ETHAN HAD NO WAY TO tell how much time had passed, but he guessed that he had sat in the corner of his wet prison for an hour or longer while the threads writhed against the transparent wall. If they intended to enter the chamber to attack him, they were taking their time about it. Perhaps they were interested in observing him for a while. If the threads could construct a solid-walled cage, a ceiling that lit up, and a wall that turned from opaque to clear, the creatures might have guessed that he wasn’t from their planet.
In that case, the threads might want to keep him alive. They would want to study him. Ethan gave a shudder as the full implication of his new understanding hit him. The Woken didn’t study living Concordian creatures—the only living things aboard the Nova Fortuna were hu
