"On my signal, hit the button. And remember! You have to mean it," Fergus called.

His signal was weak, the radio in his suit just barely able to reach through even the one airlock door.

Nadian was ready on the button. "I still think this is too dangerous, Fergus."

"We always put our lives on the line, Nadian," the man replied. "This time, I'm going first and you'll get second-fiddle."

Brooks stepped up to him. "You really don't have anything to prove, Fergus," he said quietly. "Your place in history is assured from what you've done already."

Pride, just stupid pride, Brooks thought.

The man leaned closer. "I have an inside advantage," he said quietly, pointing up. Brooks did not understand for a moment; then he realized that the man must have had his own contact with the Present Mind.

Brooks did not get a chance to pursue asking the man about it. Fergus saluted jauntily, then turned to face the outside.

He had attached a high-strength graphene cable onto the airlock wall, and he tested it now. It had been attached onto the stone with molecular hooks. It couldn't grip in as well as might be liked, but it was still more than strong enough to hold Fergus.

"I'm ready," Fergus said. "Open it up!"

Nadian hesitated. Brooks watched the man.

"You don't have to help him do this," Brooks said.

"I wish I had thought of it first," Nadian said, and hit the button.

The airlock door disappeared, and there was another rumble as the air went out.

Fergus was taken out as well, slowly feeding out line. His data came down the cable.

"Can you receive me?"

"Yes, we can hear you," Brooks replied. His signal was weak, but hopefully with the cable they'd be able to keep hearing him.

The man spooled out several meters.

"It appears that this is a ship that is moving," he called. "I can't see the temple anymore. Och, we've traveled far . . ."

"Can you see anything else?" Nadian asked.

"There's a superstructure of the ship, it's entirely blocking my view forward. But I see gas clouds. I think . . ." He faded a few moments. "I think I see the star. Stars! It is out there."

"Get back in here!" Brooks called. "The radiation will fry you!"

"My sensors aren't detecting a damn thing, Captain."

"They can be overwhelmed."

"If that's the case I'm dead already," Fergus said. "I'm not feeling any pull, getting any rads."

"You are drifting towards the fore of the ship," Nadian said.

"My initial thrust was probably unbalanced," Fergus said. "Not an issue."

Fergus was drifting off to the left, slowly heading out of sight of the airlock window as he went further.

"To be honest, lads and lass, I think that . . . yes, I'm certain - we've been bamboozled."

"What do you mean?" Nadian asked.

"I think we're in a craft, aye. But the craft is inside a bubble, projecting what it wants us to see! Carnival ride, like I said."

Brooks got on the line. "I am highly skeptical of that, Fergus. You felt what we all did when we passed through the Lens."

"Do you have a better explanation?"

Brooks did not. He looked to Kell. "Is this real, Ambassador?"

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Kell said nothing.

"Ambassador, I need you to-"

Fergus's voice cut through. "Going out farther, but don't worry, I'll let you all hold my awards when we get back!"

"Fergus, I suggest you come back now," Brooks said.

"Nay, Captain! I dinnae think you of all people would be this cowardly!"

He could see Fergus getting smaller. The spool of cable went up to 300 meters, but Fergus hopefully wouldn't go that far . . .

Brooks got a ping; he was receiving other data from the cable, and it was registering an unexpectedly increasing pull.

"Fergus, are you feeling anything?"

"Only the sense that I'm going to find this outer wall soon." The man's voice was breaking up more - interference from stellar wind hitting the cable, Brooks thought.

The sensor was showing that the pulling force was increasing.

"Fergus, are you feeling any pull?" Brooks asked.

"Pull? Well I'm moving, so . . ."

"Stop for just a moment. The cable has strange readings."

"I swear, Captain, I-"

"Just stop for one fucking moment," Brooks snapped.

The man started to slow. But he did not come to a stop.

"Just stop, man," Brooks messaged.

"I . . . I'm trying to, Captain. I stopped the line, but it's . . ." he broke up a second. "-avity is pulling me!"

The line was still pulling out several centimeters a second, the motor for pulling it was not strong enough to bring it to a halt.

"Can you reel yourself back in if I put in the emergency stop?"

"I dinna know!"

"Try climbing back!"

"The pull is getting stronger!"

They couldn't see Fergus anymore, he was well past the edge of their vision, but Brooks could see the cable being pulled hard against the edge of the outer airlock door.

The cable would take far more pressure to break. But if the man could not return, it was hardly any better.

". . . trying . . . myself back . . ."

"Why is the signal degrading so quickly?" Kat asked. She moved over towards the windows and pointed. "There!"

Brooks rushed over, and saw that the man had been pulled straight out in front of the ship now, visible through the touch-created windows they had made earlier. The cable seemed to stretch strangely, as if it was going around something that was there but invisible to them.

He was holding onto the cable, trying to pull himself back, but it was pulling out as fast as he could climb.

"I'm hitting the emergency brake," Brooks said.

The line jolted, and Fergus's hands slipped free, only still connected by the hook - at the back.

"He can't reach it!" Kat cried.

Nadian rushed over and started digging into his bag. "I'm going out for him!"

"We don't have another cable," Brooks said. "You can't hold onto that line if he can't. And at least he's connected."

"Then I'll go into the airlock and start pulling it in myself!"

Brooks looked to Kell.

"Can you pull him in?"

Kell looked up at him this time. "Possibly."

"Try," Brooks said sharply.

Kell watched him a moment, then went towards the airlock. He looked through the glass.

"Kell," Brooks said softly. "Can you pass through this? I've seen you move in ways that let you just . . . ignore walls and impediments . . ."

Kell looked slightly amused. "Observant. But no. In this place, the structure is built in all places I can reach. I cannot circumvent it."

". . . straining . . . suit . . ." the words came in.

"We only have one more space suit," Kat said softly. "If we open this door, we'll lose the air in here."

"Damn it!" Brooks yelled, pounding his fist into the wall.

"It is already too late," Kell said. He nodded out the airlock window.

Brooks looked as well.

The base of the cable was rocking on the wall. Its molecular hooks had failed in most places.

"Fergus!" Brooks called out. "Do whatever you have to to get back! The cable is-"

It ripped free from the wall and flew out of the airlock.

Brooks felt his jaw drop, and he looked out towards where Fergus was visible outside the 'front' window.

The man was receding rapidly, his arms flailing.

And he was starting to glow.

Heat, Brooks realized. The star before them was larger than before, filling their view. And Fergus was falling into its light and heat.

"He was right," Kell said quietly. "There was a bubble around us, one that protected this vessel. He has left it."

Fergus's spacesuit burst into flames, burning away completely. Inside, he was already a torch, and his flesh burned, leaving only a gaunt skeleton that likewise was incinerated in moments.

Kat covered her mouth in horror, and Brooks leaned against the wall heavily.

The man had been obnoxious, but his death was senseless. If only he hadn't been so foolish.

And if Kell had helped. He looked up at the being, who was watching him coldly.

"Yes, I let him die," Kell said.

"You could have told us if you knew!"

"You would have questioned it. Doubted it. Wanted to test it. That fool would only have been emboldened in this desire to go out."

"He did not have to die, though!"

Kell smiled, slightly. "Yet now you understand the seriousness of the situation. This room, all of your speculations have been correct. It is a vessel, it is an experience to educate. But at no point is it under an obligation to keep you alive."