[...]... one of the Five Wonders of the World After the Giants’ Drop the rest of the ruins represented for the average tourist nothing more than distraction – obstacles in the way of getting out to the fresh air above The Drop was what they had paid to cross and they had done it Now they could return and tell relatives and friends they had walked across the deepest hole in the Home System The guide, knowing the. .. side of the inlet and he wouldn’t have a care in the world Suddenly they turned inland; within seconds the landscape changed The beach had gone, and with it all thoughts of the jungle on the far side of the water A few paces on and they had moved onto rocky soil reaching the edge of a cliff Below, the Slotsruins How could they exist so many hundreds of metres below sea level and yet be so close to the. .. And out again Like I said, I won’t be long.’ And with that the young Clansman turned to the elevator and disappeared from sight There were probably very few people on the Home Planet who realised that it was possible to take a Vacuum Tube to the isolated island set in the centre of the massive ocean that dominated the eastern hemisphere: the home of the Slots And of those few who did know the island... uninterrupted on the other side The distance to the bottom of the Drop is in exact ratio to the distance across as the distance of Cu Chulainn to our planet, and our planet to Cu Roi However such astronomical exactitudes seem meaningless since the builders did not bother to excavate upwards and clear the small amount of earth above their heads so that they could see the satellites and the sun.’ There was... deep into the rock face itself Why the Slots of old should choose to dig themselves into the rock face and then abandon the location was not apparent but they clearly had, for the centre of the ravine, which must have been at least three hundred metres deep and two hundred metres wide, was totally devoid of all forms of activity Yet in the centre of the ravine was the most unexpected object of all: a... removed the recorder woven inside his coat and replayed the data As he was doing so he checked the house for the presence of Juras Maateh but as he had half expected she had given up the wait and left The data replay showed clearly that the source of the energy powering the monument in the centre of the Slotsruins was inside the monument itself, and that the buildings in the cliffs were as deserted as they... different from us but they live on the Home Planet and they are subject to the law of the Clans, just as we all are.’ ‘Only because they’ve never bothered to pull out, and they’ve not done that because no one ever bothers them You’ll be the only non-Slot on the island.’ ‘Then you won’t feel embarrassed about anything I do.’ ‘Are you seriously going?’ she asked Turlough nodded ‘Then I’ll come too.’ ‘No... come?’ Juras smiled and nodded, and climbed in the compartment next to him Turlough s house, still the same one that he had occupied before his exile, was situated deep in one of the many forests that spanned the latitude of fifty degrees north, in the heart of Clan territory Even in the height of summer it stayed cool, and in the depths of winter had a freshness about the place, which the regular snowfalls... had to try and link the temporal unit into the rest of the ship If 23 he succeeded they would be able to travel in time If he failed, the time unit itself could well disappear into the past or future leaving a gaping hole in the ship where it had once been And that would do little to aid the safety of the rest of the ship, or its crew of two All in all, Turlough reflected as he made his way to the converted... something of a hurry, and with other things on my mind Among the many items left behind were a set of electronotes which I had smuggled onto the planet at the start of my exile They relate to our New Regime’s friends, the Gardsormr They contain dates, times, and other details of Gardsormr sightings which indicate (and possibly prove) that those creatures, whatever they are, should not be allies of the New . his exile. Who are the mysterious Gardsormr? What is their secret purpose? And what is the shocking and terrifying link between Trion and planet Earth? The Companions of Doctor Who TURLOUGH AND THE EARTHLINK. alt="" Of all the companions ever to travel with the Doctor in the TARDIS, Turlough was the most enigmatic and the most disturbing. Exiled from his home world, he saw the Doctor as a means of escape. past and the vast mass of the populace (who were not of the Clans) were left to get on with their own lives, organising themselves as they best pleased. If they chose war and savagery, as they did from