2.2 LIGHT

Ste Etienne narrows their EM pulses and, using Juna’s signal analysis, adds pattern coding. The surrounding Shrouded immediately respond with matching four-beat patterns but fail a Fibonacci test, showing mimicry over abstraction. Their attention wanes, yet they soon act on the humans’ intent.

As Ste Etienne struggles to free Bartokh’s stuck pod, the Shrouded swarm him. Instead of attacking, they lever his pod cleanly from the briars and place it upright. The trio infer understanding and possible social intelligence. Moments later, falling debris and a sudden spiral spear reveal a vast, skeletal “leaf-spider” predator striking from above. The Shrouded form a cordon, then send part of their number upward to distract it, buying the humans time.

The aliens herd both pods into a mined cavern of carved rock and iron-veined pillars. There, one Shrouded lacking its hairlike antennae—apparently shorn and EM-sense deprived—is forced into a bowl at the center of spiral floor grooves. The group tears open its exoskeletal cage and consumes the inner wormlike organism, the bowl refilling afterward. Juna rejects but cannot disprove Ste Etienne’s “sacrifice” interpretation.

Attempting to edge away, Juna and Ste Etienne are intercepted as Shrouded separate Bartokh’s pod and drag it to the bowl. The aliens pry off limbs and plates, then a Shrouded with tool-fitting “spanner” appendages methodically unscrews Bartokh’s hatch. Exposure to Shroud’s atmosphere causes a contained internal explosion that incinerates Bartokh without harming his captors.

With Bartokh dead, the Shrouded turn toward Juna and Ste Etienne. The engineer reverses their pod, but the aliens can easily block the tunnel. The chapter ends with the survivors trapped in the sacrificial chamber beneath Shroud’s lightless surface.