Passage

The singleton ringlet continued to slip and slide in the soup, directed by compatible patterns that permeated the walls of this folded structure. Pausing to maintain distance with other singleton ringlets, this structure is not unlike the gridwork of the central network. Except that here, additional protrusions maintain and feed large numbers of Seven-Six-Six back-boned monsters.

Still other protrusions keep order, by flexing and wiggling slightly. This pushes the soup in a single direction, past the monsters and along pathways that are sized to take the smaller components that the monsters often eject, like my single ringlet. Ahead, another ringlet has stalled, and we are not slowing down.

Approaching far faster than I would expect, and getting yanked by an unusually high concentration of Elevens, I prepared to be repulsed by the like charges and vibrations of the stalled ringlet, and then it disappeared. Dropping straight through the floor of the channel, the ringlet could be scanned through the hole left behind. The hole was now narrower after the passing, and my ringlet just floated over with nary a bump.