Under cover of night and mist – and there is plenty of that as Rephidim drifts further north – a lone Jupani is escorted by a very large Naga into a run-down collection of warehouses and processing facilities near the Docks. A cargo wagon sits at one of the abandoned loading platforms, its flatbed laden with unmarked crates, a pair of Dromodons lazily waiting for their master to bid them forth. A raccoon in rags snores loudly, sleeping in the driver's seat.

Esther walks lightly and carefully, listening for the dangers that could be lurking in any shadow. She is dressed in her Temple uniform, but stripped of rank, and covered by a long gray robe and a black hooded cloak. She pulls the hood closer over her head, so that the glint of her suspicious eyes is barely visible from within.

As the snake and Jupani move along, the raccoon in the wagon stops snoring, although his head is still lolled back, his eyes closed. He gurgles, "Snnxxx – If you're thieves, move along, unless you want trouble."

Solomon hisses, "Trouble isss not our desssire. We ssseek only truth."

"Same thing," snorts the raccoon, as he sits up, shaking his cloak. He looks to the snake and then to the wolf. "Need a ride? I have room for one."

Esther casts a questioning glance to Solomon.

Solomon's tongue flits out and he gazes at the raccoon and then his wagon, scrutinizing, and then nods quietly to Esther.

Esther peers around one last time, then climbs smoothly into the wagon. She gives a brief salute to Solomon, then turns to the raccoon, and breathes, "Let's go."

Solomon returns the salute, his tongue flitting again.

The crates are positioned such that it shouldn't be too hard for Esther to hide herself, especially with the tarp covering the top. Whatever the crates have in them, they're not all that heavy – just heavy enough, it seems, so that they won't bounce around on their own.

Esther squeezes herself into a tight little space between two crates, bracing her legs against the wall of the wagon so that she can spring out, if a quick escape is needful.

Some time passes, more than enough for Esther to get situated, and then the raccoon whips the reins, prompting the dozy Dromodons to wake up and start clip-clopping forward. The wagon jostles a bit as it rolls over some debris, squeaking with the primitive suspension. (But at least it has one.) By the sounds and lights, Esther can tell that the wagon is making it along some not-quite-so-major avenues back into the city proper, and in the general direction of the Temple.

The wagon makes some turns and slows down, and Jupani voices can be heard, along with the sounds of rolling wagons and beasts of burden. "Ho there! Your identification, please." "Right here, sir." "Ah? Yes, gotcha. All right, roll on through!" "Much obliged, and may the First Ones give you a pleasant evening." The wagon rolls on.

Through a gap in the back, Esther can see from her vantage point another wagon rolling up to the Jupani guards. This other wagon, the guards stop … and start poking around the contents of the back, even opening up one of the crates to look inside.

Esther muses to herself, Solomon certainly does good work.

A couple more checkpoints, the wagon going progressively slower between each stop, and at last the wagon halts, the driver leaping off the side to land lightly on the ground. He walks around to the back of the wagon. "All guests of the Temple may now disembark," he says.

Esther pushes herself out of her hiding place, and clambers out of the wagon, looking around.

A low hum fills this chamber, which has a wide, flat, featureless floor, dirty tracks marking the passage of various wagons and other wheeled means of cargo conveyance. A technopriest acolyte off across the chamber, looking determinedly the other way, busily cleans up after the Dromodons. Immediately outside the wagon, though, the raccoon driver is joined by another Technopriest, this one apparently of low rank, just above acolyte, although he looks a bit old to be beginning a Temple career.

The Technopriest makes the sign of the Star and Anchor and then raises a hand in salute to Esther. "Greetings and welcome. I apologize for the method of your transportation, but this is a time that makes such cautions necessary. You may call me Brother Ishmael. By what name may I call you?" The wisened raccoon looks to Esther through thick spectacles.

Esther steps over toward the two raccoons, the tapping of her boots echoing in the large chamber. "May the First Ones watch over your steps. You may call me Sister Naomi. And I thank you for your welcome this night."

Both the raccoons bow their head in return, and then Brother Ishmael leads the way up a set of steep steps, onto a loading dock, shuffling toward a wide door that, when opened, would probably allow a whole wagon through, though presently a smaller door has been set within the first, which he opens now.

The driver, meanwhile, just heads back up to the seat of his wagon, preparing to move his Dromodons out of the bay.

Following Brother Ishmael, "Sister Naomi" is led through several darkened corridors, some lit dimly by ambient light from some distant chambers, and only rarely there being a torch at some intersection to supplement it. Here and there, some gutted piece of machinery or some empty crate blocks part of the way, requiring it to be stepped around, though Brother Ishmael deftly works around each one as if he has been this way countless times … and as if this debris has never moved in any of that time.

Esther makes mental note of the "landmarks" she passes along the way. She does not know this part of the Temple very well, and this new knowledge may prove useful.

At the last, this route takes the two to a large door that Brother Ishmael pauses at. He stands to one side, addressing his attention to a panel in the wall with several glassy buttons protruding from it. He taps the surface of the panel, at which some of the little glassy buttons light up. He pokes at them rapidly, each button clicking as he does so. And then, he stands, hands at his side.

Some time passes, during which the raccoon fidgets ever so slightly … and then there is a sound of escaping air, as a small burst of mist shoots out from the bottom of the crack in the doors closed before "Sister Naomi" and Brother Ishmael. The doors slowly begin cycling open, sliding sideways, letting light pour in from beyond … and a low, thrumming sound.

As the doors open further, a chamber can be seen beyond, with walls of glass or some similar material, that overlooks a chamber even larger than that, its extent obscured from view. Conduits and cables hang about here and there, and numerous panels can be seen … some lit up, most not, some laid open, exposing wires and components beneath.

The door is now definitely open enough to step through, though it's still sliding outward. The raccoon still stands by the panel, looking in.

Esther waits, while becoming slightly tense, for Brother Ishmael to go first.

With a loud bang, the door stops opening, completely retracted into the walls. Hissing noises come at regular intervals, and the thrumming is still present. Mist swirls about the floor, spilling out into the corridor, slipping around Esther's ankles. The raccoon waits a couple seconds more, then looks to Esther. "You may now enter. Brother Tubalcain awaits."

Esther bows her head curtly, then steps into the chamber. She can't help but look out in wonder at all the machinery and lights.

Once Esther steps in, there's another hiss, and the doors begin cycling closed again. It will be a few minutes before they close all the way again, given their speed and the sheer size of the opening. The chamber looks large enough for heavy machinery to be moved through here, and wears on the floor indicate that such has been done many a time. Conduits, cables, panels, glassy screens (most blackened, and a few partially melted) and less recognizeable modules can be seen on the walls and ceiling, the floor obscured by the blanket of mists which stops flowing quite so much as the door begins to close.

A few steps, and Esther would be able to reach one of the floor-to-ceiling windows that provides a view of whatever chamber this one overlooks. Otherwise, far ahead, there is some sort of column running from floor to ceiling, which many of the hoses and cables radiate from, and where some sort of mechanical activity can be heard.

The shape of the room is half-cylindrical. The wall behind Esther – the one containing the door she came through – is for the most part flat, though she detects a slightly concave curvature to it. The column would be in the center of this chamber, though not in the center of its curvature, due to the shape of this structure. All of the walls along its perimeter – save for the nearly flat one that houses the door – are occupied by thick glassy panels, only obstructed by additional columns and machinery here and there that hangs from the ceiling or rises from the floor – or connects the two.

No Brother Tubalcain immediately presents itself … though Esther can see something moving past the thick central column, somewhere on the other side. There's a smell of ozone in the air, and a bright flash that is mostly blocked by the obstructing column, along with a crackling, sizzling noise – the sort of noise that often accompanies Technopriests at work.

Esther walks slowly toward the central column, but meanders to either side to look out the huge windows. By the First Ones, she thinks. I have heard tales of these places of the Inner Mysteries, but I did not imagine… so much.

As Esther looks out the window, she sees that the "chamber beyond" is a great shaft which stretches downward, bridges here and there forming what appears to be a webwork from her perspective … and past that web-work, Esther can see clouds … and the landscape of Sinai passing beneath Rephidim. Here and there, bats in the robes of the Technopriesthood fly from ledge to ledge, while the less aerially mobile Technopriests remain at their ledges and walk across the bridges, tending to an endless myriad of unfathomable machinery.

In between the hisses and jets of air, Esther can hear a voice – an unearthly one, as if formed by the sound of a wind whipping through the trees at night, and a distant rumbling of thunder. "Welcome, Sister Naomi. I am Brother Tubalcain."

Esther looks around for the source of the voice.

With a whirring noise, a long projection from the central column moves, a number of hoses connecting to it from the column. The extension moves and bends, lowering toward a wrecked piece of machinery sitting on a platform on the side of the column opposite the entrance. The extension begins maneuvering around, tools protruding from it and manipulating pieces of the wreckage, probing, snipping. Another such extension – an arm, let us call it – moves in, bringing some component that it places inside the battered hulk. More arms move in … all with hoses connected to them, hissing and whirring, moving so slowly and deliberately. The voice comes from the column. "Do not be alarmed at my appearance. I mean you no harm."

Esther's eyes go wide at the appearance of the huge mechanical thing. "I… uh… I beg your pardon, Brother Tubalcain. I was expecting someone more organic."

"Organic? No, I am flesh and blood, but my body has withered and become near useless long ago, though my mind is still reasonably clear. I am still of use to my brethren, though I know not how many more years they can sustain me like this. But I have finished much work, and will be at peace when my time comes," the voice responds.

All the while, the arms keep moving in and out, working on the battered hulk. Now and then, there is a louder thrumming noise, then a shower of sparks, though deep enough within the shell of Tubalcain's mechanical "patient" that Esther's eyes are in no danger. At last, the arms retract, and the platform jerkily moves away, conveying the equipment to a distant hatch. Another set of "arms" grab the equipment, and slide it through the hatch, where a squeaking belt rolls the equipment away and out of sight down another shaft.

Esther steps forward, trying to collect her wits. "I have come to share information. I represent certain interests whose desire for truth is equal to that of your own Order."

Another platform rolls in, presenting another piece of damaged equipment for Tubalcain to work on. However, his arms rest. "That is most generous of you, Sister Naomi. What have you to share, and how may we show you our appreciation in return?"

Esther says, "I come bearing discovery from a Forbidden Zone in the Savan. It is believed that it holds the key to regaining much knowledge gathered by another race, then lost."

There is a pause, and then Tubalcain responds, "Knowledge is useful; there are so many types. But what sort of knowledge, or is that telling too much?"

Esther makes herself move closer to Tubalcain, though she is still nervous about him (it?), so she can speak less loudly. "Knowledge relating the movements of the spheres to the movements of the sky islands."

A platform trundles across the floor, along a track. It has a strangely built chair in it, upholstered, with plastic armrests with many buttons at the front of them, all of them dark. A few unconnected wires poke out of panels in the sides and bottom, here and there. "That would be very interesting, Sister Naomi. Please, have a seat."

Esther sits in the curious chair. She tries not to rest her elbows on the buttons.

Once Esther sits down, the platform begins rolling again. "Let us retire to a place with fewer distractions, so we may discuss the nature of your offerings." The platform stops rolling … and with a hiss, a section of the floor begins to lower, the mists spilling into the created hole as the chair and the platform it rests on descend slowly.

Esther shivers involuntarily at the hiss and bump as the platform begins to descend. "I must say that this place is the greatest wonder I have ever seen."

The voice replies, its source not quite so clear now (coming from both above and below), "Now you see just a taste of why we of the Technopriesthood are so jealous with our secrets. If the people knew even but a fraction of what wonders are truly possible, fear would drive them to many unreasonable actions." The shaft Esther descends through is dark for a moment … but then she passes the ceiling of a new room, a smaller one with walls covered in conduits and panels, but looking in less of a state of disrepair. A smooth black marble table sits in the middle of this chamber, with a tray set out on its surface, with pitchers and cups. The platform finishes lowering, her chair now placing her at the head of the table.

"Please, help yourself to some tea, if you would like," the voice echoes from somewhere in the ceiling. The chamber is lit by a glowing disc in the center of the ceiling, the voice might by all appearances from from there.

Esther looks over at the tray, and finds the teapot. She pours a cup. "Thank you, Brother." Then she shifts her weight around to get at her side, pulling a scroll out of a long belt pouch. "Allow me to whet your appetite with this," she says, unrolling a scroll depicting the Map Room's planet-machine.

A spot of light projected from a previously darkened orb in the ceiling appears on the table, then traces over toward the scroll, illuminating it clearly. There is a long pause, and then, "You have my attention. I ask again, how may we show our appreciation for your generosity?"

Esther says, "Those I represent are in search of truth of a different sort, namely that of a heinous crime that is related to how this information was gathered."

"There are many heinous crimes, and much treachery in fields of research. Many great tomes of knowledge have been stained by the blood of the rivals of the author. Describe this crime, if you would," Tubalcain responds, his voice carrying more clearly in the acoustics of this chamber, without so much hissing and thrumming to compete with it.

Esther says, "A large expedition had been mounted, largely thanks to the funding of Lord Titus haut Mikide, to investigate the area known as the City of Hands, thought to be a ruined Naga city. A small archaeological team was sent along with Titus' entertainers to uncover what they would."

Esther says, "However, the airship on which the team and the bulk of their findings left was destroyed, the wreckage lost in the deep Savan."

"Yes, that was a most unfortunate loss. It is said that this was due to a pirate attack," Tubalcain comments.

Esther says, "The truth of the matter is even more unfortunate. There was a survivor of the crash; and this survivor passed on the critical documents made during the survey, along with the testimony that the ship had been laden with bombs, a victim of deliberate sabotage."

"And," responds Tubalcain, "this represents a sample of those critical documents?"

Esther says, "This is one of several. There are a few conclusions to be drawn from these and from other events witnessed in the City of Hands. Firstly, that it was Savanites who were the lords of the city, not Naga; secondly, that they could predict the movements of all the planets and all the sky islands, between which there is some regular correspondence."

Esther says, "My employers are hard at work at this moment attempting to make a full reproduction of the device on this scroll, and its companions, so that this discovery can be recreated and tested."

There is a long pause, then, "Savanites. Lords of the City, you say? A rather controversial, and, some would say, outrageous, conclusion. Can you back up this claim?"

Esther says, "There are other documents in our possession detailing some of the art in the City. Circumstantial evidence, at the very least, strongly suggests that the Savanites were the masters, not the slaves. There may also be some witnesses to more direct evidence."

Esther says, "The site has since been placed under interdict, is this not so?"

Tubalcain pauses again, then says, "That is so. No one is to enter the region, though the site was reported destroyed. We have readings from the instruments aboard the gunship maintaining the blockade. It was a remarkable explosion."

Esther says, "We believe that, in spite of this loss – whether accidental or not – there is more than enough evidence to launch a full-scale investigation of the surrounding areas, perhaps to locate more such sites. The credibility of the existing evidence places it beyond reasonable reproach. However, those who are more concerned with power than truth are at work here."

Tubalcain's voice responds, "That may well be. The region has been placed under quarantine by the Inquisition. Even though the Inquisitor placing that quarantine has been relieved of his position, the quarantine has been upheld and remains in force. We have already expressed interest in investigating, but have been denied." There is a pause, and then Tubalcain adds, "I am informed that the name of the ship that failed to return to Rephidim was 'The Wayfarer's Song'. I have a copy of its manifest and passenger list. Most intriguing."

"It is hoped," Esther says a bit more forcefully, "that such plotting may be uncovered and traced to its sources. Those individuals not acting in the best interests of the Temple – and indeed, of all Sinai – could be countered effectively, and those who can best appreciate and handle the truths that are out there – including your own noble Order – will be at liberty to do so."

"A noble intent, Sister Naomi. But we of the Technopriesthood deal with concrete facts. Investigations into criminal matters are not our specialty, where presumption of motives are concerned. If the price for your information is the revelation of whomever committed this crime, then I cannot pretend that we can pay," Brother Tubalcain responds. "It would be in our own interests to find out who may sabotaging the collection of information of such import, but we presently have no such information already to offer you."

Esther says, "Perhaps there are those among the Inquisition or the Guard who would be more able to assist, with whom you could place us in contact?"

Esther thinks. "Or even the Knights Templar."

"That is possible," Tubalcain responds. "I think I shall need some time to make some contacts. Please pardon me."

There is a long pause, and then the voice returns. "If I may ask, can you identify the survivor of this mission? Your answer will not be recorded."

Esther says, "The survivor's life has been threatened and would like to remain anonymous at this time, unless you can share a compelling reason why he should reveal himself."

"I have no compelling reason," Tubalcain replies. "But, for what it is worth, I believe I may have someone who a meeting could be arranged with, who is not friendly to our interests, but nonetheless may prove useful."

Esther says, "I may be willing to extend my confidence to your contact, but not until after I have met with him. Due to the sensitive nature of that which we have discussed, my silence is surely to your benefit as well as my employers'."

"No confidence should be extended to this contact. She is not trustworthy. However, she may have information which may or may not prove relevant. She benefited indirectly from the destruction of the 'Wayfarer's Song', and is relatively new to the Temple," Tubalcain responds.

Esther steeples her gloved fingers. "Let me confer and send back word to you on that."

"Shall this conclude our meeting, then?" asks Tubalcain.

Esther says, "It does, Brother. But before I go, allow me to leave you with this one scroll as a token of our goodwill."

"I accept this scroll on behalf of my brethren with gratitude. Travel well," Tubalcain replies. As he finishes speaking, there is another hiss of escaping air, and the platform begins to rise…

Esther points at part of the drawing. "You will note that the machine includes two orbs not hitherto known on our star-charts. If you coordinate this information with existing research, you should find it very useful." She stands, leaving the scroll on the table.

"Duly noted," the voice responds. There are some more hisses and bursts from beneath the chair, and then the gusts cut off sharply.

The chair bears Esther up to the main chamber, and then she is met by Brother Ishmael outside of Tubalcain's workshop, and led back out to another wagon driven by another raccoon, and ferried out and away from the Temple, toward the distant Docks.

There, a very patient (if worried) Solomon rouses himself upon the arrival of the wagon, and is ready to greet the lupine passenger as she disembarks.

Esther steps out of the wagon, and begins to walk back up the pier with Solomon. "That was most enlightening. Now for the next step."