IT CHILLED CARIAD TO the bone to see the forty or so deactivated Guardians. They were standing still and silent, lined up in ranks in an empty room on the lowest deck of the Mistral. Part of the creepy effect was because they’d deactivated while upright, not lying down like humans in cryo. Yet they looked as human as ever, aside from the fact that none of them breathed or moved even a micrometer. Some hadn’t even bothered to close their eyes before shutting themselves down. They stared blankly ahead, their gazes unfocused. The lighting in the room was dim, yet it was bright enough to glint on the Guardians’ eyes as if they were moist.
Cariad mused that the Guardians’ eye tissue probably wasn’t damp. She imagined that if she reached out to touch an eye it would feel smooth and dry, or perh
