Experiment number two required a rock of similar size to the first one, which he then tossed past the nanoring. His enhanced vision tracked it as it landed on the Tide proper, bouncing slightly after it hit. This rock began to dissolve as well, though much more slowly than the first. The nanomachines existed throughout the Tide, he knew. The humans had determined that already. But they were either much less numerous past the ring, or they were less active.