Author's Note: This story is now also available as part of the omnibus collection Xenofestation Sequence 2 - Precepta Secundo. Disaster strikes, in deep space and beneath the sucking mud of a remote planet, as scouts, pilots and participants in the Xenoplantation Programme face their greatest challenges and their deepest fears yet. Success means freedom or riches, but one wrong move, one step too far, and their rash actions may consume them. For the Chimes of Doom are only a few steps away…