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line. It only took a minute. Now she could see that the pit in the surface of the asteroid was indeed artificial, with smooth, regular walls and equipment around them embedded in the rock. It was dark, the only light coming from the end of the pit, and it was like sinking into the gloom of a deep pond with just a small, forlorn bubble of light and warmth at the bottom.
    A crew of suited soldiers was waiting, and by the light of two emergency bulbs they unclipped her from the line and led her to a makeshift airlock set into the wall. It took two minutes for her and Fleet to be cycled through, and then they were in the asteroid, actually
inside
an extraterrestrial base, and two soldiers were helping her remove her suit. Her helmet came off and the familiar, slightly stale smell of ship’s air came flooding into her olfactory pores. Oomoing looked up and down the passage; it was a circular tunnel bored into the rock and a floor was provided by a grating laid along it. The grating was completely redundant in the lack of gravity and it immediately set Oomoing to hypothesizing. Subdued red lights set flush into the rock emphasized the natural chill of the asteroid’s interior. Colonel Stormer came out of the gloom to meet her, pulling himself with his feeding arms along a line strung down the passage.
    ‘Wakefulness,’ he said. ‘And are we glad to see you.’ He was a grizzled, middle-aged male and his expression was dour.
    Oomoing was about to express surprise and delight at such a warm welcome, when Fleet spoke instead.
    ‘The supplies are being unloaded, Worthy Brother.’
    ‘Good. We can use them.’ Stormer was older than Fleet and had much more prestige. His bow to Oomoing was almost equal-to-equal. ‘Learned Mother, I’m instructed to place myself and my troops at your disposal, subject to security restrictions. We’ve already started trying to inventory the equipment we’ve found here but we will value your scientist’s input.’
    ‘Excellent,’ Oomoing said. ‘I suggest we start by Sharing. I’m anxious to find out everything you know.’
    ‘I’m sorry, I was specifically told by Marshal of Space Barabadar not to Share.’ Stormer didn’t look all that sorry; he almost looked relieved.
    ‘I beg your pardon?’ Oomoing said.
    ‘I was specifically told—’
    ‘I insist on a Sharing!’ Oomoing was outraged. ‘How am I expected to do my job without proper background knowledge?’
    ‘I gather it’s a matter of clearance, Learned Mother.’
    ‘
Clearance?
’ The talons of her hunting arms slid out by reflex and Oomoing didn’t know whether to laugh or cuff him for his insolence. Doing the latter in front of Fleet would be bad military discipline. ‘Listen to yourself, Loyal Son. I’m cleared to be on a top-secret extraterrestrial base. I’m cleared to study their equipment and try to work out how they travelled faster than light, I’m authorized to study the creatures themselves, but I’m not cleared for the details?’
    ‘Precisely, Learned Mother,’ Stormer said, impassive.
    Oomoing could see she wasn’t going to get anywhere. She began to compose a blistering complaint to deliver to Barabadar. In the meantime . . .
    ‘Then, let’s start with the extraterrestrials,’ she said.
    ‘Of course, Learned Mother. That’s why you’re here. The
outlanders
are this way.’
    Stormer pulled himself back down the passage, followed by Oomoing, followed by Fleet. Oomoing, still not used to this way of travelling, found that the trick was to use her feeding arms for pulling on the line, and her hunting arms for the times she pulled too hard, or swung away from the line towards the walls. Every time they came to a junction or passed the entrance to a room or a chamber, she looked yearningly down it, wondering what marvels of extraterrestrial technology lay that way.
    ‘How much of the base have you explored?’ she said.
    ‘A fraction,’ Stormer said, without looking round. ‘It’s a maze and