Bernice Summerfield is heading an expedition on Terra Roxa to search for information on the igo plant. Terra Roxa's sun is at solar maximum, and the auroras are at their strongest. While one of Benny's students, known to Benny privately as Thing Two, is using the digger, a coffee room is discovered underneath another building. As they dig deeper, Thing Two, whose real name is Jade, is injured. Benny has her other student, Thing One, take Jade to the nearest town, while Benny remains at the dig with Sarger E!xhares, a man from a planet with no women.