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..."

"I ex s.. s.. pect you think I am some kind of demon from your Enclaves," the creature continued in a tone that still sounded patronising even filtered through an alien accent and a translation device. It moved closer to the glass, menacing its new captive. 

"Actually I don't," Klane interrupted boldly. "I think you've come from the Galactic Compact". It was just a guess based on the few shreds of story and history Crinomu had told him and his theory about the spaceship behind him, but clearly this beast did not come from Earth. His answer seemed to disconcert the creature and for a moment it was silent. 

"Where have you heard about the Galactic Compact? You are a m... m.. os ss.. s... t interes s...s... ting specimen! No matter! I shall find out in time. But no. Since you are so pers... s... spicacious I will tell you. I am not from the Galactic Compact. The Galactic Compact is not s... so interested in Earth these days. It has other much more important concerns. Your Guardians of Earth left long ago and these so called Enclaves are degenerate and too wrapped up in their own politics to notice me. You s... s.. ee I am something of a freelance scientist and an entrepreneur and I am here for professional curiosity and personal profit. This is a quiet, private world with a lot of potential. It could have many products of interest in my particular specialist markets and you have just volunteered to help me with my research. 

"You've already spoken to my other two lovely assistants? I find the females in your species to be more tractable than the males. The warriors are not so easy to tame and I had to scare them all away. You are different. You were foolish enough to invite yourself into my crater and I am happy to add you to my collection! 

"You can start by telling me all about this very interesting instrument you carry." The creature indicated the klane with a dip of its giant head. "What is it and how did you come by it?"

"It's a survey tool," Klane lied. "I use it to find minerals. I am a prospector. It was passed down to me by my father who was also a miner and to him by his father and where he got it from I do not know." 

"If you will allow me to take it, I will show you how it works." Once he had hold of his weapon again, Klane had no intention of relinquishing it! For a moment the creature seemed as if it would agree. Then a thin membrane closed over its eyes and when they opened again it gave its prisoner a look of sly intelligence. 

"Perhaps I should do some work on it myself first." 

Klane shrugged. "It is a delicate tool. If you do not know what you are doing you will break it."

"Then you must tell me how to use it". Of course Klane had no intention of doing that. 

"It would be so much simpler to demonstrate myself. My fingers are better suited to using the controls." 

"But what if it turned out to be some kind of powerful weapon? Then where would I be?" the cowardly but cunning creature mused with dangerous insight. 

"How likely is that!" Klane scoffed. "You seem to know a lot about our world. How would a simple Rider like me get hold of a mysterious weapon that could hurt someone with the technologies you command?" 

"True. All very true. Yet you aren't so simple as you appear are you? You've heard of the Galactic Compact and that's very strange. I didn't expect to meet anyone on this world who had heard of them." 

Now Klane wished he hadn't tried to be so clever at the start of the conversation for something in his manner and something about the klane had made the creature suspicious. 

"I think I shall leave the investigation of this 's... survey' tool for another day. I have a MUCH more interesting idea for a new experiment which we will do first..."

The creature slithered round the other side of the holding cylinders and its three prisoners turned to face it. "I am no mere s.. specialist confined to one field of s... science," it boasted. "I am interes...s...s..ted in everything! Knowledge of all kinds is important for profits s..s..." 

"There are many things s... I do not yet know about this world but I mean to find out. You girls.. s... have been helping me but I only need two ass s... s... istants and now there is this newcomer - this s.. male. I have decided that the male and one of you females will be kept to serve me. The other female I am now free to use in my physiology and dissection experiments. The last specimen was more fragile than I had allowed for and perished too s... s.. oon but this time my tests will be better and las...s...t longer."

Klane remembered with horror that the Riders told him the creature took three of their fairest maidens, yet he had only seen these two. It was apparent that something terrible had happened to the third girl. Lucalle turned pale and began to sob softly whilst Ketha screamed a name in incoherent rage. "S... SILENCE! I have n... n... ot finished!"

The sudden amplification of the creature's voice was accompanied by a kind of sonic damping wave which muffled the noises from the glass prisons. The creature waited until the young women had calmed a little. 

"I wish also to conduct another exs... speriment," it continued. "I n... n..eed to know about the psychology and biology of your reproductive rituals and processes. Now I have a male I can s... study human breeding. The two ass.. s.. itents will be mated. And I want to learn about s... sexual selection between humans. S... so this is what will happen. 

"I s.. shall give each of you females one night to spend with the male. You must compete to impres... s... him." The creature turned to Klane. 

"When the two nights are over, YOU are the one who must choose. The outcome is a matter of indifference to me, except for the ps... s...ychology of the study. You must determine the fate of Lucalle and Ketha, saving one to be your mate and condemning the other to be used in my physiology and dissection experiments!"