The Glass Weaver | A Novel #Wattys2018 #Wattys2019

Chapter 5

Corrig barely made it into the car before Parker sped off towards my warehouse. I originally bought this place so I could have a cool hideout, but when I found out that a ship has been salvaged from the crash, I put it here so I could try and figure out how best to fix it and have it be able to be sent off into space. Guess I would be missing dinner, again. Sighing, I looked at the busy streets and when the car came up upon the warehouse, I pulled out my ID and showed the officer currently on duty. He nodded and we drove on in.

Parker pulled into a parking space and I rushed to get out. My ID unlocked the door and several other doors that were made as a precautionary measure. The light inside of the warehouse was dim, but I knew that to humans this would be pitch black. Swiping my ID over the light switch, I watched as the dusty space swiftly turn into a soft amber light that enveloped the entire warehouse. Cracking a smile, I hurried to my desk to the right.

"You have dinner with your parents, do you not?" Corrig questioned, looking over my shoulder.

"But they can wait. I know that they have gotten the same text as I did from Jazz. She's awake and nearing Aquarius. She clearly stated that she has awoken earlier than expected and has reached Aquarius. Now, if only I could find some fuel, that would be amazing." I growled, looking him in the eyes.

"Jazz? She wasn't supposed to wake for another few months."

"Yes, I know. But that means that she burnt more fuel and probably won't have enough to go back and forth from Aquarius to the moon Leos. Hell, she might be able to do runs from Aquarius to Taur'Os."

I swiped my hand across the screen until I saw the ship appear. Pushing the button to my side, I watched as it ascended from the ground. It was rusting a little, but it was mostly damaged from the entrance into the atmosphere of this planet. Humans have told me that this ozone layer protects them from their sun's harmful rays, but I believe that it is meant to destroy alien lifeforms. My kind cannot breathe in straight oxygen, it is just like a fish out of water. We would suffocate on it. What Aquarians breathe is a mixture of nitrogen and oxygen. Nitric oxide or nitrogen monoxide. Alone, we can breathe oxygen and nitrogen, but they must be together when we breathe it.

Inspecting the ship, I looked for the fuel compartment. It was tricky to find to the untrained eye, but I knew exactly where it was once I knew what side of the ship I was on. Pushing the side, the container's lid lifted into the ship, revealing a small tank of fuel. What the fuel is made of is made from a rock and organic oils. On Earth, there is no such rock that has the same properties. The oils I can make easily with the starches, such as corn. The oils that the ship needs to run are ethanol and palm oil.

But the other thing that the ship needed, a rock that I have only found on my home planet and was called Hyro. It was a water-based rock that took the minerals in from the sea and formed rocks. Mom surely had some, but they wouldn't accept Earth's ocean water, saltwater lakes, freshwater rivers, or any glacial forms of the water.

"Do you know the other component for the fuel yet?" Corrig inquired, appearing next to me suddenly.

"No, I cannot find a rock on this planet that has the same properties as the Hyro. We have the ethanol and the palm oil, but the only rocks that have come remotely close to the consistency and properties of Hyro are limestone, sandstone, and carbonatite. I've tried combining them, but it has only ended in failure. Look at this, carbonatite has rare materials that humans use. Some of those minerals are much like the ones at home."

Corrig looked at my tablet intensely, as if he was trying to remember everything on it. When he passed it back, he held a puzzled look on his face, "These rare minerals, what are they? Maybe these rare minerals could be the solution to our problem?"