"Here we have the big boulder that blocks the main cave entrance," Renko said. It was so hard to manage communication when she couldn't just project pictures. It wasn't that long ago when she didn't know how do that, she recalled. It had been her father's idea, but now that she could do it, she could hardly remember doing without it.

"Use her majesty as a relay," Noriko suggested. "If you can talk to her and she can talk to us perhaps the pictures can transmit.

"Both of ...