He dreamed he was back at home in their cozy living room. A fire burned in the hearth while it snowed outside. Dad was hunched over a game of Xo on the coffee table, playing against his personal, artificial intelligence robot — which was nothing more than a metal appendage sitting on a base — while Mom was sitting at the windowsill, sipping oolong, and writing on her journal.

There was no feeling of resentment at being somewhat ignored as he had felt in real life — he was only glad, immeasurably glad just watching them, being with them.

All at once, there was a deafening pounding on their main door. Mom and Dad jumped at the sound. Moments later, the door was kicked in, and a dozen Metalloy police officers rushed in. Murderous robots they looked like, in their metal helmets and armor.

They lunged at Mom and Dad, reaching for them, about to grab them when everything suddenly dissolved into a mist, and Zablaron's eyes flew open. He stared at the ornate ceiling. A knock came at the door.

Zablaron sat up in bed and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He threw back the sheets, snatched his maroon dressing gown from the nightstand, and donned it over his striped, maroon-and-white pajamas. He walked over the soft deer rug, ran a hand through his hair, and opened the door.

Two couriers in baseball caps and red and navy shirts stood in the door with a logo that brought an earnest smile on Zablaron's face — Point Blank.

Both held a plastic case each. A garment bag dangled from the fingers of one of them while a shoebox lay at their feet.

"Good morning, sir. It's so good to see you safe and sound, sir," one of them said, doffing his cap.

"Thank you. Did you face any trouble while entering the tunnel?" Zablaron asked.

"We did, sir, but then we had security talk to Ms. Tielin. All the troubles were gone with the wind."

Should I have the call placed now and get her charges cleared? Zablaron pondered. She will stop being useful the moment I do it. It can wait.

"Anyhow, here is the modulator," the other said, pushing his case toward Zablaron. "And Chizear has... those other things."

That other thing had to be things to sneak past spaceport security, Zablaron thought. "Send Uncle Vonsten my thanks. Put them there on the dresser," Zablaron said, stepping aside. "That and that in the wardrobe," he added, pointing toward the garment bag and the shoe box.

Zablaron watched them as they put the things in their place and returned to the door.

"Will there be anything else, sir?" Chizear asked.

"No. Make yourselves comfortable here. I might be gone a long time, but wait for my call."

"Well then, best of luck, sir. And stay safe."

"I wouldn't do this if I intended to stay safe. Now, if you will excuse me, I must prepare."

When they were gone, Zablaron took a cold shower before dressing more appropriately for the forest — a maroon, safari jacket with opened buttons, a white shirt with shirttails protruding from behind, khaki trousers with cargo pockets, and calf-length, burgundy boots. He strapped his VBP to his right forearm.

He proceeded to open the cases one by one. The first carried a device, not unlike a small radio transceiver with multiple antennas protruding — the modulator.

The second case revealed some unassuming, light-salmon and steel-blue metal pieces in different shapes and sizes.

He immediately set to assembling the pieces together — the resulting object looked like a giant, metal horseshoe. Zablaron put it away deep into his jacket's inner pocket and the modulator into an outer one.

Finally, he headed downstairs, had a modest breakfast of cheese omelet and bread in the dining room on the ground floor, and then stepped outside into the hunting lodge's driveway — in Malorawa Forest.

The tunnel from the hangar at the spaceport had joined the underwater tunnel. When it branched off near the end, Zablaron took the station bus to Malorawa Forest. It had led here, to this hunting lodge in the middle of a clearing.

Apparently, the lodge was centuries old and used by the emperor and his entourage on hunting trips. It served basically the same function now, except that now it was used by VIPs arriving from the spaceport if they were so inclined to do a bit of hunting. I do mean to do a bit of hunting, Zablaron thought.

The lodge, a quaint, stone and wood structure, stood on a small, verdant mound and afforded a view of the dense forest canopy surrounding it.

Zablaron started down the sloping driveway toward the stable. He approached the stableman and handed him sixty-nine Karomozian learts. Soon, a brown mare with a white mark on its forehead was trotted out, saddled and bridled.

Zablaron never had much love for horses and never understood the Grebriks' obsession with them. For a moment, he found himself thinking about that meddlesome Grebrik at the spaceport. Jayrock. He shook the thought from his mind and mounted the mare.

He spurred it down the dirt path and then turned east when it branched off toward the dense forest. Two police officers stood in the way.

"You again?" the female officer complained. "What do you want this time?"

"The forest beyond here is still off-limits, just like last time. Nothing new here," the male officer added, bored.

"Oh, but last time I forgot to introduce myself," Zablaron replied nonchalantly, looking down at them from his mount. "I am Zablaron Inrazax, CEO of Point Blank, the company whose weapons both of you happen to be wielding, instead of your standard-issue firearms."

The police officers glanced uneasily at their pistols and then back at Zablaron.

"I was present at the spaceport last night when one of my shipments was attacked. I helped thwart the attack. Would you be so kind as to lead me deeper into the woods... to the Crimson Crows?"

For a heartbeat, the police officers remained silent, taken aback. Finally, the male officer spoke up, "Eh, delivering them the CEO of Point Blank can't hurt, can it? Follow us."

Not if I can help it, Zablaron thought.

...

They had set up camp in one of the Maloran nimtree groves. It was a tiny one with just five nimtrees. Ivado, Clarine, and Merel had made cuts in the trees and had half emptied the sap, but Florinok was worried it would not be enough.

Clarine kept blabbering, louder than Florinok would have liked, that she wanted to go back while Merel kept muttering something to himself. Xemesh sat under a tree, his head in his hands.

Her own nerves were on edge. She kept pacing back and forth, jumping at the slightest sound made by some animal or the other passing through the brush. She was so tense she wanted to scream, and she did not want to think about what would happen if any more of those horrible men in suits found them here. But she could not afford to look afraid at any cost or else risk everyone promptly heading back.

Alvoak soon joined them back after contacting her on the holophone. "You should have seen the look on Kez's face when I brought him the bound man," he quipped in a lousy effort to lighten the mood.

"How much time before all the sap is extracted?" Xemesh asked, taking his head out of his hands.

"Just another ten minutes, I should think, sir," Ivado replied, shifting his glasses.

Five minutes later, the trees had been emptied of their sap, and everyone seemed ready to go back. Florinok looked in dismay at the small amount collected in test tubes.

"This is not enough to synthesize an appropriate sample of the drug," Florinok said, looking at each one of them, one by one. "We have got to head deeper and find more groves."

"Ms. Lephyte, I'd... I'd follow you anywhere," Clarine stammered. "Anywhere, except... farther into this forest!"

"We narrowly escaped captivity the last time," Merel insisted. "And you killed a dude, for crying out loud! Who knows what they will do if they spot us! I don't even know who they are and—"

"Just some goons hired by Quinns Furnishings to scare us—" Florinok started.

"And I don't care to know!" Merel finished.

"Whatever would be the purpose of going to all the trouble to come here and then barely bring anything back to work with?" Florinok said. "All of our efforts would just go in vain."

"Then you will just have to find a way to make your drug out of what we have," Merel said, shrugging.

"Ms. Lephyte, if I may, we can always work on some other drug, develop some other molecule, introduce the world to some other miracle cure, as we have done for years," Ivado spoke up. "Please, let this go. It is not a good thing, this ego of us mer."

They waited for her to say something, but she had no reply. If Rosa were here, she would understand — or Lavandora, Florinok lamented. But she had had to leave behind someone she trusted, and she didn't trust anyone more than Rosa.

"Well, then let's pack up," Xemesh said, getting up.

They started packing up — Ivado kept casting her apologetic glances all the time.

When they were done, Florinok took a deep breath and spoke up, "I don't want to leave."

"Here we go again," Merel threw his hands up.

"I'm going in. Alvoak, your gun, please."

"My gun? Ms. Lephyte, it's—"

"Madness, yes. Going back now is madder, however. Your gun, please."

"Ms. Lephyte, surely you can't be... are you... are you really going to do this?" Clarine's eyes widened.

"Florinok, are you serious?" Xemesh asked incredulously. "Are you thinking you are just going to shoot your way in?"

"I'm desperately hoping it doesn't come to any shooting. Alvoak, I'm waiting."

Alvoak considered her for just a moment. Then he unholstered his weapon and handed it to Florinok. "I hope you come back to us alive, Ms. Lephyte," he said solemnly.

"I hope so too," Florinok replied with a hint of a smile.

With nothing more to say, she took out her map and left them there to head north. She made her way between the lush green trees, stepping over a root here, pushing away a branch there. The leaves rustled as she passed through, but otherwise, everything was eerily still in this part of the forest — no animals were to be heard. She gripped her gun tightly, splashed her way through a stream, and circumvented some big moss-covered rocks.

At first, it just felt like something in her head, but she could soon hear a faint but unmistakable hum. It grew louder as she pushed forward through the tangled branches of rosewoods. Quinns Furnishings at their work? Florinok wondered.

She halted and held her breath when she thought she could hear voices. She sprouted forest-green leaves all over her body to help her camouflage. Ever so slowly, she made her way to a stand of pines towering before her in a line as if guarding something on the other end. She plastered herself to a trunk, and then gently pulled aside their branches to look into the clearing beyond.

The sight of what lay beyond sent shivers down her spine just as her mouth fell open. What have I stumbled into? Florinok wondered, terrified.

In the surprisingly vast clearing, numerous black tents had sprung up all over the place like mushrooms along with makeshift cabins fashioned out of lumber. Goons in the same black suits milled around in their dozens, some squatted around cookfires, which sent an aroma of roasted meat wafting through the air. Off to the right, part of the clearing was being used for parking all sorts of undercover, black vehicles. Florinok wondered how the cars got here until she spotted a wide path cleared through the pines at the opposite end of the clearing. Another entrance to the forest? I thought there was just one.

One huge, round, and hideous tent loomed near the edge of the pines Florinok was hiding amongst and dwarfed the rest of the structures. It was black as well, but with a red flag on its peak. Pegged down by several strong ropes, it towered above her and looked large enough to comfortably house a pair of elephants.

However, the most conspicuous feature in the clearing was an enormous pit dug out in the middle of the clearing. An excavator stood at its edge, its arm overhanging menacingly while piles of dirt lay around its caterpillar tracks. Along the craggy walls of the pit, a dirt track spiraled downward all the way to its bottom.

Set in the wall near the bottom was a partly excavated, great, ancient-looking gate, standing between gray, stone walls inscribed with runes of some kind. The gate was sturdy iron, decorated with ornate copper discs and large, ring-shaped, gold handles. Something about it told Florinok it had not seen the light of day for a long, long time.

This is not a mere logging operation, Florinok realized. They're up to something big.

...

The path had evidently been cleared only recently — trees had been cut down in a span of roughly forty feet, more than enough for two large vehicles to pass abreast. Although the path itself was leveled and lined with gravel, Zablaron could see fresh tree stumps bordering it on both sides.

And here I am galloping away on a horse when I should have been racing by in a MagneCar, Zablaron thought. What was worse was that he had been made to follow two Crows in a black pickup truck when they easily could have given him a ride.

They had been heading south for a long time as far as he could tell. A skidder passed them by in the opposite direction, dragging several long logs behind it. Here and there, Zablaron spotted harvesters and yarders set up on the side of the path, some being operated by workers and still in the process of felling trees.

The pickup truck abruptly slowed down to a crawl. Zablaron yanked on the reins to pull up the mare and avoid running into the vehicle. He must have pulled too hard as she neighed and raised her forelegs into the air. For a moment, he feared he would be thrown from the saddle, but then mercifully, the horse settled down.

Up ahead, thickets of tall pines straddled the path on both sides with a gap through which the trail continued. Beyond the gap, Zablaron glimpsed a clearing infested with Crimson Crows and their camps and, in the center, what seemed to be a precipitous drop into a gaping chasm.

Zablaron led his mare through the gap between the pines into the clearing. Tents set up by the Crows were all haphazardly centered on a yawning pit still being dug out by an excavator. Zablaron could not see what lay at the bottom from his angle. What could they have found here? And what does it have to do with my weapons?

He spotted a gigantic, canvas pavilion, black just like anything else with these Crows, near the other end of the clearing. So that's the command center here. A group of Crows stood guard outside.

Presently, some Crows motioned at him to stop as the pickup truck veered to the left toward some parked vehicles he had just noticed. This time he managed to bring his mare to a halt without upsetting her.

Florinok flinched further back into the pines, still cloaked in forest-green leaves, as she watched a platinum blond man dismount from his horse. A goon led the horse away toward the parking area to the right.

"What happened?" Loress' hushed voice came through Florinok's holophone.

"Nothing. It's just that somebody came over from that path at the opposite end. Are you still getting the image?" Florinok whispered, readjusting her holophone camera.

"Yes, as clear as could be. Now be quick and show me what's down there!" Loress said eagerly.

Florinok had called Loress again, hoping she would still be outside the forest. As it turned out, the reporter had just left but returned immediately when Florinok told her what she had seen. Loress had now redirected the satellite dish on her news van toward Florinok's position and was receiving a live stream from Florinok's holophone.

Florinok cautiously positioned herself among the pines to see beyond the hideous tent, into the pit dug into the ground. She aimed the camera of her holophone at the gate at the bottom.

For a moment, there was no sound from the other end. Then she heard a gasp. "Oh, my... is that... is that the entrance to a tomb or something?" Loress exclaimed.

"It sure is something ancient," Florinok whispered back.

"Wait, could you focus on that bolt? There are symbols on there I need to see," Loress said.

A large metal bar ran horizontally across the middle of the gate, held in place by several staples. A symbol was repeatedly engraved on it, not unlike the runes on the stone walls. It seemed like a slender tower with a pair of wings on either side.

"I have seen this somewhere... wait, let me do a quick search," Loress said.

Florinok heard a rapid tapping of keys, and for a long while, there was no other sound. She anxiously looked over at the goons strolling around the place. The platinum blond man was now being led to the large tent.

She watched as he took off his jacket to be frisked by the guards at the tent entrance, his mouth clenched the whole time. A guard took away a weird, cog-shaped gadget strapped to his forearm. Meanwhile, another fished out a black device from the platinum blond man's jacket that seemed like a walkie-talkie to Florinok. Then the platinum blond man entered the tent, followed by the guard clutching the device in his hand.

So far, no one had looked in her direction. Florinok patted her pocket, where she had stowed away her gun, just to be sure it was still there.

Minutes later, there was yet another gasp from the other end.

"I cannot believe it. That symbol is the sigil of Emperor Yilabar, the Fourth of Malora, which he adopted after creating the Nova Blocks. The most popular legend associated with him goes something like this..."

Loress launched into a discourse about a legend, according to which centuries ago, court scientists in the service of the Emperor Yilabar the Fourth discovered the secret to harnessing the power of the 'sparks' — now identified as enertrons — in the air and storing them in small cells called Nova Blocks. This allowed him to store massive amounts of enertrons in the Nova Blocks only to unleash them all at once at his foes and decimate them.

When he was nearing his death, he enlisted thousands of slaves from all over the Maloran Empire, the territory he reigned over. Extending over thousands of acres, a massive stretch of the empire was closed off to the public. The slaves were led into the area, never to be seen again. Allegedly, to keep his prize invention a secret, the emperor had all the Nova Blocks buried somewhere in that area, and all the slaves used to accomplish the task were buried along with them to keep the location from being known.

"It seems crazy, but they may have found the place where the Nova Blocks were hidden!" Loress finished breathlessly. "This is all so mind-blowing! I need to report this right now!"

"No, let me get out of here first!" Florinok replied frantically.

They had taken his VBP, his jacket, his modulator, and even his holophone. But as he had anticipated, they were so occupied with their discovery that they never thought to look for anything else — especially in the inner pocket.

There were about thirty people in the pavilion minus himself and the lout who had followed him inside. Zablaron had refused to explain what the modulator was, so the guard was forced to bring it in to show it to his commander.

"Sir, Inrazax is here," the guard behind him announced. "And we weren't sure, but we thought