Detection

"Or they needed some additional medium," Harry said. "Like the key left behind by that person at Node Zero."

"Probably not a key." Cassandra set down the Silver Compass. "The Eye of the Sand didn't use a key in their operations at Node Zero and Node Seven. Their method was to directly adjust the direction of the old Runes. If the activation Runes at the convergence point also required a key, then their methods at Node Zero and Node Seven would have been incomplete."

Vivi stood beneath the dome, looking up at the set of seven Runes. "They completed the redirection adjustment at Node Three five weeks ago, then tried to activate the corresponding Runes at the convergence point but failed. The Eye of the Sand didn't continue trying. They left the convergence point instead. They may have realized they needed something extra to complete the activation."

"Or," Anne said, "they discovered that activation had to be done in a certain order, so they decided to complete the redirection adjustment at the next node first, then come back and activate them in the correct sequence."

"Then they should be on their way to the next node right now," Harry said. "Node Nine, Node Eleven, Node Fifteen, or Node Twenty-Two—one of the four."

"If the Confederation Technical Group can monitor abnormal signals from the other four nodes," Cassandra said, "they can pinpoint their location before the Eye of the Sand completes their operation. But we can't rely entirely on the Technical Group's monitoring. The Eye of the Sand finished their work at Node Three five weeks ago, and the Confederation Technical Group's monitoring system may not have caught any trace of them during that time."

Vivi lowered her gaze from the dome. "Rosier's message only confirmed the remnants at Node Three.