the spaces between the bulbous chambers.

"This is one of the largest xenos burrows on the night-side," Kaitlyn said quietly. "I estimate that over ten million of the creatures live here. They used to attack me when I visited. I needed an environmental suit to avoid their tentacles. But after a while, they started ignoring me."

Stone scraped and crunched underfoot as Kaitlyn walked toward the burrow. "At first, I thought this place was like an ant hill or a bee hive. Even animals can work together to create architectural marvels. But I'm no longer confident that the xenos are animals."

Kaitlyn paused, then heaved a deep breath. "I think they may be intelligent. After all, this planet is much older than Earth. Species here had far longer to evolve than on our home world. There may be an ancient alien civilization right under our feet. And there's more. Something that could change the course of history." She paused. "Nanites, display the image I uploaded."

A fuzzy sphere materialized above Via's head. Pearl-white, it sported thin veins of cobalt blue that extended from cracks in its glossy surface to wave like hair in a breeze. It resembled a gargantuan version of the xenos Kaitlyn had given Via, but she knew from her childhood lessons that it was actually microscopic.

"As you know, all life on Trappist-1E and three neighboring planets is spore-based," her grandmater said. "But I'm beginning to believe these spores are networked."

Via's heart ached as she realized she'd never get to hear her grand ma nerd out over scientific findings again.

Excitement accelerated Kaitlyn's voice as she continued. "For example, the spores on all four planets react to solar flares simultaneously instead of in sequence as a flare approaches. On Trappist-1E, this reaction somehow draws xenos into the upper atmosphere, where they release specialized spores in quantities matching the flares' strength. They only do this in response to flares energetic enough to harm native life but ignore weaker flares that can harm organisms from Earth... except over the Sunlit Research Station. The creatures may have learned enough about humanity to intentionally shield us where we're most vulnerable. Nanites, face me."

The view shifted until Kaitlyn seemed to stand before Via again. Her grandmater's face, radiant with wonder, fell. "In light of this, I asked the Chief Terraformers to delay raising the Trellis until we've had time to study the spores and the xenos further. My colleagues have joined me in this request. We fear that if these four planets' spore-based lifeforms are indeed intelligent, the Trellis may harm them. May even disrupt connections between them that give rise to consciousness. If we raise the Trellis, it could accidentally destroy an entire civilization."

Via knew what her grandmater would say next even before the words left the Ancient's lips. The Trellis would be the chief Terraformers' crowning achievement. Lucina and Umbrata Adurere had begun designing the lattice while the Eternal Radiance had still been in space, approaching a destination the passengers knew might not be hospitable. The Trellis would be the elderly twins' legacy.

"The Chief Terraformers denied our request," Kaitlyn said. "Efforts to raise the Trellis proceed on schedule."

Via swallowed. Efforts were ahead of schedule, in fact. The ceremony to raise the Trellis loomed only two weeks away.

"They instructed us to tell no one," Kaitlyn said, her voice filled with tension. Her lip curled. "To avoid stirring up controversy at such a critical time. And so I find myself torn." She sighed. "Earth sent me to this planet as an advisor. All of the Ancients, as you call us, were only ever meant to conduct scientific research and equip the colony with the information you need to govern yourselves wisely. I pledged to support your self-determination. But how can you exercise true self-determination without critical information?"

She shook her head. "And what about the xenos and any other lifeforms that may live on these planets? If they're intelligent, what about their self-determination?" She swallowed. "I hope I died of natural causes. But I fear I might not have, because I can't sit by and do nothing." She straightened her shoulders. "I need to share this information with the colony, but if you're watching this, that probably means the Chief Terraformers found a way to stop me."

Via bit her lip. Her grand ma looked tiny and vulnerable to her tearing eyes, one stubborn old woman against two of the most powerful sorcerers in the colony.

Kaitlyn's stern determination softened. "I'm sorry to lay all of this on you. But if something happened to me, then you need to know why." She drew a deep breath and smiled. "I love you, family, friend, colleague, whoever you are. I hope that you'll use this information wisely. And I hope you'll stay safe."

The cave and Kaitlyn dissolved, fading into the Caeles's gray mists. Via brushed tears from her cheeks, glancing around for her grandmater's eidolon, but the fog was empty.

A glimmer caught her eye. No, not completely empty. She squinted. A copy of the data floated in a sparkling golden ball. Sighing, she nudged it toward Clari.

As she withdrew her awareness from the Caeles and watched her best friend review the recording, she noted the emotions flowing over the strawberry blond's face. Clari's eyes were closed, but her lips parted in a gasp of horrified shock. Then curiosity furrowed her brows before slack-jawed wonder relaxed her face. Finally, a tense stillness fell over her.

Clari opened her eyes and blinked at Via. "That's... It's..."

"I know."

The Communicator shook her head. "No one on the development team has heard anything about this." Her hands squeezed into fists. "How could the Chief Terraformers keep this from us? And quiet the truth by..." She paled. "By..."

"By murdering my grand ma," Via said with chilling certainty. It numbed her, but she knew the fury still raged deep beneath the ice. The twins had done this. They had taken Kaitlyn from her.

"And Ivan too, probably." Clari's eyes widened. "Your grand ma said she told the other Ancients about this, and they agreed with her. They might be in danger the moment they get back from the Sunlit Station."

"And that thing and his kind, too." Via glanced at the dark-blue creature drifting in the corner of her ceiling like an errant balloon. "Do you think he's really sentient?"

Clari frowned at the xenos pup. "I don't know. I've tried communicating with the species before. Your grand ma asked if I could sense the minds of several specimens for her. But all of the nanites' Communicator executions depend on the detection and manipulation of neurons."

"Same with Navigator compulsions," Via said.

"Exactly. And I couldn't sense any neurons at all in xenos or other species." Clari shrugged. "The Lifesupporters say creatures here barely have anything resembling a cell. If the pup has a mind somewhere in there, it's not detectable." She shook her head. "But I can't begin to guess what a mind would look like in a creature so different from us. Maybe all the signs are there, but I just don't know how to recognize them. I know one thing for sure, though."

"What?"

"Something mindless can't create a city like the one your grand ma showed us. Or whatever that burrow was. There's intelligence behind that architecture. It may be rudimentary, like a bee, but what if it's not?"

Via nodded as her heart began to race. "My grand ma was right. We need to hold off on raising the Trellis until we know more."

Clari bit her lip. "If we try to stop it, we'll probably--"

"End up like my grand ma and Ivan," Via agreed as fear washed over her. "I know."

For a moment, they just stared at each other.

Then Clari asked, "What do you want to do?"

Via hugged her knees to her chest. "I need to prove they were murdered. That'll allow me to launch an official investigation. It'll be a lot harder for the Chief Terraformers to... to do anything against me without it looking suspicious."

"Are you going to give your mater the recording?"

Via bit her lip. "I... I..."

Clari nodded, blue eyes sympathetic. "You still suspect her."

"No." She sighed and shrugged. "Well, not as much. But until I can prove my grand ma and Ivan were murdered, my mater might decide that their deaths and this recording have nothing to do with each other. And anyway, she'll need stronger evidence if she's going to take action against the Chief Terraformers. She may outrank them technically, but--"

"But no one beats them in terms of influence."

"Yeah."

Clari sighed. "And the Trellis project has wide approval. People are tired of being cooped up in the Starlit Arcology. They won't be happy about any delays or changes in plans. They want this planet."

"Exactly, and this planet may not be ours to take." Via sighed as guilt wended through her. "I want to trust my ma. I do. But I need to be sure she'll do the right thing with this information. If I prove that Ivan and Grand Ma were murdered and she brings the Chief Terraformers to justice, I think that will mean she'll take this seriously despite the political ramifications. But if she lets them off the hook, then that might mean she's involved. If so, I'll need to find some other way to bring the truth to light."

Clari quirked a rueful smile. "Sounds like a good strategy except for one thing."

"What?"

The strawberry blond lifted a brow. "You're still not allowed to investigate, remember?"

Via offered a humorless chuckle as a plan began to form in her mind. "I'm not allowed to investigate unless I can present concrete evidence of foul play."

Clari frowned in confusion. "But you don't have..." Her eyes widened.

Via shrugged. "I think this is one of those times when a little lie never hurt anyone." She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood.

Clari gaped at her, then scurried to her side. "You're going to--"

"I'm going to go plant some evidence."

***

"I can't believe we're doing this," Clari hissed as the two of them strode through the habitat wing's winding corridors.

Via lifted the strap of her bag higher on her shoulder. "You don't have to come."

Clari snorted. "Of course I do. This is too big for me to just chicken out." She rolled her eyes. "Plus, you need me to erase any security footage about our... activities."

"Come on, then," Via said as they approached the door to her grand ma's chambers. "Deep breath. Wide, innocent eyes. And tell me if the security nanites end up back online."

Clari sucked in a shaky breath. "E-Eternal Radiance--"

"Wide eyes!" Via reminded her, then pasted on a smile as the door slid open to reveal her brother's face. "Fas!"

He smiled back. "Why, hello." He stepped aside to let them enter. "Good, I was hoping someone else would drop by. Iusta and I are sorting through grand ma's things, but it's a lot of work."

"I'm happy to help." Via glanced around at the mess scattered across the living room. "She was such a pack rat."

"Tell me about it. We're setting aside the stuff she gave different people in her will." Fas nodded at Iusta, who knelt next to a row of lightweight crystal boxes, putting a blanket into one.

Iusta shook her head. "I swear, it's like these walls are bigger on the inside than they should be." She jabbed a finger at the ceiling. "Will you two tackle the attic?"

"Sure." Via dipped her chin casually toward the bag draped over her shoulder. "If you happen to spot any stuff for a xenos, will you set it aside for me?"

Fas smirked. "Ah, that's right, your new pet."

She shrugged, trying not to glance at Clari. Wide, innocent eyes. "I have no idea how to take care of it."

Iusta nodded as she placed a small wooden statue of a whale in a box. "We'll keep a lookout."

"Thanks," Via said, brushing her will over the nanites in the ceiling. She quirked a smile as the door to the attic slid open and spiral stairs began to unfurl. "Good luck."

"Eternal Radiance," Iusta groaned, "I'll need it!"

Via and Clari scurried up the white crystal steps.

"So many memories," the Communicator said as the door folded closed at their feet and the attic's walls began to glow, revealing a maze of furniture, old paintings, folded clothing, and more.

"Yeah," Via said, running her hand over a rack of the strange jumpsuits her grand ma had loved alternating in and out of her wardrobe and then glancing at a crystal statue of a white moon. Enceladus, the eighth moon of Saturn, where nanites, the Eternal Radiance, and Via's people had all been created. "And not all hers. I think there's still some stuff in here from the Eternal Radiance's first passengers."

"I wonder if I can see them coming and going," Clari said, glancing over her shoulder at her with eyes so wide and guileless that Via struggled not to laugh. Nanites hummed as the Communicator accessed them. "You know, in the security records..." Clari heaved a sigh of relief. "Nope, they're still offline."

"Smooth," Via drawled.

Clari crossed her arms. "Hey, it would look mighty suspicious if the security system caught me checking if it was online right before we commit a crime."

"Yeah, yeah." Via opened her bag and handed Clari a rectangular metal box. "Put that over there." She nodded at the far corner, where another door and stairway opening down into the kitchen brushed her senses, then tossed the strawberry blond a hollow crystal pipe as well. "And that."

"What is it, anyway?" Clari asked, peering down at the box as she tucked the pipe under one arm and minced her way through several stacks of old children's clothing to the corner. She opened the metal box and blinked at the raised grate within.

"A propane grill," Via said, tapping the side of her bag and the ceramic tank within. "Grand Ma took me and my siblings camping every year when we were little to help her collect specimens. She couldn't rub two sticks together to start a cookfire, but she always turned her nose up at using nanites. Insisted it wasn't real camping. So she brought this thing and went on and on about the good old days on Earth, when her father used to take her camping someplace called Yellowstone."

"Weird."

"She was an Ancient."

Clari shrugged as she knelt and placed the grill and pipe next to a rolled tent. "So were two of my grandparents, but they loved nanites. They were always nagging the Engineers to make them some new gadget to let them use our technology despite their limitations."

"Not my grand ma," Via said, watching as Clari wiped the fingerprints from the grill and pipe with the hem of her tunica. "It took years even to convince her to let us get her a visor so she could access the Caeles. She loved science but was so weird about technology, sometimes." She nodded as Clari rose. "Thank you."

"Always glad to plant evidence for a friend," Clari said cheerfully.

Via smirked, then glanced around. "Let's spend a little time sorting through this stuff, and then I'll 'discover' the propane tank." She patted her bag. "Then I'll bring my mater up here to see the rest herself."

Two hours later, Via stormed into the office of the Chief Navigator.

Patria jumped, and the nanites humming around her head like a mirage dissipated as she withdrew from the Caeles. She blinked. "Via, dear, what are you--"

Via tossed the propane tank on the desk, enjoying the satisfying thump and clang as it landed on the crystal surface and rolled toward her gaping mater.

"I found the evidence you asked for."

*~*~*

CHAPTER ARTWORK

*~*~*

The xenos burrow

Kaitlyn's attic