diff --git a/cmd/super/dev/vector/query/command.go b/cmd/super/dev/vector/query/command.go
index 94b02287f9..fbdf9b9805 100644
--- a/cmd/super/dev/vector/query/command.go
+++ b/cmd/super/dev/vector/query/command.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package query
 import (
 	"errors"
 	"flag"
+	"os"
 
 	"github.com/brimdata/super"
 	"github.com/brimdata/super/cli/outputflags"
@@ -11,10 +12,9 @@ import (
 	"github.com/brimdata/super/pkg/charm"
 	"github.com/brimdata/super/pkg/storage"
 	"github.com/brimdata/super/runtime"
-	"github.com/brimdata/super/runtime/vcache"
 	"github.com/brimdata/super/zbuf"
 	"github.com/brimdata/super/zio"
-	"github.com/segmentio/ksuid"
+	"github.com/brimdata/super/zio/vngio"
 )
 
 var spec = &charm.Spec{
@@ -57,23 +57,21 @@ func (c *Command) Run(args []string) error {
 		return errors.New("usage: query followed by a single path argument of VNG data")
 	}
 	text := args[0]
-	uri, err := storage.ParseURI(args[1])
+	f, err := os.Open(args[1])
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	local := storage.NewLocalEngine()
-	cache := vcache.NewCache(local)
-	object, err := cache.Fetch(ctx, uri, ksuid.Nil)
+	rctx := runtime.NewContext(ctx, super.NewContext())
+	r, err := vngio.NewVectorReader(ctx, rctx.Zctx, f, nil)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	defer object.Close()
-	rctx := runtime.NewContext(ctx, super.NewContext())
-	puller, err := compiler.VectorCompile(rctx, text, object)
+	defer r.Pull(true)
+	puller, err := compiler.VectorCompile(rctx, text, r)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	writer, err := c.outputFlags.Open(ctx, local)
+	writer, err := c.outputFlags.Open(ctx, storage.NewLocalEngine())
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/compiler/package.go b/compiler/package.go
index 11e88b1223..d053e63fca 100644
--- a/compiler/package.go
+++ b/compiler/package.go
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/brimdata/super/runtime/sam/op"
 	"github.com/brimdata/super/runtime/vam"
 	vamop "github.com/brimdata/super/runtime/vam/op"
-	"github.com/brimdata/super/runtime/vcache"
+	"github.com/brimdata/super/vector"
 	"github.com/brimdata/super/zbuf"
 	"github.com/brimdata/super/zio"
 )
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ func bundleOutputs(rctx *runtime.Context, outputs map[string]zbuf.Puller) zbuf.P
 // where the entire query is vectorizable.  It does not call optimize
 // nor does it compute the demand of the query to prune the projection
 // from the vcache.
-func VectorCompile(rctx *runtime.Context, query string, object *vcache.Object) (zbuf.Puller, error) {
+func VectorCompile(rctx *runtime.Context, query string, puller vector.Puller) (zbuf.Puller, error) {
 	ast, err := parser.ParseQuery(query)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -132,7 +132,6 @@ func VectorCompile(rctx *runtime.Context, query string, object *vcache.Object) (
 		panic("DAG assumptions violated")
 	}
 	entry = entry[1:]
-	puller := vam.NewVectorProjection(rctx.Zctx, object, nil) //XXX project all
 	builder := kernel.NewBuilder(rctx, env)
 	outputs, err := builder.BuildWithPuller(entry, puller)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/ztest/ztest.go b/ztest/ztest.go
index aea8a39c77..b420e06c6b 100644
--- a/ztest/ztest.go
+++ b/ztest/ztest.go
@@ -139,11 +139,12 @@ import (
 	"github.com/brimdata/super/compiler"
 	"github.com/brimdata/super/compiler/parser"
 	"github.com/brimdata/super/runtime"
-	"github.com/brimdata/super/runtime/vcache"
+	"github.com/brimdata/super/vector"
 	"github.com/brimdata/super/vng"
 	"github.com/brimdata/super/zbuf"
 	"github.com/brimdata/super/zio"
 	"github.com/brimdata/super/zio/anyio"
+	"github.com/brimdata/super/zio/vngio"
 	"github.com/brimdata/super/zio/zsonio"
 	"github.com/pmezard/go-difflib/difflib"
 	"gopkg.in/yaml.v3"
@@ -554,12 +555,12 @@ func runvec(zedProgram string, input string, outputFlags []string) (string, erro
 	if err := flags.Parse(outputFlags); err != nil {
 		return "", err
 	}
-	object, err := createVCacheObject(input)
+	r, err := createVPuller(input)
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", err
 	}
-	defer object.Close()
-	puller, err := compiler.VectorCompile(runtime.DefaultContext(), zedProgram, object)
+	defer r.Pull(true)
+	puller, err := compiler.VectorCompile(runtime.DefaultContext(), zedProgram, r)
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", err
 	}
@@ -575,16 +576,13 @@ func runvec(zedProgram string, input string, outputFlags []string) (string, erro
 	return outbuf.String(), err
 }
 
-func createVCacheObject(input string) (*vcache.Object, error) {
+func createVPuller(input string) (vector.Puller, error) {
 	var buf bytes.Buffer
 	w := vng.NewWriter(zio.NopCloser(&buf))
 	r := zsonio.NewReader(super.NewContext(), strings.NewReader(input))
 	if err := errors.Join(zio.Copy(w, r), w.Close()); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	o, err := vng.NewObject(bytes.NewReader(buf.Bytes()))
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-	return vcache.NewObjectFromVNG(o), nil
+	rctx := runtime.DefaultContext()
+	return vngio.NewVectorReader(rctx.Context, rctx.Zctx, bytes.NewReader(buf.Bytes()), nil)
 }