Prisons of Ice and Fire

Desert Domes

The journey time to the desert Domes was set at four days.

The instructions were simple: a crate of dimension six feet by three feet by three feet had been put in safe storage on the ship. On our arrival I was to get it loaded onto the dune rover and drive it twenty miles north to the Oasis then another five miles east.

I was to unload it and return to the ship, simple as that.

I would be bored the rest of the night till sunrise as the others unloaded the cargo. As soon as the sun hit the horizon I was to drive back out to the Oasis and retrieve the crate.

If that sounded odd that would be because it was odd.

There were rumours that the Cult had some contact with the few nomads of the desert but that was all. If it was just an experiment, how was it to work? There was no mention of unpacking or even a bill of contents, let alone anything else. Why retrieve the crate after a night? It all made no sense, so I read the other two pages.

The first thing the note said was to destroy all the paperwork immediately after reading.

This would be no problem: I could after all simply throw it overboard.

The note then went on to say that the crew would no doubt inspect the crate. They would find no way of opening it for starters: no screws, nails or clips of any kind externally visible. They would not be stupid enough to try and risk breaking into it.

They would probably then try to scan it, having received the equipment from the Heptet before departure. They would detect metal and a power source but that was all.

I would probably be interrogated about the whole thing at various times, so the less I knew the better.

The most interesting part was that I was promised that I would find out more on returning the crate.

The only strange thing the crew would find would be that the crate weighed more on its return.

If anyone, including myself, tried to watch the crate overnight, they would not return; indeed they would never be seen or heard of again. That didn’t bother me as I had my instructions.

If the Captain was stupid enough to risk his crew or, indeed, had been ordered to by the Heptet, then I would be surprised as nothing was more important than our work at this particular time of the year. On reflection, I’m sure that was something the Cult was keenly aware of.

The Domes where designed to let in enough of the light but to keep the temperature suitable for the plants growing inside them. Nutrified by algae hoovered from the ocean and watered by our deliveries, the system worked for what it was designed to do. It would be possible for people to live under the Domes, but the conditions outside made it not worth the while; the sun strength made the risk of burns highly likely and the ambient heat too high to do much work and certainly was not pleasurable.

At least on the Stilt Cities not much was required in terms of energy to just maintain the status quo.

Being built just a short distance away from the coast in order to get some benefit from the cooling sea water meant that delivering our cargo from the small harbour to the Domes was not too challenging. However, beyond the natural 'breaksand' of the ridge that protected the peninsular of the Domes from the roving dunes, nothing was guaranteed.

It turned out that the crate was heavier than expected.

We made good time and arrived at dusk on the fourth day. The crew managed to load the crate onto the rover although it took much manoeuvring. The crane on board unshipped it and the hydraulic winch on the back of the rover hauled it in and secured it.