N-XS accessed her auditory suite of sensors, listening with three times the sensitivity of a Rigellian hound. She heard nothing. No breathing or footsteps, but it hadn't sounded like footsteps.

"It sounded like metal scraping on metal."

To say N-XS felt fear would be a misnomer. She did not have a fear protocol, or at least not exactly. But she felt anxious. And vulnerable.

The song had ended, and a new track had begun playing on Comms. She had to access her data repository to identify the artist - Sir Nicholas Cave and his orchestra.

"Where secrets lie in the border fires, in the humming wires. Hey man, you know you're never coming back..."