Tresille's stomach floated into her ribcage as Stone dove downward. The sensation was exhilarating and nauseating. Tresille then saw what Keylin was running away from. A cat. It was an oversized cat obviously, and its coat was unlike anything from the databases at home, but it was a cat about as tall as Keylin and twice as long, it had one long tri colored stripe that started at the nose and ended on the tail. From outside in, the stripe was Red, then Yellow, and finally a thin line of black in the center, the rest of the pelt was a dirty brown. The cat was having little trouble keeping pace with Keylin, despite her incredible acrobatics.

"What is that?" yelled Tresille.

"I have not seen it before" Said Stone.

The terrain had transitioned from destroyed groove of thick branched trees to a tall grassy meadow. Keylin had run out of surfaces when she reached the meadow, meaning all she could do was a dead sprint. The cat was almost at Keylin's heels. Stone dove down quicker, accelerating so quickly it hurt Tresille's spine.

"Tell her to jump" yelled Stone over the roaring wind. Tresille doubted Keylin would react in time given their speed, hoping the max range was an underestimate, Tresille began screaming “Jump Jump Jump!”. Keylin didn't jump, but the cat did.

Stone ascended up high into the sky, Tresille in one hand, and a cat in the other. Holding the cat by the nape of its neck, and giving it the greatest view of its life seemed to have calmed the feline significantly. Everything was so much smaller and weaker in the Lowlands. Stone had never seen a cat so small before, yet it did not look like a kitten. Stone was unsure what to do with the small animal, he could not fault the cat for hunting down a smaller prey, He looked at Tresille, and she was staring at the cat blankly. Perhaps she too had never seen such an animal, Stone glided over to the three fingers, deciding to drop the cat off at speed and see if Henry was already there. The rock formation had a large platform on top of one of the fingers, it looked difficult to climb down from. Stone slowed and did his best to gently drop the cat onto the ledge. lust after dropping off the cat, Tresille shook her head and came out of the trance.

"Wait, no what?" she said. "Stone, after we get Keylin you have to get that cat back! It's important" Stone nodded and resumed his flight back to Keylin. This time as they approached Keylin was waving and jumping up and down. Stone and Tresille decided it was an invitation, and Stone did a gentle swoop to catch her.

“What did you do with the cat?” Sent Keylin

“Stone dropped it off on top of the rocks” Tresille replied.

“They why are we going back to the rocks? Why-?” Keylin was interrupted by their bumpy descent. Stone was already back to the rock formation and was attempting to do a softer landing. Keylin saw the devil cat circling around the top of the rocks. Fortunately it didn't look like it could come down. Keylin then looked down and saw their landing site, there stood Henry, looking as smug as ever.

“The cat is coming with us” said Tresille. Keylin could not believe Tresille. She heard the animal well before she saw it, and her fear spiked and she ran as fast as she could. Hoping that her earlink could reach Tresille she shouted “Help me! Help me” constantly. It was exhausting to run and mentally scream at the same time. Keylin didn't have time to look back, but she could feel the cat approaching. By the time Keylin processed and understood Tresillle's message to jump, she had already watched Stone swoop down and snatch the cat out of the air. In retrospect, it was a beautiful sight.

So the thought of keeping the cat close by was hardly satisfying unless Stone and Henry roasted it over the fire. Looking around the new site, there were a few odd objects on display, the first were two overly simplified hang gliders. The second was a two story tent. Both the large gliders and the tent looked to be made out of a very flimsy fabric, they looked like they belonged in a museum.

"Hello there!" said Henry. "Thank you for capturing a Thresher Cat! Our scientists have been trying to capture it for months"

"Well Met" said Stone, grasping Henry's arm again. Henry squeaked at the arm shake but played it off nicely, only Tresille noticed.

"Did your scientists create that cat?" asked Tresille

"No, they have wanted to study it, they are calling it an undocumented emergent species"

"Well your scientists will have to capture one on their own, that cat is coming with us" stated Tresille tersely. Henry simply raised and eyebrow, then looked at Stone.

"Your little chicks think they can already fly". Stone let out a loud barrel laugh and slapped Henry in the back.

"Well said! The bossy one keeps saying to bring the cat along, but she does not eat meat, so maybe it is a snack for us?" asked Stone.

"BOSSY? You are calling ME the bossy one?.. " Tresille commenced a tirade explaining in detail how this situation warranted someone to do some planning and it obviously wasn't going to be anyone else. Stone and Henry didn't feel the need to pay attention and Keylin was already exploring the cloth house.

"l see you have your own wings" said Stone. "This will be much easier than expected"

"l also have your spear" Said Henry, presenting the spear. Stone beamed with joy.

"l worried it was lost in the fall, it was given to me from the Elders. It is ancient".

"Indeed it is, and I’m sure it is best placed in your hands" said Henry.

Half an Hour Earlier

Sarah unfolded the piece of paper, read the message, and went pale. ‘GET ME THE SPEAR' was all the note said. Sarah had been working under Henry for three years, he was a man who expected others to be as equally effective as he is. That meant Henry would expect the spear at least by the time he woke up. Sarah dashed down the hallway. Their city was a newer city, hallowed out only a few hundred years ago, and was designed much like a flower, a daisy to be precise. Each petal was designed to be economically independent, in theory at least. The long central stem downward contained the administrative buildings, and below that the refineries and recycling. The central hub was all recreation, education, and shopping. Sarah was racing to the central hub. She had received orders to break into the Central Museum of political history, and steal their newest and most prized display.

Except the actual spear would not be on display, the real one was three stories below the public viewing area, in the heavily guarded research and development laboratory. Sarah's credentials would get her into the museum for free at least. in a dead sprint, it would take her ten minutes to race from the farthest edge of the petal, where security and investigation were held, to the central train, which would lead to the central hub. If she caught the express, it would only be a thirty minute ride to the central hub. Sarah stopped running. She didn't have time. She checked her wrist display and watched Henry give his plan to the officials. Her jaw dropped when he mentioned requesting an independent. Those were the scariest of the golems. They housed your entire soul, leaving your body to rot until you returned. They were the oldest of all, hardly understood, and completely erased from the history books. The few who still experiment with them say they can feel the memories of the original users. Sarah 28 trembled momentarily at the thought of wearing someone else's nearly empty soul, how disgusting. Sarah ran back into the next projection chamber over from her boss, changed into a robe, and locked the door.

Sarah's mind raced through the rock and dirt, only semi corporeal she barely felt the matter pass through. There was no light, yet her senses told her exactly where in the dirt she was and how fast she was traveling. The spatial orientation and reasoning combined with lightning fast speed was exhilarating, she could understand why Henry enjoyed it so much. Sarah herself was still in training with the golems, her appointment to work under one of the great masters was enviable to most of her graduating class. The dirt thinned, the texture changed, and Sarah found herself emerging from the marble walls of the museum, a distinct outline impression of herself leftover. Two steps into the room and a loud crack echoed into the chamber, Sarah watched her stone leg crumble in front of her as a large man with a sledgehammer smugly swung two more times, first at the arms and then at the face.

Sarah woke up with a scream, her robe reeking of fried electronics. She stumbled off of the table and fell to the ground. Her body felt foreign and did not fit properly, like a pair of pants that were too tight in some areas, and overly baggy in others. Looking at the time, Sarah hurriedly opened a cabinet beneath the table, carved out of the floor itself. She paused, observing the bright yellow liquids resting in vials, faint whisks of water vapor forming due to the warmer air introduced with the opened door. Beneath the yellow vials were the red ones, the red ones were the most restricted of all, Independent golems. Sarah paused.

Was she really willing to go this for? Would Henry take the incoming punishment? Sarah fumbled around, digging through her clothing on the floor and pulled up her data display. it showed Henry topside again.

“Yes this is worth it” she thought. She reached for one of Henry's exclusive yellow vials and drank it. Sarah replaced her robe, and imitated Henry by doing a series of jumping jacks. Moments later Sarah was flying through the dirt, her sensory awareness of all that surrounded her was incredible. Each rock and pebble that passed through, she knew and understood intimately. She felt a closeness to the ground, an unlocked love for the reliability, strength and support of the earth. In less than half the time, Sarah was once again in the marble hall of the museum. Her mind was closer to the golem now, her thoughts were clear and concise, almost like being in a real body. She remembered that the Spear was not in the observation chamber, and she passed downward through the ground two floors. This area was concrete, a substance rather difficult to form a golem with, but not today. With Henry's mix, the concrete passed through almost as easily as the natural rock. She looked around before forming her body, and saw that the scientists were nervous and the guards were on alert, sledgehammers at the ready. They were expecting another theft attempt. Sarah observed the people again, they were nervous, but not actually afraid. The guards had the sledgehammers at the ready, but their muscles were relaxed, their movements more casual.

“They don't expect the theft to happen down here” she thought. Sarah burst out of the wall, debris exploding out with her. A few airborne rocks knocking the glasses of a nearby worker. She sprinted toward the spear, it was behind a glass panel, a few scientific looking probes reaching toward it. Sarah made all the way to the panel before anyone could react. Her strength was multiplied tenfold in the go elm, and one hit was enough to shatter the glass. Grasping the staff, she turned around to see the room filled to the brim with security guards, sledges at the ready. She tried to melt down into the floor but it was covered in some kind of rubber. A wall She only had to reach a wall. The guards charged in unison, understanding Sarah's intent. She charged the guards, moving so swiftly the first few were knocked over. Searing pain shocked like lightning up her spine, one of the sledgehammers had impacted her lower back. Her body kept form but the pain lingered. Another shock as her right knee nearly crumbled. Keylin wanted to curl up and cry, but that would only mean more sledgehammers. Two more hits and her shoulder collapsed. Only one arm and one knee working, pain screaming in her mind, she did the he first thing to come to mind, She left upward. The jump was unnaturally high and she reached the ceiling rafters. Sarah clawed at the ceiling, removing any tile and paint, exposing raw concrete. Her nerve endings burst into fire as her torso split in half. Legs falling down, Sarah griped the staff tightly and touched the two inch patch of concrete. The relief was instant as she transferred to the surrounding concrete. A pocket of air encapsulated the staff, and the begrudging concrete made a hole for the staff to follow along. Taking the staff with her meant slowing down, but she figured a reprieve from mortal pain was earned. Sara opened her true eyes and once again tumbled off of the table. There was a message on her data display. Her mind was still shaken with the sledgehammer pain making it impossible to walk, so she crawled to her data display.

"Chief Interrogator Henry Wordsmith, you are hereby authorized use of an independent golem for the exclusive purpose of negating the Lunarian threat. Any and all other resources available under the elected royalty are at your disposal"

Just then the door opened and Henry walked in.

"Sarah? What are you doing on the floor? Oh you have the spear! Well Done. While l was looking for you, I prepared a list of a few things we will need for the expedition" Henry then put his hand on Sarah's shoulder, and looked deep into her eyes.

"I’ll be honest, getting the hang glider and tent out of the museum won't be easy, but it must be done, this is for our survival" he then stood up and marched out the door. "I’m off to say goodbye to some friends, I suggest you do the same, we will be gone for a few months"