The sphere hovered above the hatch, pointed at their periscope. Its surface rippled with color and texture.

“That’s new,” said Ellie.

“There’s a pattern,” said Jordan. He swiped frantically at his tablet where a grainy loop of the sphere’s oscillations repeated. “It’s fuzzy. The data is corrupt. I need hi-res to crack it.”

Monica frowned. “Hi-res?”

“He means he needs to go outside,” said Ellie.

“No. Too dangerous.”

Ellie looked at her. “It’s the only way to know what it’s saying.”

“Who cares–”

“Monica, it is the only one ‘talking’. That means something, maybe everything. We can’t keep losing people.”

Chapter 75

Chapter 77