A soft buzz lulled her back to wakefulness. She blinked, still in a haze, as things started to take shape around her. Not that there was much to see. There was no furniture here. Only these strange pulsating walls.

  She sat up and looked down. The ground she had slept on was not hard. It had been comfortable, soft, warm, and the same color as everything else around her—a blend of reds and yellows and pinks.

  The whole thing made her feel uneasy.

  How long have I slept? she wondered.

  Even as the thought lingered in her mind, she remembered the creature’s last words and realization struck her.

  There is time. Always was, always is, always will be.

  That was what she had understood, not what it had actually said. Because there was no other way she could have translated the meaning. These beings had no perception of time! How was that even possible?

  “Hello?”

  She jumped to her feet and looked all around her, alarmed.

  “Who said that?”

  “Can’t you see me? I’m over here!”

  It was a man’s voice.

  Except there was no one else here. Only her.

  She stared at each of the walls, one after the other, trying to determine where the sound had come from.

  “It’s all so blurry... so... Can... I...”

  It was her turn to call out. “Hello?”

  “—get inside... can’t even... The lights! Oh, the lights! Can you...”

  “Where are you? Who are you?”

  She waited, but the voice never returned.

  Did I imagine it? she wondered. Am I going crazy? Is that what’s going on here?

  Not mad. Awake.

  She swung around and saw a humanoid being standing before her. It was at least eight feet tall, with a thin and elongated body. A short neck led to a hairless head with two round and blinking eyes. Reddish tissues covered its yellowish skin as it bobbed its head and waved its three-fingered hands.

  “Speak to me in your language. Please. It’ll be easier.”

  “I forget. You are talented.”

  “No, I am Sarisa.”

  “I do not understand.”

  “That is my name.”

  “Ah. Name. Yes. I am Tschisch of the Riizsch.”

  “Where am I? What is this place?”

  “It is Andantschiriizschikariisch.”

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  “Excuse me?”

  The creature waved its hands again, motioning to the walls around them.

  “It is its name.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “We are symbionts. They and us. A whole, yes?”

  She took a step back, gaping.

  “You mean this is a living organism?”

  “Living. Yes. As us.”

  “But... God, this is crazy. How... I mean...” She paused and took a deep breath. “Okay. How do you even move around in here? I saw no doors.”

  Tschisch took one step to the side and motioned behind him. There was an opening there where there had been none before.

  “Flesh parts for us. Yes? Come.”

  The creature walked toward the opening and she fell in step behind it, her eyes darting right and left, her mind reeling with the implications of everything she had learned.

  “How did I even get here?” she asked.

  They walked into a hall that looked exactly like the room she had slept in. Though she could see gray protuberances now, and she wondered if they were bones.

  “You flowed through the funnel.”

  “The funnel? You mean that beam of light?”

  “It connects worlds, yes? A passage. As many others.”

  “And it brought me here? That must be...”

  “Lucky. Very lucky. You could have been lost.”

  She frowned at this. “Lost? How do you mean?”

  “Up. Down. Far away. Never back.”

  “I understand the words, but not the meaning.”

  “Ah.” It fell quiet for a moment as they continued to walk. “Everything spins. Around and around.” It made a circular motion with a finger. Then used its other hand to stab at the air above the spinning gesture and brought it down to the bottom. “You go from here to here, yes? A second later, endpoint different.”

  “Oh. Oh! I see what you’re saying.” Worry crept up in her. “But... So... How do I go back? It seems very random.”

  “Not random. Only random if you jump. You jump.”

  “I did not! I fell.”

  “Same.”

  “Well... Okay, and how do you control it?”

  “First, we need to know where you were. Yes?”

  “I have no idea how to answer that. I don’t know the name of the place. I... Oh, wait! I have a stellar map. That’s what led me there. Maybe this can help.”

  She stopped walking and tapped on her wristpad as the creature turned and tilted its head, watching her.

  The stars popped up between them and just like Tschisch had earlier, she stabbed at the air, at one of the dots.

  “There! That’s where I was.”

  The alien considered the configuration for a long moment, then made a strange sound she could not decipher.

  “Come,” it said as it turned and started off again.

  “You know the place?” she asked as she followed.

  “It is ancient. Lost. Found. Maybe.”

  “You’re not making much sense. Wait. You said ancient but you didn’t mean that. What did you mean? Ancient relates to... to...” She struggled to find a way to say ‘time,’ and gave up. They just had no word for it. “What do you mean by ancient?”

  “Special. Different. Before and after.”

  It was only one word that she understood as meaning both before and after.

  Perhaps sensing her frustration, it waved its hands again.

  “It is like music. No beginning, no ending. It flows. Always.”

  Always. How did she keep understanding time-related words when they had none? Still, the analogy implied a place out of time that...

  She suddenly froze.

  The creature stopped and looked at her.

  “You said like music.”

  “Yes.”

  Sarisa frowned as she lifted her wristpad again, tapped on it, bringing up all her recordings from A36Z. Swiping quickly through it, she stopped on a particular piece of text.

  All must end, as must we fall into the great silence.

  She moved to another section.

  Now we celebrate as parents bring new music to the world.

  She swore.

  “How did I not see this before? It seems so obvious now!”

  “You are troubled?”

  She glanced at Tschisch and shook her head.

  “No. Not at all. I’m... This!” She jabbed her finger at the text. “Those aliens spoke in metaphors. All the time. It’s all over their damn writings. And yet it never occurred to me that when they talked about the wind, they didn’t actually mean the wind. It was something else entirely. It was...” Her eyes went wide as she went back through the text. “Invaders! They were attacked. That’s what that was all about. And... And... This! Here! The wind will reap what it sows. I think they found a way to fight back.”

  Sarisa sighed as her arm dropped.

  “Not that it did them much good, since they’re all gone now.”

  She realized the creature was staring at her.

  “You are troubled,” it repeated, though it no longer was a question.

  “No. Yes. Maybe. I don’t know. All this is too much.”

  It pointed a finger toward her.

  “Those aliens you speak of... They are from the world you came from?”

  “I think so. That map I put up, it belonged to them, to their civilization. It shows the planets they lived on.”

  It bobbed its head.

  “Not gone.”

  “What?”

  “Elsewhere. Come.”

  She ran after the creature as it started up again.

  “What do you mean, elsewhere?”

  “I show you, yes? Come.”