"Sor? Sor!"

Sorcha mumbled and blinked as she awoke to the soft feminine voice calling her name. She scrunched her eyes shut one more time before opening them properly. Her muzzy mind was able to recognize the anxious face that hovered over hers. It was round, white and fluffy, with a small black nose and sparkling cobalt eyes. "Ni-ni."

"Sor," Nia Goodwin cried. "Oh, Sor, you're okay!"

Sorcha sat up, several twinges making themselves known. "Owie." She looked up and around her; she was on that walkway, inside the dome. The dome inside the city, the city, that had been destroyed in the battle between dark and light. Dark and Amaterasu.

Amaterasu.

Sorcha growled low in her throat. Raging hot anger took control of her.

"Sor?" Nia chirped. "Sor, it's okay. You're fine now."

Sorcha's head swivelled to face her as if pulled on a string. "Oh, that's easy for you to say, you twittering powder puff!" she howled. She drew back with her right paw and thumped Nia's faceplate with it.

Nia cried out and flinched. Sorcha bayed at her. Fine? This little twit had no idea what she'd just been through. She was stupid and ignorant, trying to cover up her lack of knowledge with honey and empty smiles. She thumped Nia again, hitting her in the stomach.

"Ha-ha, great," another voice laughed, full of spite. "Someone had to tell that stupid cupcake when to shut her noisemaker."

Sorcha looked to the speaker, a youngish Goat with blond hair. Chesney. She got to her feet and launched herself at the hircine lout, grabbing her around the waist and shoving her to the floor. Chesney was yelling in protest and trying to shake her attacker off, but Sorcha was alive with molten rage, and she laid into Chesney, pounding and punching at her suit. "Ow! Get her off me!" the Goat bellowed.

Sorcha bashed her fists against Chesney's faceplate, the urge to smash it open overpowering her. Let's see how smart-mouthed you are when you're nothing more than a chunk of frozen meat.

Suddenly, a pair of arms wrapped around Sorcha and hefted her up. Sorcha tottered to her feet and spun to confront whoever had interrupted her, finding a canine face staring back. "I don't know what the hell's got into you, O'Riordan," it snarled, "but you'd better knock it off!"

Sorcha's head rang like the school bell, and she found herself gasping in shock. "Team Leader...?"

"You want to explain that to me? And maybe Goodwin?" Jillian Toki asked her pointedly.

Sorcha thought long and hard about that. Tell them about Amaterasu? About the ancient war? Sorcha wasn't confident about that happening without getting herself institutionalized. She couldn't even be sure if it was all real. I'm mad. I know I am.

But the anomaly taking shape in the sky, that was real enough. They had to investigate that.

Sorcha took a deep breath and blew it out. It smelled meaty, as usual. "I... I just had a real bad dream," she said.

Jillian studied her for a second. "You sure, O'Riordan? Because if you saw something while you were down there..."

Sorcha glanced into the abyss just paces from where she stood. "No. I blacked out, that's all."

She looked back to Jillian, who still seemed unsure. "We found you floating in water at the bottom of the shaft, O'Riordan," the mutt said slowly. "If it was contaminated..." She licked her muzzle. "Then who knows what else is hanging around here?"

Sorcha looked down at her suit. Water was dripping off of it. "No, I'm fine. Really."

"Thinking maybe we should take her back to the ship?" another voice chipped in; it was Palmer the guard. "She might need checking out." The other guards mumbled assent.

"No!" Sorcha cried. "We can't leave."

"And why the crap should we listen to you, you psycho?" Chesney screamed.

"You are going back to the dropship regardless, flower," Jillian shouted at her. She motioned to one of the guards, the Lynx. "Joel, is it?"

Joel nodded.

"Take her back," Jillian ordered him.

Chesney opened her mouth to protest, but Joel shook his head at her in a gesture of prohibition, and she shut up. "Quick march, sweetie," he told her.

While those two were ascending back to the top of the dome, Jillian turned to Chesney's fellow driller. "How about you, motormouth? Anything to say? Any quips? Maybe a token complaint?"

Boland shook his feline head, remaining utterly silent.

Jillian yipped happily. "Good! As of now, your little buddy's position is under review. You've made the right choice, darlin'." She gave him a wink and a coquettish grin.

Sorcha cleared her throat, keen to get things back on track. "We really need to look for this whatever-it-is." Even I don't know.

Jillian nodded. "Well, the auto-mapper is giving me a good lead. Think we're finally on its level." She swung the device theatrically in the direction of a nearby arch. "We're going thissaway."

Sorcha relaxed a little, happy to have a heading. Everyone else seemed content to move on after that little incident, and so they began walking.

Well, nearly everyone.

Nia stood stock still, her eyes on Sorcha. Sorcha let the others head off a little before approaching her. "Ni-ni?"

"Oh, Ni-ni indeed," Nia growled. Her cobalt eyes were tearful, with a hint of betrayal in them, and her show of anger quickly faded. Her voice became tremulous. "You hit me, Sor."

Her sadness was contagious. Sorcha felt her eyes watering. "I know, Nia. I know. I'm so sorry."

Nia's mouth opened again, but whatever she had to say was lost in a blubbering squeal that kept going. Sorcha sobbed and went over to her, grabbing Nia in a warm hug, or at least as good a facsimile as she could manage in these suits. "It's okay, Ni-ni. It's okay. Shh." She rocked Nia slowly, guilt racking her. "I'm so sorry."

Eventually, Nia's convulsive sobs petered out, and she eased out of Sorcha's arms. "I'm okay, Sorcha. I'm... I'm okay." She offered a slight smile. "Uh, I suppose we better go see what this is, huh?" She began walking after the rest of the team.

Sorcha kept still a little while longer. Nia wasn't over this, she could tell. She let out a regretful sigh and followed.

***

The exit from the dome led out into an equally grand-looking concourse of some sort. Walkways paved in a bizarre teal stone, massive, ornate archways, huge crystal sculptures, impossibly elaborate tapestries and banners hanging from every available space... it was amazing, Sorcha thought as she strolled along. The OSA's Archaeology Division was going to love this place.

It was approximately ten seconds later that Sorcha noticed something else. The heater in her suit had shut off. She ran a system check and found that the exterior temperature was sufficient for the heater to no longer be required.

The others had apparently noticed it as well. "Anyone else just lost their heat?" one of the guards called out.

"It's the ambient temperature," Jillian exclaimed. "It's warm in here."

"Air's breathable as well," Nia noted excitedly.

"Don't everyone get excited and start taking their suits off," Jillian said suddenly. "Heaters off but keep 'em on."

Further into the structure, the walls were lined with large windows, each of them covered in the strange writing from the satellite. Behind those windows were shelves of various items; Sorcha couldn't recognize any of them, but she could happily guess that these were shops.

"Wow," Nia gasped. "We've wandered into an alien mall."

Sorcha studied the items. Most of them seemed to be a variation on the same theme – a burnished orange sphere striped with some kind of precious stone – but there were others, such as a silver pyramid covered in small round depressions that looked as if smaller things could be placed inside. She couldn't even begin to guess what they were. Most of the objects had sections that had collapsed. Sorcha blinked as details from the dream flashed back to her, of the city and its people. She shook her head to dispel them.

Nia turned away from the window and looked around, her muzzle twitching. "Y'know, Sor, I think I've worked out why it's so warm in here."

"Yeah?" Sorcha asked, somewhat grateful for a chance to patch things up with Nia, as well as a chance to distract herself.

"The stone retains heat," Nia said, putting a paw to one of the pillars that separated the shop windows. "Check it out. This stone feels warm."

Sorcha did the same. She couldn't actually feel it, of course, but her suit's temperature displays confirmed Nia's findings. "Wow." She stepped back and sighed. "Look, Ni-ni, I really am sorry about earlier."

Nia nodded. "I know, Sor. It's fine." She offered a half-smile. "Well, thanks for giving Chesney a wallop."

Sorcha chortled. "No, I way overreacted. She was just being a mouthy cow."

Nia looked at her askance. "Did you really not see anything down there?"

Sorcha hesitated. "No."

"Sooooooor?"

"I said no, okay?" Sorcha snapped, feeling a little harassed despite the situation. "Look, Ni-ni, I just had a weird dream. That's all."

"A dream about what?"

"Nothing." Sorcha turned away from the window of weird stuff. Across the way, she could see Jillian studying the auto-mapper; apparently, it was leading her towards one of the shops over there. Sorcha sighed again and reminded herself that she needed to keep moving. No time for sight-seeing now. She turned back to Nia, who was still studying the stone. "Let's go, Ni-ni. Think some alien couture has caught Jillian's eye."

Nia giggled. "Wouldn't surprise me."

As they walked away from the strange shop, Sorcha felt a frisson of unease. Just what are we walking towards? she wondered as she spotted Jillian opening the shop door and peering inside.

Her insides tightened. Oh well. I guess we'll find out soon enough.