The Alien Noble's Little Human by Athena Storm

Author:Athena Storm [Storm, Athena]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Athenaverse Press
Published: 2023-10-23T16:00:00+00:00

20

ZAYA

I can see the old mine shaft isn’t secure. The ancient logs that the miners must have hauled up the mountain many years before are rotten and collapsing.

Several times we come across areas where the supports and natural pillars of the cave have begun to degrade, although so far none of the passages have been totally closed off, thank the Divine Ones. There have been a couple of moments when I believed Taurek’s preternatural bulk would pin him intractably between the narrow walls, but his preternatural agility exceeded his size.

The most positive thing, besides the fact that we found it, is that we don’t need any lights. There are traces of the eerily beautiful roxolite everywhere, glowing as if lit from within. It’s maddeningly close and maddeningly evasive. The glow of the mineral collects and scatters, building a self-replicating web even outside of living cells.

In its own way, roxolite seems like a life form all its own. It very well may contain a universe of microfauna. It’s never been studied with rigor.

We let the mauve fluorescence of the ancient stone guide us, as it has in a very real sense since we first detected the glowing purple signal light in the snow.

“Look,” says Taurek. “The seam is more concentrated there.”

I’ve just climbed through the small aperture left by the most recent cave-in to block our path. I shake the dirt from my hair and neck unthinkingly as I enter without thinking.

“It’s beautiful,” I whisper in a reverent hush.

From the visual signatures, I can see that this deposit of roxolite radiates out from a dense central column, like the molten iron-silicate core that sits in the center of Kiphia.

“Should we begin to extract, Zaya?” Taurek asks.

“It seems close, but the proximity is an illusion. It’s much deeper than it looks because of the energy refraction.” I tap on the walls, which respond with a dusting of silt, and I pat it instinctively as if it’s capable of understanding the action. “It’s through there. Understand the freakout over the instruments a little better?” I crack a smile, and I’m not sure if he can see until he gives one back.

This is where all of the practical knowledge of working with practically every kind of mineral on Kiphia merges with the research I’ve read in historical tomes. I can practically get around by feel rather than thought. Something about the roxolite allows me to practically commune with it directly.

“Lead the way, Captain.” Taurek gives a little bow. “I’d volunteer to help, but given my… I’d call it a deficiency in size, but lack of deficiency is the problem…”

It was not a problem at all underneath those furs at night, I think. Even with the most serious task of my life, I can’t suppress the thoughts of him driving me wild.

I squeeze his hand, and he gives me a look of hope, fear, and pride. I see the face of two soldiers stepping into battle after years of training for a decisive operation, one that will determine within minutes whether the war is lost or won.

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