Madison came bursting into ComCen like a child late to her own Birthday party. "What did I miss?" It was a rhetorical question. The same feed floating in the holo-void was already running in her tacs. "Oh god, it's actually happening." It was the moment every xenologist dreamed of: first (though technically second) contact with a sentient lifeform.

One of the alien drumheads was bulging out like an overstuffed dumpling, the creases turning round and smooth. The expansion was slow at first but picked up speed as internal pressure built up. Even though the crew was expecting it, the sudden burst gave them a startle.

A roundish blob came exploding through. Trailing a tether line, it cleared a horizontal cable that was strategically placed to arrest its fall. It dangled like a ball of yarn from a clothesline, pendulumming back and forth. In the span of a few seconds, the ball inflated to several times its diameter. A portion glowed strongly in infrared; there was something warm inside.

"Like an embryo in an egg sac," Hassani remarked.

The sac was the size of a small room. Inside it was a Webber with its twiggy legs sticking out just like the bodies found on the shelf far below.

"Holy shit," MeiWei said. "It made itself an atmo suit."

No one spoke as the implication sunk in. Webbers could no more breathe the thin, noxious air of the rift than humans could breathe the air on Mars. Lacking higher technology, they had simply made themselves bubbles out of silk.

The drumheads were a kind of airlock that could be pressurized to the bursting point. Once discharged, the drumhead suctioned close again. It was risky. The Webber was basically being shot out of a pneumatic cannon. If the pressure was too great, they could overshoot and collide with the far wall. If it was too little, it would miss the catch-cable and swing back into the near wall. Had such an accident befallen the dead Webbers?

The first Webber scaled the tether line like a yo-yo and made its way along the horizontal catch-cable to the mother cable where it waited for its companions to emerge. A second drumhead burst, and another Webber came hurtling out.

"Now is our chance to get eyes inside their habitat." MeiWei directed. "If the froggers position themselves on the drumhead, the suction should pull them in."

"I'm on it," Trevor said.

The third drumhead was just starting to bulge. Several froggers made it onto the surface, but when it erupted, they were all flung off. Even with their grippy feet, they had difficulty clinging to the silk, and the sucking action was violent and unpredictable. A couple froggers almost succeeded on the fourth drumhead but were caught inside the creases and crushed.

"Quick!" MeiWei barked. There was only one more drumhead to go.

Froggers swarmed over the taut membrane as it took on its pregnant dumpling shape. Even with the AI guiding them, there was no guarantee it would work. There was too much variability. The drumhead burst, projecting another Webber amid a shower of frogs.

"Did any make it in?" MeiWei asked.

Trevor pumped a fist. "Yes! Eight were able to get inside."