text: [Themes: sci-fi, science fiction]
  
  "This is what a Folvan woman looks like?" Dansmith says, still refusing to step any further into the chamber. "Except for the belly, she doesn't look any different from the men."
  
  "I think I remember reading the Folvans have no gender," Dr. Wildon says.
  
  "Dr. Munro did write some studies on Folvan procreation," Hun-Spruk says from her spot beside Dansmith, "but I'm embarrassed to say now I didn't read them. That was the one topic I thought would be least useful in our mission."
  
  "Hey, does anybody beside me think we shouldn't be here?" Dansmith says.
  
  "Yeah," you say. "We were looking for the Anywhere Device, and I'm pretty sure this isn't it."
  
  "Let's get out of here," Hun-Spruk says.
  
  But as you're turning around, a small chip of hardened clay skids across the floor. Dansmith sees it too. "I think Quabiss is trying to get our attention."
  
  You rush down the short passageway to where you posted your security specialist. "Shhh!" he whispers. "I've been hearing lots of voices, but with all the echoes I can't tell from where."
  
  "Voices?" you say. "Not ours?"
  
  "Not yours, no," he says. "Folvan voices."
  
  Everyone hushes, and you hear what Quabiss has been hearing: several distant voices, source unknown. All of the walls down here are lined with a hard clay-like substance, and even the slightest sound reverberates off them. There is no way to tell if the voices are coming from the main entrance you followed or from a side chamber.
  
  If the goal is to get back out of this village with a minimum of Folvan entanglements, it seems the best options right now are to make a straight shot back the way you came—meaning that you will be out in the open until you can reach the tall prairie grass—or to take refuge in the passageway to the right, which seems pretty quiet right now.
  
  > If you seek an alternate route through the underground passageway, turn to page 198.
  There has got to be an alternate way out of this place, and if so, it has to be better than trying to make a mad dash through the village in what by now must be daylight. So on impulse you choose to follow the passageway to the right.
  
  "Lieutenant? Do we know where this goes?" Dansmith says.
  
  "Anyplace that might get us out of here unseen is the way we want to go," you say. "This corridor was the quietest, so this is the way we're going."
  
  No one offers a counterargument as they follow you down the underground corridor. But a moment later you come to another curtain placed across your path. The space beyond it is dark, but you hesitantly move the curtain aside, fearing that you might be about to disturb another pregnant Folvan.
  
  When you hear no sounds, you shine your light inside. Empty.
  
  "At the very least we have a place to hide out," you whisper.
  
  "Yeah, but Lieutenant Wyte will have the entire Fifth Fleet looking for us if he can't find us with his sensors," Dansmith says.
  
  But before anyone else can respond, a light appears from behind another grass-fiber curtain on the opposite side of the chamber. A hand pushes the stiff material aside, and in walks a villager holding an oil lamp. It sees the five of you with your handlights and shrieks loudly, its throat sac vibrating like a sheet in a strong wind. The noise echoes down every interconnected passageway and into every chamber. Almost immediately you hear the sound of Folvans running toward the source of the scream—that is, straight to you.
  
  > Page 21
  "This way!" you say, dashing into yet another passageway leading out of this curtained room. But in the confusion of the moment, and with all of the echoing sounds, only Starman Quabiss follows you; the doctor, the chief, and the lieutenant must have went their own way, because you no longer see or hear them.
  
  What you do hear are the sounds of running steps and people speaking in the impossible-to-comprehend Folvan language. You already know these people are armed with plasguns, and that they aren't at all pleased by your presence. So you see no option but to try and lose your pursuers in these tunnels.
  
  The problem is you have no idea where you're going—just that you need to get away from the sound of running steps behind you. Quabiss doesn't protest; he follows along, probably hoping you have a plan in mind.
  
  "Keep going, Lieutenant," he says. "They're definitely following us."
  
  Soon the passageway leads past a number of illuminated side chambers, and you realize too late that you have stumbled into the heart of the village. If the above-ground impression of this place was underwhelming, with its primitive earthen mounds and no architecture of any kind, these underground warrens would be more intriguing if you weren't so afraid for your safety. The only exits all seem to lead into private residences, and in several cases you pass startled people who gasp an overly loud AURK! when they see two humans in their communal passageways.
  
  > Page 159
  It is not difficult for your pursuers to find you; if nothing else, all they had to do was follow the trail of commotion. The passageway comes to an end in a circular chamber with three ways out, all them through living spaces occupied with alarmed residents. The entire village must know where you are. Behind you, two armed Folvans—plasguns raised—make their way toward you.
  
  "Quabiss, what did we miss?" you say. "Did you see another way out of here?"
  
  "We could try to push our way through one of these homes," he says, his own plasgun raised in defense.
  
  "I haven't seen one that wasn't occupied, though," you say.
  
  "Yeah, but the civilians aren't armed," he says. "All we need to do is find the passageway leading up to one of those mounds we saw earlier."
  
  Your pursuers are advancing quickly, and they look very upset. You look around at the three dens leading out of this dead end, and see one that is now clear—perhaps the occupant has sought safety elsewhere.
  
  "Follow me!" you say, and Quabiss trails you into the Folvan residence. Once past the initial entrance, this dwelling becomes even more confusing than the main passageway. There is not just one room, but several, with a short set of stairs leading both up and down between each chamber.
  
  "This is crazy," you think out loud.
  
  "I think we should go this way," Quabiss says. "That looks like a stairway leading up to street-level." He is pointing to a small room on your right, up three steps from your current room. And yes, across that room is a longer set of stairs leading much higher than the rest.
  
  > Page 197
  Before your legs can take you there, you are both tackled from behind and brought down to the ground. You feel the weight of a Folvan's knee on your backbone. Turning your head, you see Quabiss is in the exact same predicament.
  
  Your two captors seem enraged. "Aurk! Aurk!" they bark repeatedly, and indeed it seems like that is exactly what they're doing, barking in an inarticulate rage at the audacity of your intrusion into their way of life.
  
  Hopefully this rage is not too inconsolable; your predicament is dire, and you want to demonstrate that you mean no harm. When the Folvan holding you down stands up, you try to flip yourself over onto your back, your hands raised. You intend to try and talk calmly, maybe diffuse this tense situation, but in reality your movement startles your captors.
  
  There are two plasgun blasts: one for you, one for Starman Quabiss.