“Ah, Jason!” he said, and vanished into the green again. The way the light refracted through the water vapour in the air, it seemed to be coming from all sides. Then there was the sound of a heavy switch being thrown and a loud extractor fan whirred into life. The vapour billowed into the small box vents that dotted the ceiling, and Jason wondered how powerful a fan you would need to take the air with them. Someone was probably working on that on one of the deeper sub-levels.
“You’re probably wondering why I called you here,” said Paine, putting a test tube full of the vapour in a rack. It seemed to be lit from within by the same green light. “I won’t mince words with you: We’ve made contact.”

Chapter One