It was late June, so the sun would not set until just before nine o’clock – but Edmund didn’t waste time going into too much detail explaining the nature of the artificial dome installed in the cavern that allowed the saucer ship to depart and return when necessary while leaving the base undetectable. Such details, if necessary, could be discussed later. It was the secret subterranean roadways in and out of the base that were of greater importance for now – and as soon as the nature of those were explained to Cliff, he took the vehicle and prepared to depart.

“One more thing,” said Edmund. “If you need to communicate with me, the helmet facilitates that as well.”

“Mentally activated?” asked Cliff.

“Indeed,” confirmed the cat.

Cliff rode the vehicle through the underground tunnel. He emerged in the forest, less than a mile away from the place who’s maps he had been studying obsessively of late. As soon as he had emerged, the ground closed behind him. As it closed it didn’t leave a trace, but he knew that as long as he wore the helmet he would have no trouble finding it again.

“Anything in particular I’m looking for?” he asked Edmund over the communications link as he rode toward the site.

“That is difficult to say,” answered Edmund. “We don’t exactly know what kind of cyborg this ‘Cyborg King’ is, and therefore there is no basis by which to know by what signs his presence can be detected.”

“And we don’t even know for sure that he’s real,” added Cliff.

“If he isn’t real,” replied Edmund, “then either you will find no signs of him at all, or you will find signs of whatever the cause is for rumors about him. At any rate, I would advise you not to get too close to anything suspicious until you have verified that it is safe to do so.”

“Good idea,” agreed Cliff. “I’ll do a circle around the site at a distance and spiral in.”

“The map marking feature of the helmet includes various shape guides,” suggested that cat, “among them, a compass. You can use it to plot your initial cycle around the possible nest area and adjust the radius as you move inward.”

Cliff made a circle approximately twenty-two hundred feet away from a spot at the center of the site in question. After about eight minutes, he had finished the initial round and, finding nothing unusual, began spiraling inward. About twenty minutes before sunset, a mysterious figure dressed in red began watching him from high up in the trees. This figure would emit a noticeable red glow when flying from one tree to another – but such luminescence would not be an issue until it got dark.

It was just before sunset when Cliff finally found something. “I think I just rode over a trapdoor or something,” he said over the com-link.

“A trapdoor?” verified Edmund.

“Possibly,” confirmed Cliff. “You wouldn’t happen to have anything here, would you?”

“First of all,” said Edmund, “if I did, it would have been on the map that you followed on your way out of here – and second of all, that would be the only means by which you would be aware of its presence.”

“I guess I should take a look then,” said Cliff.

“Do be careful,” said the cat, “you don’t really know what it is or what it can do to you.”

“I’ll be as careful as I can,” assured Cliff, “but I’ve already run over it, and nothing happened.”

“How can you be certain that nothing has happened?” asked Edmund.

“Well, if something has, it’s too late to avoid it,” said Cliff, as he parked the vehicle, got off, and approached the hidden surface he had discovered. With his hand, he pushed a thin layer of dirt and twigs away from a small section along the edge. He exposed a surface made of a strange, blue metal with unfamiliar symbols neatly engraved upon it.

“This is strange,” he commented.

“Can you send me a picture?” asked Edmund.

“Coming right up,” he answered, as he mentally commanded the camera to take a snapshot and send it back to the base.

“Oh dear,” said the cat, as soon as he saw the picture. “Get out now! While you still can!”

Cliff got up to head back to the vehicle. Only upon standing up did he realize that “while you still can” apparently referred to a window of time that had already expired. He was surrounded by six most-unusual people. They stood very still around him, exactly sixty degrees from one another. He had no idea where they had come from.

“What’re you doin’ here?” asked one of them in a local drawl. Cliff took a picture of him and sent that to Edmund too. He was a well-built man of about fifty years judging from the looks of him, with a full head of grey hair, three days worth of beard growth, and piercing green eyes. He wore a long-sleeved button-down navy-blue shirt and light-colored bluejeans. On his feet were brown hiking boots.

“Oh,” said Cliff, “just figured it was a nice day for some off-road biking.”

“How come ye ain’t on yer bike?” asked the man.

“I thought I hit something,” he replied, “and wanted to make sure everything was okay.” There was no point trying to deny that he had felt the jolt of the unknown surface while riding over it with his vehicle.

The strange man and his five companions, who were four men and one woman, exchanged very quick glances. “Who are you?” asked the man, who seemed to be their leader.

“Oh,” said Cliff, “I’m just your regular old map man.” He looked around and noticed that, though the original six onlookers still formed the closest circle around him, further back were several others who stood just as still, and who had arrived just as silently. Among them seemed to be a healthy mix of men, women, boys, and girls. And then he noticed who one of the girls was. About forty degrees to the right of the man who spoke for the rest was none other than his sister, Jennifer.

“Listen, son,” said the man, now beginning to walk toward Cliff. “Are you gonna tell me who the man behind the map is, or am I gonna have to find out fer myself?”