THE PREACHERS DAUGHTER

that

ry 15, 9570

th, all the restrictions will disappear." "Any way to fool it before then?" "Oh, it's been tried, never successfully. There are some real horror stories in Ranger history." Eliana looked at the clock and then leaned back in her chair. "We still have some time. Amuse me!" Basel thought for a moment and then laughed. "Okay, you asked for it! About seven-hundred years ago, there was a Ranger test at a desert station where ancient Lebanon used to be. This was in the late 8700's, when the isolation candidates were never contacted but were still supposed to make daily reports to Guild headquarters." "Uh huh." The test seemed to go fine for about four months. Then both Rangers reported that their station was infested with giant poisonous ants, claimed they had giant ant bites covering their bodies. They begged for medical help..." Eliana frowned. "... and got nothing." "No, not during an isolation test. Two months later the pickup team found their two bodies. The women were trying to take shelter in the cold storage food lockers. Their notes said the cold was keeping the ants out. Their bodies were covered with tiny puncture marks, and the autopsy concluded they died from formaldehyde injections." "What?! The ants were real?!" "That's the spooky part. No trace of the infestation was ever found. The station was clean, no ants, no ant droppings, nothing. And the outside environment was examined and found normal." Eliana blew a full load of air through her cheeks. "Oh hell..." "Yeah. The official conclusion was that the two cadets snapped, became delusional, even to the point of self-inflicting their wounds, jabbing formaldehyde into themselves. There didn't seem to be any other explanation." Eliana looked at the clock. "Basel, let's send the code now." Basel nodded and turned to his console. He lifted a clear protective cap and inserted a small orange key into an orange slot and