Beyond the gateway the scene was underwhelming. A patchy area of dusty grass set about mud brick blocks was being picked over by a skinny hen. The only thing that lifted the view of rough poverty was a towering cube that rose above the surrounding houses. Its black surface shone dully in the dawn light, its surface like polished obsidian. The rough little mud blocks were randomly scattered around the cube with about as much planning and thought given to their placement as a music festival campsite. The village was hemmed in on all sides by the perimeter wall; more of the bird like Gelfs were squatting atop perches carved into the wall's surface, their long staffs close to hand.

Guglielmo threaded his way between the blocks, neatly stepping over areas of dusty rubble and around pools of stagnant water. Kochanski, walking arm in arm with the Italian was bent close as he whispered into her ear, the murmur indistinct to Lister who was flitting between strolling nonchalantly behind and trotting to keep up with them and listen in. The Cat stalked fastidiously behind him, keeping his Tiger skin and velvet number as far from any source of dirt as possible while Kryten brought up the rear, mechanically marching in step a few paces behind.

The huts abruptly stopped, coming up hard against a perfectly described circle of bare earth packed as solid as concrete. The cube sat in its dead centre. Within the open space were a plethora of figures; Gelfs of various descriptions and mechanoids stood in small knots and made the wild gesticulating movements that throughout the universe indicate the heady realm of commerce. A hugely built, shaggy haired Kinatowawi wearing a Top Hat gestured with a faded pink plastic flamingo on the end of a pole to a pile of circuitry on a blanket. The blank faced Series 1000 mechanoid behind the blanket used his single arm most expressively to demonstrate to the Gelf his opinion on what he thought was a fair price. A quartet of the bird-like Gelfs armed with the now familiar staffs stalked through the market escorting a short hooded figure that moved with an easy, slinking grace. A pair of Dolochimps dressed in bloodied aprons scuttled toward a temporary butcher's stand, burdened with a cut of meat that could have been described as beef if the cow had been at least eighteen feet long. A cluster of mechanoids rolling dice against the side of one of the huts stopped to glare at the newcomers as they walked past. The air was heavy with the scent of oil and grease, burnt wood and metal and a dirty haze of gritty smoke hung over the whole scene.

Lister shook his head and tried wiggling a finger in his ear, getting a smirk from an obese Brefewino tailor. No, it wasn't just him. What should have been a cacophony of noise was just leaden silence. He could hear the sounds of what was immediately around him, a trader with a face like a furry fist with teeth sticking out barked a series of coughs and retches while smiling and holding aloft a massive pink pineapple-like fruit. He shook his head and the trader shrugged. A few steps further he couldn't hear the clatter as the trader's cart collided with a mechanoid and wild gesticulations started up.

All that Guglielmo could offer as explanation; "It is the cube."

Kochanski was staring wide eyed at the black shape. Up close it looked even stranger, it was free of any marks or rivets, a solid object that could have grown there for all the sense it made. An askew rectangular opening a few metres across was roughly halfway up the surface and a steady stream of Gelfs were climbing through the hole and heading down a rickety set of wooden steps to the ground level.

"It's hollow?" asked Kochanski

Guglielmo shook his head and laughed, "No Bella, there are, how you say? Walks inside that go underneath the ground."

"Tunnels?"

"Si, tunnels. The Cube has been there for as long as I can remember. Haven is below. We shall head below in a moment."

The Cat wrinkled his nose, "A moment could not come soon enough, the air up here is…distasteful."

Lister shook his head, "First things first guys, we need to find someone who can help us with getting Kryten… with Kryten."

Guglielmo frowned, "Your robot is malfunctioning?"

"Whoa whoa whoa man, he's not my robot. He ain't nobody's robot."

"Actually sir, I'm a mechanoid. It is a common misconception. I actually have organic components in my brain that- "

"There are no parts dealers in port."

Lister raised an eyebrow, "There must be hundreds of traders around here, I'm sure that one of them will be able to take a look at him -"

"There is no one here who has the technology compatible with your hardware. Believe me Mr. – Lister was it? I make it my business to know what is going on around here."

Lister squared up to him as best he could, being a foot shorter meant he didn't cut as intimidating a figure as he hoped, "Well, Mr – Goo Elmo? Our friend here needs help and if there is no one here who can pop open his head and take a rummage about we'll be on our way. Come on Krissie"

But Kochanski was off. She had wandered towards a group of garishly dressed cow-headed Gelfs with four arms juggling flaming batons between them. Her mouth was moving but Lister couldn't hear, having walked a few metres away her words were lost in the silence that emanated out from the cube.

Lister spun back to Guglielmo and tried to thrust a quivering finger into his chest. The Italian looked on with disgust as the digit went through him. Only a bit shaken Lister pressed on, "Listen pal, you watch yourself around Krissie, yeah? She doesn't need no greasy fella schmoozing up to her with his big shiny uniform and his … hair."

Guglielmo only bristled for a moment. A smile was pasted across his face as Kochanski ran up to him and grabbed on to his arm,

"This place is amazing, so many strange new sights and sounds."

Guglielmo's smile broadened and he began to slide an arm around her shoulders, "Indeed there is. Let us now enter Haven itself. Miss Kochanski, Mr Cat; please join me."

Kochanski frowned, "We're all going in together, surely?"

"Alas, Bella that is not possible. The constructs cannot enter."

Kochanski slipped out from under Guglielmo's arm and stepped back; "The what? Lister and Kryten are half of our crew. Why can't we all just stay together?"

"I am afraid the law is very clear, very old and completely unchangeable; no artificial can enter Haven."

Kochanski stepped away to stand alongside Kryten and Lister, "Then we shall stay above ground. We shall conclude our business on the surface and be out of your way."

Guglielmo spread his arms wide and looked imploringly at Kochanski, his eyes never leaving her face. "I am so sorry you feel this way. I wished only to show you my home. It does not matter. You can of course come and go as you-"

There was the wail of a siren, cutting through the blanket of silence that came from the cube. At the sound of it the customers and traders in the market began to gather up goods and run, the mechanoids heading into the hovels around the market circle while the Gelfs ran toward the cube.

"I am so sorry but we can no longer argue; Miss Kochanski, Mr Cat you must come with me now. It is most important." Guglielmo reached out to grab Kochanski's hand and drew her toward him.

"What the smeg is going on?" Lister demanded, panic stricken eyes meeting Kochanski's.

The sky was darkening to an ugly purple. Loose strands of dirty yellow cloud was whipped into ragged streaks by fierce wind and smeared across the atmosphere. In the distance there was a rumble of thunder and a massive dull groan of sound.

"It is a storm. The dust that it blows is toxic to humans and to all but the hardiest of the Gelfs. We have to go in now to be safe."

Kochanski tried to look at Lister and Kryten through eyes squeezed shut, already the wind was picking up. "We can't just leave you guys up here. Maybe you should get back to the ship."

"I'm afraid we won't have time Ma'am. Not to worry, I'm sure myself and Mr Lister will be perfectly safe, please go with Mr Da Napoli. We shall meet up with you out here once the storm has cleared."

Lister smiled and gave Kochanski a thumb's up. "Go ahead; let us know what it's like when you get out."

As the three figures hurried toward the cube Lister felt his heart in his boots. He kept the smile on his face in case she looked back but he never saw if she did.

Inside the cube it was hot and close; the smell of ozone saturated the air. The bird like guards waved Guglielmo and his companions through and they entered the main tunnel. After the precision angles of the strange ceramic metal that made up the cube itself, the tunnel beneath was roughly dug with timber props holding up the roof and illuminated by strings of lights running on pegs along the ceiling. They descended down the rough timber steps set into the sloping corridor, heading deeper into the planetoid.

Once they were clear of the surface Guglielmo began to talk, his soft, melodious voice explaining how Haven operated on a day to day basis, the Avian Gelf tribe that guarded it and its history. Most of it went straight over Kochanski's head; the shock of everything at once meant it was all she could do to keep putting one foot in front of the other, stumbling blindly alongside the Italian and the Cat. Something he did say suddenly made her pay attention,

"A war?"

Guglielmo smiled, "Si Bella, we should be well away from the fighting but we must always be prepared. We are not in Gelf space but we are small and out of the way."

"Is it a war between the Gelfs?"

Guglielmo laughed, "No, no, no the Gelfs have been at peace for millennia. No, I'm afraid it is not a war of flesh but of circuits."

Kochanski frowned, "Surely mechanoids are programmed not to -"

"The Gelf call it the Resh Mellok Sahk, the closest translation I suppose is the Dance of Ghosts and Hunters. You walk with a ghost; the hunters are from a time before the Gelf. I'm afraid that that is why your… companions were not permitted to enter. The artificial can use any construct as a weapon and it is purely for safety that the Gelfs have decreed that Haven must not allow their kind within its walls"

"Holograms fighting a war? How can they–" She stopped as her attention was brought back to her surroundings.

Stretching out around the tunnel mouth was an immense underground cavern, naturally formed in the whiteish rock of the planetoid. In the void was built a city, a glorious rendition of the town above. The same blocky forms of the buildings on the surface were also down below but each unit here was elaborately decorated, some carved with Gelf tribal glyphs while others showed battle scenes of hairy Gelfs chasing tentacled Gelfs with spears. What looked suspiciously like late Victorian cast-iron gas lamps were arranged along a parade of stores and cafes complete with little round tables and plastic chairs set outside. The streets themselves were teeming, the noise here lost in the vast space above everyone's heads but overall there was less urgency and anger. The feel was casual; Gelfs they passed here did a lot of bowing to one another and business seemed to be largely done over trays of minty smelling tea and miniature pastries.

Guglielmo smiled at the expression on Kochanski and the Cat's faces as they drank in the atmosphere around them. "Magnificent, isn't it? Come, you shall stay with me for as long as you desire."

Kochanski looked uneasy, "Maybe we should head back to the surface. How long did you say that the storm will last?"

Guglielmo shook his head sadly, "I'm afraid it may be some time, maybe a day or more. I will arrange a messenger to inform us when it will be safe for us to emerge. Until then I would be honoured if you would join me for a late breakfast." He held out a hand for her to take.

Kochanski was still uncertain. She looked to the Cat for his input but he was gone, further up the road he was in deep discussion with a well-groomed Kinatowawi about a bolt of electric blue silk. The pang of guilt she felt at what had happened to Lister and Kryten was buried in the novelty and opportunity that was offered in the city around her. She half smiled as she took Guglielmo's hand and together they walked into the crowd.