Sometime during the short ride to the base Klane slipped into unconsciousness and when he next woke the sun was shining brightly in the morning sky. He realised he must have slept through the entire night. Although his ribs still felt sore from the after effects of the energy weapon much of the pain had eased and after a few moments he felt strong enough to stand. He found himself trapped inside an open topped glassy cylinder sitting on a metal apron which projected from the back of the base. A low metal pedestal was visible through the glass and the sight of his klane sitting out of reach on top of it jolted him into frantic motion. Although the sides of the cylinder were taller than he could reach, he guessed that if he jumped high enough he might be able to grasp the lip and haul himself into freedom. Several attempts soon proved that it would not be so simple to escape. The surface of his prison was coated with some substance or energy field which was remarkably slippery and he could gain no traction for all his scrabbling and thrashing. "It's no use", a soft voice said. "When the master wants us to work, the walls slide underground until we can step out but you'll never climb them once they are raised." Turning to his right Klane could see that there were two more glass cylinder prisons exactly like his own, each occupied by a young woman in Rider ceremonial dress. "I'm Lucalle and this is Ketha", said the nearer woman in answer to his unspoken question. "And the master?" "That's what the creature likes us to call it", Ketha said, spitting contemptuously. There was no time for further conversation for at that moment 'the master' slithered out of a dark archway in the base and reared up to confront Klane. "Ah, the new s.. s.. specimen is ..s ..s awake", it hissed, the voice a curious sibilant synthesis of artificial translation and natural vocals. "Welcome to my humble crater. We have a l.. l.. lot to talk about..."