"Sirin!" a distant voice shouted. I clung to it, and found myself standing in the rigid legs of my carapace suit.

Bemariq's hand pulled me. "Let's leave."

"No. I need to see this."

Though the bones had decayed, with its wide open hips, the skeleton on the table was obviously a woman's. I counted nine tiny skulls before quitting.

"There's no way she could have survived this", I whispered. "What was the point?"

"I can't even guess", Bemariq placed his hands on my shoulders. "Whoever she was, she died ages ago."

"With this moisture, the bones wouldn't have lasted more than a few decades. A century at most."

Bemariq stepped to my side. "Some unseen method of sterilisation might have postponed the decay."

"That's true. Also, the air could have been more dry in the past."

"It doesn't matter. Let's go."

We stepped out of the room, and the door slid to hide the tomb of the nameless woman and her children. I concentrated on the mental image to drain the horror from it. Bemariq had already shown, he'd keep me safe. But he also needed me. I needed to appear strong, even if I didn't quite feel as such.

Luckily the carapace suit hid worst of my shivers.

"The moisture does matter." I turned to my husband. "Think about it. The tunnel we came from was collapsed for centuries. If this woman lived only a few decades ago, then there's another way in."

Bemariq stared at me. "Oh..." His eyes widened. "Yes! That is plausible."

"It has to be. I'm starting to think we aren't going to get the Censor --whatever it is-- to let us out."

"And the Jaan aren't going to blast their way in any time soon. The surrounding natural rock can be melted away, but this stuff..." Bemariq knocked on the wall. "It was grown to withstand nightmares, which ended a civilisation."

"That was your plan from start. You knew, they couldn't get in, so we could get in here ourselves."

Bemariq shook his head. "No. I just went along. How could I have know, what the tram demanded?" He chuckled. "Now I almost wish we had an army looting this place."

He took a large bottle out of his satchel. "Are you thirsty? Some honeydew and water should keep us going for a while."

My throat was indeed parched, so I quaffed a good portion of the sweet liquid. I realised that my bare skin hadn't been covered in sweat. The suit must have been pragmatic and 'drunk' it.

We searched the area, which must have been a hospital of sorts. The furniture and equipment were largely incomprehensible to us. We found more of the odd windows, but their light had died.

Try as he might, my husband couldn't operate any of the machines, or even figure out if they truly were machines and not bizarre decorative sculptures.

"I'll ask for help." I patted Bemariq's arm, so the concession, of that he was out of his depth, stung less.

"Alright." Bemariq put on a brave smile. "Better we get this done quick."

"Oh, spirit!" I shouted. "I want to see inside my body without harming myself, for health reasons. You must help me."

"Medical imaging is unnecessary at the moment", the voice answered.

"I beg to differ", I said. "Maintenance of these facilities must be long overdue, so this man here must personally verify my health. Otherwise my well-being is at unknown risk."

The voice gave out a small whirring whine. "Closest combined medical imaging scanner is in the third room to your subjective left."

In the room was only what looked like a egg-like sarcophagus and a workstation with dim windows. One by one the glass rectangles lit up to show perplexing groups of shifting abstract images. The colourful lines and shapes might have been representations of data or phantasms conjured by an injured artificial mind.

The sarcophagus vomited out a bone-white tongue.

"Lay on the bed", the voice commanded.

"Do I need to take off my clothes?" I asked.

"No. The auxiliary skin hampers certain types of radiation, yet it can boost the required scanner resonance."

"So that's what this suit is called", I said and glanced at Bemariq.

He nodded. The sarcophagus didn't have any visible instruments, so it seemed relatively safe. I lay down on the bed. The machine whirred and slowly moved me inside. I did my best not to think the narrow tube as my tomb.

Nothing happened, save that voice spoke to Bemariq. I couldn't hear the words.

"Is it working?" I asked.

"Yes", Bemariq shouted. "Stay still, dear."

I did my best not to fidget from the thought of invisible rays pouring through my soft squishy flesh.

The bed under me jerked, and I slid out. I stood up and went to Bemariq.

"Did it work?" I asked.

"See for yourself." He pointed one of the glowing windows.

I had never studied much anatomy, so understanding the image took me a while. It was my torso, if I had been cut in half like some beast for study.

"Is this..." I whispered and pointed to a flattened shape inside my lower abdomen. Everything seemed to be in what must have been their natural places. My insides weren't just a haphazard medical experiment, or the visceral artwork by a machine made mad by aeons passing.

Bemariq wrapped an arm around me. "I think so, yes."

A surge of raw indecipherable emotion made my lips quiver. I was whole, in a way I couldn't have known before.

My husband kissed my forehead. "Let's go."

As we stepped back into the main corridor, my head was weightless from the mixture of joy and dread.

My mind cleared quickly, with a start. An emaciated creature, taller than a man and half, stood next the door. Its flat head was near faceless, and the spindly limbs were twined roots.

In a foolish if charming gesture, Bemariq tried to step between me and the eidolon. I declined to budge.

"What are you?" I asked in my best 'talking to a cowering servant' voice, though the words lacked gravitas.

The thing didn't vocalise any answer.

"This must be our guide", Bemariq said.

"It certainly seems capable of taking us to our destination, by force if need be." I made short bow to the creature. "Guide us to an exit, which will let us out of this facility."

The giant didn't move beyond the twitching of its corded limbs.

Bemariq shrugged. "Worth a try."

I sighed. "Yes. Very well. Take us to the Nexal Censor."

The eidolon turned and walked away. Its movements were heavy with both fatigue and immense strength.

We passed more skeletal remains fused into the walls. The cerulean phosphorescence grew stronger, though the colour only strengthened the shadows in the gloom.

In the haze, three humanoid creatures crouched, picking through the debris on the floor. I froze in place, but the feral suits scattered from the path of our guide. I pulled my husband's hand and hurried after the giant.

An air current began shifting the fog, and we breached to the bottom of a huge well. A thin sheen of water trickled down the wide slope, which circled around the walls. The remains of what must have been vehicles for climbing the slope decayed on the wet floor.

In the chasm between the corkscrew ramp, where water poured like rain, hung listless strands of nerve.

Our guide wasn't slowed down by the slippery surface of the ramp. My suit kept me on my feet, but Bemariq struggled to climb the smooth surface. He took support from the wall and from me.

I did my best not to smirk. He must have been miserable enough in his soaked clothes, while my 'auxiliary skin' kept me quite comfortable.

Higher we climbed, yet massive amounts of rock remained between us and the sky. There might have been an exit topside, but I did not dare to hope for an easy escape.

"Bem", I whispered. "What if the Censor traps us, forces us to go along with the purpose of this place?"

Bemariq remained silent for a full circle around the well. "We'll figure something out. Come what may, I'm glad I got to see all this, especially with you."

"That's sweet." The affected composure in my voice wilted, as I said: "But you aren't at the risk of..." The words stuck in my throat.

My husband stopped. "If I had known, I wouldn't have taken you here."

I found my smile again. "And I would have insisted to come regardless."