gasps on the homestead. If only we could bottle the air of the cooling flats, I wouldnât need any more of the breathing drops.
Thankfully, even after the excitement of the lone dactyl, we all got a decent rest last night. Or at least I did. And we only had to travel a few hours this morning before arriving. Itâs nice that we made it without any of us falling out of a gum one-man or getting eaten by a dactyl or choking onour own lungs. It makes oneâs spirit much lighter to be alive after a trip across the prairie.
We have hiked over the first of the flats, where the minÂerals mingle with the scrub and dust. Papa is right to head straight to the center. We can find the purest crystals there, the ones that will last the longest.
âQuickly,â Papa says. âWe leave as soon as we can. And donât grab everything from one place. It must look as if weâve never been here.â
I drop the hitch of the cart and begin untying the boxes and other vessels. My arms burn from having pulled the thing this far, but even though we are technically poaching, we know better than to drive a one-man through the flats. That would be a crime against nature, which I think can sometimes be worse than a crime against humans.
âLook sharp!â I call out to Boone, tossing a box at him. He catches it easily and grins. The waves of coolness are making us giddy. I toss a box to Papa, and even he smiles. My ears are chilled and this makes me grab Temple so I can hold one of them up against her flushed cheek until she squeals. She takes a box, too, and we all head out in separate directions to make our poaching less obvious.
The smaller crystals are easy. I just grab them from the surface and toss them into the box, feeling the metal of the container getting cooler and cooler the fuller it gets. Boone is off in the distance, on his hands and knees working atsomething. I can hear the clink of his chisel and I hope heâs not tearing away at a big one.
âGentle!â I yell toward him. âThey work longer if they havenât been mangled!â
Boone looks up and makes an ugly hand gesture at me, which makes me laugh. Even with a lame ear he still heard me from this distance. There is magic at the cooling flats.
Iâm tying down the first wave of full boxes when I hear it. Another dactyl screams. Boone, Papa, Temple, and I are so spread out on the flats now, I can only see the others as specks in the distance in front and to the sides of me. But by the way the specks all stand as still as shadows I can tell they heard the shriek, too.
The Red Crescent is low in the sky now and the clearness of the cool air shows off the swirls and curls of the white clouds on the planet. I think I can even make out some green on the surface. Then, coming over the horizon, blocking out the swirls of the Red Crescentâs clouds is a swarm of pink. At first I think itâs a dust storm, but thereâs no wind. Then the swarm gets larger and comes into focus.
More dactyls than Iâve ever seen in one place. In a formation of some sort. They are coming at us in a V shape, cutting through the air like a blade.
The specks that are Boone, Temple, and Papa all start running toward me and the cart. I grab the hitch of the cart and begin hauling it as fast as I can toward the edge of the flats. Toward the one-man. Toward escape.
We are not fast enough.
The dactyls are upon us before we are even together again.
The first scream I hear is Templeâs and my breath lurches in my lungs. I drop the cart and swing around just in time to see her form as it is lifted from the flats and hurled into the sky. She floats free for a moment, like a girl-shaped piece of dust caught in a swirling wind. Then another dactyl catches her with its talons and she screams again.
My breath is coming in jagged bursts. My chest is caving in on itself. Even in the cool air of the flats I canât breathe. Whether itâs a
Thankfully, even after the excitement of the lone dactyl, we all got a decent rest last night. Or at least I did. And we only had to travel a few hours this morning before arriving. Itâs nice that we made it without any of us falling out of a gum one-man or getting eaten by a dactyl or choking onour own lungs. It makes oneâs spirit much lighter to be alive after a trip across the prairie.
We have hiked over the first of the flats, where the minÂerals mingle with the scrub and dust. Papa is right to head straight to the center. We can find the purest crystals there, the ones that will last the longest.
âQuickly,â Papa says. âWe leave as soon as we can. And donât grab everything from one place. It must look as if weâve never been here.â
I drop the hitch of the cart and begin untying the boxes and other vessels. My arms burn from having pulled the thing this far, but even though we are technically poaching, we know better than to drive a one-man through the flats. That would be a crime against nature, which I think can sometimes be worse than a crime against humans.
âLook sharp!â I call out to Boone, tossing a box at him. He catches it easily and grins. The waves of coolness are making us giddy. I toss a box to Papa, and even he smiles. My ears are chilled and this makes me grab Temple so I can hold one of them up against her flushed cheek until she squeals. She takes a box, too, and we all head out in separate directions to make our poaching less obvious.
The smaller crystals are easy. I just grab them from the surface and toss them into the box, feeling the metal of the container getting cooler and cooler the fuller it gets. Boone is off in the distance, on his hands and knees working atsomething. I can hear the clink of his chisel and I hope heâs not tearing away at a big one.
âGentle!â I yell toward him. âThey work longer if they havenât been mangled!â
Boone looks up and makes an ugly hand gesture at me, which makes me laugh. Even with a lame ear he still heard me from this distance. There is magic at the cooling flats.
Iâm tying down the first wave of full boxes when I hear it. Another dactyl screams. Boone, Papa, Temple, and I are so spread out on the flats now, I can only see the others as specks in the distance in front and to the sides of me. But by the way the specks all stand as still as shadows I can tell they heard the shriek, too.
The Red Crescent is low in the sky now and the clearness of the cool air shows off the swirls and curls of the white clouds on the planet. I think I can even make out some green on the surface. Then, coming over the horizon, blocking out the swirls of the Red Crescentâs clouds is a swarm of pink. At first I think itâs a dust storm, but thereâs no wind. Then the swarm gets larger and comes into focus.
More dactyls than Iâve ever seen in one place. In a formation of some sort. They are coming at us in a V shape, cutting through the air like a blade.
The specks that are Boone, Temple, and Papa all start running toward me and the cart. I grab the hitch of the cart and begin hauling it as fast as I can toward the edge of the flats. Toward the one-man. Toward escape.
We are not fast enough.
The dactyls are upon us before we are even together again.
The first scream I hear is Templeâs and my breath lurches in my lungs. I drop the cart and swing around just in time to see her form as it is lifted from the flats and hurled into the sky. She floats free for a moment, like a girl-shaped piece of dust caught in a swirling wind. Then another dactyl catches her with its talons and she screams again.
My breath is coming in jagged bursts. My chest is caving in on itself. Even in the cool air of the flats I canât breathe. Whether itâs a
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