Surface of Ki'lar
“You going to help me move this off the loader or what? The locks are too tight.” said Toron, the first-class miner. A scrawny, second-class Farcronian hopped off the tracker near him. The two moons showered them as the planetary dust flew all around them.
“We’d best start diggin’ soon, Tee, if we don’t want to get caught in this storm.” said the blue-faced Farcronian behind his helmet.
POP! — the locks came off the drill’s wheels as the two of them stepped back. The wind raged against their suits; it was bitter cold. Toron climbed aboard the drill and drove it off the platform. Its wheels left tracks in the dust of the planet’s surface as it turned and came to a stop.
“Come on, Rocka!” said Toron through the speakers in their suits. Rocka climbed up a ladder and joined his partner in the cockpit of the large rover. A massive drill stood atop the roof of the vehicle, ready to sling around and penetrate the hard surface of Ki’lar when called upon.
They sped off. They were looking for a crater, a deep one that drew below the harsh winds and the clouds, where they could anchor their craft and dig. Space was all above them, a spotted black sky. There was hardly an atmosphere to reflect the rays of the nearest star. Hatre and Morestrum were in clear site above them, looking tremendously large and gloomy in the sky.
“Where’d we dig yesterday?” asked Rocka, the simple-minded male.
“Back a few rafs from our landing site. You don’t remember?” questioned Toron. “You didn’t drink in the hanger before we left again, did you?”
Rocka gave that half-hearted chuckle he always gave when Toron was disappointed or angry with him, but he never answered his question. He just sat there, staring out into the orange and grey, lifeless landscape as Toron maneuvered their massive vehicle.
“You know what they say about this place, right?” Toron continued. “There’s a lot more to it than iron ore and jarek stone.”
Rocka looked at him with a fearful expression, his chubby neck compressing against the lens of his helmet as he did so. He was so much like a child, though he was years into adulthood.
“I was at a club, at Yonde I think it was.” Toron said as he turned to dodge a crater too deep to drive into. The lights in the cockpit were blue and orange, pressure gauges were moving back and forth on the wide dash as they went around the orange hills. Clouds of grey dust rushed against their window, nearly toppling them over, but the wide base of the vehicle kept them grounded. Rocka kept moving in his seat as if he was nervous. Toron didn’t miss a beat, he looked calm, as if he expected the maddening weather. “The Pluntarian was telling me his company sent him out here to mine for jarek. When he was close to the surface, everything was fine. But he swore to Saega that when he went beyond a hundred rafs… he heard screams.”
“I know yer tryin’,” he stuttered when he got nervous, “tra tra tryin’ to scare me agin, Tee. Don’t keep doin’ that, Tee.”
“Hey, don’t get stuttery with me. I don’t think anything is alive in this place. I’m just telling you what I heard at Yonde. Pluntarians don’t know much about anything, especially those who have to live in Prexia Thorin.” Toron assured. If the turquoise-skinned Maganite ever teased, he always tried to be light. Rocka was the only person in his life who never abandoned him. He loved the naïve fool more than his own life.
“Wha what about that one, Tee?” Rocka asked as he pointed towards a low-slopping crater. Toron drove to its edge. He gave a short look before driving down the slope. The pair felt as if they’d slide out the front windshield if their straps had not been there to hold them securely.
They unstrapped themselves and grabbed their miner packs. They climbed down the ladder and hopped off the rover at the base of the crater.
“Do ya see that, Tee?” Rocka said nervously as he pointed towards a cave. Toron walked towards it, his slim shoulders pushing through the lighter wind.
He turned on his helmet light and let it shine into the opening. Rocka caught up to him.
“Looks like some other miners already opened this one up for us.” Toron assured. “Let’s see if there’s any jarek left. The Oppressors will be wanting more soon.”
Rocka nodded as the pair entered into the jagged cave.
As they looked for the rare and shiny blue stones, Toron remembered the day that he and Rocka agreed to sell raw materials to the Oppressors. The red commander held the hot blaster tip against his head. They were inside a street bar on Magnus. He threatened to kill them both if they didn’t sign the contracts. What choice did they have with the powers of Darkness staring them in the face? Now, they hardly made enough coinage to repair their rover or their ship when needed. Often times, they were paid only in dry, UASCR packaged food. The Oppressors had plenty of it, they took it from the forces of Light with each victory.
Rocka slipped and nearly fell down a deep crack.
Toron grabbed him and pulled him back on track. “Watch your step!” he yelled, the noise echoing through the deep passage ahead. “I’ll never get enough stone without your help.”
Rocka chuckled sadly and the blue rolls on his neck transforming to green momentarily and back to blue. The Farcronians could change colors when they wanted to, but emotions often caused them to fluctuate against their will.
The two species, doomed to gather raw materials for the Dark armies, felt remorse for how they would be used. They’d surely build fireblades for their red commanders, who would then use them to rip apart innocent lifeforms in the falling and enslaved worlds of the galaxy. Toron’s heart felt the conviction of what they were a part of. He then thought of the Ki’lar legend again, though he didn’t want to bring it up in conversation, that those who join the Darkness end up in its core, burning endlessly in the hollow, sulfurous fire within it.
“Wha what do ya say we leave Sulcrus, Tee?” Rocka said innocently as they passed old and abandoned mining equipment.
Toron gave him a stupefied look. “You know they’d kill us. They’d track us down, even if we went to the edge of Prexia Thorin.”
Rocka’s eyes became low and hopeless. He seemed tired, and especially weary of serving the Darkness. Their entire existence was simply slavery.
They came to an old elevator hooked to a battery. It went down for hundreds, if not thousands of rafs into the planet’s core. Surely there’s jarek down there, Toron thought. He kicked the battery supply and a blue lamp light flickered on. After a moment, a hanging control panel displayed two orange buttons with arrows.
“If there’s jarek, it’s probably near the bottom.” Toron said as they hopped on the shaky and wired platform. The side upon which Rocka stood hung lower. Toron pressed the button and the elevator started to reluctantly move downwards. The cold air slowly turned to humid heat as they descended. They panned their helmet lights across the carved walls. Nothing shimmered.
The lights in the elevator flickered off.
“Is ev ev everything ok, Tee?” asked Rocka as he held onto a corner support rod of the elevator.
Toron was pressing the controller, “I don’t know. I think —”
SWOOSH! — the air sounded as they started a freefall deep into the planet’s core. The temperature was rising exponentially.
Two minutes of falling before the lights flickered on in the wired platform. Toron frantically pressed the buttons to slow down their descendance.
When they came to a halt, the heat was nearly unbearable. They were only a few feet from the base of the pit. Toron hopped off the platform. Rocka was breathing heavily as he fell off. All around them glistened the blue stones. A glowing red crack was ahead of them.
“Wha wha where are we, Tee?” asked Rocka as he stood to his feet. He desperately wanted to leave, to go home, to be anywhere but here. To escape their lives of slavery and the pits they ventured for the service of the Dark army.
Toron stood mesmerized by the glowing red. He walked towards it, slowly. Just a peek would show him what awaited him at the end of time. Particles of ember floated in the air, being emitted from the crack. The crack split apart as if it were a living thing.
The screams of the species filled their ears. Rocka fell to his knees as the heat force hit them. Toron braced himself and walked forward. He leaned over the ledge, the legends were mild compared to what he saw.
Flurries of flame ripped across the massive corridor. Tall and lanky black creatures walked about, writhing in pain themselves, but inflicting pain on the others around them with every opportunity. No intelligible words were spoken. Not a soul in the pit seemed to comprehend that there were others around them. As Toron studied the scene, he nearly slipped off the ledge, it would have been a thousand feet drop to eternal suffering if Rocka had not pulled him back into the cave of the jarek stone.
A loud bell was rung three times. The flames of the pit started to rise, as did the screams. Rocka tossed Toron’s hypnotized body on the elevator. Neither of them had gathered a single blue stone. Rocka grabbed the controller and speedily lifted them from the bottom of the pit. The flames rushed in as they rose to escape it.
“We’d best start diggin’ soon, Tee, if we don’t want to get caught in this storm.” said the blue-faced Farcronian behind his helmet.
POP! — the locks came off the drill’s wheels as the two of them stepped back. The wind raged against their suits; it was bitter cold. Toron climbed aboard the drill and drove it off the platform. Its wheels left tracks in the dust of the planet’s surface as it turned and came to a stop.
“Come on, Rocka!” said Toron through the speakers in their suits. Rocka climbed up a ladder and joined his partner in the cockpit of the large rover. A massive drill stood atop the roof of the vehicle, ready to sling around and penetrate the hard surface of Ki’lar when called upon.
They sped off. They were looking for a crater, a deep one that drew below the harsh winds and the clouds, where they could anchor their craft and dig. Space was all above them, a spotted black sky. There was hardly an atmosphere to reflect the rays of the nearest star. Hatre and Morestrum were in clear site above them, looking tremendously large and gloomy in the sky.
“Where’d we dig yesterday?” asked Rocka, the simple-minded male.
“Back a few rafs from our landing site. You don’t remember?” questioned Toron. “You didn’t drink in the hanger before we left again, did you?”
Rocka gave that half-hearted chuckle he always gave when Toron was disappointed or angry with him, but he never answered his question. He just sat there, staring out into the orange and grey, lifeless landscape as Toron maneuvered their massive vehicle.
“You know what they say about this place, right?” Toron continued. “There’s a lot more to it than iron ore and jarek stone.”
Rocka looked at him with a fearful expression, his chubby neck compressing against the lens of his helmet as he did so. He was so much like a child, though he was years into adulthood.
“I was at a club, at Yonde I think it was.” Toron said as he turned to dodge a crater too deep to drive into. The lights in the cockpit were blue and orange, pressure gauges were moving back and forth on the wide dash as they went around the orange hills. Clouds of grey dust rushed against their window, nearly toppling them over, but the wide base of the vehicle kept them grounded. Rocka kept moving in his seat as if he was nervous. Toron didn’t miss a beat, he looked calm, as if he expected the maddening weather. “The Pluntarian was telling me his company sent him out here to mine for jarek. When he was close to the surface, everything was fine. But he swore to Saega that when he went beyond a hundred rafs… he heard screams.”
“I know yer tryin’,” he stuttered when he got nervous, “tra tra tryin’ to scare me agin, Tee. Don’t keep doin’ that, Tee.”
“Hey, don’t get stuttery with me. I don’t think anything is alive in this place. I’m just telling you what I heard at Yonde. Pluntarians don’t know much about anything, especially those who have to live in Prexia Thorin.” Toron assured. If the turquoise-skinned Maganite ever teased, he always tried to be light. Rocka was the only person in his life who never abandoned him. He loved the naïve fool more than his own life.
“Wha what about that one, Tee?” Rocka asked as he pointed towards a low-slopping crater. Toron drove to its edge. He gave a short look before driving down the slope. The pair felt as if they’d slide out the front windshield if their straps had not been there to hold them securely.
They unstrapped themselves and grabbed their miner packs. They climbed down the ladder and hopped off the rover at the base of the crater.
“Do ya see that, Tee?” Rocka said nervously as he pointed towards a cave. Toron walked towards it, his slim shoulders pushing through the lighter wind.
He turned on his helmet light and let it shine into the opening. Rocka caught up to him.
“Looks like some other miners already opened this one up for us.” Toron assured. “Let’s see if there’s any jarek left. The Oppressors will be wanting more soon.”
Rocka nodded as the pair entered into the jagged cave.
As they looked for the rare and shiny blue stones, Toron remembered the day that he and Rocka agreed to sell raw materials to the Oppressors. The red commander held the hot blaster tip against his head. They were inside a street bar on Magnus. He threatened to kill them both if they didn’t sign the contracts. What choice did they have with the powers of Darkness staring them in the face? Now, they hardly made enough coinage to repair their rover or their ship when needed. Often times, they were paid only in dry, UASCR packaged food. The Oppressors had plenty of it, they took it from the forces of Light with each victory.
Rocka slipped and nearly fell down a deep crack.
Toron grabbed him and pulled him back on track. “Watch your step!” he yelled, the noise echoing through the deep passage ahead. “I’ll never get enough stone without your help.”
Rocka chuckled sadly and the blue rolls on his neck transforming to green momentarily and back to blue. The Farcronians could change colors when they wanted to, but emotions often caused them to fluctuate against their will.
The two species, doomed to gather raw materials for the Dark armies, felt remorse for how they would be used. They’d surely build fireblades for their red commanders, who would then use them to rip apart innocent lifeforms in the falling and enslaved worlds of the galaxy. Toron’s heart felt the conviction of what they were a part of. He then thought of the Ki’lar legend again, though he didn’t want to bring it up in conversation, that those who join the Darkness end up in its core, burning endlessly in the hollow, sulfurous fire within it.
“Wha what do ya say we leave Sulcrus, Tee?” Rocka said innocently as they passed old and abandoned mining equipment.
Toron gave him a stupefied look. “You know they’d kill us. They’d track us down, even if we went to the edge of Prexia Thorin.”
Rocka’s eyes became low and hopeless. He seemed tired, and especially weary of serving the Darkness. Their entire existence was simply slavery.
They came to an old elevator hooked to a battery. It went down for hundreds, if not thousands of rafs into the planet’s core. Surely there’s jarek down there, Toron thought. He kicked the battery supply and a blue lamp light flickered on. After a moment, a hanging control panel displayed two orange buttons with arrows.
“If there’s jarek, it’s probably near the bottom.” Toron said as they hopped on the shaky and wired platform. The side upon which Rocka stood hung lower. Toron pressed the button and the elevator started to reluctantly move downwards. The cold air slowly turned to humid heat as they descended. They panned their helmet lights across the carved walls. Nothing shimmered.
The lights in the elevator flickered off.
“Is ev ev everything ok, Tee?” asked Rocka as he held onto a corner support rod of the elevator.
Toron was pressing the controller, “I don’t know. I think —”
SWOOSH! — the air sounded as they started a freefall deep into the planet’s core. The temperature was rising exponentially.
Two minutes of falling before the lights flickered on in the wired platform. Toron frantically pressed the buttons to slow down their descendance.
When they came to a halt, the heat was nearly unbearable. They were only a few feet from the base of the pit. Toron hopped off the platform. Rocka was breathing heavily as he fell off. All around them glistened the blue stones. A glowing red crack was ahead of them.
“Wha wha where are we, Tee?” asked Rocka as he stood to his feet. He desperately wanted to leave, to go home, to be anywhere but here. To escape their lives of slavery and the pits they ventured for the service of the Dark army.
Toron stood mesmerized by the glowing red. He walked towards it, slowly. Just a peek would show him what awaited him at the end of time. Particles of ember floated in the air, being emitted from the crack. The crack split apart as if it were a living thing.
The screams of the species filled their ears. Rocka fell to his knees as the heat force hit them. Toron braced himself and walked forward. He leaned over the ledge, the legends were mild compared to what he saw.
Flurries of flame ripped across the massive corridor. Tall and lanky black creatures walked about, writhing in pain themselves, but inflicting pain on the others around them with every opportunity. No intelligible words were spoken. Not a soul in the pit seemed to comprehend that there were others around them. As Toron studied the scene, he nearly slipped off the ledge, it would have been a thousand feet drop to eternal suffering if Rocka had not pulled him back into the cave of the jarek stone.
A loud bell was rung three times. The flames of the pit started to rise, as did the screams. Rocka tossed Toron’s hypnotized body on the elevator. Neither of them had gathered a single blue stone. Rocka grabbed the controller and speedily lifted them from the bottom of the pit. The flames rushed in as they rose to escape it.
