Inherit the Stars: Excerpt
Kivita exited the capsule and stepped onto miniscule ruby shards, scorched black from her landing. She gazed around, getting her bearings.
Sapphire canyon walls rose above her at least one hundred feet, and a slope led into a large black crevice fifty feet on her right. Her landing had been fortunate. Hell, more than fortunate. Shivering, she tried not to guess the fissure’s depth. As she walked from the capsule, her knees wobbled and her lungs compressed. Her heart thumped as if she’d been running.
“Six energy dumps,” she whispered, then stepped onto a mesa covered in fine purple crystals. They crunched under her boots like glassware baubles.
Ahead, the landscape glittered and twinkled. Huge transparent crystal clusters filled the valley below the mesa. Hundreds of thin, brittle stalks rose dozens of feet into the air, and tiny flakes of frozen hydrogen dusted the landscape.
For an instant, the visions she’d seen since Xeh’s Crown flooded her mind. Galactic arms filled with yellow, blue, and orange stars, rather than the dying red giants dominating the Cetturo Arm.
Kivita shook her head. This high-G must be playing tricks on her.
The compass beeped and the arrow flashed towards the crystalline grove below. Kivita took another deep breath and trudged on. She’d trained in high-G before, but as she climbed down the mesa wall her muscles burned with exhaustion. Sweat ran rivulets down her face. Her faceplate’s defroster worked extra just to keep it from fogging over.
Soon, she traveled through the grove she’d spotted from above. Her footsteps popped and cracked over crystals. Kivita avoided rubbing against the larger ones with her suit. One puncture, and she’d become a permanent resident. Twice she paused to catch her breath.
Something caught the sunlight behind a ruby geode formation. Kivita paused, then stiffened.
Two hundred feet away sat a squat Inheritor shuttle. Panels had been ripped off the outer hull, and three forms in envirosuits lay a short distance from the craft. Hydrogen frost had covered the faceplates.
A chill entered Kivita’s chest. Her legs trembled as she staggered towards a skinny quartz formation.
“Six…energy…dumps…”
The impulse to steady herself against a crystal spire nagged her. Her lungs burned, working harder. Eons passed as she crept through the grove, then into a massive arched tunnel, its ceiling forty feet above her. Luminescent sapphires glowed with mysterious inner fire.
Pausing, she recalled some of her father’s tips. Don’t fight nature, work with it. Kivita stopped resisting the high-G so much and relaxed. Her breathing leveled off as she developed a walking and inhalation rhythm. There, she could do it. Dunaar hadn’t hired just any spacer, he’d hired Kivita Vondir, and she could…
The compass indicated two miles to go. Damn.
She entered a second arched tunnel. The glow of ruby and violet geodes reflected off a familiar polished surface lying at her feet: Inheritor polyarmor. A cuirass, greaves, one boot. A kinetic rifle lay snapped in two, its magazine gutted. Dark crimson stains covered the surrounding crystals, and tufts of flesh lay in scattered piles.
Kivita’s breaths came slow and painful as she drew her pistol. The shots could pierce polyarmor, but with only ten rounds, she had to make them count.
The compass beeped and the arrow stopped blinking. Kivita halted and swallowed.
Outside the tunnel, a tall square tower of sapphire and violet gems soared three hundred feet above her. A huge quartz stone with ruby veins rested atop it, catching the faint sunlight in pink motes. Other angular formations dotted the surrounding area, but she couldn’t tell if they were built from the crystals, or had been overgrown. Kivita wondered if any other buildings existed on Vstrunn, and who might have built them.
Who could have built anything on this planet?
The tower’s presence defied her disbelief.
She scanned the area. Kith were hulking, seven-foot tall creatures, and rather ugly. Surely she’d spot one easily across this gorgeous landscape. Nothing disturbed Vstrunn’s stillness. Gripping the pistol, Kivita walked on.
The tower doorway loomed before her like the mouth of some legendary monster. She entered with cautious steps. Even if she found the Juxj Star right now, it would be night once she reached the landing capsule.
The tower’s interior gleamed with luminescent crystal blocks cut in exact fittings. Kivita switched her wrist compass to indicate distance from her capsule; she’d flee as soon as she found the gem. Once she stepped from a foyer-like room into a grand chamber, thoughts of leaving faded.
The crystal walls pulsed with inner light, reaching up to the quartz-ruby three hundred feet above her head. Her limbs shook, her head tingled. No steps, no lifts along the sides. The walls were as slick as glass, reflecting a thousand versions of herself from angular fractures. The crystalline bliss mesmerized Kivita, as if she already dreamed in her cryopod.
In the center of the floor stood a three-foot, amethyst-like altar. A round red gem the size of a child’s fist hung suspended over it. Nothing visible held the gem up.
Kivita stilled. Three armored Aldaakian bodies lay around the altar. Through the narrow faceplates, the albino faces looked asleep. They might have been dead for a day, or a decade. Part of her wanted to touch them, while another wanted to look away. Strange how heat created life as well as destroyed it, while cold drained life while preserving it.
The tingling in her brain increased. Shit, not another headache. Something tickled her throat, and Kivita’s breaths quaked in her lungs.
Reflected in one Aldaakian faceplate at her feet was a tall, hulking form.
She turned.
Five Kith had entered the crystal tower. They stepped easily around the altar, their metallic gray flesh mirroring the pulsing geode lights. Triangular black eyes examined her, and black, serrated claws protruded from their hands.
“Damn it.” Her mouth went dry.
Sapphire canyon walls rose above her at least one hundred feet, and a slope led into a large black crevice fifty feet on her right. Her landing had been fortunate. Hell, more than fortunate. Shivering, she tried not to guess the fissure’s depth. As she walked from the capsule, her knees wobbled and her lungs compressed. Her heart thumped as if she’d been running.
“Six energy dumps,” she whispered, then stepped onto a mesa covered in fine purple crystals. They crunched under her boots like glassware baubles.
Ahead, the landscape glittered and twinkled. Huge transparent crystal clusters filled the valley below the mesa. Hundreds of thin, brittle stalks rose dozens of feet into the air, and tiny flakes of frozen hydrogen dusted the landscape.
For an instant, the visions she’d seen since Xeh’s Crown flooded her mind. Galactic arms filled with yellow, blue, and orange stars, rather than the dying red giants dominating the Cetturo Arm.
Kivita shook her head. This high-G must be playing tricks on her.
The compass beeped and the arrow flashed towards the crystalline grove below. Kivita took another deep breath and trudged on. She’d trained in high-G before, but as she climbed down the mesa wall her muscles burned with exhaustion. Sweat ran rivulets down her face. Her faceplate’s defroster worked extra just to keep it from fogging over.
Soon, she traveled through the grove she’d spotted from above. Her footsteps popped and cracked over crystals. Kivita avoided rubbing against the larger ones with her suit. One puncture, and she’d become a permanent resident. Twice she paused to catch her breath.
Something caught the sunlight behind a ruby geode formation. Kivita paused, then stiffened.
Two hundred feet away sat a squat Inheritor shuttle. Panels had been ripped off the outer hull, and three forms in envirosuits lay a short distance from the craft. Hydrogen frost had covered the faceplates.
A chill entered Kivita’s chest. Her legs trembled as she staggered towards a skinny quartz formation.
“Six…energy…dumps…”
The impulse to steady herself against a crystal spire nagged her. Her lungs burned, working harder. Eons passed as she crept through the grove, then into a massive arched tunnel, its ceiling forty feet above her. Luminescent sapphires glowed with mysterious inner fire.
Pausing, she recalled some of her father’s tips. Don’t fight nature, work with it. Kivita stopped resisting the high-G so much and relaxed. Her breathing leveled off as she developed a walking and inhalation rhythm. There, she could do it. Dunaar hadn’t hired just any spacer, he’d hired Kivita Vondir, and she could…
The compass indicated two miles to go. Damn.
She entered a second arched tunnel. The glow of ruby and violet geodes reflected off a familiar polished surface lying at her feet: Inheritor polyarmor. A cuirass, greaves, one boot. A kinetic rifle lay snapped in two, its magazine gutted. Dark crimson stains covered the surrounding crystals, and tufts of flesh lay in scattered piles.
Kivita’s breaths came slow and painful as she drew her pistol. The shots could pierce polyarmor, but with only ten rounds, she had to make them count.
The compass beeped and the arrow stopped blinking. Kivita halted and swallowed.
Outside the tunnel, a tall square tower of sapphire and violet gems soared three hundred feet above her. A huge quartz stone with ruby veins rested atop it, catching the faint sunlight in pink motes. Other angular formations dotted the surrounding area, but she couldn’t tell if they were built from the crystals, or had been overgrown. Kivita wondered if any other buildings existed on Vstrunn, and who might have built them.
Who could have built anything on this planet?
The tower’s presence defied her disbelief.
She scanned the area. Kith were hulking, seven-foot tall creatures, and rather ugly. Surely she’d spot one easily across this gorgeous landscape. Nothing disturbed Vstrunn’s stillness. Gripping the pistol, Kivita walked on.
The tower doorway loomed before her like the mouth of some legendary monster. She entered with cautious steps. Even if she found the Juxj Star right now, it would be night once she reached the landing capsule.
The tower’s interior gleamed with luminescent crystal blocks cut in exact fittings. Kivita switched her wrist compass to indicate distance from her capsule; she’d flee as soon as she found the gem. Once she stepped from a foyer-like room into a grand chamber, thoughts of leaving faded.
The crystal walls pulsed with inner light, reaching up to the quartz-ruby three hundred feet above her head. Her limbs shook, her head tingled. No steps, no lifts along the sides. The walls were as slick as glass, reflecting a thousand versions of herself from angular fractures. The crystalline bliss mesmerized Kivita, as if she already dreamed in her cryopod.
In the center of the floor stood a three-foot, amethyst-like altar. A round red gem the size of a child’s fist hung suspended over it. Nothing visible held the gem up.
Kivita stilled. Three armored Aldaakian bodies lay around the altar. Through the narrow faceplates, the albino faces looked asleep. They might have been dead for a day, or a decade. Part of her wanted to touch them, while another wanted to look away. Strange how heat created life as well as destroyed it, while cold drained life while preserving it.
The tingling in her brain increased. Shit, not another headache. Something tickled her throat, and Kivita’s breaths quaked in her lungs.
Reflected in one Aldaakian faceplate at her feet was a tall, hulking form.
She turned.
Five Kith had entered the crystal tower. They stepped easily around the altar, their metallic gray flesh mirroring the pulsing geode lights. Triangular black eyes examined her, and black, serrated claws protruded from their hands.
“Damn it.” Her mouth went dry.
