Tall White Lady scanned the hostile, frozen landscape with sad, tense eyes. She whispered to the wind," Where are you child?" She could feel the presence of the Measure beneath her right then. The Measure whispered in her mind,*You are right over me. Maybe fifty to seventy meters? I can't tell. Stop shouting. You are thunder since you came back. What happened?" TWL scanned the harsh landscape of the High Ramadan Plateau and whispered," Floona and I just buried Awina. She's dead, I think. Her head is bashed in, and I can't tell if she's in some kind of cellular suspension...regenerative coma...thing, or dead as a can of cat food! You're the same species! What can you tell me?" The Measure laughed a short ,bitter sounding laugh in TWL's mental ear and asked,*Why ask me? I'm legally dead, and buried beneath your feet. I'm sorry. I was raised near where you're at! I don't know anything about my own species. Sorry. Have you saved the planet?" TWL turned and headed back toward Floona, who was shivering next to the signpost she had stuck into the loose dirt next to Awina's grave. The cold, damp wind cut through her powered down armor. TWL whispered her thoughts at the Measure,"I'm not sure." "Let me explain. The Asuran battleship hit us hard as we slipped out hyperspace's layers. A missile hit the canopy and dished it in. I'm not sure when Awina died. Maybe she died when the missle hit. Maybe she died when we crashed back onto Balaam. Martya was on the same side as Floona, and hit her head. It was a miracle I wasn't killed. I guess like it's a MIRACLE that we crashed where you're buried. Let me guess...,"TWL trailed off as she came up on Floona. *...Those tricky Pre-Human ancestors with their Probability twisting technology, again. Damn. That is REALLY unbelievable!* The Measure tried to sound ironic, even sarcastic, but sounded really admiringly when she picked up the trailing thought. TWL said to Floona,"Child...Keep Martya warm. You need to stay sharp. Your pistol still works. Try to recharge your comm-unit. I'll go into the old temple ruins and try to find the Measure's location." Floona nodded. "My face has gone numb. You alright?" TWL smiled tightly and said,"Beat to hell and gone, and need some pain-killers, but I'm still able to walk! Go and get warm in that solar tent, while we have light." Floona nodded and clapped her hands into her armpits and slipped into the tent. "Something happened, Something bad." TWL padded across the frozen ground toward the misty old ruins. "We were in a decaying orbit above Balaam, when the Asuran battleship came out into the minefield. Our sensors were fried and we were trying for a soft-landing when there was a flash from the battle area, and the all-powerful technology of the Sururin Scout-ship died. Most of OURS died ,too. Except for the chemical batteries and more esoteric stuff. Floona's pistol was built by the Derro, mine was Cyclops manufacture." "We pancaked here with what we had left of the ship. Life module. The Star-Drive got ejected in orbit and exploded. The "Earth" or "Solids" gem appeared on my chest and the necklace regrew when I touched the soil of Balaam again. Weird and creepy technology!" TWL walked up the ramp into the ancient ruins left behind eons ago by a long dead human civilization. *So with Martya out of it--NO teleports or communications with any others of the Four Sisters.* Measure sounded nervous and fearful. TWL sighed in sadness,"IF any survive. If ANY of them survive. We MUST remain optimistic! It IS a survival trait,you know? It'll let you live longer." Measure shouted in outrage,*I got no body, and my 'self' is buried under an obsolete starship in a moldy temple!* TWL laughed back,"That's the spirit! Could be worse, could be raining!" The Measure laughed without sound. --To be continued!--