Minutes later, Mati watched the two directional functions on her display as she guided the Manessa Kwi over the Desert of Bakka. Sometimes the indicator line of the Boro and Rini function would move slightly to the left or right, and she would correct the ship’s course until the line was again centered. The line on the Ilika and Kibi function was still quite a ways off, but slowly approaching center.
“If we find it in the next few minutes,” Sata thought aloud, “we’ll have about a quarter hour for exploring.”
“I think we’ll be there soon,” Mati said, “and ion drive can get us back to the City of Memna in seconds, although we might scare Rini as we pass.”
Sata snickered. “You’re a little miffed at him, aren’t you?”
Mati was silent for a moment. “I guess it’s a little silly to be jealous of someone who died twenty thousand years ago.”
“Anyway, they probably weren’t human.”
Mati’s eyes opened wide. “What were they?”
“I don’t know. Manessa, what kind of creatures were the people who used to live here?”
“Ilika asked me not to . . .”
“Override.”
“All of the sapient inhabitants of the places we have visited on this planet were reptilian bipeds.”
Sata burst out laughing.
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“No,” Mati said, grinning and laughing, “I don’t think I’ll be jealous of long-dead lizards! We’re getting close, and I’m taking us down to one hundred meters. Help me look for it.”
Suddenly Sata received a transmission, and a symbol appeared on her chart. “No need. The Nebador marker just came to life, and it’s off to the left a little.”
“Marker five-two,” Mati read. “The Mines of Sarto.”
“No writings or recordings have been discovered that detail the lives of the people who worked these mines. Apparently all of the people who labored here were driven by an intense desire to find a gemstone worthy of offering to their gods. There is no evidence of slavery.
“Nor were there any class or status differences. Councilor Sarto appears to have worked right alongside the other miners, day after day, until the very end. Judging by the positions of bodies, tools, and gemstones, the following reconstruction of events seems most likely:
“Sarto and his followers decided on this location about half a year after crossing the sea. With shovels and blasting powder, they dug shafts into the bedrock until they found veins of crystals that angled deep into the planet.
These they followed as far as they could, bringing every find to the surface to be cleaned and inspected.
“About a year into their work, they could go no deeper as carbon dioxide began to fill the lower tunnels. Many miners died from the bad air or sheer exhaustion. Sarto and a few hearty followers pressed on, taking turns working for just a few minutes each in the deep places.
“Those who could no longer work in the mines helped to clean and sort the crystals, each hoping to find the object of their quest. When nothing else could be done, they burned whatever they could find to send their prayers up to the gods.
“The day came when only Sarto and one other miner remained alive. The miner was large and strong, but his name is not known. He struggled up from one of the deep tunnels, placed a dirt-filled box at Sarto’s feet, and died.”
Mati paused to wipe her eyes. “You can finish. I can’t see very well right now.”
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Sata waited until her friend was ready. “After honoring the fallen man with tools in his hands and gemstones over his eyes, Sarto was amazed to find, in the box of dirt, the most beautiful cluster of crystals he had ever seen.
Alone, he lovingly cleaned the precious object. With his last bit of strength, Sarto placed it on a boulder for the gods to see, cried himself to sleep, and never woke up.
“The mine tunnels collapsed long ago. The boulder where Sarto placed the offering still sits forty meters east of this marker. The crystal cluster resides in the museum at Satamia Star Station, and the gods often come to admire it and remember Sarto and his people, just as they do the Monuments of Zolko, the City of Memna, and the Arch of Glimpa. Visitors may find souvenir crystals among the mine tailings north of this marker.”
Boro had only twenty minutes of air, even with all the tricks Rini could teach him, so Mati and Sata agreed on a plan that would shave minutes off the last two things they wanted to do.
While Sata climbed into a space suit, Mati moved the ship to the boulder where the crystals had been offered up. About a meter high, it showed signs of braving dust and sand storms for at least twenty thousand years.
Sata opened the outer airlock door but didn’t step outside. As soon as she had taken a photograph and glanced around, Mati moved the ship to the ancient piles of rock and dirt that had come from the mine. With sample container in hand, Sata was quickly on the ground.
“This’ll be easy!” Sata announced after walking a few meters from the ship.
“Crystals all over the place. I just have to pick out a nice one that’ll fit in our containers . . . like this one!” She held up a small cluster of purple spikes for Mati to see.
“Looks perfect. Now let’s go get our boys. It’s been nice taking a break, but I’m starting to miss them.”
Sata grabbed two more small crystals and added them to the sample container. “Me too.”
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Deep Learning Notes
The solution to Sata’s navigation problem (using the locations of Boro’s, Rini’s, and Ilika’s tracer molecules) would be similar to one method of radio navigation we use today called ADF/NDB (Automatic Direction Finder/Non-Directional Beacon). When the instrument is tuned to the proper radio frequency in our aircraft, a needle points to the radio source beacon, allowing the pilot to “home” to the beacon, or calculate the angle between the beacon and another heading or bearing.
The methods Rini taught Boro to extend his air supply all involve slowing the body’s metabolism. What dangers might arise if Rini or Boro did this too much?
Why was Mati able to let go of her jealousy when she learned that Nosta wasn’t human?
People argue endlessly whether our god(s) are just made up in our heads from wishful thinking, or really exist separate from our expectations. In the story of the ancient people of Sonmatia Four, which appears to be the case, and how do you know?
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An illustration shows the boulder as it might have looked with the crystal cluster still on top.
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Chapter 21: Picking Up the Puzzle Pieces Mati took a deep breath. For the first time, she was about to move the ship a long distance with no one else on the bridge. Her heart beat faster as she gave the ship voice commands to warm up the ion drive.
Sata, by agreement, waited in the airlock in case anyone needed help getting into the ship.
“The City of Memna,” Mati announced through the intercom a minute later as she extended landing struts. Long shadows reached out across the central plaza from the surrounding ruins as the sun approached the horizon.
Sata opened the outer door. “Boro? Are you nearby?”
“Sata, you in a suit? You gotta see this!”
Sata stepped outside to see Boro, not far from the Nebador marker, waving and pointing downward. She walked in his direction. “We can’t forget Rini.”
“He has about twenty minutes more than me, and I have at least eight, maybe twelve minutes. It’s amazing how much air you save just by breathing through your nose.”
She self-consciously closed her mouth and followed him down an old dusty stairway into the ground. He activated his bracelet light and she did the same.
“I found this just a little while ago.”
Sata gazed around with wide eyes, taking in the faded mural paintings covering all four walls. Lizard-like people in ornate robes, sometimes with elaborate jewelry, stood or walked in ritual formation, carrying offerings of fruit, gemstones, or scrolls.
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“They were reptiles,” Boro said.
“Manessa told us, but we had no idea what they looked like.”
The back wall, never touched by sunlight, was the least faded, and one figure stood foremost, reaching up with her offering of a large double-rolled scroll while searching the cloudless yellow sky with desperate eyes.
“Memna, probably,” Boro whispered.
Sata nodded, then something caught her eye in one corner of the mural.
She moved closer and aimed her light.
“I was hoping you’d see that,” Boro said.
A small golden sphere perched on three legs, ramp extended and hatch open, and a reptile in a blue robe stood at the top of the ramp, talking to a group of children who had gathered around.
“Manessa says she has photographs of all the mural paintings,” Mati said over the intercom, “including a bunch you haven’t seen yet. Aren’t you about out of air, Boro?”
“Yeah. I just got my four-minute alarm. We’re coming.”
The pilot made sure her engines were ready while Boro and Sata entered the airlock, then made quick-work of the journey back to the Arch of Glimpa.
Rini sat cross-legged on the arch, facing the sunset, as the Manessa Kwi settled onto the sand near the marker. He waved, and Mati’s heart beat a little faster.
“Did you get Boro first?” he asked with concern, standing up.
“I’m right here!” Boro announced, touching the intercom symbol at his console. “Did you know they were reptiles?”
Rini was silent for a moment as he stopped dead in his tracks near one side of the arch, then burst out laughing. “I pictured Nosta having tangled black hair, like Kibi.”
“Sorry, just scales and spikes,” Mati said. “Aren’t you almost out of air, or should we come back after dinner, maybe a video?”
Rini whimpered. “I’ll make it to the airlock, but not by much. It takes a few minutes just to climb down from here.”
Just then the sun sank below the horizon, and suddenly the land became pitch-dark.
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“Uh oh,” Rini said with a trembling voice.
“Thin atmosphere, no twilight,” Boro explained.
“Rini, stay right where you are,” Mati asserted, “that’s an order.” The ship’s external lights came on and lit the area brilliantly. “Sata, you still in the airlock?”
“Yep!”
“Good. Boro, anti-mass one, maneuvering thrusters.”
“Blue-green . . . green.”
Mati carefully lifted the Manessa Kwi to the height of the arch.
“I just got my four-minute alarm!” Rini squeaked. “I guess I’m scared and breathing faster.”
“That fear has to go . . .” Boro began in his deep voice.
Rini chuckled, remembering his own words. “Yes, master. It’s harder when it’s your air that’s almost out!”
Boro smiled as Mati maneuvered to the top of the huge rock outcropping.
“Sata, I don’t know how stable this rock is,” Mati said, “so I’m just going to hover. Open the outer door, then tell me if I’m close enough.”
“A meter lower . . . that’s good. Rini’s coming with his bracelet light . . .
he’s in Manessa’s lights now . . . he’s climbing in.”
As soon as Rini was inside, Sata closed the outer door and pressurized the airlock. Rini opened his faceplate, and both he and Sata heard his one-minute air alarm. They both grinned and slapped hands before opening the inner door.
The four members of the crew who were not usually in command, but who had all experienced the responsibilities of command that day, agreed they needed some time to talk. By Manessa’s external lights, Mati lowered the ship back onto the sand near the Nebador marker.
Sata, with Rini’s help, quickly put together a hearty dinner of reheated left-overs from the refrigerator.
Boro transferred his photographs from bracelet to ship, then shared all his discoveries of strange symbols etched in stone, mural paintings, and pits where the people had once burned their belongings. With some embarrassment, he also talked about the voices he thought he heard in many
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of the ruins.
Rini had begun his stay on the Island of Glimpa thinking he was there to remember an apprentice wizard named Nosta, a girl about his age. He soon discovered she had friends, and the longer and deeper he meditated, the more presences he felt. He speculated that she was only the last of many who had come to the Arch for solitude and enlightenment.
Sata showed the boulder where Sarto had made his best and final offering, and described the mine tailings littered with beautiful crystals. She opened the sample container, and the shimmering pink and purple gems were passed around. Then she shared her deep embarrassment at trying to find the intersection of two lines using trigonometry.
Rini grinned with sparkling eyes. Boro’s face twisted in thought.
In Mati’s opinion, Sata had left out the most important lesson they learned. With a nod from Sata, she explained how any previous order from Ilika could be overridden by the commander.
“But we should only do that if we really need to,” Boro said with a worried look.
“True,” Rini agreed, “but I think Ilika wants us to know how.”
Mati nodded. “It should be up to whoever’s in command.”
Boro thought for a moment. “That sounds right.”
After talking for hours, the four crew members of the Manessa Kwi began yawning, and decided that Ilika and Kibi would find something to do without them for one night.
Deep Learning Notes
As Boro learned and shared with Sata, breathing through the nose slows our metabolism. It also conserves body moisture. Breathing through the mouth is only useful during extreme exertion, like running.
Why would gods, aliens, or the Nebador Transport Service, prefer to rescue children, instead of wise old adults, when a species was threatened with extinction?
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There is little or no twilight on a planet with a thin atmosphere because twilight is caused by the air scattering the light that is still moving through it but otherwise destined to miss the planet.
In your opinion, is it cheating to override a previous commander’s order, or a necessary part of ship operations?
