The dig site was a few miles outside of the capital—if you could call it that.

Nad’irith was one of the older colonies at the rim and thus had a fairly large population. But, over the years, that population had spread throughout the planet, leaving many of the earlier cities drained of a fair amount of their citizens.

Not only had the capital shrunk in size, but it had also lost its power. There were no nations here. No central government. Each city was independent and made its own rules and laws. Walk outside its walls, and you were on your own.

Halden hoped the local wildlife was not too wild.

He’d rented a glider from the hotel and was now fast approaching his destination.

There was a blur in the distance, and he wondered if it was because of the heat. He’d had to leave his jacket in the room and was glad he’d brought some lighter clothes.

He’d found very little information about this world before leaving Bernice, but there had been some mentions of heatwaves which had made him wary.

As he got closer, though, he realized the blur was growing. It had a shape, too.

No, this had nothing to do with the heat.

This was something else entirely.

Something he had never seen or heard of before.

It stood ahead of him like a huge column, rising into the sky as if to touch the clouds.

Halden could not tell where it stopped, because it just blurred out of sight.

After a few minutes, he understood something else.

The column was at the dig site.

It loomed high above him as he landed the glider and stared at it for a moment.

Could this be the source of that thilindrin burst the IAS had recorded?

He stepped out of the glider and looked around.

The place seemed deserted.

Except for a dozen men and women who sat around a fire, not too far from the base of the column... assuming it had a base.

How these people could stand a fire in this heat was beyond him.

He headed in their direction.

His eyes kept going back to the twirling blur.

It was disconcerting, to say the least.

What could it be?

As he looked toward the campfire again, he saw the group had noticed him. A couple of men had stood and were looking in his direction. They did not come to him, nor wave, nor smile. Their faces wore no expression at all.

What have I gotten myself into? he wondered.

When he was within ten feet, he waved and called out.

“Hello.”

One of the men nodded.

“Hello, stranger. You should not be here.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“It is not safe.”

That was a strange thing to say.

Raw thilindrin was not dangerous. Only its manipulation was.

“It’s alright,” he said. “My name is Halden Roche. I work with the Institute of Applied Sciences.”

The man looked at the other who stood next to him and they shared a strange look while Halden brought out a badge to prove his identity.

The first man barely glanced at it.

“You are a long way from Bernice, Prof. Roche.”

“Please, call me Halden. And you are?”

“Enek.”

Halden was not sure how to handle this. It was nothing like what he had expected.

“Are you the foreman?”

“No.”

He looked at the other people there and noticed they all were staring at him.

“Well, hmm, is he around? I would like to speak to him.”

“There is no one.”

“What do you mean, there is no one? Is this a holiday or something?”

“No. There is no one.”

Halden frowned.

“Look, I have come a long way to understand what is going on here. But I can’t do that if I don’t speak to whoever’s in charge. I’m not going away until I do. Is that understood?”

The other man frowned. He remained quiet, but another rose from behind him and stepped up.

“You’ll have to pardon Enek,” he said. “He’s not used to dealing with strangers. I am Gresh.”

Halden’s eyes went from one man to the other. He nodded to the newcomer, with a slightly annoyed expression on his face.

“And you are used to it?”

“No,” admitted Gresh with a chuckle, “I’m afraid not. Even so, it is no reason to be rude. Would you like to sit with us? You must be tired.”

The man waved toward the fire, but Halden shook his head.

“In this heat? I don’t think so. Besides, I’ve had enough rest in the ship that brought me here. And at the hotel. Now, I just want answers. What is going on here? I’m starting to think none of you belong. Where are the workers?”

Gresh smiled amiably.

“Quite the opposite, friend. We belong more than any other. As for the workers, well, they have been gone for a long, long time.”

“How is that possible? We got a report just a few days ago...”

The man gave him a knowing smile.

“Yes, of course. That is the power of Fellhakaah.”

“What?”

The man waved toward the blurry column of air behind the campfire.

“That is what we call it. Fellhakaah. It means ‘the Fault’.”

“Why would you call it that?”

The smile on Gresh’s lips widened.

“Because it is a flaw in the design of the universe, of course.”