text: [Themes: sci-fi, mystery, science fiction]
  
  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 call out his name and reveal yourself, turn to page 212.
  Ander Dyo is crouching back inside his stone barricade now that the shuttle is gone, no doubt thinking he is alone on the mountain again. You gesture to Quabiss to stay where he is, standing on one of the topmost footholds in the cleft you just climbed, plasgun pointed toward Dyo. Then you hoist yourself up onto the summit.
  
  He has selected one of the highest points around for his crude lookout station, with a view in nearly every direction—and a particularly good one toward Lake Syack and the crater valley. The sky is still cloudy, but the cool breeze blowing inland off the lake is drying off the rocks from this morning's rain.
  
  Dyo is humming softly to himself, huddled within the confines of his lookout. He is still focused on the crater valley; clearly he is waiting for something to come from that direction.
  
  "Mr. Dyo," you say softly, your plasgun held before you but pointed down, "it's good to see you again."
  
  He jumps at the sound of your voice, and scrambles to pick up one of two plasguns that you see on the ground beside him. But when he turns over and sees that you already have him in your sights, he puts the gun back down and carefully raises his hands. You see that he his holding some kind of small device in the palm of his right hand.
  
  "Do I know you?" he says.
  
  "Yes," you say. "Giri Minor, four years ago."
  
  "You've changed."
  
  "I was about to say the same about you."
  
  "Are you here to rescue me again, Starman?" he says.
  
  "It's Lieutenant now," you say. "But yes, Star Base Ishtria sent me here to check up on you."
  
  "Are you alone?"
  
  "No. I have someone right behind me. He's got a gun pointed at you too."
  
  "I suppose you're here for this," he says, briefly moving his thumb so you can see the device in his palm, but you still have no idea what it is.
  
  "I'm just here for answers," you say. "Lori suggested you might have some for me." You're not sure you've ever called Dr. Munro "Lori" before, but you're hoping Dyo might be more cooperative if you can strike a note of familiarity.
  
  However, before he can respond, 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 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!"
  
  "Did I just hear that right?" Dyo says. "Your ship just let an Iib Ch'iib vessel get through? You people just keep screwing up, don't you?"
  
  "What do you mean, 'screwing up'?" you say.
  
  "Over an hour ago you destroyed the plasma cannon we installed down by the lake."
  
  "We had to," you say. "It was firing at the captain's shuttle."
  
  "Yeah, but it was the last line of defense, put there for exactly this situation," Dyo says. "If you had let it be, I wouldn't have to be here now."
  
  Your plasgun is still pointed in his general direction—not directly at him, but you know you could fire a shot well before he could pick up one of the guns on the ground beside him. When you see his eyes quickly dart toward his two plasguns and then back to you, you know that is exactly the conclusion he his drawing.
  
  "So why are you here, Ander?"
  
  "We're on a first-name basis now, are we? I never did catch yours."
  
  "What is that device in your right hand?" you ask.
  
  "You don't know, do you?"
  
  "That's why I'm asking," you say.
  
  "Right now, this is the only thing left standing between the Iib Ch'iib and the utter destruction of our way of life," Dyo says.
  
  "How can you know that for sure?" you say.
  
  "Because they've been here before," he says. "We fooled them the first time, but the Iib Ch'iib won't make that mistake again. They know exactly what they're looking for this time."
  
  "You're speaking in riddles, Ander."
  
  "So what exactly do you and don't you know?" he says, sounding genuinely confused. "I thought you said you spoke with Lori."
  
  "We did," you say. "About an hour ago. She told us about the Anywhere Device and the Elders of Emar. But I'm still very murky on what your involvement in all this is."
  
  Dyo sighs. He is still lying inside his lookout, his hands up and his shoulder propped against the barricade. "You're right," he says. "You're not the enemy. We'll have plenty of those in a few minutes. Why don't you come in here and I can show you what I'm trying to do."
  
  At last! You see a glimmer of the Ander Dyo you remember from four years ago: everyone's friend, an incurable optimist, living life for the adventure. You've suspected all along that if you persisted long enough, you would eventually break through these barriers he and Dr. Munro have thrown up—both literally and metaphorically—and make contact with the people you know they should be.
  
  "Yes, I would very much like that," you say. Perceiving the threat to be over, and wanting to demonstrate your trust, you holster your plasgun.
  
  "Quabiss," you say. "We're clear."
  
  "Lieutenant?" he says, only his eyes and the top of his head visible above the rock.
  
  "Why don't you come up here," you say. "There's plenty of room."
  
  "If you're sure about that," he says, the lingering doubt still evident in his voice, but nevertheless he at last completes the climb and hoists himself onto the summit, just as you did a few minutes ago.
  
  Isn't that just like a security specialist, though, to be seeing threats in every—
  
  There is flash of light as a plasma beam zips past you and strikes Starman Quabiss in the chest; he falls backward and nearly topples over the edge. You turn around, and there is Ander Dyo standing in the middle of his circle of rocks with a plasgun trained directly on you.
  
  Too late, you realize he played on your sincere desire to reestablish that sense of camaraderie you remember from Giri Minor, just to draw Starman Quabiss out of hiding and to get you to disarm yourself. Now the situation is the opposite of what it was a moment ago: your plasgun is just centimeters away from your hand, and yet you have no chance of reaching it.
  
  The major difference, though, is that to Ander Dyo this conversation is over. There is a flash of light, a burning pain as your heart and lungs are seared, and then you collapse bleeding on the top of the mountain.