“Are we going to the nearest city?”

  “The trip will take a month. The only city they'll let us into is the southern dome. Start your life with a clean slate.”

  “Is there nothing nearby?”

  “It's not that simple, Sam. There's a big city nearby, but we can't go there. They don't stand on ceremony with strangers. I won't be welcome there either.”

The lizard stopped at the edge of the second tier. Suely and Sam went further on foot to the waterfall. Behind the seething wall of water was a huge building. The path along which they walked led to the stairs adjacent to the steep walls. The staircase ended at the entrance to the building with preserved columns and a small frieze.

  “Suely, why can't you enter the city?”

  “We have a tradition of testing teenagers. We lure the Mogo out of the river and run to the ambush of hunters. I was scared. Turned the wrong way and several hunters died. I was expelled from the city as a warning to others.”

They entered the building. It was dark inside. Suely asked Sam to follow her. Suely lit a candle and began to search for something in its dim light.

  “Why do you need a mask? Why is your name a curse?”

  “You have too many questions Sam! A mask to not recognize me. I want everyone to forget how I look. After the exile, I tried to regain people's trust. But all I did was in vain. Then I began to avenge myself, it was a mistake. They fear and hate me. Over the years, I have changed and help people like me exiles.  I don't want them to repeat my mistakes.”

 Suely found a torch and lit it. By the light of a torch, they walked down the hallway and found themselves inside a ten-story building. Plants with flowers with a green glow hung from the ceiling. The right wall had wide flights of stairs, on the left side there was a wall with columns and high windows, behind which a waterfall rustled. The last two floors of the building were hidden by water.

  “There were six experienced and well-armed soldiers, all of whom died except me. How did you survive among these monsters?”

  “This is our home. We are taught to survive from childhood. We don't go into predator territory. We live in peace with nature.”

 For several minutes they wandered through the dark corridors, went up and down from floor to floor. Passing through a gap in the wall and a narrow corridor, they found themselves in a circular room. In a circle there were arches with niches hung with dense fabric, in one of the arches there was a fireplace. There were rugs and pillows on the floor. Neatly folded crockery lay beside the fireplace. This was Suely's dwelling, she lit a fire in the fireplace and disappeared behind a curtain. Sam walked around the room and sat down on the carpet.

  “You have a good collection of antiques.” Sam pointed out.  “How do you settle accounts with each other, do you have money?”

  “We have no money here. We exchange or carry out some orders in exchange for the goods. In cities, small plates of different metals are used as money.”

  “You collect various antiques, do I understand correctly?”

  “Yes, but mainly I am looking for ktab.”

  “I have never heard such a word. What is it?”

  “This is the device that stores information. Look at the carpet, ktab look like tiles.”

 Sam looked around, saw a stack of rectangular tiles and took one of them. He didn't understand how to use it. Suely appeared from behind the curtain. She was transformed by changing her shaggy ghost costume for a dress. Sam did not take his eyes off Suely, she was slim and beautiful.

  “I am surprised!”

  “What surprised you so much. " Suely said with a grin.

  “You are so fragile and at the same time very strong.”

  “Thank you. Aren't women in the big world like that?”

  “Not. In the big world, people are weak. I think you are stronger than me. Judging by the way you were able to lift me from the bottom of the grotto. And how cleverly you handled the sword!”

 Suely smiled and said nothing. Sam got excited because he said what he thought out loud, he dropped his eyes and continued to deal with the ktab. Suely was busy preparing a dish, the room smelled of something delicious.

  “Today we will stay here, and tomorrow we will replenish the supplies and hit the road. Tell me about yourself.”

  “My family are refugees from Titara, we settled on Alma with a small group of refugees. The planet was a great place to live, no one paid any attention to us.”

  “Why refugees?”

  “I do not know the history of the conflict, the warrior caste ravaged Titar. I was six years old and I do not remember my parents; I lived with my grandmother in a seaport town. The grandmother was very sociable and quickly got used to her new place. She began to trade in the local market. Later, a relative, Uncle Oran, settled with us. He was not so lucky with work, he was depressed and began to drink away the family's money. As a result, his grandmother kicked him out of the house. This spurred him to find a job at the local port. The DNA anomaly spares no one, the bubushka and the uncle are dead. At the age of 16, I was left alone. Uncle before his death managed to get into debt. Since I was an orphan, they could not take away my home. To settle the debts, they took the goods that grandmother traded. I had to look for a job. When the vacancy of a loader appeared in the port, I did not hesitate to get a job in the port. Despite the poverty of the planet, the port was open to everyone. Ships constantly flew in, unloaded, loaded and left. I quickly got involved in the work. There, for the first time I met people speaking an ancient language, they taught me to speak it. I wanted to leave Alma, fly away somewhere. The work of a loader had no prospects, and I changed jobs. I got a job as a security guard in the port bar.”

  “Strange choice” Sulie said.

  “At least they paid more there. Once a fight broke out in the bar, and I had to intervene, later it turned out that the caste fighters were trying to detain the bandit. I had to calm down the brave guys. Then their commander Kir Lak came and offered me a job. And now I have been a mercenary soldier for ten years.”

  “The warrior caste ruined your homeland and you became a member of the warrior caste. How do you live with it?”

  “It was the only way to achieve something. I was lucky, I met good people. Thanks to them, I got an education. I was not going to stay long with them.”

  “What delayed you for ten years?”

  “A member of the team was a girl.”

  “Is she waiting for you?”

  “No. She died long ago on one of the assignments. I wanted to leave the team, but somehow there was no suitable case.”

Suely served a plate of food, Sam did not become shy and quickly ate everything. Suely watched him with a smile.

  “It was delicious. Thank you! By the way, what was that?”

  “ It's weaver's meat with local vegetables.”

  “Now it's your turn to tell about yourself.” Sam asked.

  “I was born and lived here nearby in the city of hunters. My parents were engaged in breeding and training of large lizards. We spent a lot of time outside the city. My parents taught me to understand animals. After that story happened to me, I told you before. My parents and I were expelled from the city. We had to look for a place to live and we found this place. After a while, the parents' services were needed in the southern dome, and they had to leave.”

  “So they dumped you?”

  “Not. I was not allowed into the city. The rules of survival are strict here, if you have not passed the test, then you have no chance of surviving.”

  “But you survived. And broke stereotypes.”

  “I wanted to prove that they made the mistake of driving me out. I made a lot of mistakes that I am ashamed to remember.”

  “Everyone makes mistakes.” Sam reassured.

  “I do not want to continue this conversation, I feel sad and sick. While you were unconscious, I took your things.” Suely took the bag and dumped the contents on the carpet.

  “I won't need these things anymore, keep them for yourself. Although this thing is not mine, but Cap's.” Sam went over the poured objects and picked up the small oval object. By pressing the button on the body, Sam activated the map projection. The room was filled with soft light, images of planets, shimmering and colorful, hung in the air.

  “What a beauty! What's it?”

  “This is a star map. A huge world, many planets. It's all in the past now.”

  “I heard stories about other planets with lots of light, high sky and vast expanses of earth and water. I really want to see the stars! But this, unfortunately, is impossible.” Suely said sadly.