Nak-il Tano -

The last sound I will ever hear is my sister's silence. It is enough.

But there was a price. The sphere was failing. To extract Yi-Min, he would have to shatter the glass. And shattering the glass would release the billion other screams—the full cacophony of the old world's death—directly into the living network. It would fry every harvester’s slate, every trader’s radio, every medic’s diagnostic tool for a hundred miles. People would go blind, lose communication, lose the fragile thread of civilization they’d rebuilt. nak-il tano

He told no one. Because some songs are not meant to be heard. The last sound I will ever hear is my sister's silence

He dragged the sphere to the surface. Mags saw his face and didn't ask questions. She just handed him the slate. The sphere was failing

Nak-Il Tano stood up. He walked back to Sinkhole Ridge. He took his slate and wrote one line for Mags: