He

and see?" Bandicut

maybe still looking for the ice caverns—and the sooner he and his friends got into the system, found their information and got out again, the better off they'd be.
As though at that thought, his translator-stones twinged, and the voices twittering at the edges of his mind grew louder. They also seemed clearer, though he could not understand anything they were saying. /Charlie, I sure wish you were here, old buddy,/ he whispered.
"Let us go down if we can." Ik peered along the ledge, looking for a place to descend. Finally he took his coiled rope from his belt and placed one end of it on the ledge, where it attached itself. Ik sat and swung himself over the edge and lowered himself carefully into the geodelike chamber.
Bandicut turned to Li-Jared. The Karellian's eyes were narrowed to fine, fiery-blue slits. It was impossible to tell whether he was terrified, or excited, or both, to be so close to the thing he had been seeking for so long. "You want to go next?" Bandicut asked.
"I am ready to enter. To ask and to find." The Karellian's words seemed less an answer to Bandicut than an affirmation to himself. Li-Jared swung over and scampered down the rope, to stand with Ik among the frail-looking ice crystals.
"Well?" Bandicut said to Napoleon. "Shall I lower you? Or do you want to wait here?"
Napoleon rasped thoughtfully. "I sense no medium of connection for me down there, John Bandicut. I suggest that I stand watch here. You will be careful, won't you?"
Bandicut stared at Napoleon, feeling a great affection for the metal being. "Yah," he said, and sat down and swung his legs over the edge.
He was about halfway down, hanging from the rope, when the voices in his head suddenly jumped in volume. He flinched, wary of the boojum—but it wasn't that, it was just the connection getting stronger. He tried to ignore it until he got down. His