There was a loud 'thud' against the omnioxygenator, as though someone had hit it with a fist. Then a round-faced woman bent and stared down at Sandy, and the girl she was talking to.

"Pira! Get out here, get away from that...whoever that is. You, get away!" she snapped, and shook her hands at Sandy as though she was about to go 'shoo, shoo' at a bird. "Don't touch her!"

Pira crawled out, fast, and latched herself onto the woman's leg. She stared wide-eyed at Sandy, the room full of shouting, crying people, the tentacled walls, as though she wanted nothing more than for all of it to go away.