Keylin woke up and had pushed the paralytic. It was their emergency stun defense, standard issue set to full spectral emission, the activator was hidden behind the small Luna insignia on her suit. Fortunately Keylin only pushed the button for a moment, or rather could only push the button for a moment before plummeting.

Stone lost function for a moment, but the damage was done, Keylin was falling. Stone heard the screaching and his body for a moment went limp. Recovering was easier this time, but he dropped the sleeping girl. Her fall was unnaturally slow, being carried by the wind more than falling. He did not expect the girls to be so incredibly light, like their bodies had a tenuous connection to the earth, as if just a small portion of the earths strength pulled them down. The rest was free do dance in the wind, like their hair. He didn't bother wondering how this was possible, focusing more on catching her before she hit the ground. Stone imagined a falcon diving toward its prey, wings short and streamlined. The other girl, Tess-ill, screamed as he accelerated.

Catching up to the falling girl was no longer an issue, now Stone worried about the impact. Falcons did not worry about keeping prey alive. Stone waited for instinct to tell him what to do, nothing came. Fortunately time seemed to slow again, giving his brain a moment to consider options. At this speed catching her would be no different from hitting her. If he slowed down, he might not catch her in time. The falling girl was wiggling wildly and yelling, what to do? Stone winced at the only obvious solution.

Stone awoke before he opened his eyes. He was uncomfortably warm and wet. The air itself felt wet, and there were voices, high pitched and echo-y voices. It took a moment for his eyes to focus in the twilight. The evening sun flickered oddly like a fire. Stone blinked and he saw that there was no evening sun, but a few fire torches mildly illuminating the cages he and the girls were in. Looking around, he felt like he was underground, the walls were dirt and only one side of the room had bars. It was a smaller form of the Elder's caverns. Stone didn't dare stand up, his prison was maybe half his height, Even the girls were barely short enough for the room, they were across the the short hallway in a prison of their own.

"You" yelled a very gruff voice. Stone couldn't see where it came from. Stone looked to see if it came from the girls, they seemed to be as confused as he.

"You, big one, What is your relation to the demon girls?" Stone couldn't find the direction of the voice.

"I will answer when l can see you" said Stone. Out from the wall between the two cells a bit of dirt fell down, and a person emerged. He had a flatter face than Stone's but the face seemed more angular, like the nose, cheeks, and squinty eyes were chiseled out of stone. Other than the odd angular face, the man seemed proportionate. It had strong powerful arms, wide torso and thick legs. Stone believed the man would withstand a significant fight.

"There, you can see me. Now tell me your relation to the two criminals" Said the squat man. Stone nodded in approval.

"The two tried to capture me with their metal eagle. I fought back, and was sent by my village to destroy the eagle lest more come. I was on my way to take them back up the mountain, to see the Elders, but they could not handle the height. I dropped one in the air and awoke here".

"So the mountains live" said the man. "We have long thought that people may have gone up there. My great great grandfather even went on a tunneling expedition, only he and King Harrold made it back."

"Your tunnels and hallways, they remind me of the Elders hall. Perhaps your explorers survived?" said Stone.

"Incredible!" Said the short dirty man, " This is important news! I will gather the whole clan for your trial! They will be glad to hear you speak!"

"TRlAL?" yelled Tresille. "What Trial? What are we accused of? Who is our accuser?" The dirty man ignored her.

"Those wings you have, can you really fly with them? Do all your people have wings?” asked the dirt man.

"No, my people do not fly, these wings are a relic of times long past. I was given them by my Elders to help track down those girls." Said Stone

"Heyl Don't ignore me! What is this trial? TALK TO ME" She said. Stone looked at her and saw more than anger in her eyes, there was fear. The other girl still sleeping on the floor.

"The sleeping girl, she may need help, her body is not very strong" said Stone to the dirty man. "I also do not know your name" Stone added.

The dirty man blinked in surprise "I must apologize, I have skipped formality, and this conversation has gone in a rather unexpected direction. My name is Henry Wordsmith, I am the chief interrogator of district seven." Stone reached out his arm in acknowledgement. Henry squinted his eyes at the gesture, then hesitantly made to shake Stone's hand. Stone instead grasped Henry's forearm. Stone had noticed that not all people were strong down in the thicker air, so he did his best to grasp arms gently in greeting. Stone nodded as Henry imitated the action.

"Well met" said Stone. "I am Stone, from the mountain. I am a guardian sent to protect the village".

"Well met" said Henry. Stone released his arm. Henry walked over to the girls, finally acknowledging their presence. Out of view from Stone, Henry winced and rubbed his arm.

"l'm sure you heard me introduce myself, and you are?" he asked.

"I am offended that you would put me behind bars like some criminal!" said Tresille, she then added "l am the Chief Undersecretary of the Terrestrial Survey Oversight Agency. All my actions thus far have been sanctioned by the Compliance division. Your treatment and accommodations are criminal and contrary to the fair treatment act and general code of warfare. I am taking meticulous notes of your actions today.”

Henry listened to the Lunarian drone on like that for a few more minutes with more veiled threats and direct personal attacks. For some reason, she assumed that her credentials had any meaning whatsoever. Her behavior was more what he was expecting. The giant, he was docile and respectful, did not complain, and could probably break through those bars any time he wanted. The fact that he hadn't meant that he had manners. Diplomacy was an option for him. The girl was a different story, she was an entitled fireball spewing off important sounding vocabulary in a futile attempt to assert dominance. Many of the scientists observed her while they slept, fascinated by the way their hair moved at the slightest gust. It was like they were underwater. And that was just their hair. The cloth of their suits were made of strange variants of known substances that created an electric shock when they tried to remove it. He had a lot of questions about their home on the Moon.

The lunarian’s first words told Henry all he needed to know about her personality, and it was easy to formulate his interrogation plan. She was egotistical, a bit frightened and young, she came from a well to do background with high education and little field work. She was the type more used to observation from a distance. Her interrogation would be similar to what he used on the Prime minister's son. First an ego up approach, let her feel in control for a bit, then a pride down fear up, followed by a friendly face. He would not get anything out of her of course, but the friendly face would. The Lunarian’s tirade sounded like it was winding down, so he compiled a short list of assistants to play the friendly face part.

" ...l hope you sleep well tonight, it could very well be your last!" finished Tresille.

‘l'll save that threat for later’ Thought Henry. He blinked a few more times than usual and over emphasized his confidence.

"Yes, well, we will have to verify your claim" he said, playing the part of someone out of his depth. "Has your partner not" he gulped "woken up yet?" She clearly took the bait and smiled confidently.

"My partner would be fine if she were in a decent recovery facility. She will need a wide spectrum of proteins and carbohydrates when she wakes. I expect you to have them ready in fifteen or her life will be YOUR fault." Henry pretended to not understand most of what she said and walked into the wall, merging with the dirt.

The true Henry awoke in a bright white room and spent a few moments resting on the clear glass table. The transition from Golem to body was always difficult, and he went through his standard practice of wiggling each joint and re-verifying the neural connections. The science of controlling dirt golems had been known for hundreds of years, but the art of controlling the golems was still in its infancy, every day more youth were accomplishing greater tasks with them or had learned more refined movements. At one exposition, he watched a golem craft a breathtaking floor mosaic using nothing but colored sand. That level of fine motor control and concentration was only theoretical a few decades ago. With luck that new technology would be available to his security division.

If the world was opening up top side as claimed, then there would be a lot of battles to claim it. Henry was concerned that his people would not win against the mountain folk. If Stone were any indication, then the mountain folk were massive hulkings clearly built to survive. Stone was immediately sent into their hospital's intensive care unit, where all the surgeons, doctors, nurses and journalists were called in to watch as his body healed broken bones in a matter of minutes. A substantial amount of resources were needed just to take a single blood sample for further analysis. Henry was less concerned about the two lunarians. After listening to their broadcasts for centuries and knowing of their impending invasion, he felt the hoards were sufficiently prepared to receive them.

The white room in which Henry lay was a round empty dome. It is nearly six feet in height at the apex, but wide at the edges, nearly fourteen feet in circumference. The architecture was important, because of reasons he never bothered to study in school. Henry slid off of the glass and adjusted his white robe. It had the damp smell of a leaky cave, which made him smile. A knock on the door and his assistant Sarah appeared with a fresh robe.

"Would you like to be there when we take the girl away?" asked Sarah

"Yes" Said Henry, "I want her to know for certain that I am involved"

"How long will you wait?" Sarah asked

"Only a moment, l've got her on the ropes. Oh, get ready, I want you to be the girls teddy bear".

Henry took the new robe and put it on, then performed a few jumping jacks to increase his heartrate. The gel in the robe set in and Henry walked back to the glass table. He relaxed and rested his head, closing his eyes.

Stone watched eyes open up on the wall, and Henry the dirt man emerged from the wall. The dirt people were incredible, it was as if they were made entirely out of ground.

"I have spoken with my superiors, they would like to have a word with you" said Henry to Tresille. She stepped closer to the bars and began making another long list of demands. Stone was not convinced Henry was being honest with Tresille. As soon as she grasped the prison bars, Henry raised his hand, and another set of bars rose up from the ground, separating Tresille from the sleeping girl. It happened so suddenly and quietly that she didn't even notice. Henry brought his hand down and the bars keeping the sleeping girl in prison lowered, and two more groundlings appeared from the wall, and placed the sleeping girl in a stretcher.

" ...We will require warm water to clean ourselves and...WHAT IS GOING ON?" Tresille finally noticed the bars and the other two. It seemed strange to Stone for a person to be so focused on one thing, that they ignore their surroundings. That kind of behavior would get you killed on the mountain.

"LET ME OUT DON'T YOU TOUCH HER" Tresille started screaming. Stone grew concerned, he reached out and touched Henry's shoulder.

Henry nearly jumped out of his clay skin and almost woke up. He could feel his heart pounding from both both his clay and real one. Henry turned around as calmly as possible to see the bars that had bent around Stone's arms and looked into the innocent, kind eyes.

"The sleeping girl will not be harmed?" asked Stone. It took every ounce of Henry's will power to lie.

"We are taking her to our hospital to make sure she recovers properly" Said Henry calmly.

"This hospital will be good to her?" The concern on Stone's face was intense. Henry fought every urge to reassure Stone. Doing so would completely invalidate his interrogation. Henry simply nodded and Stone recessed back into his prison. He would have to separate Stone from the girls.

"Help Stone, help" Said Tresille weakly. Henry's eyes widened hungrily. This was exactly how he wanted her. A hole opened up and the two carrying the sleeping girl started to walk down. Henry began to walk away, but once again, a powerful hand clamped down on his shoulder.

"You must tell her it's ok. You have not been nice to her" Said Stone. Henry gritted his teeth, he should never have placed Stone and the girls in the same pod. He couldn't lose this interrogation, she was likely one of the last scanning crews before the invasion. He had to make a dangerous decision. Henry raised his hand again, and a thick wall of dirt arose, dividing the room in half, Stone on one side, Tresille on the other. Henry hoped that Sarah would understand his intention and begin moving the rooms far away from each other. It would be impossible to notice inside the cell.

"Why have you done this?" Stone demanded.

"Because l need her to tell me everything she knows" said Henry. He didn't have enough nerve to lie anymore.

"Have you not asked her?" asked Stone.

"l cannot trust her answers right now, l must do things this way so l know when she tells the truth" Henry looked down, and saw that the pressure from Stone’s hand was causing Henry’s feet to crumble.

"Lies are not the way of the mountain" Said Stone "Lies get people killed".

Henry had trouble refuting Stone's logic, SO he switched to bargaining.

"Stone, please let me go, I promise you that the girls will not be harmed physically." Stone did not let go.

"Harmed physically, this means their bodies will not be hurt, yes?" Henry nodded "What about their heads? Their minds will be ok?" Henry again gritted his teeth, leaving a fine powder on the floor. Henry heard a feint scream from the other side of the dirt wall. Obviously the rooms were not moving apart.