text: You try to accept the incoming message surreptitiously by touching the comm device attached to the back of your right ear. With luck you'll be able to communicate with the Orion without being noticed.
  
  "Lieutenant, what's happening down there?" It's Lieutenant Wyte, and he doesn't seem happy. "According to my scans, you're in the middle of the native village. And for a while I lost you altogether."
  
  There is no way to hide his voice. He is speaking so loud that the small, tinny transmission in your earpiece is audible to everyone present. "Are you in danger? Is your mission compromised? Please respond!"
  
  A hand yanks the comm forcefully from your ear. You turn to see the Folvan wearing the cap--Skarahk, as Dr. Munro called him a moment ago. He seems to have lost his patience with you. His throat sac partially fills with air, and he bleats out an incomprehensible series of noises. It must be orders to take you prisoner, because the other Folvans grab your teammates by the shoulders and start to steer all of you down the street.
  
  Lieutenant Hun-Spruk, being so tiny in comparison to the tall Folvan behind her, manages to break free. "Dr. Munro," she says, "what is going on here?"
  
  In the moment before you are shoved away, you see what looks like reluctance in Munro's expression. "Come here," she says to Hun-Spruk, and the two of them disappear down the side street. The Folvans let them go, focusing on you, Dansmith, Quabiss, and Wildon instead.
  
  This mission has been a disaster so far, and seems to be getting worse. Your teammates are looking to you for a sign of what to do next. There seem to be only two options: resist or obey.
  
  > If you think it would be better to cooperate and see what happens, turn to page 63.
  You shake your head no, signaling to the others not to resist. How could you overpower beings who are so much taller than you, when you are already handicapped by the planet's gravitational force?
  
  The Folvans immediately begin removing all the remaining comm devices, and then proceed to rip off all the WristComps from your arms, barely bothering to unclip them first. You are then marched four abreast up the dirt street. Dansmith starts to say something but is kicked forward for his trouble; with their powerful legs, it is clear the Folvan controlling him could have done much more damage than simply injuring the chief's pride.
  
  You all take the hint and keep quiet.
  
  Your only hope at this point is that the Orion must be mounting some kind of operation to extract you. Or are they? If Ynthramanni and Diston are adhering to their non-interference orders, it's equally possible they are choosing to take no action at the moment. Either help is on the way, or it isn't--and without your comm, you have no way of finding out.
  
  You are being forced north out of the village. Beyond the last of the mound structures there is a gap, and then a second large mound of earth that stands apart from the village. Beyond this structure is the open prairie. But before you can indulge in the urge to run into the darkness, your Folvan guards grab your arms even more tightly and steer you to an entrance on the far side of the mound. Just like the previous structure, this one seems to just be a shelter that covers a set of stairs leading into the ground.
  
  The underground space seems well lit. The Folvans release your arms and force you down the steps single file, and at the bottom you find a large chamber. At the center of this chamber is a large glowing sphere of a kind you've never seen before, showing a grassland scene in broad daylight. This inner light from the sphere illuminates the entire underground chamber.
  
  The Folvans speak quietly to each other, their stiff mouths not moving except to take in air as their throat sacs do all of the vocalizing. You remember Commander Diston mentioning something about a translation app on your WristComps, but without access to those devices you have no ability to understand what is being said. None of it seems to be addressed directly to you humans, anyway.
  
  > Page 24
  While their attention is distracted, Dr. Wildon attempts to speak up. "Is this a hologram of some kind?" he whispers.
  
  "I've never seen a hologram like this," Dansmith says. "And what would these people be doing with such a thing here?"
  
  This time the Folvans ignore you. The leader, Skarahk, seems eager to be done with you. He—it?—picks up a staff that had been left leaning against the wall and waves it authoritatively above his head. Immediately, as if the staff were a controlling device for the sphere, the grassland scene changes to a snow-filled landscape. Skarahk seems dissatisfied with this change, so he waves the staff a second time. The snowy landscape becomes a watery one, perhaps the middle of an ocean. This agrees with Skarahk, and he / it sets the staff down where he found it.
  
  Then Skarahk gives instructions to its companions, who quietly concur with whatever was just said. Once again the four of you are grabbed by the shoulders from behind, one Folvan for each human. They line you up around the sphere, and when Skarahk gives the signal one of the Folvans shoves Starman Quabiss towards the sphere.
  
  But rather than bouncing off the surface, he passes through as easily as if this were an open window, and you see your young security specialist splashing into the water. "Lieutenant!" he shouts while bobbing in the waves.
  
  Dr. Wildon is shoved through next, and then Chief Dansmith. You see all of them seemingly inside the sphere, struggling to keep their faces above water. They are three bobbing heads, rising and falling in the large swells.
  
  You are shoved through last, and you fall into the water headfirst. Salt stings your eyes, and you realize you are sinking faster than you expected. It is a struggle to return to the surface. When you do, you see no sign of the strange sphere that brought you here. Quabiss, Dansmith, and Wildon have all drifted apart, and from what you can see they are all struggling to remain afloat; on this world, a human body is as heavy as a bag of rocks. Powerful waves are driving you all forward and threatening to drown you at the same time.
  
  When the very first swell lifts you up, you briefly catch a glimpse of some kind of landmass ahead. It is still some distance away, but if you can manage to keep afloat until the waves deposit you on the beach, maybe—just maybe—you can live to see another day.