text: [Themes: sci-fi]
  
  "Hun-Spruk," you say, "you have two minutes to figure out what this guy wants."
  
  "I can't believe we're doing this," Dansmith says. "Do you know how many years I have in the service? I don't want to throw it all—"
  
  Just then Hun-Spruk's WristComp begins to speak. "You must leave here now," it says, translating the words of the Folvan.
  
  You realize that the Folvan has been repeating its statement over and over since it entered the room, but now seems satisfied that you can understand what it's saying. "We do not want off-worlders on our planet. We have fought them before, and we will not let you have the Anywhere Device."
  
  Dansmith looks at you. "They have been fighting off-worlders? What does he mean by that? They fought with Dr. Munro?"
  
  As Dansmith speaks to you, the translation app repeats his words to the Folvan. "You must leave," the Folvan says again. "These are our protected grazing grounds. Five elders stand outside with plasguns. Call your ship and leave our world. You will not have the Anywhere Device. We will defend it."
  
  That is the second time the Folvan has mentioned this "Anywhere Device." You have no idea what it is. The Folvan seems pretty adamant that it—he? she? how do you tell?—wants you to leave. On the other hand, perhaps he knows where Dr. Munro is—or what happened to her.
  
  > If you ask what he knows about Dr. Munro, turn to page 176.
  "We are looking for four of our own people," you say. "They constructed this space, and these are their belongings. Do you know where they are?"
  
  The Folvan says nothing, even after the WristComp has completed the translation.
  
  "The leader of the group is Dr. Lori Munro," you continue. "She was here to learn more about your people."
  
  Still the Folvan doesn't respond, but neither is it trying to usher you out of the research post. Perhaps it is struggling to decide how to respond?
  
  You try one more angle to provoke a response. "I promise that we're not interested in stealing your Anywhere Device," you say, thinking this is mostly because you have no idea what the Folvan meant by that. "All we want is to make sure Dr. Munro and the other humans are alive and well."
  
  This seems to have the desired effect, because the Folvan begins to speak again. "There is no time," it says with the help of the translator. "You must leave here now."
  
  "It's no use, Lieutenant," Dansmith says. "You tried. Either he doesn't know, or he doesn't want to help."
  
  "You're probably right," you say, "but I had to try. All right, let's get out of here."
  
  All of this gets translated as well, and just as you step toward the hatch leading out of the research post the Folvan extends an arm to stop you.
  
  "It is not safe to find Doctormunro this morning," it says, leaning in close and speaking softly as if in confidence. "But Anderdyo is alone up on Mount Kaspoot. Je is living in a human place like this one."
  
  > Page 177
  And with that it removes its arm to let you continue out of the research post.
  
  It says nothing else as the five of you step outside and back into the night air. The Folvan's warning was accurate: there are five others of his kind standing outside, holding what certainly must be standard-issue Naval plasguns. The last thing you expected to find on this mission was modern weaponry in the hands of a primitive culture. Where did they get them, and what other secrets might they be holding?
  
  Instinctively you raise your hands at the sight of the plasguns, but the Folvans do not seem to be interested in you or anything on your person. These individuals—elders as the first Folvan called them—do indeed seem to be older, with traces of white in the mane of short hair running from the tops of their heads halfway down their backs. All are dressed in the same grass-fiber garments.
  
  The five armed Folvans surround the entrance to the research post when you first step out, but the central figure, wearing a flat-topped cap, steps to the side and gestures with his plasgun to the open prairie. Its air sac puffs out and he speaks, "Call your ship. Leave here now. Never come back."
  
  The actual language of the Folvans is indecipherable to your human ears—it would be like trying to hold a conversation with a bat—but the translation app remarkably recreates this individual's words in a distinctive voice. It sounds older, more firm in its resolve than the Folvan who spoke to you inside the research post, but you are still unable to peg either of them to a specific gender.
  
  > Page 178
  You activate the comm unit on your right ear. "Hinju," you say. "We could use a lift. And if you see Folvans standing near us as you approach, don't worry about it. They are armed and very insistent that we leave here at once."
  
  "Understood," the pilot says. "Are you sure you don't need me to do anything else?"
  
  "No, just come and pick us up. We have orders from one of the locals to return to the Orion."
  
  "I see. I'll be there in five minutes."
  
  As you wait on the moonlit prairie, gathered near the spot where Hinju dropped you off less than an hour ago, there are six sets of alien eyes watching you. Except, really, who are the aliens here? This is the Folvans' world, after all, and you are the intruders from across the stars. They may be using your weapons, but this is still their planet.
  
  Hinju sets the shuttle down without bothering to be subtle this time, and the Folvans watch as your team boards. The hatch closes, but before he lifts off Hinju glances over all five of you. "Are you guys all right?" he says.
  
  "Yes, we're fine," you say.
  
  "Just a little embarrassed, is all," Dansmith says.
  
  "Well OK then," Hinju says. "Let me get us out of here while you decide what you want to do next."
  
  That's an interesting question: so what should you do next?
  
  "Hinju, before we decide where we're going, can you just fly us out over the open prairie for a few minutes?" you say.
  
  "Sure thing, boss."
  
  You turn to your team members. Everyone looks a little defeated after being so ingloriously discovered by the Folvans; you all spent most of the last week preparing for a simple search mission, but then in the space of a few minutes most of your assumptions about this world were undone when you encountered armed natives who already knew all about you. As the team leader, you need to get everyone back into this mission.
  
  > Page 179
  "So it seems to me that we have two options," you say.
  
  Dansmith, chewing on a NutriRation from his pack, leans forward. "I suppose one of those options is finding Ander Dyo," he says.
  
  "But where is that 'Mount Kaspoot'?" Dr. Wildon says.
  
  "The Folvan said Dyo was living in another 'human place'," Hun-Spruk says.
  
  "Is Mount Kaspoot mentioned anywhere in Dr. Munro's logs?" you ask.
  
  "No," she says, "but I'll bet that when he said 'like this one' he meant the research post."
  
  "That would mean the third research blind up on the mountain, right?" Dr. Wildon says.
  
  "Yes."
  
  "So what is that second option you're thinking of, Lieutenant?" Dansmith asks.
  
  "The Folvan wouldn't tell us where Dr. Munro was," you say. "But he—it—whatever you call 'em—was eager to get us out of that village. What if that's where she is?"
  
  "It could be," Dansmith says. "But there could be any number of reasons why they wanted us out. Maybe that's where they keep their sacred scrolls or something, and we humans were befouling their holy of holies."
  
  "I agree with the Chief," Hun-Spruk says. "I have my suspicions about the village too, but the Folvan gave us an actual lead on Ander Dyo."
  
  Quabiss, as usual, is listening intently but keeping his thoughts to himself.
  
  "Starman," you say, attempting to draw him into the conversation, "what do you think?"
  
  After a moment of thought he says, "You all know more about this kind of stuff than I do. But personally, I hate the idea of moving onto another site when we never really got a good look at the first."
  
  > If you try and locate Ander Dyo on Mount Kaspoot, turn to page 7.
  "So I agree that of the two options, one is just a hunch while the other is an actual tip," you say. "So let's go to this Mount Kaspoot place and see if Ander Dyo is home."
  
  While Lieutenant Hun-Spruk works with Hinju to locate the mountain research post, you send a brief text message to Aolin Wyte on the bridge of the Orion.
  
  First research post empty. Heading to 2 of 3.
  
  You decide it's best not to get into the details right now—especially your encounter with the Folvans. If the senior officers learned about that, they'd probably decide that your mission parameters had changed so significantly it was time for them to take over. Therefore before you make that report, you want one more shot at locating at least one of the humans living on the Grass Planet.
  
  "So here's what we got, Lieutenant," Hun-Spruk says. "Hinju and I have found the mountain research post. You shouldn't be surprised to know we scanned that area and could find no human biosigns."
  
  "After the time we've been having, I wouldn't expect it to be so easy," you say. "Is there at least a place nearby where we can land?"
  
  "That's some pretty rugged terrain up there," Hinju says. "But I see a small valley located high up between some of the bald summits. It's about a kilometer away from the post, but it's the only place with enough level ground to land this shuttle."
  
  "Let's do it, then," you say.
  
  > Page 149
  Through the main viewport you can see the small, gray ridges growing closer, looming out of the grasslands like a rampart of rock. Although weathered and eroded now, this formation is a surviving part of the crater rim. You look for a light or some telltale sign of Ander Dyo's presence, but of course all is darkness.
  
  Just then a warning indicator sounds. "What the—" Hinju starts to say, but before he can react there is a flash of light outside the viewport, and the shuttle shakes unexpectedly.
  
  "Did someone shoot at us?" Dansmith says, stepping forward toward the control station.
  
  "Yes," the pilot says. "And you don't want to know how close we came to being hit."
  
  Lieutenant Hun-Spruk quickly resumes her post at the shuttle's sensor controls. But before she has a chance to figure out where the shots are coming from, she shouts: "We have another incoming!"
  
  The pilot punches the shuttle's thrusters, and you abruptly accelerate forward and upward. Nevertheless, the shot clips the rear of your craft.
  
  "There must be a plasma cannon somewhere near here," Hun-Spruk says. "That was a Type 3 energy pulse."
  
  "But from where?" you ask.
  
  "I'm working on it."
  
  "Hinju," you say, "I'm assuming that we'll find cover in those mountains?"
  
  "I can try a different trajectory to get us there," he says. "But if someone's shooting at us, I can't make any guarantees. It might be time to return to the Orion."
  
  > If you try and land in the mountains as planned, turn to page 102.
  You know there is a high chance that if you return to the Orion with reports of armed Folvans and plasma cannons, this mission you worked so hard for will probably be over. So if your pilot, Hinju, thinks he can set you down safely in these mountains, that would be your preference.
  
  "Let me see what I can do," he says when you inform him of your decision. With a quick bow of his torso he steers the shuttle abruptly downward, giving everybody aboard an uneasy feeling. But the maneuver works, because the next shot from the plasma cannon goes high just as the shuttle goes low.
  
  Within seconds Hinju has you flying among the rocky summits, using the higher ridges for protection from the incoming shots.
  
  "I was able to track the source of that last blast," Hun-Spruk says. "It looks like an artillery installation down on the southeast corner of Lake Syack."
  
  "Don't tell me we didn't see that before because of iron in the soil," Dansmith says.
  
  Hinju takes the long way to your destination, flying the shuttle behind the western side of the ridgeline and keeping the band of rock between you and the crater valley. Then he keeps you low as he navigates a gap in the small mountains, eventually landing the craft in a high basin.
  
  "Is this the spot you identified earlier?" you ask.
  
  "Yes it is," Hinju says. "I just had to take a longer route to get here." He opens the hatch, and this time instead of an endless plain of grass you see slopes of barren rock.
  
  > Page 155
  You lead the way down to the gravelly soil outside the shuttle. The starry night sky is fading as dawn approaches, and the landscape is no longer illuminated by just the dull moon.
  
  Hinju steps into the open hatch. "There should be enough cover in these hills to let me park here for a while," he says. "Your destination is just a kilometer away."
  
  Lieutenant Hun-Spruk, you see, already has a holographic map of the area 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. You can already see the crater valley before you in the early morning light: 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 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!" 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.
  
  > Page 103
  "Somebody was shooting at us because they didn't want us to find this?" Dr. Wildon says.
  
  Dansmith enters the empty post and opens the storage cabinet. "Hello," he mock-shouts inside. "Mr. Dyo, are you home?"
  
  "Something's not adding up here," you say.
  
  "So what do we do?" Dr. Wildon says. "So far we're oh-for-two with these research posts."
  
  "Something tells me we shouldn't give up so easily," Dansmith says, stepping back outside. "There must be something in these mountains. It would just help if we knew with certainty what we're looking for."
  
  "Is it possible there's something else up here that we don't know about?" Dr. Wildon asks.
  
  "Maybe we should ask them," Quabiss says.
  
  At first you think he's just trying to imitate Chief Dansmith's sense of humor, but he's pointing out across the landscape toward the distant village. There, in the gray morning light, you see twenty figures crossing the prairie, all of them mounted on animals with the speed of gazelles. They are racing toward the foot of the mountain, and at this rate will be there in about half an hour.
  
  "Isn't that something," Dansmith says. "First the artillery, now the cavalry."
  
  "I'd like to see them ride up this steep escarpment," Dr. Wildon says.
  
  "I expect they'll come up that way," Quabiss says, and without turning his head he points to his right. There, plain as day, is a rugged trail leading up the slope from the prairie.
  
  > Page 195
  "Then it looks like we'll have lots of company here within the hour," Dansmith says.
  
  So close yet so far, you think. You thought for sure your Folvan informant was correct and that you'd find Ander Dyo waiting here on this mountain—and with him, answers to some of the many questions that have been piling up ever since you landed on this planet a few hours ago. But so far the reality of this mission has proven to be nothing like your expectations.
  
  And here comes the cavalry, as Dansmith called the mounted figures; whoever they are, there are twenty of them and only five of you, and so it's easy to do the math and see you're on the losing side of those odds.
  
  "There's nothing for us here," you reluctantly admit. "And I'm certain those Folvans are coming to tell us we've overstayed our welcome. Let's get back to the ship, make our report to the senior officers, and then figure out a new way to approach this puzzle tomorrow."
  
  So, having been outwitted by the Grass Planet twice in one morning, you turn and head back toward the waiting shuttle.