The caravan has reached a vast cavern dominated by a crack of sky above and a deep chasm beneath. Paths lead around and across the chasm via a narrow pathway and a metal beam. Which way should the caravan go? Marius and Fureva-Yung investigate the path across the metal beam.
*******************************************************
Taking one of the caravan’s few remaining glow globes and the newly vocal Fureva-Yung, Marius crossed the bridge. The path on the other side cut directly through the heart of the crystal field. The walls and ground were solid crystal and refracted the glow globe light in all directions. It seemed to Marius that he and Fureva-Yung were walking through a constantly shifting rainbow. The consistently two metres wide passage of smooth crystal gave the miner and scavenger pause. Their own experience with the crystal showed how tough it could be, yet here was a well-crafted passage cut from the living rock.
As they walked, both noticed tiny tunnels, some only as thick as a finger, others as wide as a person, cut through the crystal, creating a latticework of light. Though the scene took Marius’ breath away, its beauty was lost on Fureva-Yung, and she shrugged at Marius’ attempt to elicit a response.
“Hey, Temila!” He called across the chasm to the tiny knot of women getting ready to prepare a midday meal. From the group, a shadow slunk away under a caravan and out of sight as Temila passed over her preparations and carefully made her way across the narrow bridge to the crystal caverns.
“Beautiful view, isn’t it?” Marius said, sweeping the glow globe across the roof, making the whole space scintillate with light and colour.
“I guess,” She replied dismissively. She gestured to the narrow bridge, far too small for the Aneen to cross, let alone the caravan discs, “ How are you going to get the caravan across? Would they fit through here anyway?”
“Well, no. The discs are considerably wider. We’ll take the caravan around the chasm, I should imagine.”
She gave him a withering look that spoke about wasting time and precious resources on a fool’s errand.
“Look! Just look!” He tried again, bending down to shine a light down one of the smaller tunnels, “See, I think this was burrowed, all of this. Imagine the creature that can dig through the crystal we can barely break with our pickaxes and hammers!”
Fureva-Yung also looked down the tunnels. She was sure she saw something scuttle away from the light on clicking claws.
“We should not hang around too long,” She said and started walking down the tunnel as far as the light of the glow globe would let her.
“I agree with Fureva-Yung,” Temila said, heading back, “Don’t be long. We can’t afford to lose anymore glow globes.”
“Send Nox along, will you?” Disappointed, Marius let her go, “I think we must be out of range. She’s not responding telepathically anymore.”
Marius and Fureva-Yung continued down the path until it crossed through another passage, this time made of synth. One end of the synth tunnel had collapsed, pushed in by a growth of crystals. The other end headed downwards, narrowing as it went until it reached a space containing two cylinders connected by pipes and wiring. Fureva-Yung and Marius took a moment to listen and heard the clicking skitter of thousands of tiny clawed feet echoing through the crystal around them. They turned to look behind and saw a small something with two huge, red eyes. As they watched, the eyes turned away from the light and disappeared back into the gloom.
“Come on, Furry. Let’s go and see,” Marius pointed ahead, down the synth tunnel.
“Okay,” Fureva-Yung’s voice echoed deep and rough, still damaged by the crystal chunk that had kept her silent for so long.
“That will take getting used to,” Marius grinned at his companion, “I always imagined you as a soprano.”
On the chamber floor, the wires fed into a small locked cabinet sitting at an odd angle. Beside it was a huge double pole switch sitting at the same odd angle.
“Should we pull the switch?” He asked Fureva-Yung, who shrugged her shoulders as usual.
“How else would we find out what happens?” Marius grabbed the switch and swung it around, connecting the circuit. From the two cylinders came a brief gurgling sound. Something whined like an old turbine, then the bubbling stopped, and the whining wound down into silence once more.
Fureva-Yung continued past the cylinders where the synth widened out into a chamber lined with hexagonal glass panels. Through the glass above, the crystal continued to refract their light. Below was only darkness. Marius cupped his hands around his eyes and stared down into the dark. “Oh! I get it!” Marius looked back at the switch to the synth tunnel around them, “I think this pointy end should be sticking straight up instead of lying down, like this,” He gestured with his arms, an upright structure now lying down, the tips of his fingers pointing in down at an angle.
“I think this was a lighthouse. Look!” He gingerly moved ahead across the glass panes to a blocky structure suspended within the glassed area. Two pipes that originated from the cylinder room point directly at the base of the block. Control valves connected to small metal wheels hinted at the idea of honing a flame or beam.
“I think something like a flammable gas must come out of these tubes and ignite the block, so it glows.” He looked at Fureva-Yung grinning, ecstatic with his discovery.
“I don’t think you should eat it,” He said, remembering Fureva-Yung propensity to put everything into her mouth.
Fureva-Yung looked at the block in the centre of the glass structure and shook her head, “Too big.”
“So is a pig, but you’d have no problem polishing off that one bite at a time.
Marius looked down through the glass panels again, this time faintly picking up the small ripples of something far below. Waves from an underground lake were reflecting back their tiny spark of light. The concept that they now hung above the lake they had breakfasts at that morning gave him cause to celebrate.
“Hey, wouldn’t it be great if this was lit up?”
Fureva-Yung nodded and went to step out across the clear glass sheets.
“Ah, maybe let's get help before we break anything up here.”
“Fine,” Fureva-Yung huffed and reached out for the small young mind she’d become accustomed to always being there, Nox? There’s something for you here.
Nothing.
“Like I said, I think we’re too far away for Nox to pick us up.” Marius guessed what his friend’s silence was. Not that it mattered now that Fureva-Yung had her voice back, but for a time the kid had been handy to have around.
“We will walk.” Fureva-Yung started back along the synth and crystal pathways to the cavern.
“Now that I know you can speak, can you say anything else other than single-syllable words?”
Fureva-Yung thought a long moment before answering, “I can not conceive of any.”
The skittering sound followed them back. On several occasions, they both saw something clatter away out of sight as they turned around to look. The sounds however were soon forgotten when the two of them returned to the large echoing space lit by a diffused sun hundreds of feet above their heads.
“Nox? Nox!” Marius called across the space and was surprised to get nothing back but the silence of his own head.
“There’s a wonderful crystal path. It leads all the way to some really cool thing.”
Is Fureva-Yung there? Nox’s voice in his mind was more timid than usual, less self-assured.
“Yes, of course.”
A pause and then the link was inundated with images from a perspective behind Fureva-Yung during the attack on the bridge. There Fureva-Yung seemed to grow bigger, at least from the perspective. She slammed her large foot down on the bridge, throwing herself forward in a bellow that shook the cavern and sent the phasing entity flying off the bridge to its death far below. The image was awe-inspiring and Marius had to admit more than just a little scary.
“Oh Nox. She did that to save me. To save us.”
Father yelled.
“Nox, your father bellowed all the time, “ Jaden’s voice echoed physically through the cavern, a reminder she was on the Nox party-line too, “But did he ever do it to help someone else?”
Silence.
I will not eat you. You are not crunchy enough. Fureva-Yung sent.
The statement did not solicit the usual round of giggles they were used to hearing.
“Ah, Furry. Do you know any songs? Something gentle?”
“Song?” The question made Fureva-Yung pause and dreg through what little memories she had of a long lost time, “I think I remember a mating song my Father used to sing.”
“Yeah, no really what I had in mind.”
Marius and Fureva-Yung rejoined the caravan. They shared a spartan meal, of which Fureva-Yung ate none, as Marius, Jaden and Yitti discussed what they were going to do next. Taking a wide path around Fureva-Yung, Nox snuck out from under the caravan and ran across the bridge. When she was out of range of the caverns few stray sunbeams, bright sparks of hedge magic haloed her head as she disappeared into the crystalline cavern.
“I wasn’t thinking you should go alone,” Marius ran after her with Jaden and Yitti on his heels.
They found Nox oggling at the crystal cavern surfaces as her tiny lights flitted back and forward, making the facets in the crystal twinkle. Lights entered the tiny passages noticing they were made in a similar way as the large passage. As the group caught up with her, Nox shied away from Fureva-Yung’s eye line, making sure that Jaden or Marius was between her and the large scary woman.
“Those are clever little lights, can you send them ahead to light the way?” Marius asked by way of distraction. Nox nodded and the tiny blobs of fairy light swept up the tunnel. Marius’ danger sense triggered just as the lights reflected back not from the crystal, but two giant compound eyes. Below the eyes, a prehensile four-way mouth twitched and shifted revealing glittering teeth beyond. The creature’s body was made of segments that supported two pairs of clawed legs, one pair on the floor of the cavern, and one pair grasping the roof. The creature went back more than seven segments and was at least three metres long.
As soon as the creature was revealed, Nox gave a start and the light’s snuffed out, plunging that end of the tunnel into darkness once more.
Tentatively, Marius raised his light globe. The creature was still there, silently watching.
“I think it’s okay,” Marius stated after a moment or two, “ I wonder if we can be friends?”
It didn’t work last time, Nox replied silently in their minds
“Can you detect the same waves of anger?” Jaden suggested. None of them could.
I haven’t tried. Nox finally admitted and tried just scanning the creature to discover what it was like. Armoured body parts seemingly made of crystal, mandibles tough enough to crush and break down the deposits. The creature was large, powerful and terrifyingly dangerous. And yet, it sat there in the tunnel watching.
It eats the crystal. They make the tunnels.
Jaden swung her spear around, the light catching on the smaller hole and tunnels. Hundreds of curious heads now peppered the crystal all around them as if waiting for something. Nox slowly dug into her satchel and drew out a handful of crystal’s she’d been collecting for use in her sling. Leaning out into the empty space between them and the large creature, she put down the crystals in a small pile and stepped back. The larger creature did not move, but many of the smaller ones crawled out of their tunnels and investigated the pile. Having determined them good, the little ones started eating, their prehensile mandibles manipulating the rocks so their teeth could nibble away at the treats.
“They’re so cute!” Fureva-Yung exclaimed in a much higher pitch than usual, making Nox jump to hide behind Marius.
“Shhh!” Marius gestured to Fureva-Yung who was enraptured by the almost half metre long creatures quietly munching through the small pile of hard crystal, “These guys are amazing, aren’t they…don’t eat them.”
“I will not eat them, “ Fureva-Yung agreed, “I will subdue them and make them my mounts.”
“I think they may have something to say about that,” Marius mumbled a reply giving Nox an idea. She reached out and for only the second time, attempted to read another’s mind.
To her relief, she found a quiet, intelligent mind. It had been on edge, wary of the strange beings in its tunnels. But on seeing the little ones accept the food, there was a general feeling of relief, maternal protectiveness and fondness. Nox smiled nervously and told the others what she felt.
As Marius started gingerly going around the mother crystal eater, Jaden pulled out one of several large chunks of crystal she’d collected in Bellyache. Holding the rock in front of her, she carefully stepped around the eating babies and presented it to the mother. The mandibles opened wide enough to encompass the rock and Jaden’s hands. Claws gently picked up the offering and drew it back to the mouth where it crumbled and disappeared.
Nox sensed the mother’s curiosity as she too slipped past and joined Marius in the synth passage further up. Jaden and Yitti soon followed, but Fureva-Yung squatted down in front of the little ones. When Fureva-Yung’s meaty fist came down and snatched up one of the babies, Mamma lunged forward. Scratching the baby behind the huge compound eyes, Fureva-Yung calmed the baby, and it started a purring hum. Mamma, mollified for now, back down and continued to watch as Fureva-Yung cooed and fussed over the baby bug.
“Come on, Furry!” Marius called as Nox and Jaden settled down to discover what they could about the device.
In the synth tunnel, Nox found the device required a power source to get the whole machinery operational as Jaden opened up the two cylinders finding a collection of rods, many corroded.
“I could clean these off if I had something abrasive,” She said, looking around and spotting the cabinet, “Fureva-Yung, can you help get this open?”
Fureva-stomped into the room and Nox quickly scampered away into the glass-walled structure.
“My massive muscles will have no problem,” She boasted and peeled open the front door of the cabinet. Inside were spare rods that Jaden quickly replaced with the worst of the corroded and resealed the cylinders. Jaden was surprised to see so many little bug-eyed faces staring back from every crystal surface when she looked up from her work.
“I should warn you, “ She said to the little faces, “I don’t know what this will do.”
Up under the crystalline ceiling and the cavern's darkness below, Nox took in the view without fear.
“Nox, “ Marius stepped into the room behind her while Jaden and Fureva-Yung were busy with the cabinet. Nox flinched at the sound of his voice, turning large dark eyes on Marius.
“You know that Fureva-Yung didn’t mean to scare you.”
Nox shrugged, She was loud…like my dad…
“You have to know there’s a difference between how Fureva-Yung behaved and your dad?” Marius pleaded. Nox just shrugged again, Not now.
“She did it to save me.”
Nox was sure her father had used similar words, but here in the quiet of the glass chamber, she shook her head.
“You know she hasn’t changed from yesterday,” Marius added as Fureva-Yung picked up on their conversation.
“I am different than I was yesterday. I can speak.”
Her task completed, Fureva-Yung headed back to Mamma and the group of little ones around the diminishing pile of crystal pieces. There she sat down amongst them, the ocean wave noise purring off her, echoing gently through the cavern.
“Yeah, not helpful Furry,” Marius said under his breath. Jaden called him back to help salvage the power unit from a purgespitter, and the moment was lost.
“Do you think you can get the power cell out of this thing without destroying it or yourself?”
Marius grabbed the cypher eagerly and sat down nearby, “Are we in a hurry?”, he said after a few minutes.
“Not that I know of.”
“This thing is tricky. Fully charged as it is, I could trigger it. I’ll need to spend some time thinking how to tackle the task.”
Nox, in the glass chamber, had shuffled along the pipe to get a good look at the valves and mechanism that pointed at the suspended block when she heard a short sharp yell from Marius and then a horrible wailing screaming. A thick heavy funk filled the chamber, and it was all Nox could do to stay on the pipe and cover her nose and mouth from the smell. From the narrow passageway between the two sections, Nox could see Marius stumbling about, tearing at a grey tentacled creature wrapped around his face. Jaden was following him, trying to soothe the beast and seemingly getting nowhere.
“Come on, guy. You stink! Let go!”
“Stop pulling at it! You’d be terrified too if you’d been shot out of a cypher.” Jaden said and finally got Marius to sit back down. Soon the wailing stopped, but Marius was still sitting on the floor, the grey blobby creature stuck to his face.
“Well, this is going to make pulling the rest of the cypher apart fun,” And looking around the pulsing tentacles now settling in around his face, he extracted the power source for Jaden.
Nox went back to examining the end of the pipes. She could see that the valves and pipes helped control whatever ran along the lines to the block. It was evident to her that an ignition system was required to spark the fuel, and she let Jaden know. From scraps and iotum, Jaden created a rough and ready lighter. It would only work once, but everything went well, once would be enough.
“Marius, what happened to your face?” Fureva-Yung asked, joining Jaden and Marius as Jaden flipped the double pole switch. Once more, the cylinders began to gurgle as the rods inside reacted and produced gas. In the glass panel room, Nox ignited a flame and turned the valves until the flame touched the stone block, and it began to glow. As the adventurers celebrated the return of light to the darkness, the tiny crystal eaters shied away from the light.
“Time for you to get out of there too, Nox,” Marius called. Nox could no longer look at the block, but basked in the warmth and the group’s cleverness. Looking down she could now see the vast flooded cavern below, and far into the distance, a pale crescent of beach where they had been that morning. The cavern curved away underneath the light and ended at a tunnel very like the one the pod had been travelling before the crash.
Look, that’s where we need to go next!
“Where do you think this thing came from?” Marius mused as Nox rejoined the group. Fureva-Yung with one of the little ones attached to her finger was showing it to Mamma. Marius laughed at the big woman brought down by the tiny creature. Mamma turned her huge eyes onto the little one and made a series of clicks and purring sounds and the little one dropped off to join its fellows.
They have language, Nox was awed by the thought of something so alien being not only caring but also intelligent. She was going to reach out and connect the mother to their telepathic network when Marius and Jaden interrupted her train of thought.
“I think it’s from outer space and crashed here long ago,” Marius said and Jaden laughed.
“We know the crystal drags things here from other places, why not this lighthouse. No, I think another dimension is more likely than from the stars.” She got up putting her tools and scraps iotum into Bellyache, “Nox, don’t you agree?”
Huh? The lighthouse? Mr Marius. It is like us and not like us…more advanced. I think it was made by other people like us somewhere else and deposited here by the crystal. Like the blue people.
“Yes, one end of this massive crystal formation is at Cerelon at the Spectral Plateau. It would be good to see where it ends.” Jaden looked up into the crystal, now lit by the bright light of the lighthouse. Vast crystalline structures were now visible adding another dimension to the crystal’s beauty.
The group backtracked down to the crystal passage pointing out features in the crystal they’d never seen in the dark. There was no need for the glow globe as the crystal reflected the lighthouse’s light in all directions. Now they longer felt lost in the dark, the whole party’s mood brightened. As Mamma turned and headed further along the crystalline passage, the group followed, Fureva-Yung in the lead, Marius and the purge still stuck to his face, Jaden, Yitti and at the end Nox.
“Look we’ve given this thing enough time to let go,” Marius started pulling at the purge once more, “Maybe we should kill it.”
“No,” Fureva-Yung replied, “She is prettier this way.”
From behind, the snick of Nox’s small knife being unsheathed was clearly heard, I’m very good at removing parasites.
“Ha-ha!” Marius said, humourlessly, turning to Fureva-Yung, “Would you want to wear it?”
“Your face? No, mine is a fine strong face, not little and delicate like yours.”
“No, I meant the accessory” Marius poked the purge, “Maybe if there was somewhere for it to go I could remove this thing.”
Fureva-Yung shook her head, “Smell bad.”
“Yes, you do, but I’m sure it won’t mind. It smells worse.” Marius quipped, gaining for himself a side glance from the serious, Fureva-Yung.
After twenty metres, the passage opened up into a large cavern carved out of the crystal. Hundreds of the tiny tunnels and several large converge on this spot, all bringing with them light from the lighthouse. Up the walls and far above their heads, ramps and bridges, some big enough for Mamma, spanned the space. Above their heads in an alcove only accessible by the largest bridge, a nest of eggs lay. The cavern, tunnels, ramps and bridges all spiralled this way and that, holding to an internal logic that was too complicated and alien to comprehend. Marius, Jaden and Nox stood in silent awe at the beauty of the space and the intelligence behind it.
“It must be very old,” Marius thought out loud, “That or many generations of little ones.”
It meant nothing to Fureva-Yung who checked the large passages leaving the cavern for dangers. She spotted Nox looking more content than she had for hours, picking up new shards of crystal for her sling.
Nox…? She called telepathically to the girl, expecting the usual bright response. Instead, there was no reply. The girl’s shoulders hunched, and Nox quickly slunk out of sight into a smaller side passage where the large Fureva-Yung could not follow.
“Is the little one injured?” She asked. Marius sighed.
“Like I said, she was scared.”
“Ah. More scares. She will get used to it,” Fureva-Yung nodded sagely and went to go after Nox. Marius stepped in front of her.
“It’s not as simple as just being scared. She needs reassurance, gentleness, kindness…”
“Fureva-Yung not gentle,” She shook her head and pounded her chest with a meaty fist so the impact echoed through the cavern, “Strong and mighty!” Fureva-Yung remembered being alone in the forest, before finding Cerelon. She had been afraid then and knew she could not have just slunk away.
“And gentle. Like when you pet the little ones.” Marius answered, a constraining hand on her arm.
Fureva-Yung huffed, “Maybe. But, gentle does not keep you alive.” Disgruntled that she was ill-equipped for whatever was expected of her, Fureva-Yung turned around and went back to exploring the other passages.
“Hey Nox, maybe we should all stick together,” Marius called Nox slunk out of her hiding space checking that Fureva-Yung was nowhere in sight before coming up along Marius.
Mamma talks to her babies, She thought watching as the huge Crystal eater effortless climbed a ramp towards her nest.
“Didn’t you try talking to her before?” He asked, looking sidelong at the girl at his side.
She shook her head, I listened.
Following Mamma up the ramp as far as she dared, Nox connected to the alien mind and spoke.
Your home… is… very beautiful. She cringed. What would that mean to a creature that saw the world in a completely different way to her?
Mamma stopped, now aware of an alien mind speaking to it. There was a moment’s confusion mixed with the understanding that approval and admiration had been expressed.
I…thank you for sharing it with us and not eating us…
You…are not unfriendly, Said a slow thoughtful mind in return. It was a mind that knew nothing of predators and fear for itself, only concern for the little ones and maternal care, What are you doing here?
Running from things that would hurt and trap us, Nox replied as best she could.
A recognition. Understand. Help?
Nox was surprised. She had not considered that anyone they would meet could or would want to help.
Do you know… Nox thought of wide-open spaces on the surface, under the bright light of the sun and projected those images to Mamma.
The response was violent and fearful, Is that what you run from? It seems horrible.
Nox couldn’t help but smile at the difference in their views. She shared what Mamma had told her to the others present.
“Is there something we can help her with?” Marius asked.
How? Mamma replied when Nox translated his question.
Well, you are large, is there something small that you can’t do?
There is a thing! Mamma thought for a moment and replied with excitement, It is too hard even for me. I had to tunnel around it. Follow me.
Mamma started climbing away from her nest and out along another tunnel. Before long, she stopped in the middle of the path and waited for the group to join her. Protruding from the ground in the middle of the tunnel was another black crystal just like the one in the forest. Like the previous one, Fureva-Yung reached out to touch the crystal, but this time nothing happened. Even pressing her tattoo to its smooth surface told her nothing.
Nox, who had been disappointed at her attempt to scan the black crystal previous, gave it another go now. This time she pushed past the highly resistive outside layer to reveal a chamber at its core fed by systems for sustaining life and nutrition. The chamber, once filled with embryonic fluid, was virtually empty. She could also see that on his crystal, the side open to the crystal wall was open.
Excuse me, do you think the little ones could eat away the crystal on that side? Nox asked Mamma.
I think they would love to, Was her reply, and dozens of her tiny children poured out of tunnels all around to start the cleaning effort.
Soon, there was room enough for Nox to squeeze around. It looked like a person could be kept safe and alive in the black prism, maybe for a long time. Marius, keen as always, also tried squeezing around to get a look. When Nox caught sight of something deep in the crystalline matrix, she stopped, and Marius bowled into her, falling headfirst in the open side of the prism.
As soon as Marius skin made contact with the sack that made the internal chamber wall, tubes snaked out and embedded themselves into his skin. A feeding tube tried to force its way down his throat, only hindered by the still stuck purge clamped to his face. As the sack began sealing, Marius decided it was time to go and clambered out as the hole closed behind him.
“Right, what was that about? Why did you stop?” He asked, stepping away from the black prism to look at Nox. She said nothing and just pointed through into the wall itself. Less than a metre into the crystal, a human man stood midstride, frozen in place. He wore a grey tunic and pants, and on his arm was a tattoo very much like Fureva-Yung’s. Nox scanned the body and found that the man was dead though perfectly preserved.
“She had a tattoo like mine,” Fureva-Yung compared the tattoo on her arm to the one of the man. They looked identical.
“He must be your brother,” Marius joked. The man was undoubtedly of average human proportions and not the heavy build of Fureva-Yung, which she was quick to note.
“She’s no sister on mine.
“That’s why he must be your brother. He ain’t heavy, you know.”
Fureva-Yung recalled running from hunters through the Endoval forest in the remains of clothing similar to what the man wore. She’d never had much time for looking back as she had so few memories to look back on. But now, in the span of a few hours, she had been reminded twice of the time before finding Cerelon and safety. Torn, she just stood and studied the man, wishing ( and fearing) that his face would draw out even more memories.
“Do you recognise him?” Marius asked after a while.
“I do not know this girl,” Fureva-Yung had to admit, and she grudgingly stepped away for Mamma and the babies to start clearing away the crystal. Even with all the crystal eaters combined efforts, it took them an hour to reach the man. Once his body was free of the crystal, it slumped into a heap. Marius and Fureva-Yung carefully pulled him out the rest of the way and dragged him toward the now cleared black prism.
“I wonder…” Marius said as he took the man’s hand and pressed it to the black crystal. The crystal responded immediately with a series of red lights all down the long edge of the crystal.
Three red lights became…
Two red lights…
One red light…
“Run!” Everyone yelled at the same time as they all realised something bad was about to happen.
Run, hide! Nox called to the crystal eaters and the little ones scuttled away down small tunnels as they and Mamma fled back the way they had come.
The detonation, when it came, rocked the entire crystal passage forcing everyone off their feet, the blast wave almost pushing them over the edge of a ramp to the floor of the crystal eaters cavern.
Did it mean to do that? Ask the Mamma as Nox’s ears rang from the sound of the explosion.
Yes, it was made to destroy itself.
Did you mean it to do that? Mamma asked, concerned for the intelligence and sanity of these strange visitors.
No.
It is now out of the way. You have helped.
Oh! The little ones, did they escape? Nox asked, afraid that they may be responsible for the deaths of her children.
They found refuge in the crystal, Mamma replied nonchalantly, much to Nox’s relief.
Marius and Fureva-Yung were already down the passage, looking to see what had survived. Of the man, nothing, vaporised by the explosion. Of the prism, Marius found a few iotum and a cypher that nullified gravity.
“Oh, I’d like that,” He said as Fureva-Yung looked over the crater where the crystal and man had once been. She’d hoped that there might be some answer for her, something that triggered new memories. Forlornly, she turned from the passage and walked away.
“I have a theory,” Marius said on the short walk back to the others, “I think the first one was yours, and this one was his. Probably set to explode when it recognised that its occupant was dead.”
Fureva-Yung did not offer any opinions but went straight to Nox and the Mamma on returning to the crystal eater’s chamber.
She pulled out her chain and pointed to one of the links that made up the chain. She then pointed to the ramps and ledge where the eggs lay.
She’d like a link for her chain made out of the crystal you build the ramps and ledge, Nox finally translated after getting up the courage to find out what the sign language meant.
Mamma chittered and squeaked, and half a dozen little ones crawled out and started copying the shape of the chain link in mucus that set as hard as the crystal they ate. When it was finished, Fureva-Yung solemnly took the link and added it to the end of her chain, a reminder of a tiny clue to her past.