whimsical mood

Rating = GEN, Mystery
Season = S2 (Avon,Vila)

I'm in a whimsical writing mood at the moment so I'm going to try something.

The first three people to contribute a (single) word...I will try to come up with a drabble which will use all three. They can be as related or as unrelated as possible.

Caveat...I write GEN only so keep that in mind please. 

The three words are in:  limestone, telepathy and domesticated

Great job on 3 totally unrelated words...now what have I gotten myself into...

Here is the story. It ended up being a bit longer than a drabble...
Thank you to: entropy_house   , vilakins  and  linda_joyce for contributing the words.

The Collection

"The locals say this place is haunted," said Vila.

"There are no such thing as ghosts," was Avon's response.

Then why are you looking nervous too, thought Vila.

The two were making their way carefully along a dark corridor. It was so dark that their hand torches barely made any difference. There were many statues along the passageway; some were of people and some were of domesticated animals. When the light from their hand torches reached the statues, it threw menacing  shadows across their path.

Some of the statues were so realistic that they almost seemed alive.

Blake had sent Avon and Vila on a scouting mission to find the source of a distress beacon signal.

Vila reflected how unfair it was that whenever there was somewhere unpleasant to be scouted out, Blake always sent the two of them down.

"If this was Freedom City or Space City, I bet it wouldn't be us down here," remarked Vila.

"Of course not," said Avon. He was having the same thought.

As the hand torches played across the walls and floors, it revealed a white substance. Avon reached out and touched the wall. It was hard and had a fine, almost chalky texture.

Limestone, thought Avon. He knew that many ancient buildings on Earth were made of this material. This building reminded him of the old pictures he had seen in historical books. There were even ancient handles on the doors.

Odd. Our hand torches should be providing more light against a white surface.

Avon was getting an uneasy feeling. It had nothing to do with ghosts or apparitions of any kind.

"Avon, shouldn't our torches be providing more light?," asked Vila. "These walls are white."

Avon looked at Vila sharply. He wondered if Vila had some latent telepathy.

They continued walking; their senses were on heightened alert. It was eerily quiet.

"There isn't anything here," said Vila after they had searched the entire building. "Let's go back."

"You may be right, Vila."

That almost makes all of this worthwhile, Vila thought to himself. Avon didn't often say that to him.

"There is one last door," said Avon. He reached his hand towards the handle and opened the door. The light was on inside. Avon drew his hand gun before they entered.

There was another human statue inside the room. At least, it looked like all of the other statues which lined the corridor; until it moved. It was a man with a chalky white complexion. Like the limestone walls.

Vila dropped his torch.

"Ahhh, gentlemen," the man greeted them. "Have you come to join my collection?" he asked.

His voice sent shivers down their spines.

"Avon, let's get out of here!" Vila said just as Avon tapped on his teleport bracelet.

"Jenna, bring us up now."

The two men's forms shimmered and disappeared just as the chalky complexioned man was about to press a button which would have activated a paralyzing field.