True to his word, Dutch gave Newt a link to one of the drones on Hibiru. These drones were all kept in an underground chamber below the city of Eridu. 

They decided to meet there a few days later. When they arrived, Dutch started Newt's tour by making the rounds of Eridu's other chambers. Many of the chambers were occupied by sleepers, Hibiru natives who were in hibernation until their planet got close enough to the Sun to thaw the surface ice. Those chambers were off limits to tourists, and indeed to the professional archeologists who were there to learn what they could of the ancient culture. Outside each of these chambers the archeologists had put a plaque with images of the interior and the one who slept there.

The sleepers were all so desiccated that many of the early researchers could not believe they weren't actually dead. But engravings on the metal plates found in the chambers told a convincing story. These people expected to wake up again, had written themselves reminders of what they planned to do during the next warming.

"It reminds me of the Egyptian pharaohs," said Newt.

"It's pretty clear the early Egyptians knew about this," said Dutch.

Dutch took Newt to the central library. It was on the deepest, most protected level. Seeing it made very clear how much the people of this world valued their written histories.

The writings were in a language very much like the inscriptions on clay tablets found in ancient Sumer on Earth. Scholars who had learned to read those tablets felt like they were in heaven when they found them. They were in much better condition, and gave a quite detailed account of the daily life and expectations of these people. In a very real sense Hibiru was heaven. There was abundant evidence that the gods of the ancient Sumerians had been visitors from there.

While they navigated the many corridors and chambers of Eridu, Newt told Dutch all that he had learned of the Q connection that QAR had opened to them, how the nature of the Q made it possible to access anything it contained. There were untold mysteries to be uncovered in the Q, unknowns to be revealed. All that was needed were the links.

Dutch understood links, but in a limited way. He had only thought of them as the way to retain QAR access to a drone you had used before. Or to gain access to one someone else had used and made available. Like the link he had given to Newt for the Hibiru drone he was using. Realizing that the entire Q worked the same way was a revelation. His first reaction to learning this was to berate himself for not having thought of it before. His second reaction was to realize it was something he'd always known. Memory worked the same way.

He said, "It's not that hard to find new links. All you need is to know what you're looking for."

Newt nodded his avatar head and said, "Right. If you can dream it you can do it. It's surprising how easy it can be to navigate the Q once you know how, how few steps there can be from where you are to where you want to go. And Hibiru gives us a whole new world of starting points."

Newt said, "Dutch, I really have to thank you for the link to this drone. Now I have a link to Hibiru. This will be a good jumping off place to explore further. I may not even need this drone to use the links I can find here. I may be able to do it all in the Q. But in case I need it, can I use it again? I'll let you know if I want to."

Dutch said "Sure. You don't even need to ask first. You can use any Hibiru drone that's free, any one that's in the storage chamber and inactive. Just let me know when you do."

"But what if you have other plans for it?"

"Hey, I rarely need all of them anymore. If I do, I'll tell you when I need to have it back."

Newt said, "That will be perfect, then."

They flew the drones back to the storage chamber. Newt stood his  where it had been when he arrived, and went home to Sedna and their life on Mars. He couldn't wait to tell her about the possibilities.

Dutch stayed behind. A whole new world of starting points, he thought. What he'd already learned from the Hibiru artifacts he had access to made him think he'd been looking in the wrong place.

Dutch knew his goddess was a shifter, who could take on birdlike attributes similar to those she had in the graven image on Mars that brought her to him. He'd been back to that chamber many times to look at her image again. But she never came through for him. So he'd thought he might find her again on Hibiru. There had been several similar images there. But none of those had worked either.

Newt's ideas reminded him that she was actually a formless spirit, one who could assume physical attributes at will. He recalled some of the details of the spirit dreams recorded by inhabitants of Hibiru. They had hinted at where those spirits who no longer returned to their bodies on Hibiru might congregate. He vowed to find that place in the Q.