Kalonia warding station six was half a kilometre from the western rim of the Kalonia plateau. Crinomu explained to Asanka the purpose of these particular kinds of stations. "Warding stations contain an array of passive sensors which scan the sky for large flying objects and they transmit a focused beam of ultra sound at any large target. It's not as powerful as the somatic shields which protect the area round the dome but even so the warding stations discourage any wandering alegoyle from flying over the plateau. They keep it safe for us (and now for the horses), so we can all roam freely here. The stations don't even need to operate for long or use much power. The alegoyle are quite intelligent and they quickly learn to avoid flying near them." Beyond the limits of warding station six, though, was a poorly protected hinterland sloping down to cliff tops above the Kalonia gorge and in caves inside those cliffs a small colony of alegoyle had chosen to nest. The stories of how his namesake had been killed by an alegoyle naturally fascinated the boy and so these alegoyle were both interesting and scary to the young Asanka. He spent long hours watching them through a spy glass from behind a rise in the downs near to the warding station and the countless warnings from his mother of the dangers of approaching the nest only increased his curiosity. Eventually Asanka felt he knew enough about the colony hunting patterns to get a little closer. There were only four adults and he could count them out. Whilst they were all flying far over the western downs of Illunon he would explore the forbidden zone at the tip of the Kalonia plateau. Only a few tens of metres from the edge of the cliff Asanka came upon a strange hole in the chalk land. It might have been the sink hole for a stream that had long since dried up or drained down a different course. The bottom looked flat and easy to climb into and there was a tunnel at one end. The boy decided to investigate further.