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seen. It was actually fairly simple. You’d think that with such a sophisticated piece of machinery there would be thousands of little gears and joints and rotors, but there were surprisingly few. All I saw was a squished metallic spider skeleton, along with something that looked like a computer core. I figured the technology would have to be pretty advanced to get that simple spider skeleton to run, turn, jump, bite . . . and think. That was the scariest part. They could think.
    Staring at the mess of smashed metal, I realized that Quillan was a territory with technology that was so advanced, they were able to create lifelike self-powered robots. I could only hope they weren’t all going to be chasing me.
    I did a quick cleanup of the broken crate and the crushed robot-quig-spider. I didn’t think anybody would be wandering by, but just in case, I wanted to hide any evidence that I had been there. I kicked the debris into a corner between a couple of large crates, making sure I swept up every last remnant of mechanical-gut stuff. After I was satisfied that the mess was hidden, I set out to find my way out of there. It was time to see what other surprises lay in wait for me on Quillan.

JOURNAL #24
    (CONTINUED)
QUILLAN
    W hich was worse: A territory populated by spiders? Or one controlled entirely by robots? I wasn’t thrilled by either option. All I knew for certain was that whatever this territory held, I wouldn’t learn about it hanging around in a dusty old warehouse full of dinner plates. I needed to get out and find the Traveler from Quillan. That was key. The Traveler would have answers. That is, of course, unless the Traveler was a robot. Or a spider. Sheesh.
    After cleaning up the metal spider guts, I climbed up onto a crate to take another look around at the vast space. In the distance I saw the far wall with the grid that hid the gate to the flume. I figured the exit wasn’t back that way, so I turned in the opposite direction and began my search for the way out. It wasn’t long before I realized I had made the right choice. I didn’t find an exit right away, but I did hear something. I’m glad to report that it wasn’t the chattering of more mechanical spiders. It was music. The sound was far off and faint, but it was definitely music. Music to me meantcivilization, so I kept heading toward the sound. As I drew closer to the wall that was directly opposite from the wall that hid the flume, the music grew louder. It was muffled, but I heard enough to realize it was an odd tune. I couldn’t make out what the instruments were, but they sounded electronic. The music itself was a kind of upbeat, new age, happy, haunting, never ending melody that went nowhere. It was kind of creepy-strange, like no music I had ever heard before. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t think I’d be downloading the MP3 file either. The music had energy, like it was setting a happy mood. Maybe I was overthinking it, but the music seemed to be almost . . . hypnotic.
    A few minutes later I hit the wall on the far side. Scanning both ways, I quickly found a doorway. It was just that simple. It was a double-wide door, which made sense because it would have to be big enough to get the bigger crates through. Before leaving, I took a look back onto the monster space of the warehouse. It was a great place to hide a flume. There must have been a quarter of a mile between this wall and the wall with the gate. It was so loaded with stuff, I couldn’t imagine anybody going all the way to the far side to find anything. It was like the gate and the flume were hidden in plain sight, with no chance of actually being seen. I took a quick check of my bearings to remember which direction to go when I came back, then spun, and pushed open the wide doors to Quillan.
    I found myself in a dark room with no windows. No big surprise. This warehouse had to have been underground in order for the