Biarni     Biarni shivered as the cold of between lingered though they were in the sky again. She was dressed warmly but the cold of Between seeped below clothes, chilling something deep inside her.

"Welcome to Falas Hold," Ker't told her as they circled down to land on the green in front of the hold. "Home of an assortment of holders and the famous FGPC."

Biarni accepted help down from Barahirth's back though she really didn't need it. She looked around at her home, for now anyway, curiously. It looked the same as any hold she'd been to, but not as old looking. It had an undescribable quality to it that Biarni couldn't quite put her finger on. "Where is the FGPC?" she asked, eyeing the stately main building.

"It's a little ways down the way, it has its own separate building," Ker't explained. "One of the scientists should be meeting us shortly."

Sure enough, they had not been on the ground more than a few minutes when a short, middle-aged woman with a stately walk came out to meet them. "So," she began, her voice husky and deep but not lacking approval, "you are the newest Candidate. Welcome. I am Carthell, a scientist here at the FGPC. I will show you the dragon eggs and then escort you to your dorm."

"Merry meet, Carthell," Biarni replied. "I'm Biarni."

Carthell smiled. "Yes, I know. Oh, don't look so suprised. It's nothing more than flit mail. Fardles. Some people. Think just because we have some fancy do-dads that we do everything with technology."

Biarni grinned. "Well, I've never been to the FGPC, so I don't really know what to expect."

"Don't expect too much," Carthell cautioned. "This is our first dragon clutch ever Hatched at the FGPC, and we're still figuring out what to expect. But come on, we're wasting time."

Biarni found herself dragged along by the energetic Carthell and hoped her bags would find her way to her dorm. "Don't worry about your bags," Carthell assured her with uncanny timing. "They'll get where they need to go."

"So, where are we going anyway?" Biarni asked. Her surroundings were getting less and less like the Pern she knew and more and more like... well, she didn't know what they were like. They struck some chord of recognition deep inside her, though she didn't know from where.

"To the incubation caverns," Carthell explained. "They're made to simulate a normal hatching cavern for dragons but they're made out of metal, not stone."

The incubation caverns were indeed like nothing Biarni had ever seen in her wide travels. They were made of a steely gray metal and curved up to a point at least a dragonlength or two above her head. The Sands, which she was at the edge of, were a golden color and in them lay countless eggs. Teams of scientists were among them, examining and testing them. "How many are there?" she breathed, amazed at the sheer number of them.

"Forty-five," Carthell replied, and Biarni detected a note of motherly pride in the scientist's voice. "They're going to be good sized young dragons. The pride of Falas Weyr and the FGPC both."

Biarni lingered for a few more minutes before Carthell told her it was time she left for her dorm. She reluctantly left, watching the eggs through the doorway until the metal door closed with a clank behind them.

She followed Carthell across a courtyard to a group of more tall, metal buildings. Carthell entered one and conferred breifly with a man at a desk and then beckoned for Biarni to come forward. "This," Carthell introduced the man, "is Feddlen. He'll show you to your room. He's the steward for this dorm."

Carthell left before Biarni could ask exactly what a "dorm" was. Feddlen led her up a flight of stairs to a room with another of those handleless doors on it. He slipped a peice of plastic into a slit to the side of the door and it opened, revealing a strange looking room. "Your dorm, Biarni," he said, and, bowing left.

Biarni looked around in amazement. There was a plastic card like Feddlen's lying on a table beside the door and Biarni picked it up and tried opening the door to her room a few times. When she got back in, she made a horrifying discovery. There was not a glow basket in sight! But the room was brightly lit. Biarni insintively looked up and saw that a ball of light seemed to hover there. Biarni studied it for a moment and guessed it was something the scientists at the FGPC had made.

Biarni flopped down on the bed and gazed up at the unfamiliar ceiling. It was like another world here, and she had much to learn. Like what, for example, was that big box in the corner? Biarni sighed. So much to learn.