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Box.
    “Yeah, but who listens to them?” Haid finished piling the meal back onto the tray. “I thought this ship could handle anything.”
    “Not quite,” said Kajic. “But close enough.”
    Haid’s face lost some of its good humor at the sound of the ex-Dato Bloc captain’s voice.
    “Yeah, well,” he said, taking a seat at an empty station. “When the Box summoned me, I thought I’d bring breakfast up here. Hope that’s okay.”
    Roche frowned, puzzled. She hadn’t asked the Box to summon anyone. “Box? What’s going on?”
    “I have an announcement to make,” the AI said. “The preliminary survey is now complete and, although much of the data remains to be processed, I have one confirmed observation to report. In accordance with your wishes, Morgan, I summoned Haid to ensure that the entire crew was present to hear it.”
    Roche didn’t respond immediately. The Box wasn’t normally so considerate of her wishes. It smacked of overcompensation, as though it was courting disapproval elsewhere.
    “Continue,” she said after a moment. If it was planning something, then she would have to wait until later to find out what it was.
    The Box complied, calling up a number of complicated diagrams on the main screen. “At the heart of the region formerly occupied by Palasian System lies a radiant point-source.”
    “A singularity?” Roche broke in. She hadn’t even considered the possibility that the system had been sucked into a black hole.
    “No,” said the Box. “The point-source appears to have zero mass and is radiant predominantly in the upper infrared spectrum. I have detected what may be a cloud of primordial gas surrounding the point-source, but will have to make more observations before confirming that suspicion.”
    “How close are we?” asked Haid, clearly as disturbed by the thought of a black hole nearby as Roche was, despite the Box’s assurance of their safety.
    “Twelve billion kilometers.” The map on the screen highlighted points as the Box spoke. “The next slow-jump will halve that distance.”
    “Is that a good idea?” asked Roche.
    “All available evidence indicates that the risk of undertaking such a maneuver would be small.”
    “The risk for whom?” said Roche. “Yourself or all of us?”
    The Box hesitated before snapping: “Both, of course.”
    Roche smiled at the Box’s apparent indignation. “Okay,” she said. “Then I can’t see why we shouldn’t do it. As soon as you’re ready—”
     Soft but clear, Maii’s words touched Roche’s thoughts—as, she assumed, they touched everyone else’s simultaneously.
    Roche looked across the bridge, the discussion of the point-source instantly shelved. The Surin’s face was blank, indicating intense concentration, as it had been since the end of the last jump.
    “What is it?” Roche asked, leaning closer.
     The girl frowned.
    “Describe it,” Roche prodded.
     Confusion deepened Maii’s frown.
    “Are you picking up any thoughts ?” Roche pressed.
    
    “Could it be an AI, then, or hidden by a very effective shield?”
     The reave’s body sagged.
    Roche reached out with a mental hand to touch the Surin’s straining mind and ease her frustration. “It’s okay, Maii. Wait until the next jump. It might be stronger then.”
    “ ‘It’ might be the anomaly itself,” suggested Haid.
    “Now there’s a possibility I don’t want to consider.” Roche sighed as warning Klaxons began to sound again. “Box, any thoughts