diff --git a/bindings/python/tests/test_native_result_transport.py b/bindings/python/tests/test_native_result_transport.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4cd023e4ba2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bindings/python/tests/test_native_result_transport.py
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+"""Query results across the native boundary: the reply text (and the float32 tail of a reply with vectors) the image hands to Python
+is copied out of the image in bulk, not one byte at a time. Every value has to come back exactly as it went in, for replies of
+every size: tiny, several batches (arcadedb_n_exec returns the first 256 rows, arcadedb_n_next the following 2048 at a time) and
+single rows of about a megabyte of multi-byte text. The tests hold on both backends; only the native one has this copy.
+"""
+
+import struct
+
+DIM = 16  # 8 or more floats per vector: they travel in the float32 tail of the first batch, as JSON numbers in the later ones
+
+TEXTS = [
+    "",
+    "plain",
+    "café 日本語 \U0001f600 end",  # 2-, 3- and 4-byte UTF-8 sequences
+    'quote " backslash \\ slash / newline \n tab \t nul-free \u0001 control',
+    "x" * 300,
+]
+
+
+def f32(x):
+    """The double a float32 value widens to (what the engine returns for an ARRAY_OF_FLOATS element)."""
+    return struct.unpack("f", struct.pack("f", x))[0]
+
+
+def _rows(n):
+    rows = []
+    for i in range(n):
+        rows.append(
+            {
+                "id": i,
+                "big": (1 << 62) - i if i % 2 else -(1 << 62) + i,
+                "val": (i + 0.5) / 7.0,
+                "txt": TEXTS[i % len(TEXTS)],
+                "vec": [f32((i * DIM + k) / 1000.0 - 3.0) for k in range(DIM)],
+            }
+        )
+    return rows
+
+
+def _typed_db(temp_db):
+    temp_db.command("sql", "CREATE DOCUMENT TYPE R")
+    for p, t in (
+        ("id", "INTEGER"),
+        ("big", "LONG"),
+        ("val", "DOUBLE"),
+        ("txt", "STRING"),
+        ("vec", "ARRAY_OF_FLOATS"),
+    ):
+        temp_db.command("sql", f"CREATE PROPERTY R.{p} {t}")
+    return temp_db
+
+
+def test_a_reply_of_several_batches_round_trips_exactly(temp_db):
+    db = _typed_db(temp_db)
+    rows = _rows(
+        5000
+    )  # 256 in the first reply (vectors in the float tail), then 2048 + 2048 + 648 (vectors as numbers)
+    db.insert_many("R", rows)
+    got = db.query("sql", "SELECT id, big, val, txt, vec FROM R ORDER BY id").to_list()
+    assert len(got) == len(rows)
+    for want, have in zip(rows, got):
+        assert have["id"] == want["id"]
+        assert have["big"] == want["big"]
+        assert have["val"] == want["val"]
+        assert have["txt"] == want["txt"]
+        assert list(have["vec"]) == want["vec"]
+
+
+def test_a_small_reply_with_a_vector_round_trips_exactly(temp_db):
+    db = _typed_db(temp_db)
+    rows = _rows(3)
+    db.insert_many("R", rows)
+    got = db.query("sql", "SELECT id, vec, txt FROM R ORDER BY id").to_list()
+    assert [list(r["vec"]) for r in got] == [r["vec"] for r in rows]
+    assert [r["txt"] for r in got] == [r["txt"] for r in rows]
+
+
+def test_rows_of_about_a_megabyte_of_multibyte_text_round_trip(temp_db):
+    db = _typed_db(temp_db)
+    unit = "aé日\U0001f600"  # 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 bytes
+    rows = [
+        {"id": i, "txt": unit * (250_000 + i)} for i in range(4)
+    ]  # ~1.2 MB of UTF-8 per row
+    db.insert_many("R", rows)
+    got = db.query("sql", "SELECT id, txt FROM R ORDER BY id").to_list()
+    assert [(r["id"], r["txt"]) for r in got] == [(r["id"], r["txt"]) for r in rows]
+
+
+def test_empty_and_one_row_replies(temp_db):
+    db = _typed_db(temp_db)
+    assert db.query("sql", "SELECT FROM R").to_list() == []
+    assert db.query("sql", "SELECT '' AS s").to_list() == [{"s": ""}]
+    assert db.query("sql", "SELECT 1 AS x").first().get("x") == 1
diff --git a/native-spike/src/main/java/org/humemai/nativelib/ArcadeNative.java b/native-spike/src/main/java/org/humemai/nativelib/ArcadeNative.java
index 5758d865936..fa27f95035b 100644
--- a/native-spike/src/main/java/org/humemai/nativelib/ArcadeNative.java
+++ b/native-spike/src/main/java/org/humemai/nativelib/ArcadeNative.java
@@ -500,13 +500,12 @@ private static CCharPointer replyOf(final ResultSet rs, final int max, final int
     final byte[] b = (reply.substring(0, reply.length() - 1) + ",\"bin\":" + sink.n + "}").getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
     final int off = (b.length + 1 + 3) & ~3;
     final CCharPointer p = UnmanagedMemory.malloc(off + 4 * sink.n);
-    for (int i = 0; i < b.length; i++)
-      p.write(i, b[i]);
-    for (int i = b.length; i < off; i++)
-      p.write(i, (byte) 0);
-    final CFloatPointer fp = (CFloatPointer) ((org.graalvm.word.Pointer) p).add(off);
-    for (int i = 0; i < sink.n; i++)
-      fp.write(i, sink.a[i]);
+    // bulk copies (Unsafe.copyMemory), not one p.write per byte: the text, the zero padding up to the 4-byte boundary, then the float32 tail in native order
+    final java.nio.ByteBuffer bb = CTypeConversion.asByteBuffer(p, (int) (off + 4L * sink.n));
+    bb.put(b, 0, b.length);
+    while (bb.position() < off)
+      bb.put((byte) 0);
+    bb.order(java.nio.ByteOrder.nativeOrder()).asFloatBuffer().put(sink.a, 0, sink.n);
     return p;
   }
 
@@ -683,9 +682,8 @@ static Chars chars(final CCharPointer p) {
   static CCharPointer out(final String s) {
     final byte[] b = s.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
     final CCharPointer p = UnmanagedMemory.malloc(b.length + 1);
-    for (int i = 0; i < b.length; i++)
-      p.write(i, b[i]);
-    p.write(b.length, (byte) 0);
+    // one bulk copy (Unsafe.copyMemory) and the terminating zero; this was a Java loop of p.write(i, b[i]), one byte per iteration
+    CTypeConversion.asByteBuffer(p, b.length + 1).put(b, 0, b.length).put((byte) 0);
     return p;
   }
 }