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Krystel unstrapped her field lantern and put it down, and then moved away to stand guard in the
doorway, sword and force shield at the ready. Hunter aimed his disrupter at the middle of the floor, and
pressed the stud. The energy bolt blasted a wide hole through the ground. Cracks spread out from the
hole, and Hunter watched anxiously before the floor finally settled again. He holstered his gun, picked up
the lantern, knelt down, and lowered it through the hole. The room below held a number of steel and
crystal shapes that resembled machines or sculptures, but otherwise it was empty. Hunter studied the
drop dubiously, and tried to tell himself it wasn't as far as it looked.
'Krystel. Any sign of the aliens?'
'Nothing yet, Captain.'
'Then get over here. We're going back down a floor the hard way. With a little luck, that should throw
the aliens off our trail long enough for us to make a discreet exit. I'll go first.'
He put the lantern on the floor beside him, turned off his force shield and sheathed his sword. He sat
down on the edge of the hole and lowered his legs into it. With the light gone, he couldn't see how far the
drop was. He wasn't sure whether that made him feel less or more nervous. In the end, he just gritted his
teeth, and pushed himself off. He fell for an unnervingly long moment, and then the floor slammed up
against his feet. He fell in a sprawling heap and knocked the wind out of himself. He'd just about
managed to get to his feet again when Krystel landed lightly beside him, lantern in hand.
'Are you all right, Captain?'
'Fine,' he said quickly. 'Just fine.'
The room led out into a corridor. There were lighting rods set into the ceiling, but only a few of them
were working. The corridor held only shadows, and there was no trace to show the aliens had ever been
there. Hunter and Krystel crept quietly through the dim light, weapons at the ready, and soon passed into
another corridor. They made their way cautiously across the ground floor of the building, jumping at
every sound or moving shadow, until finally they found a doorway that led out on to the street.
Hunter gestured to Krystel to turn off the field lantern, and peered warily out the doorway into the
gloom. The street was empty. Hunter stepped out, looked around, and then nodded for Krystel to join
him. The sun had dropped almost out of sight, and the sky was darkening towards night. Some distance
away, the copper tower stood tall and brooding above the surrounding buildings.
Hunter turned to Krystel to tell her it was safe to move off, and then froze as the wall behind her cracked
open and fell apart. Long branches of spiked vine burst out of the stonework, reaching for the
Investigator. She threw herself to the ground and rolled out of reach, but by the time she was back on her
feet again the vines had spilled out on to the street, forming an impenetrable barrier between her and the
Captain. A score of leaping, hopping insects, each a foot long or more, came flying out of the wall and
descended on Krystel, their long jaws snapping hungrily. She activated her force shield and met them
with her sword. Hunter picked off one of the insects with his gun, exploding its dark grey carapace, but
couldn't do anything else to help her. He threw himself at the twisting vines, hacking at them with his
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sword. The barbs rattled harmlessly against his steelmesh tunic, and broke themselves against his force
shield. Krystel swung her sword double-handed, her cold grin back again. The huge insects fell beneath
her blade, and the uninjured feasted on the fallen. Krystel laughed aloud. This was what she had been
trained for, the moment that gave purpose to her life to be the perfect, invincible killing machine. The
aliens came to her and she slaughtered them, and was content.
Hunter finally used his last but one grenade on the vines. The blast blew him a hole through the writhing
branches, and he forced his way through, ignoring the scratches to his bare face and hands. The
Investigator had surrounded himself with crippled insects, and for the moment seemed to have run out of
targets. He grabbed her arm and hustled her off down the street. For a moment she struggled against him,
and then the killing fever left her, and she ran along beside him, heading for the copper tower.
And behind them came the aliens, in their many shapes.
Corbie lifted his gun and fired blindly into the darkness. The brilliant energy bolt illuminated the hall of
memories briefly, and punched a hole clean through the chest of the armoured alien as it tried to break
through the wall. It screamed once as the darkness returned, a curiously high-pitched sound from such a
large creature. Corbie glared wildly about him, and reached blindly for the esper. He knew she was
somewhere close at hand, he could hear her dry heaving, but he couldn't seem to locate her with his
hands. And then his fingers brushed against something and his heart missed a beat.
'Stand still,' said Lindholm quickly. 'And keep your hands to yourself. Start thrashing around in the dark
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