The cave system beneath the mountain was dark, dry and cramped. The sun shone outside, but in here it didn’t reach. Unlike some elaborate cave systems with stalagmites and stalactites, underground rivers and crystal formations, this particular cave was bare, jagged rock. Formed by shifts in the mountain rather than the flow of any liquid, it consisted of deep, narrow clefts in the rock and many, many collapsed dead ends.

At least the surrounding ground was all rock, and so the burrowers couldn’t get around easily. Kik thought back to Vist’s instructions from that morning as he climbed down a section of rock, holding on with the strength in his fingers and toes. The beam of the torch clipped to his belt danced and waved. The oxygen mask over his face chafed, but he needed it to prevent suffocation in the stale air. He repeated his task under his breath.

“Make your way in and out as quickly as possible. Head downwards, towards the warm breezes, that’s the gas coming out of the lava flow. This entire mountain is a thousand-year-dormant volcano, which has been a nest for the burrowers for over a hundred years. They use the warmth to incubate their eggs. Get out long before nightfall because they’re going to be angry when they come up from their rest beneath the ground. Grab the reddest egg you see. Keep on your oxygen mask, or you’ll suffocate. Stay away from the sandy ground so they can’t dig and chase you. Go quickly, don’t die, and most of all, don’t make noise.”

Reaching the bottom of the large, angled rock, he looked around the bottom. There were three cracks in the ground, leading further into the depths. Walking up to each in turn, he felt the air. The left and central one had a thick, warm breeze blowing from the depths. He chose the central path.

A few minutes later, he returned to the three paths and went down the left. The central one had been partially collapsed many years ago. Air was still flowing up from below, but there was only a few gaps, not nearly enough for him to squeeze through to the tunnel beyond. He trekked his way back up, walking, climbing and squeezing, before moving down the left-hand path.

This path almost straight away changed to a tiny, breezy gap which he had to turn sideways to pass by, and some of the coil of rope on his chest was caught and had to be unsnagged before it ripped on the rocks. Getting past the narrow roadblock, however, the way immediately widened out to the side, and he was almost able to walk without bending over. Soon, though, the path flattened so that he had to lie flat and squeeze through. If this path wasn’t pressuring him one way, it was making him struggle in another.

Coming to the source of the breeze, a deep, black hole retreated down into the darkness. Shining his light downwards, the beam travelled perhaps thirty metres before it was cut off by the twisting of the hole. It was about two metres wide at its widest, so he wouldn’t be able to climb down by pressing against the sides. He’d have to use the rope.

Pulling off the heavy coil from over his shoulder, he also grabbed one of three pitons from his belt. Choosing a section of rock which looked as if it would bear his weight, he placed the piton against it and pressed the button on the top, jerking his hand back as it went to work.

The point of the piton drilled into the floor, telescoping out from its casing. Small hooks also swung out from the sides and held it in position relative to the floor. Hanging the already looped end of the rope around the piton and pulling it tight, Kik tested his weight against it, cast the end of the rope into the darkness, and began the long abseil down into the dark.

Heading through the dark with his small arc of light pointing always downwards, the air started to get heavier and warmer around Kik. The oxygen mask was struggling to filter usable air from the surroundings and was relying more and more on the oxygen reserve. He bounced off and hung beneath ledges and overhangs in his descent. As he reached the bottom of the hole, a warm light greeted his eyes.

Stepping lightly off the rope, which had about ten metres of its hundred metre length hanging loose, Kik looked around himself. To one side was a thick wall of rock, with mineral veins dotting its length. To the other side was a large cavern.

The roof was five metres high, perhaps the highest Kik had seen since he had in this place. The other dimensions of the room were twenty metres by twenty-five metres, slightly ovoid. The floor was sloped slightly upwards away from him, and several sections of rock were emitting a light red glow. It was very light, only visible if he switched off his torch or pointed it elsewhere, but it was just enough to see by.

Kik was standing on a small ledge above the lower side of the room. The space he was standing in was actually a separate cavern, much smaller than the other one, just there was a large gap which connected the two in one of the walls of his cavern. It opened up near the roof of the other, and he could easily climb up or down using the rocks piled against the wall.

Dotted around the edges of the room, stuck to the walls and parts of the floor, were many eggs, ranging in colour from near-black to ruby through maroon. There were maybe a hundred in total, but most were red in some form. There were also multiple tunnels leading deeper into the earth, probably where burrowers came up from the depths.

Looking at the eggs nearby, Kik resolved to get a good egg as quickly as possible and return. There were no burrowers here at the moment, but the eggs everywhere proved that this place wasn’t inaccessible to them. One could come at any time.

Climbing carefully down, avoiding the few hard, black eggs he saw near him, his foot crunched through the outside of one of the rocks at the bottom. Inspecting it closely, he realised that it wasn’t actually a rock, but a section of carapace. He resisted the urge to jump back and looked around, assuaging his worry of being attacked out of nowhere. Looking around, he could see that a few of the “rocks” around the room were actually dried-out carapaces of ancient burrowers. Either their owners shed them here or they died here, he didn’t know enough about their biology to guess.

Once he was down here, he felt much hotter. Sweat was streaming down his back. He stuck to the edges of the room, away from the glowing spots which were giving off heat. He presumed these were lava pools or flows moving just beneath the rock, heating up their surroundings.

Walking around the edge to the left of the entrance, he didn’t see a single egg which caught his eye. None of them felt like they were one that he wanted. All of them were more brown than red, Even so, he’d have to choose soon. There was both the chance of being found and the risk of fainting from heat stroke if he stayed here too long, which would be certain death with his limited oxygen.

Stepping around the edge by the side opposite his entry, he noticed a breeze blowing from a stack of rocks and dead carapaces against a wall. Stepping closer, he ran his hands up and down it, realising there was another space beyond. Pulling down pieces of the obstruction, placing them as carefully down as time allowed, he eventually revealed the hidden chamber.

A blast of hot air struck him in the face when he got his first view of the area. A river of lava ran through the opposite end of a small room, with three eggs inside close to the entrance. They were shielded from the direct heat by the surprisingly well preserved corpse of a large burrower. Its form was eight metres long, a third of the length again than the one Vist had killed in the desert outside, and much thicker. Its whiskers drooped protectively over a large, scarlet egg slightly larger than Kik’s head. It was the biggest and brightest of the three in the room, the brightest of all he had seen so far.

Moving quickly towards the egg, struggling through the heat, Kik brushed off the tendrils over it and grabbed it. Immediately, his hands seared with pain as they burned from the fiery heat. Evidently, the warmth of an egg that had been sitting in the same room as a lava stream for this long wasn’t to be taken lightly.

Kik pulled out his water bottle, palms burning the whole time, and poured a quarter of it over both of his hands in turn. The water was lukewarm from the ambient heat, but it was better than nothing. It gave temporary relief, but without anything better, his palms would definitely scar. The half a bottle of spilled water on the ground soaked into the dirt and quickly dried.

The next time he tried to pick it up, he used a cloth to protect his hands. He had been burned through his semi-gloves last time, so this time he pulled off the cloth over his head and wrapped it around the bottom of the egg three times. With four layers of cloth protecting him, he managed to pick up the egg safely. He turned around to leave.

As he struggled to carry it through the entrance into the slightly cooler outer room, he was surprised by a slight shuffling sound. He instantly froze his feet and looked around the room.

Off to his left, a burrower, five metres long but quite thick, squeezed its way out of one of the tunnels dotting the edges of the room. Its shell was dark and faded, crusty, incomparable to the sleek, shiny, brown carapace of the burrower they had fought the previous night. It was moving slowly, its body contracting and expanding as it inched forwards.

It was sluggish and awkward outside of the sand. It crawled along the floor, rolling sideways and making not much headway. However, there was an undeniable power in its body, since it could even move around despite its great size.

Kik stood unmoving as it crawled across the floor. He didn’t dare to move, afraid that it would even hear his heartbeat. Fortunately, it seemed to be distracted, perhaps dying. Little bits of shell were cracking off, falling to the ground and revealing black flesh beneath.

It crawled the whole way across the center of the room, seemingly unaffected by or uncaring of the heated rocks. Crawling up to the wall, it began writhing around, rubbing against the rocks and breaking sections of flesh off. The broken off chunks of flesh stuck to the walls and rocks.

Looking closer at the discarded pieces of meat, Kik realised they were freshly laid eggs, ovoid and black. It seemed this burrower was laying eggs which had been held under... her? Its outer carapace.

The creature seemed distracted, so Kik took his chance. Standing in front of the furnace-like room wasn’t good for his body temperature. Lying on his back to minimise his concentrated weight, he wriggled along like a snake, attempting to make as few vibrations as possible. He had no idea if it was helping, but he seemed to be ignored for now, so perhaps it was.

Kik reached the other end of the room after a few agonising minutes. At least once he was away from the open lava it cooled down somewhat, but it was still hellishly hot. The air was cooler lower down, but in exchange the rock was hotter. There was a trail of sweat leading along the rocks like the path of an oversized slug, at least for the few seconds before it evaporated.

Now that he had come this far, however, he was presented with a dilemma. The path out was through a cleft in the ceiling. He could reach it without too much trouble by climbing up the pile of rocks, but he would definitely make noise. He had to make as little as possible and hope his distance and the creature’s distraction would help him escape.

Standing slowly upright, he kept his eyes on the creature. Now, after throwing out almost forty eggs, it was much smaller and its carapace was shredded to pieces. Green liquid leaked from where its skin was torn in its struggle to lay its eggs. Another inner, lighter carapace was exposed beneath its bleeding flesh, perhaps something equivalent to a human skeleton. It almost looked like another burrower was breaking out from the skin of the first. Even if it was without its thicker outer shell, he was still no match for it without weapons. Its teeth, whiskers and bladed tail were very much threats.

Glancing behind himself, Kik stepped deliberately backwards onto the lowest rock in the pile. He had marked out a path of actual rocks, not carapace fragments, along one path to the exit. Backing slowly up these rocks, he kept one eye on the path and the other on the now unmoving burrower. It looked dead, but he wasn’t prepared to believe it.

As he was halfway up the pile and ready to think of himself as escaped, he slipped. A medium-sized rock wasn’t sitting flat on its fellows. It rolled underneath his foot, bouncing down the pile. Kik sprawled to the ground backwards awkwardly, keeping his grip on the egg but bruising his butt and banging the bag of spare pitons on his belt against the rocks. Pain shot up his foot.

Straight away, the worm brought its head upright. As the rock rolled to a stop at the bottom of the pile, it began to wind and jerk its way towards Kik’s position. It wasn’t graceful but it was still covering ground.

He stood upright before collapsing again, causing the burrower to begin to advance a little faster as it heard him. He had twisted his ankle as the rock rolled out from under his foot. He clawed his way up another boulder as the worm got ever closer, holding the egg in one hand.

Kik reached the top of the pile as the burrower came to the bottom. He stood up on one leg and hopped along carefully as the creature reared up on the end of its tail, lifting its head in the air.

As he reached the rope, the creature coiled up behind him. Almost crouching down, it wound into a spring shape before shooting forward with all of its muscles. It flew through the air to the top of the pile.

Glancing back, Kik saw it grab onto the edge and wrap its head around a rock at the top. He attached the ascender on his belt to the rope one-handed, snapping the clasp shut around the fibres. He turned on the motor to maximum, getting lifted up by his belt along the rope. He loosely ran his hand over the rope above him with his free hand, steadying his ascent. He ignored the pain in his burnt palms.

Once it caught on the rope, the motor pulled him upwards quickly, at a rate of about two metres a second. Even so, the worm almost caught him as it lunged from the edge of the space. Instead, it hit the rope, causing him to rock and sway. His back rubbed against the rock for a second, scraping it, before he bounced away and travelled up again.

Beneath him, the worm struggled back upright. It lunged at him, before realising that he would soon be too far away to reach. It uncoiled and began to inch off sideways.

Retreating upwards away from the creature, Kik gave a sigh of relief. He was away from the immediate danger. Suddenly, a giant banging and thudding sound came from below. Shortly afterwards, it ceased. Perhaps the worm was letting out anger.

Reaching the top of the hole, Kik tried to relax. He eventually managed to climb out onto flat ground without putting weight on his injured ankle. His heart was beating quickly and his breath was coming rapidly.

It was much cooler now that he was a hundred odd metres away from the lava, so he took the liberty of loosening his restrictive clothing to help him cool down. Putting down the egg, nestled between some rocks, he pulled the rope up from the hole beneath him. Despite being almost a hundred metres long, he managed to pull it up with relative ease, testament to its light weight despite its strength.

Once it was fully up, he pulled it off the end of the piton planted in the ground and fiddled with it, trying to figure out how to take it out of the rock. He couldn’t remember exactly, trying to pull the sections that were embedded into the rock back out.

Eventually he pulled the four side arms out of the rock and back into the body. Once they started moving they unscrewed automatically. From there it was only a matter of unscrewing the central part of the piton from the rock, revealing a rather strange five-pointed drill mark in the ground.

Sliding it all back into the compact cylinder it had started in, he replaced it in the pouch with the other pitons. Coiling the rope up again and placing it over his shoulder, he stood up again and hopped over to the egg lying on the ground.

He felt another tremor.

Looking around, he could see nothing else alive except himself and the red egg. The shaking continued though, so he picked it up and moved towards the exit.

However, before he reached it, the trembling grew louder and the ceiling broke in. Chunks of stone, rock and dust fell from the ceiling and cracks spread across both it and the floor. Kik fell backwards away from the rising cloud of sand and dust, blinking as it got in his eyes. Luckily, his mouth was protected by his oxygen mask, so none went in his throat.

The floor of the room was solid rock besides the one hole, so the burrower had tunneled around and through the ceiling.

It now lay in the middle of the fallen rocks as a few pebbled trickled down from the hole in the ceiling. It directed its eyeless glare towards Kik. Slowly, it inched forwards.

Glancing down at the egg, Kik saw that it was unscratched. However, the worm was approaching him, so he soon wouldn’t be able to say the same about himself.

Pulling out things from his pockets, he came across a whistle and the set of pitons. Holding the egg in his left hand, a piton in his right, and the whistle in his mouth, he awaited the burrower’s approach.

Once it was right in front of him, almost within his reach, it stopped, seemingly curious about why he wasn’t moving. It reared up and prepared to bring itself down, while he jumped forward off his good leg, blowing the whistle as hard as he could.

Surprised by the sudden movement, the burrower crouched back down, straight into the path of his leap. He collided with its mouth, and it recoiled further, surprised, but he lay across its neck as it pulled away and held on.

As it shook around, it was all he could do to not drop the egg. Honestly, he was surprised it hadn’t broken yet. Perhaps its slightly flexible shell was the reason, absorbing impacts while being slightly harder than it seemed. He was blasted with hot sand from gaps in the armour, rubbing raw the patches of skin he had foolishly uncovered a minute before.

When the worm’s movements paused for a moment between swings, he pressed the button on the piton. Five prongs burrowed into the worm’s flesh, eliciting an increase in the speed of the worm’s writhing. Even now, its absolute silence was frightening. All he could hear was the echoes of his own struggle, the hiss of sand escaping its body and the sound of its tail banging against the ground and walls.

Kik was thrown off by a particularly strong shake, flying through the air and landing on his back. He lost his grip on the egg while in the air, but it was going to land near him, so he reached out a hand and caught it with the tips of his fingers.

Lifting his head, he saw the burrower’s movements slowly easing, as it calmed down and realised the pest was no longer on his back. Feeling around on the floor, it started moving slowly in his direction. It had apparently lost his exact location, but it wouldn’t buy him much time. Its questing tendrils were feeling out the floor and would soon reach him. He was between the burrower and the door, but he wasn’t going to reach it in time, especially if he made noise.

Looking through the other items of his pockets, his hand closed upon a gun-like shape from the same pocket as the whistle had come from. He was too frantic to think about exactly what it was. He pointed it towards the burrower’s gaping, seeking mouth and pulled the trigger.

Everything turned bright, then dark. Kik couldn’t see anything at all. He could hear something burning, and he could hear the burrower before him thrashing around, striking the walls and ceiling.

Crawling backwards, he lowered his head to pass under the low ceiling. Slithering backwards on his backside, he held the egg cradled in his arm. He could hear rocks falling again in front of him and to his sides, then silence. Eventually, he was able to lift his head straight, and was confident that the burrower could no longer squeeze through the space.

Minutes later, when his eyes finally came back to normal, he looked in front of him. The ceiling in the cavern where he had just been attacked had completely collapsed, and most likely the burrower had been crushed too. Sections of the crawling space between it and where he was now had also collapsed.

Looking down at his hand, he realised he was holding the flare gun from the emergency kit. It was honestly a surprise that he hadn’t been blinded for longer. Perhaps he had closed his eyes as soon as he first saw the brightness.

Well, it had certainly been effective. The burning heat had angered it enough for it to lose its sense of reason. The already destabilized ceiling had then been collapsed by the thrashing of the burrower. Looking around, he was lucky he hadn’t been crushed himself, not even seeing the rock that brought his demise.

Putting away the whistle and used flare gun, he stood up unsteadily on his one good leg. He walked slowly away from the rock fall, climbing back awkwardly towards the light.

The path which had taken him half an hour on the way in took him nearly three on the way out. His sprained ankle and the difficulty of climbing up with one hand rather than down with two caused him to take a fair bit longer. Most of the time, he kept the egg in a sling across his chest to free up his hands for climbing, but on some occasions he had to climb with only one good arm and leg as the egg would have fallen out otherwise.

His stored air ran out just before he reached the surface and started running solely off filtered air. As he stepped out of the final tunnel, hopping along the wall, he once again saw light. He took off his mask at last and drained his water bottle, wetting his throat.

Outside, Vist and Pel were waiting for him in the shade of the ship. Vist came forward and grabbed him under the shoulders, helping him limp out of the cave. He saw the egg before Kik’s chest.

“That’s a good catch,” he told Kik. “I haven’t seen many that pure and close to hatching. It must’ve been in the perfect conditions. I’d estimate it’ll take a few days at most. We got here just in time.”

Kik nodded tiredly. “Glad to hear that it’s still alive. Both of us have been through hell and back. With extra lava.”

“Get another drink and those injuries treated. I’ll sort out the egg. You certainly took a nasty tumble or two down there, little worm. Must’ve been some very dangerous rocks.”

Looking over himself, he took stock of his injuries. The palms of his hands were burnt. His ankle was sprained. Parts of his arm and neck were rubbed raw from the burrower’s blasts of sand. All of his back, chest, arms and legs were scraped and bruised in many places from multiple tumbles and falls, as well as crawling across the stone floor. He started walking towards the ship to clean up.

He woke up much later with sand in his mouth. The sky was dark. Pel was standing over him, and the world was swaying softly. When he opened his eyes, she called out, “He’s awake.”

“So you’re up, huh?” Vist asked as he walked over. “You passed out from heatstroke. You finished your water bottle too. Must have been really hot out there. We just kept you in the breeze and shade on the ship until you woke up. Here, have a drink.”

He passed Kik another bottle. Taking it, Kik realised his hands had been bandaged. They felt numb, and perhaps a little unresponsive. His leg had also been elevated slightly. He took a swig and spat out the sand in his mouth, before drinking a little more deeply.

After he had finished the bottle, Vist also offered him a side of meat. Biting deeply, he didn’t recognise the flavour, not that he had really eaten meat much before. It had a very chewy texture, and a smoky taste.

“What creature’s meat is this?” he asked, his throat still a little raw.

“Burrower.”

Kik almost spat out, but managed to keep eating. “That’s surprising… I didn’t think it would be edible.”

“It’s not. It’s poisonous.” Kik really spat it out, before Vist shouted at him to stop. “I’m joking, I’m joking! Don’t waste food! Seriously, you can’t take a joke. Just eat it, it’s pretty good. They try and eat us, so as humans, we have to eat them in revenge.”

Kik took another bite and chewed it. It was true, it did taste pretty good. Although thinking about it, he wasn’t sure he had the right to claim self-defence, considering he had been the one which had invaded the burrower nest. However, he wasn’t too against eating an already dead carnivorous creature, especially one which bred both proliferously and profusely.

Vist placed a metal box next to him. It took a moment before he realised what it was.

“Why are you giving me the box with Pel’s friend inside? I thought she didn’t want to separate from it? Unless you need me to watch it for a little while?”

Lifting up his head and looking around the boat, he realised that Pel was still holding her box. So then…

“This one’s yours. The egg you brought back is inside, being kept warm. Make sure it doesn’t get opened until it hatches, especially at night. If it cools down too far, it’ll die. Its temperature when you brought it back was already dangerously low.”

Kik nodded and touched the corner of the box with the back of his arm. It gave off an ambient heat like an overworked piece of machinery.

“What exactly am I supposed to do with a burrower egg?” Kik asked Vist, but he was already gone.

The next day and night passed restfully. Kik was forced to lie in the shade the whole time, getting up only to relieve himself or occasionally to stretch his muscles. Vist seemed slightly nervous for some reason the first night, but after that he calmed down. The next day he just slept, snoring raucously, putting aside Kik’s premonitions of trouble.

On the next night, however, he became alert again. Looking at the sand beneath the vehicle as they sped onwards, he walked over to Kik with the rifle.

“Sit up and take this. We’re probably going to be ambushed by some wild animals soon, and I’d rather somebody keep an eye out in case I miss something. Watch out for Pel for me.” He quickly explained the gun’s quirks and reloading.

Next he pulled a half-meter metal rod from his waist and stretched it out. It telescoped out to a similar size to the staves him and Kik had fought with when they met each other. The center was slightly thicker than the ends, and the whole staff shone dully in the moonlight.

Moving to the front of the ship, Vist looked out at the dunes before them, reading invisible signals only he could see. From behind, Kik pulled his injured leg off of the block it had been resting on and sat up against the edge of the ship, looking around. The ground looked peaceful to him, with nothing to indicate a threat.

The attack came a few minutes later, when a dune along their path ahead erupted in sand. From within it sprung a fur-covered creature running on all fours, with a long, brush-tipped tail behind it. Another one followed it, and another two came from the opposite dune. The four of them ran to intercept the ship.

Vist ran backwards to the controls and quickly turned the ship, adjusting the sail. It billowed and swung out wide. The ship lost a bit of speed as it moved away from the optimal wind angle, but they were no longer on a collision course with the furred creatures, and they were no longer in a position to surround the ship.

Even so, they gave chase, and they were clearly faster than the ship was. The four of them were moving to cut off their path again.

Vist turned the ship straight towards them as they got close to the bow, threatening to run them down. They were forced to slide to a halt, clouds of sand rising from their feet. They stood up on their hind legs as the ship glided past, balancing on their feet and tails.

“Watch for other attackers,” Vist called to Kik as he turned off the maglev plates and jumped off the ship.

With the maglev no longer working, the sail pulled the ship a little further but it still crashed to the sand. Kik would have been thrown off his feet by the sudden jolt if he wasn’t already sitting down. Instead, he managed to catch himself on the edge of the ship with one hand, tearing the bandages slightly.

His incubation box slid away slightly, but he paid it little attention. He looked around to make sure nothing was coming closer, then looked at Vist’s fight.

In the few seconds it had taken for Kik to steady, one of the creatures had already been knocked to the floor, its head an unrecognisable pulp. Its red blood wet the sandy ground. The other three were slowly circling Vist, one on its hind legs and the others on all fours.

Their fur was reddish brown, a similar colour to the sand. Their front paws were facing outwards, attached to stubby limbs, perhaps useful for digging. Their back legs were large and powerful, and those limbs were far longer, probably for jumping and the rapid running they had just been doing. This led to their back sloping downwards as they walked around, their head very close to the ground.

Their heads were a rodent-like shape, with a squashed snout and large nose on the end, like a tasmanian devil. They had no discernible ears, but large whiskers. Unlike the burrowers’ whiskers, these ones were actually long hairs, positioned on each side of their snout. However, their mouths were closer to that of a lizard, with many small teeth of similar shape and size along the outside of their jaw.

They had a row of spines leading down their back to the base of their tail, facing backwards but laying fairly flat along their backs. The one in the middle, which was standing up, had his standing straight up from his neck and back. They also had a tail which was about the same length as the rest of their body, tipped with a large bulb of brown fur, a different colour to the rest of their body.

One of the two crouching animals leaped towards Vist while his back was turned. It moved at incredible speeds, but he was prepared. As the creature jumped for his back, the butt of his staff was already interposed between them. The creature’s speed combined with his own shove backwards drove it firmly into the creature’s chest. On impact, a deep thrum reverberated through the air.

The most immediate effect was on the creature struck. Its chest shook in ripples from the impact, a bloody hole tearing open where it had just been struck. It flew backwards to the sand, its chest bending and writhing into strange shapes and patterns as the vibrations passed through it. It didn’t move.

“Awesome,” Kik breathed, before finally remembering that he was supposed to be looking around for approaching creatures. Quickly scanning the horizon for moving shapes, he could see nothing moving except for dunes and a few wind-blown clouds of sand.

Looking around again, the remaining two creatures were running away in fear, respectful of Vist’s strength. He collapsed the staff into its smaller shape again and stowed it. Two bodies were left lying there as he strode back to the ship.

“Anything approaching?”

Kik shook his head. “No more of the creatures. The land is clear.”

Vist frowned. “What about underneath it? It’s certain that any hunting burrowers heard that just now. Did you make sure there were none of them near the surface?”

Kik shook his head and looked around quickly, scanning for clouds of sand nearby. “I can’t see any, and I can’t feel any trembling. But should we leave?”

Vist nodded. “That would be wise.”

Climbing back aboard, he reactivated the maglev plates. The sail, which had been struggling to pull the ship along the whole time they were aground, kicked in again and they started moving.

Glancing back at the scene of the fight as they drifted away, Kik saw a burrower rise up and grab the pair of corpses in its gaping jaw. He aimed the rifle at it, but it didn’t turn towards them, instead burrowing back into the ground and heading after the two fleeing creatures. It seemed they were safe for now.

After another day’s rest and the beginning of the next night’s travel, Kik was able to stand up without serious pain and unravel the bandages around his hand, revealing shiny pink scars on parts of his palm. He still was told to rest for fear of injuring himself further. He was thankful, as he didn’t have to push the ship. That job was mostly left to Vist. He also had a splint placed inside his boot, to keep his leg straight.

That evening they came to a town, three days’ sail from the mountain where they had spent their time. Compared to the metal and stone capital, this establishment of perhaps a thousand and a half houses was mostly made of mud-brick and piled rock. It had much more of a frontier feel, although there were definite signs of industry around.

The most obvious were large automated collectors crawling around the settlement, sucking up the sand on the ground into large tanks. Normal-sized people about half the height of the collectors were directing their movements. Others behind them were cutting sections from the exposed stone beneath. Other than that, there were also signs of smoke above several roofs. Some manufacturing and production was going on in this town.

There was also a reasonably sized airfield, for the size of the town at least, off to the side opposite where the automatons were digging. Three small atmospheric craft were parked there, one a transport, one a civilian carrier, and one a personal craft.

Vist lowered the sail and took apart the mast as the town came in sight. “We’ll walk from here,” he said. “Take your bags and a little more besides, the craft is going to get sluggish. Most of the magnetic minerals will be gone from the soil up ahead due to mining. Our maglev plates can’t carry us all and the ship and all our gear.”

Sure enough, the closer they got to the town, the lower the craft sank. It was barely twenty centimetres off the ground by the time they reached the settlement, at which point all three of them were gasping from the long push. As its lift decreased, the craft’s maneuverability rapidly slowed, until it felt like they were pushing the ship through deep water.

“OK, this will do,” Vist told them as they reached the end of the road into town. “We’ll put it down here. If it’s this close to town, nobody’s going to go to the effort of stealing a ship like this. It’s never been taken in the past.”

“I’d say that’s because it’s a piece of junk,” Kik remarked.

Vist glared at him while Pel chuckled quietly. “It’s called camouflage, civilian. And you’d do well to remember it, little worm.” Emphasizing the last word in each sentence, he covered part of the boat with the sail, tying down the ends, then walked off, muttering.

Quickly catching up, Kik began to question him about what was going on. “So why are we here? Weren’t we meant to be training in the desert? And how come there are aliens here?” With the last question, he nodded at a scaled man across the road. “I thought they stayed away from human worlds on the whole.”

“This place is a bit less… restrictive with its laws and so on. Hence some aliens live here. Quite a few of them are less savoury individuals, though, so you should stay away from them if at all possible. Other than that, I honestly didn’t know this town existed until I saw the smoke on the horizon. It’s probably only about a month old. But since we’re here now, I figured there’s a few things that you can’t learn out in the desert which would be useful for you to figure out here.”

Kik nodded thoughtfully. “That makes sense, I guess. So where are we going now?”

“An inn.”

Finding one of the few two-story buildings in the outskirts of town, the three walked into the building. Outside hung a sign of a red, scrap metal blade.

Walking in, the tables were occupied by a varied crowd. There were a few workers sharing a drink after or maybe before their shift, a man asleep in a corner over a spilt glass, and a few strange customers in hoods or desert cloths sitting around. The crowd was noticeably all male. The three with their large packs and incubator boxes drew some strange looks, but a glance from Vist silenced them.

“Welcome to the rusty cleaver,” the barkeep called. “You from out of town? New arrivals? A hunter, by the look of it. If you have any materials to sell or tools to buy, I can direct you to the right place.”

“Not for the moment,” Vist growled in an uncharacteristically deep voice. “Just a room for three for a few nights. Secure, three separate beds, properly locked door. Got one?”

“Well, I can give you a room for four. Otherwise, I can get you a single room and a double?”

Vist thought for a second. “Actually, just a double. The boy can sleep on the floor.”

Sensing a more favourable deal slipping away, the bartender tried to negotiate. “Will you want meals here? We’re locally famous for our meat. I’d recommend you try it at least once.”

Looking around at the definite lack of meat being served, Vist shook his head. “I’ll pass. We prefer to have our meals at our own schedule.”

“Alright. Any other added charges? Bathing? A larger water ration? No? Fine, that will be…”

Before he could finish, Vist slid three metal objects across the table from a pouch in his overcoat. The bartender scooped them up, then frowned. “The cost is thirty-five, not thirty. I can’t go below that.”

Vist slid over another two smaller ones. “That’s more than a fair price. Three under a ripoff is still a ripoff.”

The barkeep swiped those off the counter too, then smiled lightly. “Glad to do business with you. Here’s your key card, don’t lose it, I’m sure you know that. Your room is upstairs, number eight. There are no particular rules except they’re cleaned at midday. You’ve paid for five days so far, any more beyond that are subject to a renewal fee unless paid for three days in advance. Have a nice day.”

Vist grabbed the metallic plastic card off the table and walked upstairs, grumbling.

Putting down their backpacks in the room, the three observed it. There was more space on the ship. It had two single beds, metal bunks unfolding from the wall with a bit of a mattress, a tiny couch and a few amenities, such as a tap and some lights. There wasn’t even a toilet.

Dropping to the couch straight away and stretching out on it, Vist groaned in relief. “Ah, the sweet taste of luxury.”

“How come you paid him in coins?” Kik asked. “Don’t people normally use electronic fund transfers? That’s what I’ve seen so far, anyway.”

“Not if you’re a wanted criminal you don’t,” Vist told him. “Then you can’t go within ten metres of an ID device in case it checks who you are and sends the data to planetary security, however that useless it would be on this world. And here, some of the gang leaders get together and communicate a bit. They made exchange tokens one time, which they support the use and guarantee the value of. Outside of capital cities and offworld traders, most people use solid money instead of electronic.”

Kik nodded. “So what do we do now?”

Vist thought. “Well, first we can sell some of that first burrower’s materials. The blades and its carapace will make for good sales. We’ll just have to claim that we didn’t find it near this town. I don’t want their nest being discovered yet, it’s still useful. So on that note, go speak to the barkeeper and tell him we have some samples we want to sell. Arrange a meeting for an hour or so, ideally. I want to get some rest.”

Walking downstairs, Kik was stared at with considerably more curiosity this time now that Vist wasn’t beside him. Ignoring the gazes of the four-odd people as well as he could, he walked over to the bartender, who was resting against a wall while keeping an eye on the drinking area.

Leaning towards the bar, he spoke. “My guardian says we have some products to sell. Can we arrange a meeting for that?”

The bartender looked at him, bored. “What kind of products?”

“Rare materials. Natural blades and armour taken from a burrowing creature. Interested?”

The bartender leaned forward a bit. “I know someone who might be. Are these metal?”

“No, some kind of natural fibre. They’re strong and the blades can cut well.”

He nodded thoughtfully. “When do you want to meet a potential buyer?”

“Half an hour.”

His eyes widened for a second. “Impossible. I’ll need three at least to secure a meeting spot. You have to give me more than that.”

“Then you can have one.”

“That’s impossible. I just can’t do it. I need more time. Two at least”

Kik hesitated. He had been copying his parents and Vist to get this far in the deal, but he had no idea what to do when his ideal time was rejected. Sensing weakness, the bartender pushed further.

“If I don’t secure the right place and time, you probably won’t get to meet with the best buyer. Then you’ll get a lower price. Also, if I rush the preparations for the meeting, your safety won’t be guaranteed. There could be people lying in wait for either party to meet with someone so they can steal the goods.”

Kik struggled to find a good reason to protest his case. “Well… maybe an hour and a half…”

The barkeep dealt the finishing blow. “Look, I understand your needs too. If you need to purchase food and supplies straight away so have to sell your earnings off now, that’s fine. I understand if you’re hard on coin. I’ll give you a ten token deposit in good faith, if you give me two hours to work with. Then you can buy what you need and I’ll be able to set off the best possible deal. Just pay me back *with a bit of interest* when the deal is done. I’ll take the rent for your room as security.”

Kik nodded. “I guess I can’t hope for anything better.” He was passed two medium-sized coins marked with the number “5” and walked back upstairs as the bartender got out a handheld comms unit and started speaking into it quietly.

Back at the room, Vist opened an eye as he walked in, holding the coins in one hand. “Should’ve started bargaining at fifteen minutes,” he said. “So how much extra do you have to wait?”

“How… oh, never mind. I’m meeting them in two hours.”

“Two hours. Hmm. I expected you’d get between that and an hour and a half, so you were on the upper range of my predictions. It only takes him fifteen minutes to arrange the meeting, by the way, the rest is just to make it feel important to the seller. You’ve got two hours, and… ten coins, so go get us some stuff.” He tossed a paper starship at Kik, which floated over on folded wings. “Everything we need is on there. If you do well, you can get at least half of it with the money you have. I’d personally be surprised if you get two items. You’ll find the markets at…”

Before he reached the markets, Kik unfolded the piece of paper. On it was written eight things. A spare water storage tube for a moisture condenser. A carbon thread rope, two metres long, for the ship. Twenty-four meals’ worth of packaged, dried rations. A spare emergency signal pack to replace the one he had used. Seven needles and enough general antibiotics to fill them all. An automatic gear. As many spare batteries as he could find, of any size, as well as chargers. And finally, another pair of binoculars, again with night vision options.

Upon reaching the markets, he realised he wasn’t actually at the markets at all. Thinking about it, why had he followed Vist’s directions, when Vist himself had never been to this town before? He considered calling the barkeep using the comm he had been thrown as he left, but he decided against it. Instead, he followed his nose, the smell of freshly baked and fried produce leading him.

The market was crowded, at least fifty people moving around buying and another twenty behind stalls and indoors behind shop counters.

First he walked around and noted which shops stocked each of the products. He couldn’t spot an automatic gear around for the life of him, but he could find the rest of the products. Knocking the easiest objectives off first, he snagged a bag of thirty dried rations. He also ordered the rope, signal pack and the binoculars, getting a discount for his bulk order. The whole thing cost six tokens.

The next place he went was a little away from the main market. A shop was spitting out smoke from the roof and the sound of whirring, clicking machinery. The sign above the door said “Sal’s Mechatronics.”

Walking in, a bell rang and a large woman walked up to the counter. “Welcome, customer, to…” She caught sight of Kik’s small hooded stature. “Are you human? I only serve humans here. Show your face or leave.”

Kik pulled aside the cloths on his face. “I’m a human.”

She frowned. “I don’t serve children either. I sell some dangerous equipment, I don’t want dead children on my conscience.”

“What about a storage tube for a water condenser?” He puckered up his face in what he hoped was a cute expression. She seemed to feel responsible for children, and he wanted to capitalize on that. “It’s not dangerous, and if I don’t get a spare I could die. Then that will be on your conscience.”

She sighed. “Well, I guess if it’s just that… I don’t have any in stock at the moment, but I can have some custom made in a half an hour.”

Kik pointed to some clear bulbs in the shape of a blown glass sphere behind her. “Aren’t those storage tubes? Isn’t the real reason you don’t serve children because you feel bad for ripping them off?”

She laughed aloud. “Guess I should’ve hid them before I tried that, but it was worth a shot. You’ve got a good eye. If you were a few years older I might hire you.”

“All I want is what I came for. I might have started bargaining higher before you tried to rip me off, but now I’m going for one token at most.”

“Two.”

“One and a half.”

“Sold.”

Walking out of the shop with his backpack a little fuller, Kik looked for the next thing to buy. He had already far surpassed Vist’s predictions, and he was pretty happy with himself. He treated himself to a skewer of artificial meat and walked off eating it. Unfortunately, the burrower meat tasted far better. It was soft and flavourless, with most of the taste coming from its spicy sauce.

The next place he looked was for antibiotics, but he didn’t trust any needles sold by most of the nearby shops. Leaving the batteries till later, he wandered around to look for a better supplier or something else to do in his remaining hour and a quarter before the meeting.

Walking through the streets, ignoring the women lounging in doorways and the conversations coming from open windows and the people around him, Kik heard shouts coming from nearby. Coming around a corner, he observed the scene.

Seven boys aged between eight and fourteen were standing around another boy lying on the ground, holding his chin. A little bit of blood was leaking from his mouth where he had bitten his tongue and his gum was bleeding. Above him, two of the other boys were arguing whose fault it was.

“...He ran straight into me. I was just defending myself from his headbutt. It’s his fault, so it’s our penalty.”

“That’s crazy. You hit him while he ran past you. You weren’t even going to collide with him. We should get the penalty.”

A third boy spoke up. “Well, more importantly, we’ve only got seven players now. Someone on the other team has to sit out.”

One of the kids to the side noticed Kik standing by the wall. “Get him to play,” he said, pointing over. The group’s attention immediately shifted over.

Kik blushed at the stares, glad he was wearing cloths over his face. “Uh, no, I can’t, I don’t know the rules…”

“That’s fine, most of us didn’t until recently.”

Kik grudgingly accepted and soon the eight of them were running around and playing while the injured boy left for treatment. The game was something like capture the flag, with two teams guarding and attacking “bases”. Kik’s base was the lamppost on their side of the street, while the other team’s was an upside-down plastic crate across the road. They darted past each other, tagged each other and played dozens of rounds. After a few, the boy who had left came back with a friend and joined in again.

While they were playing, Kik listened to them talking. There were a range of discussions across the age groups. The three eldest were sharing ‘romantic’ stories about some girls, while the younger ones were mostly talking about the food they had eaten or places they had explored. They seemed to live a peaceful life.

When they took a break to rest, Kik shared his six extra ration packs with his playmates. Thanking him, they included him a little more in their discussion, and with a few directed questions he got to hear some talk about the situation in town.

The town had been built around a mining outpost that had struck precious metals used in hologram devices. The mineral deposit and production was at a small scale, but there was money to be had so people had come crowding. Most of their parents were shopkeepers who had come to sell to the miners and other shopkeepers, while some of the older ones were orphans who had come for employment and to learn a trade.

He also heard that the underworld in town was controlled by the Red Breath, an offworld gang who mostly dealt in debt collection, unstable loans and drug trafficking. That was part of the reason why there were any aliens at all in such a small town. Apparently, the inn that he was staying in was managed by their group.

Before he could get any more details, though, his comm buzzed. The message on the small screen read, “The meeting has been arranged. Go to the warehouse two blocks east of the market with red on the doors.”

“It seems I have to go,” Kik told the others. “I might be back soon. Sorry to leave you with uneven numbers. Have fun, John, Rark, Til…”

“See you later.”

Finding the warehouse with a large red cross painted on the doors, Kik looked around. He couldn’t see anyone around. Thinking about whether he should try and finish his shopping first, he checked his coin pocket to find the two remaining tokens were gone.

“Void consume it!”

Figuring he had no chance of getting them back, and it wouldn’t help to go around accusing his playmates, he headed inside.

The inside of the warehouse was dark and empty. The building was dark inside, with only a few slit windows for light. The walls were red mud-brick, held up by roughly shaped stone pillars. As his eyes adjusted, he saw that the building was empty. He sat down and fought back his tiredness as he realised that he had been awake for over sixteen hours, even if he had been resting for most of it. His recent hour of play had taken its toll.

A few minutes later, another man walked in. He was hooded and cloaked despite the heat, and kept his body obscured. He had a bit of weight on him, his cloak bulging out between his shoulders and his waist.

“Have you got the goods?” His voice was raspy. Kik nodded and held out the bag, pulling the blade and small section of carapace from it.

“That’s them.”

“Hmm. They seem to be of reasonable quality.” He ran a small scanner over it. He wore green gloves, so Kik couldn’t even see the colour of his skin. “Weapons detectors don’t pick them up at all. A natural blade and armour like this are useful finds. The only question is whether the carapace can be manufactured. The blade will definitely be useful…”

Wondering whether the person knew how to bargain, since he was sparing no effort to praise the products, Kik asked him, “So you’ll take it?”

“Yes, certainly. Are these all the stock you have?”

“With me, yes.” As soon as he said it, Kik realised that could be misinterpreted as him not having any others in the town, not with him at the moment, but the person didn’t seem put off, so he probably understood.

“Will you be bringing more to town later?”

“I doubt we’ll be coming back, at least not for a while. Why?”

“I see.” The man tucked the blade and segment under his arm. “Well then, one more question before we discuss payment. Do you know anyone in the Red Breath?”

“Well, not the Red Breath, but if you ask Erstine, maybe you can…”

“Who’s Erstine? Well, anyway, sounds like you don’t. In that case, my payment will be an important lesson for you. Don’t bring all your cards to the deal. I’ll tell you this in recognition of your youth. Don’t trust the other party. Especially in a situation like this. Although if you keep making mistakes, maybe one day you’ll be as good as me. Or maybe you’ll be dead. Kids shouldn’t play with something they don’t understand, after all.” He chuckled hoarsely and turned to leave, carrying the burrower parts.

Kik was rooted to the spot, then angry. Even if he had stood there as Vist butchered the burrower, even if he hadn’t helped kill it, no, especially so, he wasn’t going to stand there and let their prize be taken away without resisting. He ran towards the door.

After shaking off his sudden blindness from the light, he looked around. The cloaked man was jogging down a side alley. Following after him, he saw the end of his cloak disappear around another corner.

Wondering what he would do when he caught up, he ran after him regardless. He was unarmed, with nothing but some tools on his belt and the items he had bought. If he had the automatic gear, whatever that was, maybe it might have been useful, but he hadn’t been able to find it.

Coming around another corner, he ran into the front of the man he was tailing and fell backwards. Beneath the hood close up, his face looked strangely shaped. “So you want to tail me. Are you prepared for what happens when you catch up?” Kik scrambled backwards on his hands and legs. “So you weren’t. Disappointing. My opinion of you is going very quickly from unprepared to foolish.”

“If you take those materials, you won’t get any of the rest we have,” he shouted desperately. “We’ve got three more blades and many larger sections of carapace.”

“As if I’d believe that. You said to my face a little while ago that you didn’t have any other goods. Do you think…”

Before he finished talking, Kik dove towards him, swinging his fists in an attempt to catch him off guard. Each was grabbed in an iron grip by the man’s cold hands, then something swung up from below and rammed Kik in the chest, hard.

Swinging behind the man’s back was a thick, green tail. The green on his hands that Kik had thought were gloves were also scaly skin. Lifting his hood back, he revealed a raptorian head with a stubby snout and large breathing holes near the neck.

“Humans are so easy to fight,” he said. “They die in the heat and they only have four limbs. I wonder how it feels to be so disadvantaged.”

“You… you’re a…” Kik gasped for breath on the floor.

“A Raffarian, human, yes. Don’t follow me any further. If you come at me from here onwards, I’ll kill you, and you’ll deserve it.”

He left Kik choking and groaning in the dirt, holding the stolen prizes.

Kik took a walk around town before returning to the inn to abate his anger. It didn’t help. Stumbling back through the doorway, Kik glared at the bartender, who had the audacity to look innocent. “You set me up.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I set up a meeting place for you and ensured that no outside parties would interfere with the discussion. Any harm you come to is not my responsibility. Can I have the comms unit back?”

“I broke it.”

“Alright, then I’ll add its cost to your tab.”

Kik threw over the communicator and stormed upstairs. Vist was still waiting for him, resting on the couch. “So how did it go?”

“Don’t give me that. I’m sure you knew exactly how it was going to go as soon as I walked out the door.”

“That bad, huh?”

“I… oh, forget about it. Yes, that bad. Some of my money was stolen, the goods were stolen, I got beaten up by… are you listening to me?”

Vist stopped snoring. “Yeah, I was, just pretending. Don’t worry about the goods, we have more. So, what did you buy?”

“I got everything but the batteries, the antibiotics and the automatic gear. I couldn’t find any people who stocked one, and I’ve never heard of one before. What are they? Wait, why are you laughing?”

“Oh, it’s nothing, it’s nothing,” Vist said, holding back a smile. “Still, you don’t know what an automatic gear is? I’m surprised. There should be an entry in those glasses of yours. Take a look.”

Kik dropped the bag of equipment. “I’m sure it wasn’t there. I’ve never heard of one before.”

“So you didn’t get the antibiotics?” Vist asked. “Shame. Pel! Here’s three coins. Actually, make that four. Go out and get the batteries and the antibiotics. Don’t worry about the automatic gear, that doesn’t seem to be in stock. Get yourself something afterwards if you have any money left. Kik treated himself, you may as well too.”

“How did you know…”

“There’s sauce on your mouth.”

After Pel had left with the money, leaving her incubator box here, Kik started unpacking the bag. Taking out each of the items he had bought, he laid them out on one of the beds, which he unfolded from the wall.

From behind him, he could hear Vist finally getting up and coming over. “I think I did well,” he called out behind him. “I got five of the eight things you asked for. You said you’d be surprised if I got four.”

“I knew you’d get that much. By all rights, you should have been able to get everything. The only reason I told you an amount was to see whether you would aim beyond it.”

“So I failed, I guess.”

“I suppose. But not many can pass my tests first time, especially at your age. If you can do it the second time, you’re doing well.”

Suddenly, something was shoved over Kik’s mouth from behind. He sucked in a breath to speak, but some gas other than air rushed into his lungs. He felt woozy and couldn’t speak, and on his next breath he collapsed sideways. Vist caught him and lowered him to the floor.

“Sorry about this, but if I took the time to explain and calm you down, the burrower would have hatched. It’s already going to break free in a few minutes. It’s really lucky you came back when you did.”

Kik couldn’t speak, he just stared at Vist and the anaesthetic mask he was holding. It had already emptied its contents, and he was fast succumbing to their effects. Black spots were appearing in his vision and he lost control of his muscles. Things seemed less important now.

“Well, just so you know, the burrowers have two forms. The first is a predator, like the ones you saw. That happens when the first meat they eat is their dead parent. The second form is a symbiote. That happens when their first meal is still living.” He lifted the incubator box and opened it, revealing the almost glowing red egg and a dark shape within. “The symbiote form can be pretty useful. I didn’t want you to freak out about being chewed on, though, so I decided to put you to sleep.”

The last words before Kik fell asleep were, “See you when you wake up.”