We Leapt Into the Sky

Chapter 7

Antony stepped off his bike with a sour look on his face.

Kendra hung her helmet from the handlebar and took a deep breath. They left the bikes parked by the supply tent and headed toward the caves. The other two hadn't arrived, having gotten caught up in diagnostics. Or so Bria said.

Kendra elbowed Antony lightly in the back.

"Hey."

He grunted in reply. "Not in a good mood this morning."

"Do you want to talk about it or walk it off while I get started?"

He grimaced. "I'm not gonna make you work alone while I mope. It's Seph. He was bugging me about equipment diagnostics again."

"Bugging you about them?"

"Well, he asked me if I was done with mine."

"Are you sure he wasn't just making conversation? Maybe doing so clumsily."

"Okay, maybe. I thought Bria might have sent him to check on my progress or something. And it bugs me when he's pedantic. Case in point, our last lab meeting." Antony crossed his arms. "I just don't get him. He keeps trying to talk to me, but then one of us gets snippy at the other."

Kendra shrugged. "He seemed upset when I saw him this morning. For what it's worth, I like him a lot when I've talked to him without Bria around. He's an anxious guy. More likely, he wants to connect with you, not micromanage you on Bria's behalf."

Antony crossed his arms and then uncrossed them with a wince. He sighed, looking deflated.

"You're probably right," he said.

Inside the cavern, three machines surrounded a building near the entrance. Small crystals emerged from a crack in the wall; the machines were sealing it off, printing rock-like material over it. Another machine hovered above the building's doorway, where Kendra spotted several longer crystals protruding from the stone. The machine lifted one of its flexible metal arms, extending something like a pair of forceps.

Kendra and Antony crept closer, watching from the corner of the next building over. The machine grabbed hold of a crystal, wiggling it back and forth with its tools until it popped off the stone, and then printed a coating for it.

Antony exchanged a glance with Kendra, a frown on his face. "Those crystals weren't there before. Does this mean they grow overnight? How?"

She shook her head. "I get why they'd remove them from the ruins, but what's the point of coating them?"

"What if their sensors are picking up on something that we can't?" he asked. "This is weird."

A machine rounded the corner. Antony jumped, and Kendra flinched, backing away from it. A second machine followed, crowding around him.

"Hey, he doesn't like that," Kendra said, but the machines persisted, one scanning his arm. Another pointed at her leg, but she pushed it out of the way.

Antony stepped back, sweat gathering at his brow. "What if there's something inside my arm? I don't want to get sick," he said.

"I don't know, Antony. We scan our suits for contagions and toxins and never find anything besides run-of-the-mill bacteria," Kendra said.

"I want a closer look at those ruins."

She nodded, and they approached the building with stones growing from its walls. It was a short building with swirling leaves carved into the stone. Crystals emerged from the wall. The blue light of Antony's scanner glinted off them.

"It's quartz. Indistinguishable from quartz, anyway. But quartz doesn't grow from nothing overnight," he said, jabbing his finger at the wall.

Kendra ducked under a long crystal and nearly tripped over a machine that appeared behind her. The crystals were dark and reflective, a small flash of purple running through them. She leaned closer, peering into them. It was like looking through a darkened window, and she caught a hint of sparkle within them, like stars.