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open it.
                The dark shape exploded outward without warning as a shrill scream ripped through the air.

Chapter 5
    Threes
     
     
                Kyber’s reactions were instinctive. Extending his talons, he snarled and launched himself at the black vapor pouring out of the apartment. It was thick and acidic, burning his throat and lungs when he inhaled. It was also formless, folding around him like so much vapor. His brain told him this wasn’t an enemy he could defeat, and his focus shifted. Throwing out his arms, he searched for Kelen.
    His left elbow struck something at hip level. Grabbing it, he quickly backed up, out of the cloud. Someone wrapped their fingers around his belt and helped him retreat.
    When they were free of the mass, he dropped to his knees, coughing and gasping. Beside him, Kelen lay limp and unresponsive. He glanced up to see Sandow already scrambling over to them to check her out. The others moved away to give them room. As for the noxious fog…
    “Where did it go?” he managed to croak.
    “It floated upward and evaporated,” Gaveer remarked, pointing at the arched ceiling.
    Massapa squatted beside him. “Are you well? What was it?”
    “Well, whatever it was, it obviously wasn’t able to escape on its own,” Fullgrath drawled. “My guess is it was trapped in that place, and Chambliss had the bad luck to choose that door to open.”
    “Could it be another creature from this world?” Jules wondered aloud.
    “There’s no telling,” Mellori answered. “I bet we haven’t met a fraction of the life forms this planet has to offer.”
    “And all of them unfriendly,” Tojun stoically intoned.
    Kyber nodded in agreement. He managed to get to his feet and trudged over to another door. The others automatically moved to the side, prepared for whatever might rush out at them. Slapping the symbol, the Seneecian steeled himself. The door dropped into the floor…
    And nothing.
    He gave it another couple of seconds, then glanced inside. Behind him, someone thrust a torch closer. Shadows from the flames danced across the inner walls, but nothing menacing tried to accost them. Reaching around the opening, his fingers found the light symbol and pressed it. The room brightened to show it was empty.
    “It appears safe.” He waved for them to follow and stepped inside, palming the lock again to keep the doorway open. Fullgrath, Mellori, and Massapa joined him.
    He quickly found the symbols and pointed them out. “There. Those three curving ones. They designate food and water.” Kyber paused as he continued to stare at the glowing marks. Massapa noticed.
    “What are you thinking?”
    “I’m thinking…”
    Three marks. We’re inside a nonagon.
    A quick check over at the doorway confirmed what he suspected. There were three marks there, also.
    Curving lines for food. Straight lines for doors. A circle for a sun and light.
    He spotted the circular glyph. Next to it were two more similar but different symbols.
    “You got that look on your face,” Fullgrath commented. “You think you’re on to something, don’t you?”
    “I think Kelen may have stumbled upon a very important discovery,” Kyber admitted. “The apartments, these symbols, they’re in groups of three. In multiples of three.”
    Mellori picked up his train of thought. “You’re thinking this civilization is rooted in a trinary system, rather than a binary system? That everything they built and utilized is somehow connected into being grouped in threes, sixes, or nines?”
    Leaning over, Fullgrath pressed one of the curved symbols. After a moment, the panel slid open to reveal a blue pancake.
    “I only got one.”
    “Try again,” Mellori and Kyber chorused together.
    A second try gained the ex-weapons master a second pancake. Without being asked, he went for a third, receiving a third. But on his fourth try, nothing.
    “Well, I’ll be. It dispenses three, but no more.”
    “I think we’re on