"And now you want to go back," Saix intoned. Fang, of course, wanted a chance to return to her homeland. Perhaps it had recovered, perhaps people had survived, or perhaps they hadn't. It didn't, to Saix's view, make a lot of difference. The Pulse Fang had known was centuries in the past.

So was the Pulse these men were trying to find. And they had a well funded, and well connected expedition they were putting together. How had they got in touch with Skite?

"I presume you're asking more than us and Skite along?" Going from Fang's prowess, and stories of the things she'd once fought, if anything survived from back in her day it was going to be quite unlike anything they were used to fighting.