In the aftermath of the pirate assault, the company gathered to discuss the fate of Major McClintock and John Reed.  Both men were summoned to speak before a panel consisting of Lord Midhurst, Lt.Commander Wells and Sir Henry.

McClintock, at first truculent, on learning that he might be returned in disgrace to Syrtis Major pled for a chance to redeem himself.  Offering an apology of disquietingly legalistic nature, in which it was left unclear as to whether he regretted his actions or merely that others had objected to them, it was decided that he could remain but on condition that all alcohol was henceforth barred to him, even on social occasions.

Reed proved defensive and initially hostile, and showed signs that he had been before magistrates on more than one occasion, but on realising the potential seriousness of his situation he apologised and agreed to accept punishment duty on board the Sylph during its journey to Syrtis Major with the wounded, and its return therefrom.

This done, the Sylph set off, taking with it the sorely wounded Major Bastable, his wife and manservant and the lamentable cook Mr Bladder and his ostensible wife Mrs Hatchpenny.  Spending the barest time possible in Syrtis Major, Bosun Blunt proved unable to requisition replacement fuel for that used to date but Lt.Commander Wells was able to locate a new engineer, a navy cook and a nurse to join the expedition.  While boarding, he was then approached by a Jack Sykes, a likely sort seeking immediate passage out of the colony, after a grilling from Mr Blunt and despite suspicions that Sykes was a wanted man he was taken on as crew, and proved himself a willing enough hand if inexperienced on the return to the expedition vessel.  Sykes claimed to be a joiner by trade, and though he arrived with no tools, he used the hour before takeoff to quickly run into town and returned with some.

The reunited expedition proceeded again upriver, having spent the time during the Sylph's absence to head back on itself so as to avoid encountering further pirates while without aerial protection.  A short journey through a lock and a side canal later, and it reached a trading outpost, where local peddlars marketed a wide array of clearly fake artefacts, ancient tiles, pots and other trash to the unwary, as if British ships came by every week.  Lord Midhurst purchased several items, and was assured by the archaeologists that with the passing of enough time they would doubtless become valuable.

Transferred to Ruumet Breehrs, the expedition continued inland from the trading post, along the path of a minor subcanal, and soon arrived at a small village on the outskirts of an ancient ruined town, which was to be the site of the dig.  As the expedition approached, the Sylph went on ahead, surveying the town and noting a 50's tall statue of a Canal Martian standing to the front of an imposing central edifice, and a ceremony of some sort of some natives who appeared to be leaving foodstuffs there.

The expedition reached the village, and was greeted by some 300 odd Canal Martian peasants, individuals of a lower order than any the members of the expedition had previously encountered, used as they were to the more sophisticated Canal Martians of the cities.  A lengthy greeting ceremony commenced, at which the village headman made welcome the expedition and a local holy man sprinkled water upon those arriving.  Lord Midhurst made disparaging remarks, which the expedition translator for reasons best known to herself duly translated in full, matters were not assisted when Lord Midhurst then joined in the traditional welcome dance.

It transpired that the expedition was to be housed in concrete huts, of ancient design, likely the best accommodation the village had most huts being of mud, but displeasing to the by now irritable Lord Midhurst who had received harsh words for his conduct at the opening ceremony.  He promptly went to a crenellated tower at the outskirts of the ruined town, broke open its doors and made his own camp in what transpired to be an ancient pumping station.

The expedition settled in, mapping of the town commenced, all were busy setting up camp and attending to their duties.  The villagers appeared unfriendly and suspicious, but not openly hostile.  Mrs Pennington-Smythe came to notice that one of the Martian porters the expedition had brought with it spoke far better English than he revealed, a fact she duly noted for future reference, Lord Midhurst took to hunting local animals and brought back meat to the village, an act which was taken in good spirit by the natives and not as some might have feared as an act in breach of local taboos.  All was as it should be, and so a week or so after their arrival the natives decided to host a celebration in order to better welcome again the newcomers.  A local drink in the form of a fermented rancid milk of some creature or other was served, the younger of the natives engaged in a high leaping dance, in which the females wore short tunics and flashed their thighs at the men, and Lord Midhurst joined in this time to the apparent approval of the locals.  Others were brought up to dance, many with the young nurse Miss Phelps, a pretty young thing who eventually had to be rescued from rough treatment by the black hand gang by Miss Pennington-Smythe.  

As the dance continued, Blunt slipped away, and searched Major McClintock's quarters, finding there a concealed flask of whisky deposited in the false bottom of a medical bag.  Miss Pennington-Smythe, who had noted a smell of mints on the doctor's breath, also went to search his quarters and discovered Blunt there, who excused himself and departed hastily.  Miss Pennington-Smythe continued the search, approving of Blunt's actions, and found a further hidden supply of alcohol - a tube like flask hidden within a walking stick.  She drained it and repalced it with tea.  Later, that evening, a sad and forlorn cry echoed through the camp, closely followed by a second such cry, some soul had lost something dear to them it was clear.

Meanwhile, Lt.Commander Wells found himself making eyes with their native translator, an uncommonly pretty Martian girl, and Midhurst found himself dancing with a local girl who seemed to him quite markedly friendly and with whom he conversed though neither spoke a word of the other's language.

Some days after the dance, Sir Henry decided that the time had come to open the first of the buildings (first other than the one Midhurst broke into, anyway), and he considered the central building with the statue the most apposite.  It had been discovered by this point that the natives believed the statue to be of an ancestor and a founder of the village, an account which seemed unlikely to the expedition members, and they warned that breaking open the doors could anger the ancestral spirits and lead to a terrible vengeance.  In consideration of local fears, it was decided to enter via a high window, and so Blunt brought the Sylph down to hover next to the building while a gangplank was hoisted between the window and ship.  Midhurst was first to enter, noting inside a large hall filled on the sides with what must be 20' tall statues of assorted types, only the topmost parts of which could be seen due to sand that had entered through the windows over the ages.  Blunt quickly organised a contraption to suck out sand, and for the next few days excavations were undertaken.  Some three days later, however, it was noted that a sandstorm was brewing in the distance, a large one and though discussion with the natives revealed that on average two such swept over the village in each year and it had been some five months since the last one the villagers were convinced it came as spiritual retribution for entering the central building.

The building was made secure, guidelines erected running between each building in the expedition camp and a further line out to Midhurst's Keep as his own home was now termed and the Sylph herself and the supplies stoutly secured against even the fiercest of storms.  Nkome, the African, and Tom Bigby decided to stay with Midhurst at his keep while all others bunkered down in their quarters, conscious that during the storm visibility would be almost non-existent and that at worst case it could blow for as long as a week.

The first day of the storm was uneventful, visibility was reduced to a foot or so in front of a man's face, grit was in the food, the water, in every building, but the lines held and no injuries were reported.  On the evening of the second day, however, while Crewman Tompkins and black hand gang member Mike Philton were out checking that supplies remained secure, a terrible scream was held by all in camp, followed by a high pitched and repeated screaming which Blunt recognised as being the voice of Tompkins. 

Heading out into the storm, Blunt and Sykes headed out in search of what had occurred.  To his horror, Blunt discovered that Philton was dead, a discovery he made by inadvertently stepping in what remained of his corpse.  Realising that Tompkins had left the guideline and wandered out into the howling storm, Blunt organised a search party led by Lt.Commander Wells but with Blunt at its head, and had the men make noise so as to be heard by Tompkins to ease finding him, who made piteous cries in return.  Blunt secured a temporary line to the guide rope which he then attached to himself and led a small detachment in the direction of Tompkin's voice.  Tompkins, clearly panicked, kept moving, making the whole affair difficult in the extreme and it became more so when a huge shape came out of the red mist at tremendous speed plucking black hand gang member John Black from the rope and snapping it in the process, Lt.Commander Wells was near Black, and though he saw only a shadowy mass fired three shots at it hitting it at least once from the sounds of its cry of pain and anger.  Eventually, Tompkins was found and secured, the rope reconnected, but of Black there was no trace.

The storm continued, Blunt suggested a small expedition to Midhurst's keep, which being out of the main camp could be wholly unaware of the dangers abroad.  Wells ordered that no such expedition be mounted, Blunt being too valuable to risk on such an enterprise.  While this discussion continued, Midhurst himself appeared, having ventured out in search of more sherry.  The position explained to him, he returned with Blunt to discover that during his absence Bigby had also gone out and had returned with Nurse Phelps.  Midhurst's keep, unlike the camp itself, had let in little of the dust blown in the storm, and was filled with good cheer and music from a gramophone, a quite different picture to the fearful gathering housed in the village.

After two more days, the storm abated, and the villagers warned that the beast was a vengeful spirit, and that sometimes when the storm came it brought with it such spirits which would destroy any who ventured out.  Considering the possibility that an animal used such storms for cover a more likely explanation, a hunting party was organised, and the ruins searched for likely hiding places.  Lt. Commander Wells was the one to find the beast's lair, noting a trail of smeared blood against a window lying mostly submerged in a bank of sand.  Blunt fired a flare within, and Midhurst stuck his head inside to see a long hall within the walls of which began glowing through no evident mechanism as he looked.  A terrible roar came from within, and it was evident that it was here the beast had made its lair.

Several men entered, drawn up in firing lines with pistols and rifles, the Martian porters armed with pikes standing at the window-entrance to block its escape.  The beast, cornered, attacked smashing aside the unfortunate crewman Tompkins and though receiving a fusillade of shots made its way to the window where it ran on to the Martian pikes.  Though by now dying, it still managed to kill one Martian and seriously wound two others, including the one noted for his concealed high intelligence.

All emerged, and shot and stabbed the creature, which was revealed to be a fearsome steppe tiger.  It had claimed the lives of two men and a Martian and sorely wounded two more Martians, now not even its hide remained intact so great was the harm inflicted on it.

This past, the decision was taken to investigate its lair, with the curiously shining walls.  The walls themselves lost their light, but the ceiling started to glow, and gave the appearance of the night sky itself causing Midhurst to exclaim "My God!  It's full of stars!".  And so it was, so too it became evident that under the sand was some sort of large structure, the nature of which in part became clear when archaeologist Lord Winterton fell through some sort of floor covering which had been obscured by the sand.  Midhurst leapt after him in rescue, sadly landing on him and injuring both himself and the heretofore uninjured Lord Winterton, and both gazed up in awe as above their heads they could see the underside of a huge globe of the Earth itself, clearly part of a much larger device a part of which they had fallen through.

What is this mysterious Martian device?  What is the nature of this building with its uncanny glowing walls and star-strewn ceiling?  These and other matters the explorers considered as the day's events drew to a close.