text: [Themes: sci-fi, science fiction]
  
  To your relief, Hun-Spruk stops for a break on top of one of the knolls. So it's true, she feels the burden of all this extra weight as much as everyone else. You've only been hiking for ten minutes, but with this oppressive gravity it feels more like an hour. You look around, and your entire team looks spent from trying to match Hun-Spruk's pace.
  
  "My hands are getting all cut up by this sharp grass," Dansmith says.
  
  "Remember our mission briefing," Dr. Wildon says, "especially the part about large apex predators on this planet. We could be running right toward a pride of sleeping garda beasts and never know it."
  
  "Nothing is showing on my WristComp," Hun-Spruk says. "Besides, we're only another ten minutes, tops, to the research post."
  
  "Still, I wonder if it would be easier walking down on that beach over there," Dansmith says. You look down in the direction of the lake, and sure enough it appears there may be a wide, sandy beach separating the prairie grass from the water.
  
  "We could do that," Hun-Spruk says, switching her WristComp display to a topographic map. "But it would double the time to the research post."
  
  > If you hike along the beach instead to avoid the grass, turn to page 200.
  You descend from the knoll into the next basin, then climb over two other knolls--each one shorter than the last. From the top of the last rise, the lake sprawls out before you, glistening placidly in the light of the reddish moon. Indeed, a broad beach extends from the base of the knoll down to where the water laps gently onto the sand. The grass before you quickly becomes shorter and more scarce, until disappearing altogether about ten meters shy of the water.
  
  But just as you are about to step down toward the beach, Hun-Spruk drops to her knees. It immediately becomes clear why: the sound of approaching footsteps below you by the water.
  
  Silently your entire team crouches in the cover of the grass, still atop the knoll. You watch as two figures appear on the beach, tall and dark even in the moonlight, mounted on creatures with sturdy legs, long necks, and tapering snouts. The Folvans are clad in leather armor, each with the grim bearing of a soldier on a mission. They ride past your position without noticing you, their long-necked mounts trotting along the beach at a moderate pace, away from the village.
  
  "That was close," Dansmith whispers. "Had they spotted us, our mission would've been over already."
  
  "Do you suppose that was some kind of patrol?" Dr. Wildon asks.
  
  "Was it just me, or were they armed with plasguns?" Quabiss says.
  
  Everybody turns to him. "I didn't notice," you say.
  
  "I'm sure of it," he says. "Plasguns, holstered on their hips."
  
  "Hun-Spruk," you say, "is that true?"
  
  "On it," she says with a hint of skepticism. But then she points her WristComp in the direction of the two Folvan soldiers, receding into the distance, and raises her brows. "Confirmed," she says. "Two plasguns, both fully charged."
  
  "Now remind me again why a technologically primitive society would possess advanced weaponry?" Dansmith says.
  
  "They shouldn't," you say.
  
  "Then it looks like we've stumbled on quite a mystery," Dr. Wildon says.
  
  > Page 147
  The Folvans are well out of earshot now, but everyone is still speaking softly, as if there could be native ears anywhere. "Hun-Spruk, was any of this in Dr. Munro's reports?" you ask.
  
  "Not one word of it," she says somewhat hollowly, as if her mind is distracted by a puzzle that has no answer. "In her description Folvans aren't overly war-like to begin with, so something is definitely not right."
  
  "That begs the question then," Dansmith says. "How did those soldiers come by human weapons?"
  
  "Maybe by following them we can get a few answers," you say. "Lieutenant Hun-Spruk, any idea what might be in that direction?" You gesture down the beach, in the direction of the soldiers.
  
  "Let me see," she says. "There is something about three kilometers away, an earthen structure of some kind beside the lake. But there is so much iron in this soil that I can't get a clear reading on anything that distant."
  
  "I'm all for going up for a closer look," Dansmith says. "But we'll need to use extra caution if we're advancing toward a military outpost of some kind with no cover."
  
  "I would like to go ahead and be a scout," Quabiss says. "I can scan for any signs of people."
  
  "Well OK," you say. Your young security specialist seems excited by this opportunity, and more energized than at any time over the last few days, as if he finally feels like he can make a contribution to the mission.
  
  "You lead the way," you say to Quabiss, and then the five of you make your way down the beach.
  
  The Folvans are now long out of sight, but the three-toed tracks of the animals they were riding are plain to see even in the dim light. The reddish moon is starting to hang low over the grassland, and you know that soon dawn will arrive.
  
  You have been following the beach for less than an hour when Quabiss stops you. He doesn't say anything, but you can see what looks like an unusual hill ahead of you, standing between the water and the interior grassland. It does not appear natural, as it stands apart and well above the gently undulating knolls that define the prairie.
  
  "It's hollow," Hun-Spruk says. "But beyond that I can't see too much."
  
  "Because of the iron in the soil?" Dansmith says. "That shouldn't prevent us from getting a more detailed scan at this range."
  
  "Nevertheless, I'm unable to see what's inside this thing," she says.
  
  "Can you at least tell how many people there are here?" you whisper in the darkness. You are all taking cover in the fringe of the grassland, where the prairie meets the sandy lakeshore.
  
  "Just the two that we followed, as far as I can tell with my WristComp," Hun-Spruk says.
  
  "But there may be more?" Dansmith says.
  
  "Your guess is as good as mine."
  
  > Page 148
  You are disappointed, because you had hoped that by coming so close you would get more answers. But three kilometers later, you know no more than when you first saw the two Folvan soldiers. In the dim light you can see the two figures tending to their mounts, leading them to the water for a drink. They seem relaxed in their actions, as if there are no threats to be on guard against on this calm morning.
  
  Then, after a minute, the Folvans and their rides disappear into an opening near the base of the large, artificial hill.
  
  "Did you see that?" Dansmith says. "That thing has a door."
  
  "Lieutenant," Quabiss says to you. "Permission to look inside."
  
  "That's too risky!" Dr. Wildon says. "This could be a fortress for all we know. And once the sun starts to rise we'll have no cover."
  
  "Yeah, but we're not going to find out what's inside any other way," Dansmith says.
  
  "I feel this whole thing is taking us farther away from our real mission, which is to find Dr. Munro," Hun-Spruk says.
  
  "But those were naval plasguns you detected, right?" Dansmith says.
  
  "Yes."
  
  "Then it stands to reason they got them from Dr. Munro," Dansmith continues. "I hate to say it, but the answers we seek may very well be inside that structure."
  
  "I do agree with Dr. Wildon, though," you say. "There is a high level of risk involved in what we're talking about here. At best only two of us should go. The others should wait out in the cover of the grassland, where Hinju can get to us in the shuttle."
  
  "I volunteer to go," Quabiss says without hesitation.
  
  "Me too," Dansmith says.
  
  That's two people, but as the mission leader shouldn't you be going?
  
  > If you go with Starman Quabiss to investigate the structure, turn to page 6.
  "This is my mission, so I need to be the one assuming the risk," you say. "Starman Quabiss and I will go. The rest of you, head out into the grassland and wait. Hun-Spruk, keep your WristComp on so we can use it to home in on your location."
  
  Dansmith looks a little disappointed at first, but then seems to agree with your plan. "How long should we wait for you?" he says.
  
  "Dawn will be too long," you say.
  
  "Then you have an hour, maybe less," Hun-Spruk says.
  
  You nod to Starman Quabiss, he nods back to you, and you set off toward the large, hill-like structure.
  
  Keeping to the edge of the grassland for cover, it takes only a few minutes to reach the hill. It stands about thirty meters tall, with an ovular footprint. The entrance the two soldiers used was near the ground facing the lake, but now you see what might be another entrance on the landward side, about halfway up. You point to the tunnel-like entrance, and Quabiss nods that he sees it too.
  
  Together you start to climb the earthen structure, which is itself covered in grass. The slope is steep, and in the heavy gravity you are quickly out of breath. The tunnel is dark, except that when you peer inside there is a dim light somewhere ahead. The tunnel slopes downward, suggesting that it is a vent, not an entrance. The angle of descent is not steep, though, so you gesture silently that you are going in.
  
  The walls of the tunnel are lined with a clay-like substance. It curves, and then opens onto a large space.
  
  > Page 191
  What you see is not what you expected. This structure is not a hill, but a half-dome, completely open on the side facing the lake and with just enough of an overhang to shield the dug-out space below. And in that space stands a medium-sized plasma cannon, big enough to shoot down a small spacecraft. Only four or five Folvan soldiers seem to be manning the outpost at the moment. None of them see you.
  
  If anyone is going to believe you, you'll need to scan the weapon with your WristComp. Within seconds you can determine this thing is fully functional, although it doesn't adhere to any design or manufacture standards you can recognize. Most likely this is a black-market affair. And as if the presence of the cannon isn't enough, there appears to be some kind of jamming device in place shielding this installation from long-range detection. The gun is pointed across the lake, past the sleepy village toward a distant range of small mountains.
  
  Just when you think you have everything you need, some of the clay underneath your boots crumbles away, tumbling into the dugout in a shower of dust.
  
  The soldiers below are immediately alarmed. Spotting you in the dim light, they scramble into action. You don't wait to see what they do, however. You push Quabiss back in the direction you came, and together you run back up the tunnel.
  
  Heading down the steep slope outside, though, you stumble and completely lose your balance. You start to tumble down the hill, which in normal conditions would be more embarrassing than anything. But here you are as heavy as a rock, and there is no controlling your momentum. Quabiss manages to step out of the way, but you hit the bottom shoulder-first, snapping your neck instantly.