text: o and get some answers before we can go home. It's been a long day, and we're tired and we're hungry. So let's have a working dinner while we figure out what we're going to do next."
  
  Of course, by "dinner" you mean NutriRations, as that is the only nourishment anyone here possesses. It turns out to be a slow feast—slow, because everyone knows that once you're done eating there will be nothing left to do but resume your mission, which will entail more physical exertion in this exhausting environment.
  
  "We should've had you go back to the mess hall and pick us up some real food," Dansmith says to Hinju at one point.
  
  Quabiss is sitting in Hinju's pilot station, watching his superiors with a detached interest; he's grown bored, as there hasn't been much for him to do in several hours, except just to tag along and be watchful. Dr. Wildon is sprawled out on the starboard passenger seats, fighting the urge to fall asleep. Dansmith is sitting upright in a seat on the port side of the shuttle, with his arms folded. His head has been bobbing up and down as he slowly falls asleep and then suddenly jerks himself back awake.
  
  Meanwhile, you are studying holographic maps of the immediate vicinity with Hun-Spruk and Hinju. There is a fairly detailed representation of Mount Kaspoot floating in the space between you.
  
  "So we're down here," Hinju points out, "and according to those coordinates you just fed me the research post is up here."
  
  "Dr. Munro said there was a trail leading directly from here to there," Hun-Spruk says. "I don't see that on this map, and the terrain looks pretty steep."
  
  "She told us earlier that it was a 250-meter vertical ascent," you say. "I hope she didn't mean it was straight up."
  
  "No, I doubt that it is," Hun-Spruk says. "We're here and the post is over here, so the trail must climb up at an angle."
  
  "Even so, take a look around at everyone in this shuttle," you say. "We've been at this for hours now, and we're exhausted. I don't see mountain climbing in our future. Is there any way we can take this shuttle up to where Ander Dyo is, so we don't need to climb the mountain on foot?"
  
  "That's problematic," Hinju says. "The research post is practically on the edge of the ridgeline, right on this tiny little ledge. Dropping you off there would be more like an insertion than a landing. You're too tired to be climbing up and down rope ladders, and as it turns out I'm not equipped with any anyway."
  
  "All right then," you say. "What's the nearest acceptable landing spot? And please don't tell me this is it, right where we are now."
  
  "No, actually, there is one up on the mountain itself," the pilot says. "It's a kilometer away from the research post, but it's at elevation." He points to a spot on the three-dimensional map projection that looks like a small valley between two rocky summits.
  
  "That could work," Hun-Spruk says. "We could just contour along the slopes so that there would be minimal climbing. Normally I'd guess it would take fifteen minutes to cover that distance, but given our state as well as the environment we're working in, let's say it will take half an hour."
  
  Your eye has been arrested by an unusual feature on the map. "Check this out. It looks like a slot canyon way up here behind this ledge. It zigzags a bit, but it's got perfectly vertical walls and a consistent width, almost like it was man-made. Then it comes to an abrupt end about thirty meters in."
  
  Dansmith has emerged from his cycle of nodding off and waking up, and he is trying to focus more closely on your discussion. "What, you want to go exploring now?"
  
  "No, that's not what I mean," you say. "We know Ander Dyo is here, at the old research post. But that original Anywhere Device, the one that the Elders of Emar gave to the Folvans, is up here somewhere too. If I had to guess where just by looking at this map, this narrow slot carved into the mountain is where I'd look."
  
  "Maybe," Dansmith says.
  
  "And it just so happens that Hinju's landing site is more or less right in the middle of everything," you say.
  
  "All I can say is I'm too tired to care," Dansmith says. "Point me where I need to go, and if I pass out from exhaustion just put a pillow under my head."
  
  In the end, you decide this isn't an either/or proposition, meaning that you don't have to choose to investigate one site over the other. The consensus is to find Ander Dyo first, and then let him guide you to the Anywhere Device.
  
  Hinju starts up the shuttle's engines, and a few minutes later he begins his liftoff sequence. "Guess who's still outside sitting on his rock," he says.
  
  You turn the external camera toward the overhanging boulder, and sure enough, there's Selrahc right where you last saw him.
  
  "He must really miss Dr. Munro," Dansmith says.
  
  "That, or there was something else he wanted to tell us," Dr. Wildon says, his eyes still closed and his legs still taking up two additional seats.
  
  > Page 209
  A few minutes later Hinju is setting the shuttle back down in a high basin between several bald, rocky knobs. "Is this the landing spot you identified earlier?" you ask.
  
  "Yes it is," Hinju says. He opens the hatch, and this time instead of an endless plain of grass you see slopes of barren rock.
  
  You lead the way down to the gravelly soil outside the shuttle. Everything is wet from the rain, and clouds still control the sky. Perhaps because of Folvan's limited biodiversity, these rocky slopes are barren and lifeless.
  
  Lieutenant Hun-Spruk, you see, already has the holographic map of the mountain called up on her WristComp. "Are you ready to lead the way?" you ask her.
  
  "Whenever you are," she says.
  
  The lieutenant sets off, guiding you on a course that begins in a valley between two of the summits. As the valley narrows into a steep gully, Hun-Spruk's bushwhack course takes you up the slope on the right, ascending at an angle. The wet rocks are very slippery, though, so in addition to being tired and heavy, you need to take extra time to find secure footing on the slanted rock face.
  
  You can already see the crater valley before you: the sea of grass, the distant lake, the circular cluster of brown dots on the shore that you recognize as the sleepy village with its protective elders, the column of smoke where Lieutenant Skaxa destroyed the plasma cannon a short time ago.
  
  The mountain range seems to come to an abrupt end, with a precipitous drop into the lowlands. Hun-Spruk leads the way to what looks like the edge of empty space, but then makes a sharp right turn at the base of a rock knob. There, carved into the side of the mountain, is the research post.
  
  "This place is even more empty than the other one we saw this morning!" Dansmith shouts in dismay, and it's true: the post is little more than a dugout fully exposed to the morning air, with nothing more than a rusty stool and a metal storage cabinet inside.
  
  "So what's going on here?" you say. "I don't get it. What are we missing?"
  
  "Are we sure this is the right place?" Dr. Wildon says.
  
  "It must be," Dansmith says. "How many research blinds can there be on this mountain?"
  
  "The place Dr. Munro described had a trail leading right to," Hun-Spruk says. "Does anyone see it?"
  
  "It's right here," Quabiss says. He points down to what looks like a rugged bench in the steep mountainside. It doesn't look like much, but sure enough, after studying it for a moment you can see a path that has been worn down the middle of it. It disappears around a curve in the mountain, but you're pretty sure it leads in the direction of the big boulder where you met the captain.
  
  "Then everything we know points to this being the right spot," you say. "I don't know what else we can do. Let's just examine the hell out of this spot. Either we were lied to, or there is something really simple that we're missing."
  
  "Either theory sounds equally plausible," Dansmith says.
  
  So for the next few minutes your team scrutinizes every cubic centimeter of the research blind. The only contents of the storage cabinet are extra shelves stacked vertically and leaning to one side. The rollaway stool is missing two of its four casters and therefore leans unreliably to one side; it squeals when you try to spin the seat. Hun-Spruk scans the surrounding ledge and finds nothing but solid rock. After the passage of ten minutes, it becomes clear you've performed an exhaustive amount of effort into studying a former research blind that has been stripped of anything useful and abandoned for years.
  
  It is a frustrating moment, and after all these hours running around on this over-sized planet you are not amused. You are going to require a little longer this time to collect your thoughts and figure out what to do next. So you sit on the rusty, cockeyed stool and drink some water.
  
  "Lieutenant Hun-Spruk," you say. "What's the quickest way to that odd-looking slot in the mountain?"
  
  She is sitting on the ground, her back against the wall of the old blind. Her WristComp has been turned off, so it takes a moment for her to call the topographic map back up. Her cheerless expression tells you she is feeling the frustration as well. So does everyone, probably.
  
  "We would have to backtrack to that valley," she says, "and then climb over the next small ridge to the northeast. That would bring us to a place where we could enter the slot, assuming of course you wanted to do more than just stand on the edge and look down."
  
  "What's the distance?" Dansmith says.
  
  "Roughly one kilometer, the same as it was to get here."
  
  "I seem to recall making a pledge with all of you a few days ago not to wuss out on anyone," Dansmith says. His voice is clearly showing signs of fatigue. "I will abide by that pledge and go with you to this box canyon, or whatever it is. But if we find nothing there either, then I think we've earned the right to call it a day."
  
  "In that case, let's do it before I fall asleep on this rock," Dr. Wildon says from where he is lying outside the post.
  
  So in silence you retrace your steps over the corner of the mountain, following Hun-Spruk down the wet rocks and back into the high valley where you started. From the bottom you pause to regard the next slope that rises above you on the other side of the valley.
  
  "This is what we need to climb?" you say.
  
  "Yes," is all Hun-Spruk replies. The ridge is not particularly high or steep, but given your physical state it might as well be Olympus Mons.
  
  You lead the way this time. This side of the valley is less steep than the other, so getting to the top is not as difficult or tiring as you expected. However, what you find when you get there is dispiriting.
  
  "What are those things?" Dr. Wildon says.
  
  Below you, on a large shelf of rock surrounded by slopes on three sides and a steep drop-off on the other, rest three large creatures, of a kind you have not yet encountered. They look sort of like emus, in that they have long necks and pointed muzzles, but their folded wings look much larger. Their necks are upright, but their eyes appear to be closed in slumber. Surrounding them is a grisly collection of bones and animal carcasses, including a few freshly-killed creatures that vaguely resemble small Folvans.
  
  "I think these are teek-teeks," Hun-Spruk says.
  
  "I didn't see any mention of those when I read about the wildlife in this region," you say.
  
  "No, they aren't from here. Their natural habitat is in the mountain ranges of the southern hemisphere."
  
  "That looks like the entrance to our slot behind them, I'm afraid," Dansmith says. "So what do we do? See if they'll let us by? Shoo them away if they don't?"
  
  "They don't look particularly friendly, and we don't have the energy to put up a fight," you say.
  
  At that moment you hear the trilling of your comm unit; there is an incoming message from the Orion. It is in text format, so you read it on your WristComp display:
  
  Iib Ch'iib raider has been engaged. Please stand by.
  
  "So I guess returning to the ship is not a very good option right now," Dansmith says. "We might as well find some way to keep ourselves busy."
  
  "If going down inside that slot is not an option," you say, "then maybe Plan B should be to go up along the rim and look into it from above."
  
  The terrain looks easy enough to navigate from here; the ridge you just climbed merges seamlessly with a broader plateau of open rock a short distance away, into which you can only assume the slot extends for a short distance. There are no obstacles that you can see.
  
  "All right, let's do it," Dr. Wildon says.
  
  So once again you get back up and set off higher up the mountain. Most of the climbing is already behind you, so it's just a matter of following the ridge to that open plateau. Turning back to the southeast, there is a grand view over the crater valley and Lake Syack.
  
  Your upward progress comes to a halt, however, when a plasma beam flashes in front of you and strikes a rock about four meters away. Immediately everyone drops to the ground and seeks what little cover is available.
  
  "That was like a warning shot," Dansmith says.
  
  "Quabiss, do you see anyone?" you ask.
  
  "No, Lieutenant," the starman says. "Wait, yes I do. There's someone over on the opposite summit."
  
  "A Folvan?" you say.
  
  Hun-Spruk is already working her WristComp. "No, not Folvan," she says. "Human."
  
  "Be prepared to cover me," you say, starting to stand back up.
  
  "What are you doing?" Dansmith says, alarmed.
  
  "Making an educated guess," you say.
  
  He and Quabiss inch forward with their plasguns trained on the opposite ridgeline as you reveal yourself to whoever is over there. Hopefully he's willing to listen before he fires again.
  
  "Ander Dyo!" you shout across the intervening valley. "We're from the Astral Navy. We've been looking for you."
  
  There is no response. But at the same time, there are no further shots.
  
  "Can we talk with you?" you shout.
  
  After a delay, you hear the distant response. "Get off the mountain! Go back to your shuttle and get out of here while you still can!"
  
  "Is that him?" Dansmith says, still lying on his stomach with his plasgun pointed forward.
  
  "Yes, that's Ander Dyo," you say. You can't see him yourself, but you recognize the voice.
  
  "We're coming over to talk with you!" you shout again.
  
  This time Dyo fires another warning shot in response. It strikes the ground about ten meters in front of you. You see Quabiss and Dansmith about to react. "No, don't," you tell them.
  
  "Either he's a lousy shot, or he's just trying to scare us away," Dansmith says. "But either way, I don't think he wants company."
  
  "I'm not interested in an armed standoff," you say. "But we're not going to learn anything with us over here and him over there."
  
  "So then what do we do?" Dr. Wildon asks.
  
  "For now let's just do what he says and make our way back to the shuttle," you say. "But as we go back down this slope, let's see if we can figure out a way we might be able to reach his position."
  
  You can't see Ander Dyo at the moment, but you know he is getting a good look at the five of you as you make your way back into the valley between the ridges, where the shuttle is parked.
  
  "I think I see a possible way up there," Quabiss says. "But I'll need to look at the map the next time we find some cover."
  
  You are impressed that Quabiss does this without craning his head, thus telegraphing his discovery to Ander Dyo; from a distance, your security specialist is just stepping carefully down the wet rocks like everybody else.
  
  But in the narrow part of the valley, where Dyo can't see you from his ridgetop lookout, you review the map again to figure out your options.
  
  "Mr. Dyo was right here," Quabiss says. "It looked like he had piled up some rocks around him for cover."
  
  "That's a pretty good tactical position he's got there," Dansmith says. "Sneaking up on him won't be easy, if that's the plan."
  
  "Maybe if we came up behind this way," Quabiss says. He is pointing to a cleft in the mountain not far from the research post. "It looks like a route to the top that would be out of his field of vision."
  
  "Five of us scrambling up that cleft might make quite a ruckus, though," Dansmith says.
  
  "It would be better if just me and the Lieutenant went," Quabiss says. "Two people would be less obvious."
  
  You look at the starman, and then at the rest of your team. Not only does no one have a better idea, but Quabiss's plan is actually pretty good.
  
  "OK, I like it," you say. "But we'll make one modification. Dansmith, Hun-Spruk, and Wildon: I want you to get back in the shuttle and have Hinju lift off. Earlier today we bought some time with the Folvans when they thought we were flying away from their village. Let's see if the same trick works on Ander Dyo."
  
  > Page 210
  And so it comes to pass that ten minutes later you and Quabiss are climbing alone through the cleft in the rock. It is the steepest climbing you've done yet today, but the rock here is very textured and you have plenty of places to step. The trick is to climb as quietly as possible, and hope that Ander Dyo has no idea you're coming.
  
  It is nearing the middle of the Folvan day, but the sky remains cloudy with a cool breeze blowing in from the direction of the lake. Climbing this steep slope, short as it is, is an exhausting effort; you feel the need to stop and catch your breath every two, maybe three steps, and you hope there will be something left of you when you reach the top. Quabiss, despite being younger and stronger than you, seems to be feeling the same way.
  
  When you reach a spot just below the top, you signal to Quabiss to take a peek at what's beyond. While he does so, this gives you one last minute to steel yourself for what you expect to be the final push.
  
  Quabiss steps back down, holds up his plasgun, and nods his head. He wants to confront Dyo. So you unholster your own plasgun and nod back in reply.
  
  Now you and Quabiss are side by side at the top of the cleft, your eyes level with the broad ledge on which Dr. Munro's husband has fortified himself behind a crude rock barrier. He's about fifteen meters away, humming to himself and looking out over the crater valley. He has no idea you're there.
  
  When he sees Hinju's shuttle lifting off and flying back out over the crater valley, Dyo stands up. His gray hair has grown down to his shoulders, and his work clothes have become very dirty from crouching inside the barricade. The tan skin on his wiry arms and neck suggests he has been spending much time outdoors lately.
  
  "That's right, get out of here you fuck wads." He's watching the shuttle, but speaking to himself. "You people have no idea what you're doing up here."
  
  At that moment it occurs to you that you have a choice. Now that he's standing, you have a clear shot from your current position, meaning that you could stun him and then secure this hideout of his before he regains consciousness. Otherwise, until now your plan had been to speak to him again—banking on the hope he'll recognize you now that you're close enough, and will therefore be momentarily confused and much less hostile.
  
  > If you stun Dyo first, turn to page 211.
  You dial back the energy setting on your plasgun well below the level of lethality. The idea is that the kinetic force of the beam will knock your target off balance, while the lower energy strength creates a momentary paralysis of his nervous system. This will give you and Quabiss just enough time to storm Dyo's mountaintop hideout and take control before he regains consciousness.
  
  With the shuttle gone, Dyo is about to crouch back down. You have to fire while you can. The beam misses a bit, striking him in the shoulder instead of the back, but it nevertheless has the desired effect of pushing him forward.
  
  But then Dyo continues falling forward, not unconscious but still unable to regain his balance. Something slips out of his hand, and as he fumbles to regain control over the object, he stumbles over his rock barricade. The stone pile collapses, and Dyo goes down with it—over the edge of the precipice.
  
  "Crap!" you say. With Quabiss behind you, you run toward the stone barricade, but it's too late.
  
  Ander Dyo's broken body has come to rest on a small knob of rock about twelve meters below.
  
  For a long minute there is nothing but the natural silence of the mountain, with the breeze tugging at your jacket like a playful imp, and the sound of running water in the distance. Killing Ander Dyo was the last thing you expected to do all those hours ago when you boarded the shuttle and departed the Orion. And since you've never killed another human being before, a feeling of self-revulsion and recrimination starts to build inside you.
  
  However, before you can dwell too long on your action and the horrific consequence, your comm unit trills again. This time there is an incoming voice message from the bridge. It's Aolin Wyte, and he sounds far more urgent now than he has all day long.
  
  "Lieutenant, we've destroyed the Iib Ch'iib raider," he says, "but a landing vessel managed to get through. It's heading straight for your position and should be there any minute!"
  
  You acknowledge the message, but you're not sure what you can do with the information.
  
  "Do you think that's why Dyo was here?" you say to Quabiss. "He knew the Iib Ch'iib were coming, and he was going to defend the Anywhere Device?"
  
  "Not with only two plasguns, he wasn't," Quabiss says. And he's right: you look around this improvised lookout post Dyo created for himself, and two ordinary plasguns are the only weapons present. They are placed neatly side-by-side, right where Dyo left them.
  
  "Then maybe he had something more desperate in mind," you say. "Did you see that thing he was holding in his hand? It slipped away from him when I... when I shot... ."
  
  "That thing down there?" Quabiss says. He's pointing down toward the body, where indeed there is some small device laying nearby. "What do you think he was going to do with it?"
  
  "I have no idea," you say. "I have no idea."
  
  You can't bear to look at the body, so instead you take in your surroundings. Dyo had picked a terrific spot from which to survey the landscape—one of the highest points in this range of little mountains. This is the type of place Uncle Croen would want to seek out; not only can you see the long, multi-lobed length of Lake Syack and practically all of the crater valley, but you can also see a long swath of the vast highland prairie that extends to the west, on the other side of the range. There are no other people, so right now it strikes you as a lonely landscape.
  
  What will Uncle Croen say when you tell him you killed someone today? Or will you even tell him? You suspect he will notice the difference in you anyway, because you know there is no way you can be the same person after this. Is that what happened to the researchers here on Folvan—is that what caused them to change their personalities so drastically since you last saw them four years ago? Did something they do cause someone's death?
  
  "Look, Lieutenant," Quabiss says.
  
  He is pointing out in the direction of Lake Syack and the plume of smoke where Lieutenant Skaxa took out the plasma cannon. There is a black speck in the sky above it, a small ship that is heading straight for the mountain. At first you think it's Hinju coming back for you, but then you remember Aolin Wyte's warning about the incoming Iib Ch'iib landing craft.
  
  And indeed, as it gets closer you can see the silhouette of the craft looks more like a dragonfly than a dart. It's the Iib Ch'iib, for sure.
  
  They are coming for the Anywhere Device, the original one given to the people of Folvan a thousand years ago by the Elders of Emar. When Skaxa destroyed the Folvan's cannon this morning, she eliminated their ability to defend the device by shooting down this incoming craft. So Ander Dyo came here, planning to do something himself. But unless it was to die as a martyr here on the mountaintop, you have no idea what he was going to do.
  
  The Iib Ch'iib dragonfly is coming closer, and you realize there is now nothing to stop them from using the Anywhere Device to find the Elders of Emar. In fact, the device is practically theirs already.