After four days of tense travel, the klaxon rang and the passengers prepared to drop sublight. Red braced herself in the doorway of the bridge to watch the conversion. When it was done she found Turlon, "I still think we're looking at Tharon, the primary looks about right." There was a six hour sublight run to the planet, Redjos told them. Then they'd be landing directly on the surface. Turlon whispered to Red, "Stay alert. I haven't liked the feel of this since takeoff. There are a lot of things that can happen on a planet like this, let's make sure we're the ones to cause them." A few hours later the ship settled into the bay on Tharon. "We're lifting again as soon as the inspection is completed, which shouldn't take long. We're not carrying contraband, and there isn't much on the contraband list anyway," said Mary. "How long do you estimate us staying planetside?" asked Turlon standing. "Hour. Maybe two," said Redjos. "Fair enough," he evaluated. Turlon inquired about the planet's atmosphere and what equipment they intended to use, in preparation for the inspection. He didn't want to spend anymore time than he had to on a strange planet, especially after having to deal with bureaucrats. "Atmosphere's bad. Suggest you stay on ship," said Redjos. Turlon responded, "So you're going to bring the apparatus to the ship?" "Yes," said Redjos. "Then why didn't you just bring it to Sardis," he answered. "It's on the ship, just filters," was the reply. Turlon glanced to Red, then to Mary and said, "You care to translate?" "You don't need a whole environment suit, just filters to get the toxins out, like this," she said as a knock came on the side of the ship. A few moments later after the airlock cycled, the inspector came on. He was short and thick, as most native heavy planet folk were, dressed in what might pass for business casual wear on most temperate planets except for the filter mask over his face and eyes. He popped the mask and produced a minicomp, "Hi folks. Anything to declare?" Turlon was unaware of any contraband, and followed the lead of Mary. "Nothing to declare," said Mary. "Right," said the customs man. "What's through there?" Mary took him on a quick tour. When they were finished, he said, "Right. Shouldn't take but a few minutes to clear you through. Set up for an onplanet hop, eh?" Unable to start a conversation with Redjos, he took his leave, reaffixing his mask and cycling back out though the airlock. Turlon nodded at the exit of the man and turned to his companions, "That's that. Are we ready, Mary?" "I think so, we just wait for clearance," said Mary. "Are we going straight there, or to a base somewhere?" he asked wondering if he needed to pack his stuff or get outfitted for an excursion. "Straight there, we've got a dome," said Mary. Turlon nodded and went to strap on his Blaster and grab the Fith'Ik. He paused to ask Red, "Are you ready? any thoughts?" "Nothing comes to mind, I'll follow your lead." A few moments later, clearance came through and the ship lifted. "We'll go orbital for a bit, it's faster," said Mary. About an hour later the ship dropped back in to the atmosphere and came in for a landing. "We're here," said Mary. "Redjos will go get the boarding tube." Redjos suiting action to word, slipped a filter mask on and stepped into the airlock. Turlon fidgetted with anticipation as he craned his neck to look into the airlock. He hated waiting, always did, but soon he would get to see this apparatus Mary had attributed to the ForeRunners. After a few minutes, there was a gentle thump outside the airlock. A moment later, the lock cycled and revealed Redjos. He removed his filter. "This way," he said, and headed back down the tube. A walk of perhaps 20 meters through the flexiplast tube brought them to another airlock, which cycled quickly and let them into a dome. The dome was medium sized, with all the comforts of home: 'fresher, kitchen, and what were presumably sleeping chambers. Through a window, two more small domes were visible, connected by tunnels through the modular hatches. The smallest dome Turlon identified as a power station, the other dome was large enough for two or three rooms, and had all its windows opaqued. "Nice digs," commented Turlon as he looked around. "Looks like you spend some time here, is this your home away from the glitz of Sardis?" he asked. "It's quiet and away from prying eyes," said Mary. "You two can bunk in there." She pointed to one of the rooms. Turlon hefted his bag and began to walk over to his new quarters, "I'll be sure to close any prying eyes I see," he assured her. As he arrived at the door Turlon turned, "When are we scheduled to leave?" "Depends on how things go with the device," said Mary. "Why, got somewhere to be?" "I don't get paid by the hour," he replied. "This isn't my idea of a vacation, but I am eager to see whatever it is that you found." Mary looked at Redjos, "Hold on a minute." She went to Redjos and they spoke quietly together for a moment. Mary returned to Turlon while Redjos headed to the hatch leading to the other domes, attaching his filter-mask. "Allright, why don't you unpack and I'll make us a light meal while Redjos checks the integrity of the other domes, and then we'll go have a look. I don't know about you, but these 2Gs are tiring me out, I'd love to sit down for a few minutes." As soon as Mary mentioned it, the toll hit Turlon as well. His excitement over finally seeing this device was pumping the adrenaline so much that the gravity hadn't affected him, until now. "That sounds like a good idea," he said taking a seat. "So, we have some time. Care to fill me in on this device? how did you find it, and how did you learn about what it could do. You said it was a ForeRunner relic?" Mary pulled a few mealpacks out of the storage unit and brought them to Turlon and Red before relaxing down into a plastiform chair with a sigh. She thumbed the heatstrip, "I'm not an expert on ForeRunner archeology, but it sure looks like ForeRunner tech to me. I've never seen anything like it, and the way it works ... I don't know of anyone who can do that sort of thing with," she made a vague gesture in the region of her head. "What does it do?" asked Red. Mary gave a questioning glance to Turlon. He nodded, and said "Go ahead, we love a good fairy tale. ForeRunner finds are the stuff of legends." "I don't know what it does," Mary said. "That's what you are here to find out. I think Turlon can help me discover what it does." "I don't know what it does," Mary said. "That's what you are here to find out. I think Turlon can help me discover what it does." Turlon looked over to Red and shrugged with a smile, "I am a technical genius after all." Stretching, Turlon added a bit more explanation for Red, "Sensei recognized great potential in Mary, and this device could hold the key to immense enlightenment." Red looked a bit confused, but nodded, as she opened her mealpack. About twenty minutes later, Redjos returned to the dome with his mask off. "Ready," he said. Turlon tidied up his finished mealpack and slapped his thighs with the palms of his hands. "Great, let's see what you've got," he said spirited. Turlon stood waited for Mary to lead the way. Redjos left down the passage as quickly and silently as he came. Mary stood and collected the mealpaks and dropped them into the compacting unit. She led the way to the door, asking the last one through to seal the hatch behind them, "In case we get holed, I'd just as soon not have the entire place contamianted." She headed down to the next hatch, and opened it. "Here we are," she said, stepping aside to let them see. The dome was partitioned roughly in half, with two doors in the partition. There was a door on the opposite side, but it led only to the surface. Dominating the room were two large pods or couches, each large enough to hold a good sized man. They were made out of some dull metal. The tops, over where the heads would lie, were roofed with a hinged lid of some type of crystal, Turlon was reminded of his PK crystal, although this was not quite the same. The two pods were connected by some sort of cabling to a central column which was pressed up against the partition wall. The column was made of the same dull metal, topped with a hemisphere of faceted crystal. The column hummed softly, and every now and then a coruscation of color would flicker across the crystal hemisphere. "Well," said Turlon with some satisfaction, "this is it." He approached the device to get a closer look and to see if there were any markings. "It looks to be in good condition, or did you make any repairs?" "We just moved it into the dome and figured out a way to power it," said Mary. "ForeRunner powersystems are a little better known than most of their technologies and it wasn't too hard." Turlon couldn't see any other markings on the machine. "Shall we go ahead and lie down?" said Mary, moving to one couch. Turlon looked at the device skeptically, "That, I'm not sure about." He paced around a bit, "I'm not exactly keen on hooking myself into some unknown piece of machinery. You don't know what this thing is designed to do, do you?" "I told you, no," said Mary. "I've tried it, though, and it just needs more operators. It's hard to explain unless you've tried it. I think you know what I mean, though, you just *know*." "Yeah, I know what you mean. You say this device *awakened* you?" he asked appearing to be enthralled by the machine as he walked around it. "Not exactly, although it certainly clarified a few things, if you know what I mean," said Mary. "All right," said Red. "You've lost me completely." Turlon seemingly ignored Red as he spoke to Mary, "What about Redjos? has he been hooked to it?" "Yeah, but ..." she trailed off. "But?" Turlon repeated. There was too much being unsaid and Finnean and partner had been holding all the Aces up to this point. Turlon was used to following orders with minimal information, but in this case the unknown was from a ForeRunner device that none of them knew exactly what it could do. He felt bad for Red who was getting even less of the conversation that he was, but she was a trooper who played along through the fog. "But," Mary cast about for words, then settled on," it only seems to work if you're awake." "*Seems* is an awful risky word to bank on whether your brain turns to Mordorian pudding or not," he reasoned. "What do you expect to accomplish from this little experiment? it doesn't look too big we could take it back to Valperce where it can be examined." "I only have your word as to what's going on on Valperce," she countered. "This baby stays here, at least until I know what it does." "Suit yourself," said Turlon with a sense fo finality. He turned and walked back toward the entrance to the dome, "You can take us back to Sardis now." Mary trailed after him, "Two things. First, think about it overnight at least. Second, what do you want me to do? Anything other than hauling it to some other planet? What would satisfy you?" "The truth for starters," Turlon shot back. "You talk about all you have is my word about Valperce, but I don't even have that when it comes to all this," he said waving his arms around the dome. "You expect me to allow some machine I've never seen before and know nothing about to crawl inside my head? No thanks." Turlon took a couple of steps away, stopped and turned. "If you want my help then you better begin telling me who you are, how you found this device, and whatever else you think will convince me to trust you." With that Turlon continued his walk. Mary watched as Turlon stormed out with Red following. The pair made their way back to the first dome and into their quarters. Turlon pulled Red to the side and tried to explain as best he could the mission and the risks without giving too much away about Meowr'Hiss, portraying it as some mystical legend. Regardless of its existence, Turlon assured her that many believed in it and this device from the distant past could be a portal to these powers. Naturally Sensei would be interested in finding out whether these powers existed, and Mary was one key to that puzzle. The risks were evident, allowing oneself to be at the mercy of a strange machine carried with it unspeakable danger. It appeared that Mary was not willing to budge on removing the device to a more controlled area to maximize whatever security they could muster. Turlon was not bashful about expressing his concerns to Red for his safety were he to participate in this experiment, but he saw no other way short of forcefully taking the device and ship back to the Dojo. "What do your instincts tell you?" he asked. "I don't know," said Red, "I owe Sensei so much." The door to the dome hissed, and Mary stuck her head in with a somewhat apologetic look. "Sorry to interrupt, you'll think about it, right? Over night? Redjos and I will go and sleep on the ship so you guys can think it over, allright?" Turlon looked up to Mary standing at the door. "We'll give it the attention it deserves," he answered matter-of-factly. With a look away, he dismissed Mary. There was to be a big decision made in the morning, and Turlon was divided. A good night's sleep and early morning period of meditation would do him wonders as he sought discernment. Mary and Redjos walked to the hatch, Redjos paused, "Keep the hatch dogged tight, but you know that. Hostile atomosphere discipline," he said, then followed Mary through the passage back to the ship. Turlon didn't still didn't trust Redjos and following his and Mary's exit decided to explore around a bit before turning in. He checked the hatch to the other dome and found it locked. Dissappointed and on edge, he turned in for the night. * * * * Morning came early, as it wont to do. Turlon and Red were up when the hatch leading to the ship hissed open and Redjos and Mary entered. "Good morning," she said. "Sleep well?" "As well as one can away from home," Turlon replied. He stretched and went for his bags, "are we ready to head back to Sardis?" "You sure you won't reconsider?" she asked with a frown. "I'll give you one more chance to convince me differently," he said fairly. "A private conference?" Turlon offered. Mary looked at Redjos, who nodded, "OK," she said. "On the ship?" She turned to head back through the hatch. Turlon turned to Red and said what sounded like a command, "Start packing." He followed Mary through the hatch. They walked down the short passage to the ship and entered it. "Drink?" asked Mary, preparing herself a cup of kaffoid. "No thanks," he replied impatiently. "So, let me hear your final plea." Mary was silent for a long moment, then said, "Please, just do it. It could be ..." In the back of his mind, Turlon felt the tingle that indicated that someone was using Meowr'Hiss in the area. Mary gave no indication that she was using Meowr'Hiss or noticed it being used. "... awkward if you don't." Turlon focused and latched onto the Meowr'Hiss activity following it's signature trail through the mental landscape back to its source. There, Turlon had it, there was something happening behind him twenty meters or so ... about where the dome was. Turlon stood and ran back toward the dome. Behind him he heard Mary's voice, "I guess it's too late then." He was out the hatch and down the tube in a flash, when he jacked open the door to the dome, he froze. Red was down on the floor jittering wildly, crouched over was Redjos. "You just made your biggest and last mistake," Turlon threatened as he quickly closed the distance. "One more step and she dies," said Redjos, stopping his attempt to bind her in favor of pointing a disruptor pistol at her. Turlon stopped in his tracks and instinctively drew his Fith'Ik, laying it down on the floor. He took a side step away from the blade and continued to circle Redjos unthreateningly. "So what's it going to be? Blast the girl, then what?" "No," said Mary from behind him. "Now you and I go into the other dome while Redjos puts her in the ship and ties her up. Then Redjos joins us and we all lie down in the machine. That's all." "No," echoed Turlon. "If sky jockey here knew anything about StarForce he'd know we don't negotiate with terrorist. Hostage situations don't exactly inspire me," he said to Mary. Turlon gave a quick scan of the room and noticed their leftover breakfast meals lying on the floor from where the previous struggle tossed them. His eyes locked on a key from the mealpak lying there. With a crack, the key flew off the table and slammed into Redjos's right shoulder. His arm dropped to his side and the gun fell from his limp fingers. The breath whistled out of his teeth. A tingle passed through Turlon's mind as someone nearby used Meowr'Hiss and when Redjos looked up at Turlon, the pain was gone from his eyes. He hopped backward, his useless harm flopping at his side, and lifted his filter mask over his face. Turlon leaped for the fallen disruptor. Turlon came up with the disruptor as Redjos continued backwards activating his lightsword somewhat awkwardly with his left hand. Mary, out of her element broke back through the tunnel toward the ship. Turlon hefted the disruptor in his hand. He was much more comfortable with a blaster, but had moderate training with the weapon. He sent a wave of cascading energy toward Redjos. The beam grazed Redjos leg, leaving a smoky area on the jumpsuit. Redjos reached out and slashed his lightsword through the side of the dome. He dove through the rent as Turlon fired again catching him full in the back. The additional impact drove the man out through the hole in the side of the dome, out of which the atmosphere was whistling. Turlon grabbed Red, slinging her over his shoulder, and ran to the tunnel leading back to the ship. Hopefully Mary hadn't locked down everything in her hasty retreat, and was expecting Redjos to return. Turlon slammed into the hatch and fell through it into the access tunnel. Onward toward the ship Turlon trekked with Red in tow. He whispered to her, "are you OK?" Chit-chat was for the meds back in StarForce, as a Commando he had little to say to anyone while in the middle of ops. This was different, this was a friend; and he felt something he wasn't sure he liked. "God," said Red, "I've never felt pain like that." She stumbled a little and then got her feet under her. They reached the hatch and the airlock to the ship. It was dogged shut. Turlon acknowledged Red's response with a grunt and pounded on the airlock, hoping that Mary would open up. There was no response from inside the ship. Turlon composed himself, and called upon his gifts once more reaching out around himself looking for the familiar sparks of life that inhabited the near dimensions. He hadn't had a chance to confirm the status of Redjos and if he was able to detect he was still out there, that would dictate his next plan of action. Turlon felt the presence of life, two humans, one inside the ship and one outside about forty meters off to the left -- the side that Redjos had been on. Just as he was narrowing in on that form, he felt the tug of Meowr'Hiss being activated and the life reading vanished to reappear inside the ship. 'Lovely,' he thought to himself. Turlon grabbed Red, "we've got to get back to the dome." Turlon led the way back in hopes that there was a way to find shelter free from the rupture. With Redjos back on board the ship there were two things that could happen. One, he was arming himself for another assault. Or two, they were going to blast off. Either way, Turlon didn't want to be standing next to the ship, maybe there was something he could salvage back at the deserted domes. At the far end of the tunnel he could get his bearings. The front half of the living dome was breached, but the back half looked secure. The rest of the domes were also probably safe. He headed back to their temporary living quarters to retrieve their things. Turlon was much more comfortable with a blaster than the disruptor he took from Redjos. Holding their breath, the two darted through the airlock as soon as it cycled. Turlon had the tougher job, the interior door was pressure safe but not an airlock. He went through as fast as he could to avoid contaminating the interior atmosphere. On the way he scooped up his Fith'Ik. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Red punch the button to cycle the airlock, then look panicky for a moment before racing back to the tunnel to the ship. Turlon examined the internal door on this tunnel, the lock looked electronic, but he saw a manual override - probably a safety feature to avoid trapping people in tunnels. Turlon stripped off all his extra gear, then cycled quickly through the door and raced over to the other door. Peering through, he summoned his strength and teleported to the other side. He worked the manual override and was pleased to see that once the crank had been worked, the lock reset and he could use power to finish cycling the door. He cycled through and went back to rejoin Red. She was watching him with confusion, "Van, you just ... vanished! What's going on?" Turlon provided a quick answer as he rushed her along, "Hold your breath, it's poisonous and can cause hallucinations. We have to hurry." They raced back to the other door, now unlocked and cycled through. With Red safely in the other tunnel, Turlon once again went into the living quarters and returned with their gear. A slight headache told him that he was nearing the limit of what he could expect to do racing in and out of the toxic atmosphere. They hurried down the tunnel to the junction and discovered to their relief that all the other doors were unlocked. Turlon hurried into the room where the device was stored. He handed Red the disruptor, slipped the Fith'Ik onto his back and armed himself with the blaster. Turning to Red he ordered, "see if you can find any breathers, I don't know how long we may be stuck here." He paced around glancing over toward the device, "And be careful. I expect Redjos to not be happy that we've got his device." "Right," said Red and immediately headed into the back room. "Van, come see this," she called. Turlon joined her. In the back room was another pod like the two in the front. It was pushed near the wall and from this side no attempt had been made to hide the cables running through the partition. The room also contained a number of crates containing supplies and so forth. "Looks like this is where Redjos' planned on lying during their 'experiment'," he thought aloud. Turlon examined the cables and how they connected to this pod. He thought, 'I wonder if reversing the connections could buy us an advantage.' He looked to see if it could be done, out of sight of Red. What she didn't know, couldn't be used against them. One of the crates contained not only filter masks, but several sets of sythskins. With those, survival on the surface was possible for extended periods of time, limited only by food and water. Turlon thanked their good fortune as he found a filter and synthskin that fit him. Then he asked Red how comfortable she felt with the disruptor, reminding her that Redjos and Mary were going to come after them. "Not happy, but," she said digging though her luggage and coming up with her laser, "I feel good about this." Her face became grim, "And I'll use on it myself before I let him touch me again." Turlon didn't need any special skills to read the distaste and fear that Red was radiating. She slipped into a pair of synthskins and slipped on a mask. Turlon surveyed the room housing the device. Immediately he made a cursory inventory as to defense positions and typical avenues for attack. Turlon started dragging the crates into a makeshift bunker that would maximize defensibility and instructed Red to prepare herself for Redjos and Mary's impending assault. After this, Turlon's scouting instinct took over as he decided to check out the terrain surrounding their position. He gripped the blaster and headed back out into the hall to stop at the Power Dome and explore. The power dome contained a standard model mini-fusion reactor, and some more supplies. He had just begun to look further at the stores when he heard the terrifying sizzle and crack of a heavy blast cannon -- or as he reminded himself a moment later, of a starship NovaGun being fired in atmosphere. He heard a second crack and out the portal saw a flash and explosion as the living dome took a direct hit and was destroyed. Turlon smiled to himself at Redjos' actions. 'Coward,' he thought to himself as he hurried over to the portal to see if he could see the ship and what it did next. Turlon surmised that Redjos must be hurt pretty bad if he took the tact of incinerating where he believed he and Red to be holed up instead of coming out to fight them man-to-man. This was a point that Turlon was certain to remind him of should they meet again. Turlon then went back to check on Red and hope that Redjos felt the device was worth saving. The turret tracked slowly toward the connecting tunnel. Fired, missed, fired again and vaporized the tunnel. As Turlon watched, the turret began to track down the next leg of the tunnel toward the power dome and toward him. Turlon's jaw dropped as he made a bee-line to where the device was stored. Rushing into the open hallway, he lifted his blaster and ran into the dome telling Red to evacuate. He fired at the dome wall for an escape route and grabbed what little gear they acquired from the crates. Turlon grabbed the few nearest crates and followed. They looked for and found some cover nearby down in a small depression and hit the deck. From there they could watch as the rest of the domes were destroyed, and the rubble thoroughly blasted. Then there was silence. As they were pelted with minor debris Turlon's mind was racing with thoughts of his survival training. He was trying to remember back how far they had flown out to this remote location from the base, directions, anything that could help him triangulate their location. The stillness overwhelmed him as he popped his head over the depression and surveyed the damage and their new home. Turlon had no real clue where they were on the planet. The terrain around them was jungle like, dense, hot and humid. In the heavy gravity, the plants tended to be low to the ground. Around the ruins of the dome, a few small fires sputtered, but the wet climate looked to be sufficient to prevent any real outbreak. Everything had a strange brownish tint, strange to an eye used only to lush green jungle. Looming over it all was the ship. Planetology was not Turlon's strong suit, so he was unable to make many more estimates about the planet. Still, old reflexes were still alive and as long as their food and water held out, Turlon thought he could probably deal with the terrain and it's inhabitants. Turlon huddled down into the crater, pulling Red below the site line of the ship. He waited, hoping the ship would conclude that they had perished. They waited for an eternity; which was about fifteen minutes by the clock. Then the ship's torch drive fired and the ship rose quickly into the sky, becoming lost to sight in seconds.