We Leapt Into the Sky

Chapter 31

The next day, she set out in the rover with no destination, only to leave the ruins. While Antony had surveyed the surrounding cliffs and desert, she had seen little of it for herself. She drove east toward a tall hill set apart from the rest of the cliffs. As she put distance between herself and the ruins, she glanced back, where something high on the plateau caught her eye.

Aster was there, a shadow glinting with purple light. He flew across the top of the cliff, building speed until he launched himself into the air. He made it about twenty feet before falling back down. Then he reared back and did it again, jumping and falling. She recalled a conversation with him—he had said he could draw more energy above the atmosphere, hadn't he? He was nowhere near flying through the atmosphere, but he was trying.

Kendra turned to the path ahead of her. The wind blew through her hair, and she breathed in deep, filling her lungs with fresh air.

Gradually, the sand became rock and gravel that crunched beneath the rover's wheels. Atop the hill, she scanned the horizon for a dark stretch of land where the desert gave way to something different, something greener. Low shrubs populated the ground beside tall rock formations. She drove toward them. They rose from the ground in whitish rounded columns, full of holes and bumps. Kendra ran her hand over one of them, closing her eyes and feeling the cool, rough stone.

Behind her, the light shifted, and she turned to see Aster crossing the sand, a shadow flying low across the desert, kicking up a trail of dust. His feet touched the ground with a soft crunch as he coalesced into bodily form.

"I was surprised to find anything growing out here," Kendra said. "But even these rock formations have lichens on them."

"Are lichens a type of plant?" he asked.

"Not exactly. They're a composite organism, often algae growing among fungi. They can survive harsh conditions." She huffed. "It's a bit of a relief to see anything alive out here."

Aster drew nearer to the tiny green and yellow spots dotting the rock, brushing his fingers against them. "I understand. Though the desert is beautiful in its own way, it is also oppressive."

She considered him for a moment and raised her eyebrows at him. "I'm surprised to see you out here. You were fast crossing the desert to get here this quickly."

"I regained some energy," he said. "Moreover, there is something I wanted to discuss with you."

He paused, folding his hands under his chin, and Kendra nodded to him to continue.

"I was able to activate my ship and access the database, albeit briefly. I believe that some of the ship's medical technology is intact," he said.

"It powered up? That's fantastic," she said. "Does that mean that the ship can help you?"

His face fell. "I'm afraid it cannot. I can't draw energy from the ship when it has so little of its own. But there's something more important: the ship may have certain technology meant for use by physical beings. I will do everything in my power to make it accessible to you."

Kendra's eyes widened. "What kind of technology would that be? Surely not medical."

"I would not assume the ship has standard medicine suited to your body, no. And yet, I do not understand the extent of what the ship can do, so I will hope that something may help," Aster said.

"From what you've told me, your ship can do amazing things. Traveling through dimensions and physical matter. Changing its appearance." She brushed the dust from her hands, ignoring the cracks in her skin. "I admit I envy your ability to change your form. To travel the universe."