As they continued to creep along the corridor it began to bear to the right. An open panel in the ceiling rained a constant stream of sparks. James walked beside Yula, with Grant just in front and Austin leading the way. Though the whole group's pace was cautious, Grant seemed particularly jumpy and flinched at every loud crackle. He hugged the wall, too busy watching the sparks to notice much else about his surroundings.

As they crept past an open doorway to a pitch-black side room, Grant slipped on something, causing James and Yula to stop dead behind him. Grant pointed his torch at the floor to see what he'd trodden on. He shrieked and jumped away, knocking into Austin.

'What in the hell are you doing, Grant? You nearly gave me a heart attack!' Austin hissed.

Grant pointed at the object lying on the floor without saying a word. James and the others shone their lights on it in unison.

'Is that what I think it is?' asked Yula.

James couldn't see her face very well through her helmet, but he could tell by her tone that she was disgusted. He stepped over and gingerly picked up the strange-looking yet familiar form from the small, dark pile of metallic dust. He turned it over in his hands. The object was long and pale beige in colour; it was semi-translucent, and covered in a fine transparent down. At one end there was a large msss of bone which was covered in the blue liquid they had seen before. The other end gave way to a palm and three slender, sharpened fingers which were knobbly and curled.

'Well...' said James with similar disgust in his voice. 'At least now we know they have hands.'