[hider=OOC]Sorry this took so long. The site was down when I got home yesterday, so I ran out of time when it finally came back up.[/hider]

"Perfectly. One moment; I need to check the List."

He looks at it over his shoulder for a couple of seconds. Despite this being nowhere near enough time for anyone to take in the sheer volume of text, he seems to be satisfied.

"Nothing outstanding. Follow me, please."

He leads her through the Market and then dives into a twisting warren of passages excavated through the ruins and rubble of Ancient structures. This in itself is his first defense; many would-be thieves simply got lost in the labyrinth. Tom knew every passage by heart, and could walk it blindfold. After five minutes or so, he began stopping at seemingly random intervals to gabble out strange phrases or tap complex patterns on apparently innocuous rocks.

"Deactivating the security systems." he says by way of explanation. "If I didn't, we'd be ash by now."

After another five minutes or so, the labyrinth opens out into a clear area about a hundred meters on a side. In the center is a ten-story Ancient building, mostly intact. The front door is elaborately engraved with Ancient designs, and projects a ray of blue light at Tom as he walks towards it. It runs him from head to foot, flashes once, then turns on Ren. It scans her, but this time it turns red and two double-barreled turrets pop up out of concealed alcoves and target her. Tom raises his hands quickly.

"Guest permitted on authorization Tom. Deactivate lightspears."

There's a tense moment of silence, and then the turrets retract.

"Damn, that was close. I'd forgotten about those."

He strides in through the doors. In the central hall, taking pride of place, are three Core Sockets, each with an Ancient Core inside, glowing blue. Countless wires and cables run from them in all directions. As the pair approach, the one on the right, flickers, buzzes and then goes out. The lights follow quickly.

"Damn! Why can't the stupid thing just work?! I've tried everything I know..."

He irritably pulls a pair of strange tools from a pocket inside his coat. One is long and thin, the other short with two prongs and a button on the handle. He moves over to the dead core and pokes the long tool into one of the gaps the blue light shines from, prodding it around. After a few moments, he grunts in satisfaction and applies the pronged tool. He presses the button and a flash of blue is visible for a second, then the Core buzzes and switches on again. The lights return to functionality.

"That should hold for a few hours. Lab's this way."

Approaching a square door set into one wall, he pushes a button next to it. There's a whirring, grinding noise from inside, and then the doors slide open to reveal a small room, maybe two meters on a side.

"This is a Cable Box. It's an Ancient Device that carries you up and down inside a building. Only functional one in the whole of the Ruins, as far as I know."

Something seems to occur to him.

"I forgot to ask your name, didn't I? I'm Tom, if you hadn't guessed from when I shut the lightspears down."