It's a long way to Tjaru. Fortunately, Dumuzid is coming with me. I didn't want to make this journey alone and Dumu was easily persuaded. After a while, Dumu starts.

‘Tell me, Nanshe, how do you even know where we're swimming to? We've never been to Tjaru before.’

‘Not quite, Dumu. I've been there before. I have a few memories and I keep dreaming about the way there. For example, the long volcanic channel we just swam past. I remember it from my childhood.’

‘Oh, ok. I hadn't noticed it.’

‘Yes, and the most obvious directions are the maps. On the new maps, one area is always empty. That's where Tjaru is. We'll probably end up having to search a bit, but we can easily find it within a few hundred body lengths.’

Dumu thinks for a moment and then nods. He seems satisfied with my answer. We swim a little, sing, tell each other a few scary stories, but then leave it quickly again.

‘I've never been this far away from Hardai. And I've never swum across the great deep.’

‘I have, Dumu. And luckily we have you with us, you're so fast, nobody can touch you.’

I notice that two of his fins are fiddling with something the whole time.

‘Anyway, what are you doing with your hind fins all the time?’

Dumu looks a little embarrassed. He swims as fast as I do with two fins less.

‘Ningi said I have to practise forming manna. I shape small objects all the time. Moulding manna is really hard.’

I pause for a moment and look at what he's doing. Squeeze out the manna, let it breathe for a moment and then mould it.

‘Dumu, you're going too fast. The manna has to breathe for four heartbeats, not just two. After four heartbeats, it's soft enough but not too firm to mould.’

‘Oh, I could have noticed that, thank you.’

The next object looks better straight away, a small cube with perfect corners. Dumu beams and we swim on. The great depths lie ahead of us.

We are approaching the abyss.

‘It's not far to the other side. But we should swim quickly. So leave the manna exercises for now. Let's stay close together.’

Dumu nods and off we go. We swim body to body. Dumu is a little faster and swims slightly ahead of me, taking me with him. I can swim almost as fast as him.

Dark, trembling noises come from the depths. Whatever is living down there, it seems huge. We swim even faster. We are so focussed on swimming fast and looking down stealthily that we only notice the light above us very late. For a few seconds, a glow illuminates the dull daylight. Probably a meteorite. With a dull rumble, the light moves over us and then disappears. This depth is really eerie, in all directions. Apart from the rumbling from the depths and our swimming movements, I hear nothing.

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We reach the other side safely. Tjaru's fate is already apparent here. More and more strange glittering pieces lie on the sandy bottom. Rocks are cracked and coral reefs are faded. Larger and larger shapes lie around. Often with smooth surfaces, then again twisted and blackened. Whatever happened here, it wasn't one of the usual meteorites. It looks like a polyomino with many, many shiny cubes. Ravi can't create this much manna.

And then it lies before us: Tjaru. Or what's left of it. It looks as if a giant has swept over the village, overturning and burying all the houses. Everything is covered in sand, with skeletons lying here and there. No dead Ravi, but still large dead animals. We turn our eyes away. I know where to go again. Mum and I used to swim this way a lot. There was the village square, here the creche, there the stonemason. We are already standing in front of the ruins of my house. Only the top polyomino is still visible. I can't and don't have to swim into the house. Hathor only asks that we stay in the place of our ancestors. So I do. It pains me to see all the destruction, and at the same time it feels right to be here.

The light appears again in the distance, illuminating something huge. There it is, the spike from back then. It is the largest object yet, with smooth, partly shiny and partly black parts. It is stuck like a spike in the seabed not far from Tjaru. A crater has formed around it, like a meteorite impact. The object is elongated, downright slender. It looks like something from another world. No Ravi has ever seen or created anything like it. The light moves on.

‘Nanshe, I think we should get out of here. This place scares me even more than I thought.’

‘You're right Dumu, let's go back. Thank you for being here with me...’

The light is suddenly focussed directly on us.

‘Get away quickly,’ Dumu yells and has already half disappeared into a crevice in the rocks.

I'm not so quick. A muffled sound fills the water and suddenly I'm caught in a thick, strong net. I can no longer move. My skin hurts and presses against the net. Another pain pierces my dorsal fin. Although I am full of panic and fear, I fall asleep. I can't fight it. The last thing I see is Dumu's big eyes in a dark crevice.