“Gossan had mentioned,” Rutile continues. “It’ll be interesting to learn more about your…neck of the woods, I guess. They also mentioned that your craft is still up on Brittle Hollow, and that it was apparently a one-way journey.”

“Without his knowledge,” Feldspar pipes up. “They were given the schematics to the machine without any real details about what it would do. It worked differently the first time it was tested. I don’t think Kent really thought he’d end up here without a way to go back.”

Rutile, for all of their seriousness, does look sympathetic.

“Well, we can tell one thing,” Gneiss adds, “you’re very courageous.”