I doubt Mariana gives up her secrets easily, in any case. I have other questions about her myself, but they're the sort I don't expect I'll get answers to.

[ like how he got here, which is the sort of question that starts to hurt if you think about it too long. not because it makes him sad — don't be ridiculous — but the times he's tried to plug numbers into formulas in an attempt to make his theories more than speculations. being a sleeper hasn't upgraded the hardware enough to comprehend such figures though. ]

It's more or less an exact mirror of our world, yes? Perhaps it would be easier trying to find a way through that's much closer to where you want to end up. It seems less risky than attempting to travel to Trench and back on that side.

[ of course his very normal proposed solution is ripping holes in reality. ]