He was lying on the floor of a strange, small hut made of some seamless, smooth, white material. He saw no seams or planks that might give a hint to the hut's construction, so this could not be some kind of unfamiliar lumber. Grimm reached out a cautious hand to touch the white wall, and he could not feel the distinctive chill of metal, either. He saw a device of metal, glass and crystal standing in the centre of the structure, emitting a warm, orange radiation that heated and illuminated the hut, although he saw neither flame nor smoke.

"This must be Technology," Grimm muttered, his rasping voice tinged with awe. The art of Technology was thought long-dead, but the mage could see no other explanation for these bizarre wonders.

"Technology it is," a deep voice said behind the mage.

Grimm tried to spin round, but he ended up falling in an untidy heap on the unnatural, white floor as dizziness robbed him of his sense of balance. Standing over him, he saw a man unlike any other he had seen.

Round, steel-rimmed spectacles covered pale, blue eyes set in a clean-shaven face. The man's clothes were green, with no seam or buttons Grimm could see, and he wore a strange helmet of another strange material, with odd protrusions and spikes emerging from it at various angles.

"I see you have your magic baton," the man said, regarding the floating Redeemer with nervous, furtive eyes. "I knew better than to try to pick it up: I've seen people badly hurt after trying to handle them."

Grimm growled, "Who are you? What do you want with us?"

"My name is Jim Foster. I don't mean any harm, I promise you. Please, put your staff down. I'm not ready to die yet"

Grimm saw Redeemer's brass-shod head hovering only inches from his rescuer's head, and he ordered it to withdraw a few feet.

"If I hadn't chanced upon your group while flying a recon mission," Foster said, still regarding Redeemer with wary eyes, "you would have all died. I put up this plastic prefab as a temporary shelter until you got over your altitude acclimatisation syndrome."