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“They did it here once, and I am about to do it again.”
    He reluctantly let go of her hand, and she sent shadows out to pull up the lid on the pit. Seals popped as the huge weight lifted.
    The stale air carried a mechanical tang. There was something down there beyond the terrors of local powers.
    Noma turned to Urad, “Will you come down with me?”
    “In there?” He flinched.
    “Please.”
    With slightly slumped shoulders, he nodded.
    “Do you mind if I carry you?”
    “It will injure my sense of masculinity, but sure.” He grinned.
    “I am sure you will recover.”
    She wrapped him in tendrils of darkness and lifted them both up and into the air before having her shadows pull them down into the pit.
    The images from the night before swam up and wrapped around her thoughts. She could see in the dark and this place was very dark indeed.
    Urad sent light down the hall and he chuckled. “You are squeezing me tight.”
    With a blush, she removed her grip on him and let him stand on his feet. “Sorry. I may need to see this place, but I don’t have to like it.”
    “I am glad I am not the only one who is nervous.”
    She nodded. “This way, I think. Those are robot parts.”
    “What?”
    “Mechanical servants used for menial tasks, maintenance and repair. I see no reason why they couldn’t be used for restraint.” Noma started down the hall and realised that those dropped would have nowhere to go but this path.
    “You really do come from another planet.”
    She gave him an amused look. “I really do.”
    “I thought you were just exceptionally beautiful.” He stopped her in the hallway and kissed her.
    She stood still for a moment before leaning up on her toes to increase the intensity of the kiss. For an instant, she let her heart soar and her body hum happily before she slowly pulled away.
    “Not what we are here for.”
    He grinned. “No, but I had to start something while we had privacy. Our community is a close one and privacy isn’t an unlimited commodity. I live in the bachelor’s quarters and you are under watch in the tower.”
    “And now, we are both in the pit. Let’s see if my guesses are correct.” She moved toward the only exit to the tunnel and into the shadows cast by Urad’s light.
    She heard a mechanical whirring as something tried to move, but the sound was half-hearted, as if something was stuck.
    “Can you put some light over there, to the left?”
    Urad flicked illumination balls into the air and the sound was explained, as was the purpose of the pit.
    Thirty-nine chambers were lying open, but three had a difference. Thirty-six were merely opened, one was closed and looked as if it had never been occupied, but two were smashed to hell. Those two were her focus.
    “What is that sound?”
    “One of the keepers. They are here to take the powers that are sent, sedate them before they can attack and place them in the tubes, in storage until there is a full complement.”
    “Why? Why are they kept here?”
    “If this ship had been filled with that last power, it would have risen and followed a protocol to take it home.”
    She looked at the computer systems on the side of the first broken capsule.
    “How are you so familiar with these systems?”
    “I used to be a keeper, and they are not very different from the units I was forced to use on my own people.” She reached into the pocket of her robe where she kept Skiria’s orb. “Can you download and display the information? I know it is not your forte, but you are as close to an interface as I can get, Skiria.”
    “What is that?”
    “It is an energy copy of the mind of another one of my people. Her mind was amazing and she transported the link from my world to thirty others without losing her sanity.”
    The orb whirled in the air, quite happy at the tales of her exploits.
    “How did you come to have a copy of her mind?”
    Noma laughed out loud. “I am guessing that Trala threw her at me.”
    “No. I mean, where is