What was left of the menacing she-fiend was a hunched form sitting against a wall.

"Do you..." Sitolytta let out a sniff. "Do you enjoy my misery?"

"Yes." It was useless to lie, even if a strange sense of womanly kinship tempered my derision. "However, at this moment I'd prefer you in full control of yourself, to any amount of smug satisfaction."

The woman took a deep breath and let out a strained chuckle. "How horrible... embarrassing this is. First this suit makes me--" She choked in her words.

I crouched next to her. "Let me try take it off."

"Useless. It will just cling to me again."

"It's a worth a try. The guide seems to scare the feral suits, so let's go to him to remove yours." In a ridiculous gesture of empathy, I let Sitolytta grab my unhurt arm and pull herself standing.

The guide was still in its place. I poked through Sitolytta's wrist until I found the deformed control lumps. Her suit sighed and wrapped open.

I pulled the magnatess away, as the suit stirred to life. It spoke in a stilted imitation of the Jaan tongue.

"Stay put!" I commanded in Jaanish. "Deactivate! Shut down!"

The feral suit ignored my words and took an unsteady step towards us. My hand still clasped Sitolytta's, so I pulled her with me as I backed away.

Without a sound, the guide reached to the suit and grabbed it. In few moments, the husk was in three squirming pieces.

I closed my gaping mouth and bowed to the guide. "Thank you."

The undressed Sitolytta was in a bleary-eyed stupor. I pulled her with me back into the tunnel.

"Here", I said and pulled off my gown. The indignity of nudity hurt a woman of rank more than it did a scoundrel like me. "Put this on. It'll keep you warm."

The garment was wet, so the lie was obvious. Sitolytta gave me a tired smirk and put the gown on. She wrapped her arms around herself in an childish self-hug.

The magnatess straightened her posture and cleared her expression. "I must thank you. Even though your actions are purely self-serving."

"That they are. I do hope a Jaan magnatess has enough honour to remember gratitude."

Sitolytta's shoulders slumped. "Any favours I owe are useful only if I manage to get out of here."

"Don't worry. All of us are getting out of here."

"Your optimism is unconvincing but welcome."

It wasn't optimism, but stubborn denial keeping the terror at bay. Yet I smiled, and headed back to the Censor's chamber.

Sitolytta followed to the threshold. She returned my nod with a grim expression. Without her, I traipsed onward. The dizzy sensation hit me like a wall, but I couldn't sense any significant change in my perception.

Bemariq was still swimming in the pool. My skin shivered from the wet air. I glanced down on my nude form. It was a shame the circumstances stopped us from exploring my altered form.

"Can't find it?" I shouted.

My husband lifted his head in the water. "This water... it's too deep for me to stand... and the bottom is filled with roots... but I think my... my foot touched the husk."

He disappeared below the inky surface, and I went to the edge of the pool.

For the moment I was alone in the dripping silence. Yet thirty centuries looked at me from the walls and the eyeless face of the Censor. It was impossible to know, what attitude the original inhabitants had taken to nudity.

In an irrational fit of modesty, I sat on my haunches and curled myself together.

Bemariq broke the surface and gasped for air. He floundered, while struggling to keep the husk from sinking again. I reached for the suit and dragged it on the floor.

"This water is nicely warm." Bemariq swam to me and took support from the side of the pool, where he had an ample viewpoint to my crouched form. I dropped my hand between my legs to cover myself from his gaze.

His eyes gestured at my naked body, and he smirked. "Are you coming for a swim too?"

"No. I gave my gown to the magnatess."

"Is she alright?"

"She's back to her senses, for better or worse." I frowned. "Now get out, so we can leave."

"What's the hurry? First, I think I'll check on the Censor."

"I thought we were supposed to wait for our team and equipment before studying anything."

"That was when the magnatess was about to blow up. Besides, could we even leave without the access granted by the Censor?"

While running around wasn't likely to be productive, at leat we would have been away from the Censor's chamber. I could also wear my protective --not to mention warm-- suit.

Try as I might, I couldn't convince myself that the Nexal Censor was truly dead.

"Alright", I said. "What are you going to try?"

"First I'll--" Bemariq shuddered. "A fish brushed my leg."

"Come out!" I yelped.

"It's just a--" Bemariq smirk was twisted by fright. he disappeared under the surface. I screamed his name.

A thick root emerged from the water, with Bemariq in its coils. The man let out gurgling gasps, as he was pressed against the stone floor.

The tip of the root slithered to touch Bemariq's forehead. He let out a whine. The root opened into tendrils, which engulfed the man's skull.

I tried to pull the root off, but it was as solid as stone.

Bemariq fumbled for my hand. "Relax, honeydew." His voice was muffled. "Stay calm. I'm fine."

"No, you aren't!" I took his hand in both of mine and swallowed the lump in my throat. It wasn't the time to panic. "What is it doing?"

"Well, it's not crush--" Bemariq let out long gasp. His body shuddered.

"Bem!" I squeezed his hand. "Say something, please!"

"Establishing direct neural interface", Bemariq said in a hollow voice.

I let out a despondent whine and grabbed the root, but it didn't move.

On its pedestal, the Censor sat motionless.

A quick glance revealed my husk was still next to me. The emanating awe --no matter how amplified-- wouldn't be enough to stop me from helping my husband.

I turned, but a hand clasped mine. Not in shackle-grip of restrain, but a gentle hold. A plea.

"Bem..." I twisted my hand from his blind grasp and placed myself into the insides of the carapace husk. The suit hissed and slowly closed itself around me.

Heartbeat filled my chest. The suit must have sensed my agitated state, as without any prompting it fully enclose my head.

It wasn't just me in the darkness. Through the impenetrable mask, I saw a cascade of squirming light. Fervent pulsing blood crimson. Sickly yellow-green. Imperious and unquestionable silver of gods.

By doubting the divinity of the chamber, I had sinned in my thoughts. Grovelling on the ground might have saved my soul.

I was too insignificant to have the right to question the ancients. Without the tools bred from the technology of our betters, I would have been nothing. A confused pitiful morose aimless boy. If I had never entered this hoary abode, I wouldn't have been a full wife for my husband.

Bemariq. He needed my help.

My vision opened into the room. The light of the Nexal Censor was dimmed, but remained as the scent of rotten roses and the whine of mad flutes.

I hadn't planned to drop to my knees, to worship and beg for forgiveness. It was the suit, filling my mind with dizzying glory.

"Suit!" I screamed into the mask and pressed the override button. "Obey me! Don't enhance any outside influences. Block them all!"

The chamber was still as a tomb, the eyes of the Censor as blind as they seemed. After a moment of catching my breath, I could hear my own mind.

Bemariq lay still under the massive root. I grabbed the thick snaky trunk, but even my suit's strength wasn't enough to move it.

"Suit", I said. "Let me speak to the Censor."

A spike from my forefinger stabbed into the bark-hide of the root. I had hurt the ancient machine, even though I should have revered it.

I snarled. Those tendrils of guilt invading my mind weren't mine.

"Block everything save speech!" I yelled.

"Sirin?" a distorted voice said from behind me. It had familiar cadence.

"Bemariq?"

"How are you here?" he asked. "Did the roots get you too?"

"No, I intruded into yours."

"Are you--"

A hoary presence shifted between the thoughts of myself and Bemariq. A flash of green exasperation judged me. My mind was pushed away, but I held firm.

"Let go off my husband!" I demanded.

The pressure faded. A sense of endless ennui replaced it, accompanied by a vision. In the ground and under the seas rotted nerves, which had once seen all and connected the world in joyous harmony. Pride of the past turned into deep lingering distress for the future.

"I don't care about your sentiments!" I twisted root in my hands, to little effect. "Let us go!"

"Sirin, calm down", Bemariq said. "The Nexal Censor merely wants to talk to me."

"About what?"

"About fixing this facility", Bemariq's speech was calm but stilted. "Its neural paths have deteriorated too much. A fresh nervous system must take its place. Mine."

I fought back the desire to scream. "What would that entail?"

Images filled my mind. My husband was connected to the blossom throne. Pipes squirmed into his flesh, and his nerves spread out of his body into the rock around him. His preserved flesh slowly calcified into stone until he was fully part of the facility. Just like those bones in the hallways.

"No!" I shouted into the stifling mask. "What about me-- our life together?"

"We are insignificant compared to this, Sirin." Bemariq's voice lacked all assuring qualities. "Our world is rotting away. Our blindly derivative technology is a dead end, from which we cannot escape. We need the knowledge of the starfarers, fresh from the source. I must be an interface between the ancient wisdom and our workers. Such is my duty."

The mental pathway was filled with languid approval of the words from associate Bemariq of Usinilim.

"What good can we do?" I demanded. "This place is broken! We don't know, how to fix anything here!"

"We can learn."

My suit creaked, as I instinctively tightened my grip of the root. "You are just as addled as the magnatess was!"

A bar of molten metal lashed at me from the mind of Bemariq. "Addled? This place is the culmination of my life's work! Not just mine, but zef-Wared's and that of every seeker before us. I won't-- I can't let this opportunity pass me by."

"You wouldn't, even if you left!" I did my best to keep my anger out of my voice. "This facility has stood for generations. It won't collapse in the span of a little consideration. Please, Bemariq. Postpone... this, for the sake of us both."

The connection was cold and dead long enough to hurt my chest.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I love you."

"Very well." Bemariq's voice was thin. "I might have been overly eager."

I directed my words towards the presence, which I assumed was the Censor. "Give us access and let us leave. Bemariq will return, after he has considered the proposition."

After a prolonged moment, an amaranth lance of disapproval stabbed at my mind.

I brushed the mental discomfort aside. "We need a few days for us to be together--"

"Sirin, if the--"

"Bem, please." I returned my concentration to the Censor. "We need time, so we can place everything in order. You can't see the outside, but believe me, things are complicated out there. I can't organise the necessary preparations without Bemariq. Surely you can wait a moment longer? It will be just a blink of an eye in the time you have spend here."

If the Censor could read my mind, and from it know, how I was merely stalling for time, it didn't indicate so.

Instead, a hollow release of tension --almost like a sigh-- filled the connection.

Bemariq let out a groan. The root in my hands shifted, and I relinquished my grip. With a splash the appendage disappeared into the pool.

I turned to the Censor. "Grant me full access, so I won't be denied."

My suit chirped. "Full access authorisation acquired."

"Thank you." I bowed towards the shape on the throne, grabbed the bundle of Bemariq's clothes and pulled him up from the ground. Without looking back, I dragged him out of the chamber.

The magnatess was leaning on the wall of the tunnel, in a dejected and wet state. She gave my naked husband's body a look-over, but her heart wasn't in the leering. I couldn't find even a shred of jealousy in myself.

"Sirin", Bemariq began.

I pressed his clothes into him. "Dress up."

Bemariq took the bundle with clear hesitation. He nodded at Sitolytta. "I should stay. If I leave, there's no guarantee that the Jaan will allow me to come back."

"The magnatess promised us safe conduct", I said.

"Are you ready to trust the Jaan?" Bemariq's eyes glinted with anger that wasn't directed at just the magnatess.

My fists squeezed together. The Jaan were capricious, but my first priority was to get us both of that place intact. I wasn't going to let my husband sacrifice himself and our life together for a rotten god's broken dream.

Sitolytta moved her hair in an odd gesture of disinterest. "I don't want anything to do with this place."

"Bem." I removed the mask from my face. "I need you... your help to make the arrangements at the camp."

Bemariq frowned. For a frightening flash, I considered forcing him to obey my wishes with the strength of my suit. But before I could act, he let out a tired sigh.

"Very well", he said. "Let us go."

Along the way, I asked the giant to guide and protect us.

"Where's your marksman?" I asked Sitolytta.

She shrugged. "At the tram, I should think."

"Is he alive?" I glanced at Bemariq, whose eyes were glued to the floor. I reached with my hand toward his, but he didn't take notice.

"He was, when I left him", the magnatess said.

No feral machinery barred our way to the tram. The marksman Hyssi lay on the floor, all covered by a sickly auxiliary skin.

I ripped the half-rotten suit off him and helped him to his feet. For a moment Hyssi gasped in a frantic fit, but he managed to collect most of his calm. The shaking of his hands eased, after Sitolytta picked up the dropped needler and handed it to the soldier.

Hyssi straightened his posture but the youth's eyes were bleary. "I apologise, magnatess."

Sitolytta patted Hyssi's shoulder. "You did as well as anyone could, marksman."

The marksman nodded, but his mouth twitched.

The tram obeyed my command and jerked into motion.

We were safe. Bemariq's eyes stared into nowhere, and the frown of his lips pricked my heart.

I moved closer to him. He lifted his gaze and smiled at me, yet the expression lacked true mirth. If he was glad to be with me, it was overshadowed by doubt.

My insides tied themselves into an agonising knot. Even though I had saved Bemariq from an unpredictable sacrifice, he must have seen me as manacles, which dragged him down.

In the stony countenance of my husband was the withering of our love. If he decided to stay with me, he would always question, if it had been the right decision. I couldn't expect him to choose me over the world.

A sour wish filled my mind; if the Jaan turned out to be duplicitous, they could stop Bemariq without him having to blame me. I recoiled from the thought, but not as much as a dutiful wife should have.

The Jaan soldiers were still waiting for us. They stood in wary attention, but didn't comment on our appearance.

"Still stuck here, it seems", Sitolytta said.

"Yes, magnatess", the officer said. "They did try to blast their way in. To little effect."

Bemariq chuckled. "My plan worked."

Researcher ni Salng stepped past the soldiers. He asked my husband in Roluish, what had happened. Bemariq dismissed question with a promise to explain everything in detail later.

The outer vault doors obeyed my command. Ancient stone groaned to revealed a muddy crater. The doors themselves had no sign of violence beyond charred stains.

More Jaan soldiers hurried to us.

"Now, magnatess", Bemariq said. "Will you take your leave?"

"No." Sitolytta turned to her soldiers. "Aim your guns at the associate."

Bemariq sighed between gritted teeth.

"You promised!" I took a step towards the magnatess.

She wasn't perturbed, but the twitching of the soldiers convinced me not to make any quick movements. I continued: "What about your obligation?"

The woman smirked. "My 'obligation' is fulfilled a good way by not killing you both right this instant. Rest of my gratitude manifests itself by not forcing the indignity of undressing in public on you. Go take off that suit and return in plain clothes. Me and your husband will be waiting at the main tent."

Jaan soldiers swarmed the campsite, but in my home, I was given privacy. Daring plans crossed my mind, but nothing would have made our situation any better. My selfish insistence had already ruined it all.

I put on work clothes and headed to the main tent. Though my legs were heavy, I tried not to show the weight inside me.

Sitolytta was at a table, with Bemariq sitting in rigid posture on the other side. A strange mixture of relief, disappointment and anger flashed on his face at the sight of me, before disappearing into a cold stare.

"Good. You managed to join us." The magnatess smiled wide at me and turned to an officer. "Put her carapace in a strongbox."

"Do you want it taken take to the ship?" the officer asked.

"No, I won't steal it. Put in under guard and make sure lady Usinilim can't get to it." Sitolytta dismissed the officer with a gesture and turned towards my husband. "Associate Bemariq. Here is my plan. The vault will be sealed. I will negotiate with Roluan authorities to make sure nobody ever enters there."

Bemariq clutched the edge of the table. "You would seal away all th--"

Sitolytta lifted her hand. "I very well saw, what was there. Unpredictable terrors from the past. I act in service to humanity."

My husband lifted his shaking hands in a gesture of wrathful impotence. With a few breathes, he managed to outwardly calm himself.

"Give me the key", Sitolytta commanded.

Bemariq scowled.

The magnatess smirked. "If you don't feel like complying, I will have her shot." She gestured at me. "Afterwards soldiers will take your key."

They would just beat him up, if he resisted. Yet I couldn't urge him to obey; that would have been taking the Jaan's side. My chest hurt from the dismay I had caused to my husband. The pain was made worse by how I hadn't done anything I could truly regret.

Bemariq opened his satchel and took out the ancient key device. "This is not over. The Conglomerate will be interest to hear, what's in there."

Sitolytta shrugged. "That will be a problem for the future."