Silas came back on the fourth morning.
Alistair felt him before he saw him. Not the Characteristic itself, since that had grown smaller and harder to catch at the edges of the scan, but rather the way the perimeter shifted when he crossed it. A subtle change in the flat grey of the territory.
Due felt him too. He was at the table going through the contest filing they'd submitted on day two, and he looked up from the document before Silas had crossed the last thirty meters.
"He's alive," said Due quietly.
Alistair nodded. He had already stood.
Following that, Elara was outside within a breath. She reached the edge of the base just as Silas stepped into it, and the first thing she did was look at him. Not at his face, but at the shape of him.
Seeing this, Silas stopped three meters from her.
"I'm alright," he said, his voice quieter than it had been when he left.
