The wind picked up around Sio's feet tossing a powdery snow back and forth as she walked the topmost part of the white dune. She looked over her shoulder and watched as her fellow Dunestriders followed her up to the top to overlook where she had stopped. It had been a long journey, longer than most apprentice Dunestriders were expected to be at leave from the village. It was about a month long since they've been in their travels, a harsh month that saw the loss of one of their apprentices, who in their Stride returned to the Great Symphony. Sio, being the eldest apprentice, was Dunemaster of their group, and bore the loss heavily. But they continued onward, at her encouragement.
It was part of the trial, the elder Dunestriders had warned. Not all of them were to make it back as the Symphony demands much from the people. But in what the Symphony demands so it gives back abundantly. At the top of the white dunes they had crossed to see the other side of the continent, each Dunestrider saw the fruition of their labor. It was a sight to see. There next to the sea, were pools all around of salt deposits, laying untouched by artificial means. A loud cheer erupted from behind Sio. Young men and women of the trade were embracing and dancing. Their Stride was nearly done, but they celebrated for now as a major burden was lifted.
Sio stood tall and motioned for her fellow Dunestriders to circle around her, as was her right as Dunemaster. They followed, having known intimately Sio followed in the footsteps of softspoken Auburn, one of the greatest Dunestriders known to their village. Her customs were similarly softspoken, but did not lack in authority. One rowdy lad dared to challenge her, and learned quite swiftly what the backside of ground snow looked like on a cold, wintery morning. Sio earned respect then, and continued to earn it. It was her course that led the pack to newfound salt. It would be her course back that will lead them to victory over the harshness of Helix-One.
She motioned for the front team to unpack the sleighs of equipment so that they might begin sampling the area. There was no time for rest just yet. They had made camp a few hours west of where they currently were and were expected to report by evening else they would be at risk of hypothermia in the night. Sio was not going to risk falling behind. She helped the front team unpack and set up a geology station, then placed a beacon nearby. Lee, her subordinate, tuned the beacon and in a matter of seconds got the signal of the camp.
"Come in, Basecamp, do you copy?" he spoke into the old receiver, in archaic terms.
"Lee, just use comm speak like normal people. End." Replied the other side. A rather annoyed girl spoke back.
"Fine. Camp Alpha, this is Scout Catlani, we have hit payload! Again, we have hit payload! End." Silence followed suit. Sio could hear the unsure whispers on the other end. Sio walked over and took the receiver from Lee's offered hand.
"Camp Alpha, this is your Dunemaster speaking, Lee is correct. We found payload and getting samples now, we're going home! End." Resounding cheers echoed from both sides of the broadcast.
"What is your ETA? End." Replied the girl. She could barely be heard over the excited cheers from the background.
"We're looking at a few hours, maybe three at least, five at most. We're going to pack up as soon as we have our samples. End."
"Affirmative, Dunemaster. We await your arrival. End." Lee quickly hung up the receiver and began repacking the broadcast equipment carefully, then got to work on routing the beacon telemetry toward Ísandur, their home village on Helix-One. Sio wondered if Auburn, Laura, and Dr. Tausidi were waiting for their signal with bated breath. It had been five days since their last check-in, as scheduled, but this far out the only data they would receive would be through data reports. The beacon was specifically made for the trial of navigating Old Tech, and for apprentice Dunestriders to find value in using their own initiative and intuition. It was what they spent years learning, and those years were starting to pay off.
Sio counted the heads of her pack, and truly it was a pack rather than a team. One month alone together on the ice-dunes of Helix-One made something of a family out of their necessity to stick together. Eating the same gruel, sleeping in the same tents, navigating the same white snow for days on end left little for motivation. But if Sio learned anything from her time with Auburn and Dr. Tausidi, it was that this rite of passage was designed to make adults out of children. Some did not make it. One did not make it in her pack. Her name was Ikima.
She was exposed to already have passed through the pain of loss, but for others it was a new experience. One that cut deep. She learned quickly how to be the foundation of their group, but losing someone meant to be her subordinate was a new loss. They held a vigil for her, and she knew that the village would have done the same. It was strange being the one to give the last rites; it was stranger still to give them to that of a young woman not older than Sio. Sio did not sleep well for the next few days afterward. But the strangest thing that still made Sio wonder to this day was what came after, another day on the horizon, another chance at life for those who remained.
Sio would remember Ikima, just as she would remember her parents and her grandmother. She was family, gone too soon. But she would remember that each day she lives, so too would Ikima, her parents, and her grandmother until she too would join them in the Grand Symphony.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the mid-team running up the hill towards her, samples in their gloved hands. Excited as they were, an apprehension filled them that Sio picked up on.
She waved them closer and looked upon their samples with a discerning eye. Black beads rimmed the bottom of their vials. Sio blinked. They turned a pale grey. Sio took the vial and tossed it away from the pack. The vial landed softly on a mound of snow. She told everyone to stand back, and at her command, they filed behind her. This was not good.
The color was too close to be a coincidence, they changed as soon as light hit them, and if Sio was correct any moment now the flask would–
CRACK!
Sio screamed at her pack to take out their weapons. And no sooner had they armed themselves did a giant shadow fell upon them. Towering above the group of seven apprentices was what Sio had feared most would come upon them. Lichpines…
Lichpines were beetle-like salt feeders that would harvest salt in massive groups to create pools that mimicked natural formed salt pools. Their nature was highly aggressive as they hunted creatures who would use surrounding minerals as salt licks by entering into their digestive track then expand rapidly by collecting in swarms. It was a messy result.
Sio racked her mind for any information regarding Lichpines as she told everyone to tighten their masks and shell suits. They formed a defensive circle around the equipment to avoid tracking any of them back to the camp. She snapped her laz-knife on her hip, changing the mod to a shield and the others of her group followed suit. They formed a phalanx circle as swarms of beetles came at them in waves. The laz-shield did its job repelling the first few waves, but the swarms became more aggressive. Sio yelled to close ranks and form a sphere, but a swarm had already gotten between them and began to eat away at the shellsuits. If Sio had to guess, each of them only had a few minutes before one of the beetles could eat through the outer shielding of each shellsuit.
She had to think faster. Sio used her laz-shield to push away a good bulk of the swarm that was forming near her and grabbed at the equipment on the sleigh and pulled it towards her. The swarm did not take kindly to that and began to form another wave to pound on Sio. They swooped in, but Sio held up her shield and was met with two of her pack on either side, helping her through the swarm to get to the equipment. She gestured for them to guide the swarm on either side while she searched in the sleigh for anything that could be of use.
It took seconds to find the mass-repellant she had packed as a precaution, but it felt like hours as she saw her fellow Dunestriders fight off waves of Lichpines attacking each of their suits. She called out to form the phalanx again. Still, this time put the mass-repellant in the middle she called the group to circle her and they formed a half-dome against the swarm. Then, with one quick change of her laz-shield to a laz-knife, she sliced the mass-repellant in the middle in an explosion of gas that clouded everyone's vision. Sio counted those she could see, and all seven were accounted for. She huddled closer with the canister as thick smoke-like repellent filled the air around them.
It was not a pleasant smell, even through the variety of filters their masks provided. It was sulfuric as a base with sickly sweet overtones that sent the Lichpines reeling away as quickly as they came. Sio got out another mass-repellant, but instead of slicing it open, sprayed it all over the equipment and took it with her down to the salt pools. She was not leaving without something to show for it. She motioned for her pack to stay back, but Lee and another young woman accompanied her down to the pools. This time she got a sample without the black beads, pure salt, but sprayed it for good measure. She needed this to be a safe sample. She handed it to Lee for a closer inspection and he inclined his head toward her after he scanned it with his goggles.
"Well, Dunemaster, that was quick thinking." Said the young woman as she, Lee, and Sio walked up the dune.
"We're not out of the mines yet, I need everyone to make a safety inspection. We cannot leave with Lichpines on our trail." Sio gestured for everyone to begin inspecting equipment. Several Lichpines were taken out of mask breathers, suit pockets, and corners of equipment bags. Sio sprayed everyone with a healthy dose of mass-repellant and doused down the equipment thoroughly inside and out, even equipment not opened yet. It couldn't have been good for the lungs, but Sio was not going to take any more unnecessary chances.
They returned within thirty minutes of the designated meet up time despite. Camp Alpha was relayed to deploy their mass-repellant just in case they missed some upon returning. Far away from the camp did one beetle crawl away, only to die of the sweet-smelling poison a few moments later.