Release

Approaching the dimple pack, I scanned the Paired Eights and tracked their path Over the edge and into the pocket of the dimple. I jockeyed for position, triggering the swap drive in bursts, but in my confusion I forgot to reverse the drive, and lurched forward instead of slowing down, causing the ringlet to flat-side into the flow. This smashed the elevated Six into the gap, and the pressure of the Paired Eights just kept the ringlet pinned.

While it might have been possible to pull out of this predicament, I had a very clear scan into the gap between the dimple pack and the containment mesh, and a constant supply of Paired Eights to track. Attracted to the surface of the dimple, and repulsed by the parallel containment mesh that held the dimple in place, Eights pooled and spiraled one after the other into the dimple. The surface membrane of the dimple grabbed Paired Eights from the soup quickly, yanking them through small openings in the membrane.

As the dimple pack continued to pull Paired Eights from the soup, I began to detect a change in the charge flow and pulse pattern of the mesh that formed the shell of the dimple pack. Scanning into the dimple revealed a slow rise in the floor, narrowing the gap between with the parallel containment mesh. As the shifting of patterns and shape continued, my ringlet was freed from the trap, as was the entire dimple pack, and forward with the flow we went.