34

Katariki sits up, his hands pressed against his head. "What have I been drinking?" he mumbles. Then he sees the vista all around you. "Oh."

"We've passed through the portal," you say, quietly. "I think we're the only people here."

"We're the only ones bearing an enchantment allowing us to pass through any barrier," Katariki says, sitting up. "The portal wouldn't have had such an effect on anybody else." He looks out across your surroundings. "Over there. Look."

You look out to where he's pointing. A hundred yards or so from you is a chasm, what looks like a natural cleft in the ground. You almost didn't see it, so densely packed are the Surgeons over there. But above that chasm is a great portal, the parallel to the portal hanging above MetaHuman Tower back on Earth—bizarrely, though, this end of the portal is pitch black, and expels a curious black darkness.

"That's where we'll find the Surgeons' spatial conduit equipment," says Katariki. "That's where we can get back to Earth—or close the portal for good."

"And only a few thousand Surgeons are between us," you note.

"We need a distraction," he says. "One of us can lead them away, the other one can access the spatial conduit equipment and the portal."

"Whichever of us creates the distraction will get killed, no doubt about it," you say.

He nods. "Care to volunteer?"

Just then, a whispering ripple passes through the Surgeons all around you, and the few thousand nearest to you turn your way. You have been noticed.