The Reconnaissance Clock

CHAPTER 2 THE BURDEN OF MORSO

The night approached and the wind increased its speed. The moon was a sliver of what seemed to be a full circle a night ago. Time seemed to go past more quickly these days. There were no more ships flying in the sky making sounds but there was odd animal like sounds that came from the distance that Morso was unfamiliar with. The sand spiders were spelunking down the sides of the ravine but not bothering the party of three. Prirmenha shared some tea with Flel and he was surprised at how well prepared she was. It is as if she had predicted to be lost in the dunes for a month. Flel drank some lemon tea and spoke to Morso "Do you think we could use your remote viewing to find the Clock?". Morso responded "No, it doesn't work like that. I have to have seen what I am looking for previously to be able to look for it. I can find landmarks if I have been to them before and be able to visualize them. I can find people if I have seen what they look like. Most of the transhumants have 'that look' and I can see them as well. If we were to get separated I could find you both." Flel looked intrigued, "So if I were to find a picture of the clock then you would be able to find it?" "Not exactly" responded Morso, "I would still not know where to look, and it could possibly not even be on this planet." Prirmenha butted in, "That's a shame, but we all have our limitations I suppose. Sometimes I feel like when I lose my books that they could be on another planet after I search the entire faction grounds for them." There was a collective laugh and their spirits were raised a bit. Morso was clearly having trouble concentrating when he started to remote view the transhumants over the hill. He was shaking and having some withdrawal from the sand spirits. The water in the ravine was not drinkable but sufficed for bathing and in turns they bathed while they made sure someone was standing guard. Prirmenha went first and looked at Morso "So if you wanted you could see -". Morso stopped her there and said "You are safe with me." Morso took breaks from his remote viewing while Flel bathed and then while Prirmenha bathed out of respect but nervously stood guard.

While Flel was bathing his foot hit something hard at the bottom of the ravine. He felt for it and found it to be a bone. It did not look like any bone from any of the animals on Kvasir and dried it, and himself, off and went back to the tent with it. Morso was standing guard but Prirmenha was nowhere to be found. It was a gut instinct of fear that Flel felt and frantically grabbed onto Morso. "Where is Prirmehna?" "She is asleep, she passed out right after you went to go bathe. I will go check on her." Morso walked to Prirmehna's tent and found only her supplies and all of her belongings. While Flel had been bathing, Morso had spent his time trying to remote view his own family and not the transhumants but during this time it was completely silent and there was no reason to worry that their camp had been found.

Worried, Morso walked further down into the ravine. The people of Turon were mostly decedents of a highly politically involved leader on earth. They believed that every life was important, even criminals who have committed murder. Abortions were a very important issue among the Turon and they believed that abortions should not be done by any means. This led to many agreements with the mutants that benefitted them greatly, but they were also regarded of having higher morals than many of the other factions. Morso walked down the ravine like his life depended on finding Prirmehna. The rocks at the bottom of the ravine were sharp and wet. Some sprinkles of rain were still cascading down the rocks and dirt from above. For a moment, the carefulness of Morso's steps helped him forget the consequences of him going to the Godhand. Finally, Prirmenha was seen fingering some sort of skull near a puddle where the ravine ended opposite their camp. He approached her and his boots were completely soaked in water.

Prirmenha saw how wet Morso was, "Morso, sorry I sneaked off like this but I hate to say it, but nature called and I found a trail of bones that led to this skull." Morso approached her careful to not slip on the wet rocks. He reached down to take the skull. "Human. This is a human skull." Morso identified, not regarding anything else around him. "Yes, I fear that the transhumants or the animals around here have been busy. Look there, there is still some skin and muscle attached at the rim." At this time Flel's curiosity got the best of him and had approached them. He had the bone that he had found in the water as well. "I wonder why the bones are strewn all around like this. It is like they were leaving a trail of breadcrumbs. Like they were trying to mark this ravine." "It is likely that they were trying to throw off anyone that would find them above the ravine" Morso responded. "It appears to me that they just threw the bones down here to dispose of the evidence. I mean, you found that bone in the bottom of the water over there. Someone has definitely been trying to cover it up. It's not the work of an animal. The bones were not even buried." The ravine was near a part of an area that was common for factions to travel on but existed several yards off of the usual trails. The party proceeded to bury the bones at the end of the ravine and hiked back to the tent. Morso carried a notebook with him and wrote the location of where they had found the bones for later use if necessary. He was still shaking with some of the withdrawals and knew that his memory wasn't what it used to be.