Kaleb rested for what he thought must have been another few bells, staying awake the whole time in case the pillar rotated and he was thrown off. Yet oddly, he never felt any alteration in the direction of the parallel field. He thought that perhaps he had been mistaken. He sat himself up and sipped water through his dry lips, which had happily been protected from the wind directly by his mask. Eventually, he raised himself to his feet, looking around at the stunted vegetation that reached his ankles scattered around the rocky ground. His legs still shook, and felt as if all the substance and strength had been extracted from them. He felt incredibly weak all over, and really wanted to rest, but he decided it was best to see where he had ended up. As he walked slowly and carefully over the irregular surface of the pillar fragment he began to realise that there was something odd about the structure. No matter how far he went, he didn’t feel the parallel field’s force on him in any other direction than towards the fragment.

As he continued, he found a sign that suggested it was wise of him to check where he had landed: a peculiar addition to the pillar in the form of metal rods with wires attached to them, leading to bags or locked cases. He found three of them. Does this mean someone else is here? He looked over the edge of an overhang and downward, but to his surprise, saw another rod sitting on what he assumed was the side of the fragment. Oddly enough, it seemed unaffected by the parallel field’s influence. A realisation gripped him, and prickled the back of his neck, gripped Kaleb. This pillar generates its own attractive field. He gingerly let himself down over the overhang, and realised that nothing was pulling him in any direction except towards the fragment’s centre. He let himself go and stood up again. Perhaps they’d rotated and spun in such a way that that was where the parallel field was directed? He continued to pass by yet more of the strange rods with their attachments. If anything, they provided proof that nothing fell off the fragment: some of them weren’t even attached to the pillar at all, simply weighed down with rocks. On a surface that rotated as this one did, it seemed illogical to do that unless the rotation and spin didn’t matter. But there was another problem that Kaleb needed to address: who had put them here in the first place?

He kept moving, wary of his surroundings. A set of grey gulls took to the air, but he paid them no mind. There was a variety of small shrubby plants growing on the surface of the pillar. They were plants like what gre on the exposed surfaces of Haethea, but there was much less dust gathered here. Rather, the plants seemed to have trapped the dust with their roots, and held onto the pillar with whatever they could. He guessed that if the pillar went through storms, any dust would simply blow right off, and as it rotated, there would be no protected side. This fragment was entirely windswept in other words; even more than Haethea.

Kaleb rose over a ridge and spied what he assumed was the abode of whoever else was on the pillar. He ducked back below the ridge and peeked out from behind it. The structure was made of cloth of some sort, a kind of pavilion or tent, and all around it were various pieces of equipment and strange structures like the rods he had seen earlier. The pavilion's fabric rippled in the gentle wind. Kaleb looked at it suspiciously, wondering what to do. The place didn’t seem to be abandoned, but there was also little sign of activity. He crept over the ridge and then around the perimeter of the site, hiding as best he could behind boulders and other outcrops. Who would the inhabitant be? Would they be friendly or dangerous? He hadn’t met people outside of the settlement except for a few travellers. He was both curious and intrepid about who he might be sharing this particular fragment with. Maybe it is abandoned, he thought as he waited for something to happen for nearly a full half bell. He shrugged his shoulders and approached the tent more courageously, hiding himself as best he could from what was the opening. He paused every few minutes and then finally allowed himself to get close enough to touch the fabric, at which point he slowly reached out, trembling, wondering if he could peek inside.

“Hold it!”

He jumped and turned around, to see a tall thin man, unshaven and looking a lot worse for wear, suddenly rising from behind a boulder off to his right. The man had obviously been hunting him, just as Kaleb had been lurking around the perimeter. Kaleb gulped: the man had a coil, much like those that were sewn into the windsuit; a thick tubular bracelet, around his right wrist. It was suspended off his skin, and Kaleb felt the familiar prickle of field generation. The difference was, this man had spikes. Kaleb could feel the powerful pressure of the field he was generating. Kaleb raised his arms in surrender. There was no way he could go against that power.

“So you’re the one that’s been messing with my research?” the man asked in an exasperated tone. At least he didn’t seem aggressive. “I was wondering what all that interference with my monitoring stations was. What do you want?”

“Ah, I’m…sorry about that. Um, I’m trying to get to cable city”

“Huh? Well, you’re a bit out of the way, why are you really here?”

“Ah, no, I’m sorry but I swear! That's the truth. I’m from Haethea… it’s um, a pillar all by itself in the mist. I fell for about ten bells, and then I glided here, I’m sorry, I was very tired after falling so far. I needed to rest. I promise I’ll be gone in the morning!”

The man looked puzzled as Kaleb rattled off his apology.

“You fell?”

“Yes”

“On purpose? Whatever for? Wait, wait! Could it be… you don’t have spikes? You’re from a place that doesn’t have them?”

“Yes, that’s right. I’m sorry about messing up your research. Um… is this your home? Please forgive me for approaching so carelessly.” Kaleb tried to apologise again, sweat on his brow as he watched the suspended coil. There wasn’t any excuse to get so close to someone’s abode like that, and now it was possible he would pay the price. Maybe he could get away? The man didn’t seem particularly alert or to have a very good reaction time. Even with spikes aligned against him, maybe he could do it. But where would he go then? He cast his gaze about the mists, but they were still a long way away from anything. If anything, he was even more isolated now than when he’d been at home.

“No spikes?! Hmmm… well I can’t say I didn’t think you might be here to steal my research… it’s not impossible you know, but I can’t imagine any of my rivals would send an unarmed kid in to do their dirty work… and…” he paused and cocked his head. “No spikes?” he repeated,

“really?”

“Yes”

Then the man approached, and Kaleb took a step back, but his coils discharged harmlessly and the static flavour of field generation dissipated. His casual approach took Kaleb off guard, and when raised his hands again, Kaleb flinched back and fell over.

“Oh sorry!” the man stopped and stepped back “please forgive me, that was awfully rude of me, sauntering up like that. I’m Iowara, a researcher at the independent meteorological institute… I am afraid I haven’t had to speak to anyone in a few years, please forgive my rude manners!” he said ruefully. He offered Kaleb a hand, but Kaleb rose to his feet by himself.

“I’m pleased to meet you, Mr. Iowara-”

“Oh, it’s just Iowara”

“-Iowara, then… I’m Kaleb, like I said, I am going to cable city”

The man chuckled, and then pointed to Kaleb’s arms

“Do you mind?”

“Sorry?”

“Do you mind if I check, see if I can’t sense any… any spikes?”

“Oh.. ah, sure.”

Iowara reached out his arms, and the coils once again rose off his skin, and the prickling of the field brushed against Kaleb’s skin. It was a peculiar sensation, he thought, like a shower of rain.

“Yes, incredible.”

“Incredible?”

“You don’t have a single spike in your body, do you?”

“No”

“This is a most peculiar thing for me, you know. There are so few who don’t, and of those even fewer who speak the same tongue as I do… if I were from the anthropological department I would surely kill for this opportunity! … ah, not literally of course.” The man seemed to be winding himself up, and Kaleb looked on in amusement at the man’s enthusiastic absorption in his topics. Kaleb couldn’t help himself, he felt the warm feeling of friendliness blossoming in his chest towards this odd person. Was he being deceived? He looked at the man, and deemed the possibility exceedingly unlikely.

“Well, let’s not sit outside like this, then, I’ll take a punt and believe you –would you like to come in?” the man indicated the tent, and raised one of its flaps “it’s not so nice out… oh, ah... that is, if you want to? I am not familiar with the customs of your people, though I must admit that our being able to converse is an absolute treat. We can eat and drink and you can tell me all about how it is you came to be here, I’m most interested! …”

Kaleb looked around at the mists, wondering at the peculiar occurrence that had followed on the tail of his escape, then he looked at the sparkling eyes of his new acquaintance. He had wanted to see the world and have an adventure after all, and meeting new people required trust, didn’t it?

“Thank you for the invitation, I will accept it, though my story is not very interesting” and then they walked inside the pavilion.