Ben and the fat old man were standing in front of an unremarkable door in a long, dark corridor. However, this place was already five hundred metres underground of the Asgard. The corridor behind them was quiet, and there was no sign of anyone, but the monitors hidden in the blind corners and walls kept a full record of every passing person.

The Asgard's central brain would allocate 10% of their energy to monitor the corridor. Anyone who entered the corridor would immediately ...