We Leapt Into the Sky

Chapter 12

Kendra, Bria, and Seph neared the ruins in the early morning. The full moons cast an eerie glow over the sand as the sky burned reddish-orange with the sunrise.

"We need to be careful," Bria said, parking her bike in the shadow of the plateau. "The ground may be unstable."

The rover pulled up beside Bria, and Seph's voice rang out over the comms. "Antony, can you hear us from here?"

The comms crackled, and Antony yawned loudly. "What is it? I was sleeping."

Seph clapped his hand to his mouth. "Oh shoot, I'm sorry!"

Antony gave a short laugh. "I'm kidding; I haven't been able to sleep."

"Right, we wanted to tell you we reached the ruins," Seph said.

"Are you feeling okay, Antony?" Kendra asked.

"Yeah, more or less."

Bria glanced between Kendra and Seph. "Listen, we'll collect samples of those crystals and head back afterward."

"We'll be back as soon as we can, alright?" Kendra said.

"I know," Antony replied. "I'll see you later. And thank you for doing this for me."

"Of course, Antony," Kendra said.

They approached the location of the first set of caverns they had visited within the plateau. The hole where they had seen the Asteracean building was even wider than before, and sand cascaded into it. It remained too difficult to descend into the cavern through the hole, so they headed to the entrance farther up the cliffs. With some maneuvering, Seph steered the rover on the path up the stone steps and into the tunnel. Inside the cave, more light streamed in through the cracks above. The rover hummed, its wheels crunching against the sand. Kendra and Bria walked beside it until they returned to the cavern with the pit of crystals.

Seph frowned as he surveyed the dimly lit cavern. "Let's get this done," he said. "Bria, do you want to calibrate the stasis field generators?"

"Yeah, will do."

Kendra crossed the chamber, scouting the area for crystal samples outside of the pit. She reached the wall. The ground had shifted, and she braced her hand against the stone as she stepped over a fissure.

There was a glint of light.

Near her gloved hand was a small patch of crystals, each only inches long. They glinted with purple light, and as she touched the edge of one, it crumbled.

Unbidden, an image of her husband entered her mind. They were at the lake with his parents. Jerome sat out on the dock and fished through the morning, while Kendra caught a couple of fish in the first hour before boredom set in. She wandered down the beach and found a rock to sit on and watch the lake. Tall, purple seaweed floated and swayed in the water, and she put her hand in, watching the plants flow around her fingers.

Kendra pulled her hand away from the cavern wall. She returned to Seph, who scowled at his tablet. "This darn thing is taking so long. It's been stuck at 79% for a full minute."

"Found some crystal clusters nearby. They look like the active sort," she said.

"Right, let's get samples from those," Seph said. He held up a sample collection bottle with the metal probes of a miniature stasis field generator attached to it. Holding the bottle over the crystal cluster, he turned on the generator, and it buzzed.

Using his laser, he cut the ends of the crystals away from the wall and capped the bottle, leaving them floating, suspended inside.

"That's one," Kendra said as they walked back to the rover.