text: [Themes: sci-fi, science fiction]
  
  The street leads past half a dozen mounds on each side to a space that surrounds the large structure at the center of the town. Like all of the other earthen mounds, this one supports its own growth of grass. In this case it is cropped short at street level, but tall and wild higher up where it grows out of reach.
  
  "Does anybody see a way in?" Dr. Wildon says, breathing heavily. The stars are swiftly fading above you as daylight begins to creep into the Folvan sky.
  
  "Over here," Hun-Spruk says, and you all follow her around a corner of the structure. There, at the narrow end of the large mound, is the entrance. It is an arched slot with a cave-like appearance, identical to all the others you've seen, but proportionally larger.
  
  Without wasting any time, you step inside. What you find more or less confirms your earlier theory: these mounds are not living spaces, but shelters for what must be the true entrances leading into the ground. In this regard, Folvans must be like grassland creatures on worlds throughout known space: instead of living in plain view on top of the ground, exposed to predators and powerful storms, they seek safety and shelter in underground burrows.
  
  In this case, the large hollowed-out mound provides shelter to only one humble entrance.
  
  "Hey there," Hun-Spruk says. She's not trying to get anyone's attention; it looks like she's speaking directly to her WristComp.
  
  "What is it?" you say.
  
  "I don't know," she says. "For a second I thought I read a human biosign."
  
  "Here?"
  
  "Again, I'm not sure. I only had it for a second. But it might have been from one of those dwellings we just passed down the street."
  
  > If you go back out in the street and try to find the human biosign, turn to page 158.
  "Even a weak human biosign is something we need to investigate," you say. "That is, after all, the primary reason we're here."
  
  "Well, in that case let me see if I can get a stronger reading." Hun-Spruk heads over to the street you just ran down, waving her WristComp back and forth in front of her. She stops once, holding her left arm at an angle as if maybe she has located something, but then she keeps scanning as she slowly walks down the street.
  
  Dansmith is visibly agitated. "She's in full view," you can hear him muttering to Quabiss.
  
  The two of them, along with Dr. Wildon, are still just inside the entrance to the large mound, peering around the corner while remaining hidden. Then you look at where you're standing, in the middle of the main plaza before the mound, in plain view of anyone who may be coming. You were so enrapt by Hun-Spruk's scans, hoping that your search for Dr. Munro was about to be over, that you lost track of where you were and what you were doing.
  
  As you step backward toward the entrance of the large mound, you see Hun-Spruk stop in the middle of the street, about halfway to the grazing area at the edge of town and just before a bend in the street that would have put her out of view. After fidgeting with her WristComp, she turns and waves. It seems to be an excited wave, like she found something.
  
  > Page 22
  The sense of joy that your search may be over is quickly replaced by fear when you see movement directly behind your science officer. Out of the shadows of the mound nearest where she is standing, an early-rising Folvan emerges from its dwelling as if to greet the morning. But when it sees Hun-Spruk in the street it becomes alarmed.
  
  "Aurk!" The sound originates as a powerful contortion of its throat sac, which billows the air through its mouth until it emerges as a sharp bark. Is it a shout of panic or a call for help? "Aurk! Aurk!" it barks again before disappearing back into the burrow from which it came.
  
  As frightened as the Folvan was, Hun-Spruk seems equally terrified. Those shouts were so loud there is no way no one else heard them. This leaves her standing in the middle of the street, a long way from your position at the entrance of the mound, and an even longer distance to the tall grass of the wild prairie. She seems frozen in indecisiveness.
  
  You are the leader of this mission, and you need to act. There is no time to consider the options; you know without a doubt that the best possible place to be is far away from this village.
  
  "Let's get out of here!" you tell the three men taking cover inside the entrance to the central mound. You look long enough to see that they heard you, and then you run. Hun-Spruk, who was starting to rush toward you, turns in the opposite direction when she sees the four of you heading her way.
  
  > Page 154
  You hear the sound of running footsteps pounding against the dirt surface of the village streets, somewhere on the other side of the settlement. You feel as though you are running as fast as you can, but these footsteps are from a truly powerful sprinter.
  
  Out of the corner of your eye you see figures moving to your left; it's two of the Folvan elders, cutting a corner through the maze of earthen mounds to close in on your position. They may be graying and old, but their bodies were built for speed, and therefore their age is no handicap—at least not when they are matched up against humans.
  
  As you predicted, they seem to have lost their patience with you. They are running with their plasguns drawn, and when they reach your street they open fire. You watch as Lieutenant Hun-Spruk is cut down thirty meters ahead of you, skidding face-first into the ground. The next shot singes your left shoulder, but you're still running and therefore must still be alive. The third shot, however, doesn't miss.
  
  For the remaining second that you have, as you tumble toward the ground, you feel almost as if you've been cut in half by the energy beam.