Captain Orin's ship, the Shining Thunder, coasted into the dock on Casio V's only M-Class planet, Caseeveem. Red had volunteered to help the small crew of five offload their shipment of dried food, seeds, and manure, but had no intention of assisting with loading barrels of green gold. Red had visited a green gold mining facility once before, and it was one of the most grueling experiences of their life.

At least this time they were a wanderer and could opt out of hard labor.

Once the cargo was unloaded, Red broke off from the crew of Shining Thunder to begin their reconnaissance properly. Since the contract was directly from a temple instead of submitted by a citizen, Red was on their own to figure out what was going on. Wanderers without intelligence could easily bite off more than they could chew, which almost always led to a quick death and being sacrificed in the name of whatever god they were hunting.

There were only a few shops in the town of Musgrave and the only one that was open was a general store. A girl with long blonde hair and a face pale as snow stood at the counter. She wore a company jumpsuit. "Hey," the girl looked up from her tablet and greeted Red.

"Hello. Do you know who I am?" Red asked.

"Yeah. Jhikae. My mom had a feeling you'd show up after we found the pool. Too bad. It's just a puddle now. Not that you could've stopped anyone from harvesting it to begin with."

"What do you mean?"

"It's always a miracle to you people when poor people strike it rich, but every time some already established corporation doubles their wealth overnight, you don't bat an eye."

"So, what? You think I'm wasting my time here?" Red scratched their chin.

"Yes. Nobody here believes in any damn god. We just got lucky. Even if it turned out to be a miracle, none of us would give a shit. We're too busy just trying to live our lives."

"How noble..." Red rolled their eyes.

"You should get outta here before you say something you'll regret."

Red's hair stood up on end. White-hot rage pumped through their veins. Threats were never to be taken lightly.

"What do you have against Jhikae monks?" they asked.

"Nothing. I just think they're annoying. Correction. I think you're annoying. Now get outta here," the girl looked down at the tablet she had been reading.

"Make me." Red said.

"Okay."

The girl walked around the counter cocking a seven round plasma shotgun. As she swung it up to align it with Red's chest, Red turned to walk away. At that range, Red had about a twenty-seven percent chance of getting near the girl before she could fire. Not good odds.

As Red walked down the street trying to calm down, the girl ran out after them. "Hey!" the girl yelled.

"What?!" Red yelled back.

"That was cool. Can't believe you just stared down a shotgun like that. Guess you really are as hardcore as they say. And at your age, too." She still carried the shotgun.

"I'm twenty. We're probably the same age. I just look young."

"Do you drink?" The girl asked.

"Not supposed to, but I guess I could," Red felt warmth in their cheeks.

Red followed her back to the store and watched her flip the sign to CLOSED. "Electricity's still tight here, so we have to do some things the old-fashioned way. At least we have a qNet hook-up now!"

"I can't imagine going more than an afternoon without it... so long as I'm not working. When I'm working, I'm not supposed to waste time with entertainment, but I still have time for an episode or two of Cult of the Moon." Red's rage had subsided a bit. Building rapport was good.

"Hah! You watch CotM? I thought monks weren't allowed to jerk off!" the girl asked.

"Maybe two thousand years ago, but rules like that don't really make sense, but they never really made sense to begin with, if you ask me. Hey, what's your name?" Red probed for a contact, or maybe a friend.

"Carlyle."

"That's a nice name. I'm Red."

Carlyle chuckled. "So, why'd you turn around when I pulled a gun on ya? I thought Jhikae monks could stop bullets with their minds."

"Only one guy could do that," Red rolled their eyes. "Anyway, I don't really get into a fight if I don't have to. It's not worth the effort. Oh, and I'm sure your parents would enslave me or something if I killed you."

"Either that or cut you up and feed you to some pigs," Carlyle added.

"So, as you can guess, that would definitely get in the way of my work."

"Yeah... So you really think there's something going on here?" she asked, coming a little closer like it was a secret.

"So far, I have absolutely no fucking clue! I was sent here with basically no intel but a couple of rumors, but it's policy to check it out anyway, just in case. If there's a cult brewing on some hick planet, the Order needs to know."

"Does that mean, if you find something, you're gonna kill us all?"

"Not necessarily. Not every cult is dangerous or evil. But the ones who are? This is exactly the kind of place they start out. A few hopeless workers, a lucky break, and next thing you know you've got an insurrection going planet to planet, fucking up the order of the galaxy."

Red realized they had said too much. Whatever.

"I only use the mindscape for pleasure. Does that make me evil?" Carlyle asked.

Red chuckled. "No. In fact, I think that's been an intended use of the mindscape for millions of years. At least, that's what I learned at the temple." The temple had actually never said anything about personal use of the mindscape, but lying seemed worth making a friend.

"Whew! I was worried for a sec. My mom says you monks are telepaths, so I figured I was better off coming clean about it instead of waiting for you to find out when you visit my mindscape sessions later."

"Why would I do that?"

"Well, I also thought you didn't watch ero-soaps, so maybe I just have no clue what I'm talking about..." Carlyle scratched her head.

Red looked out the window. "When does the sun set here?"

Carlyle walked over to her tablet and pressed the toolbar. "We've got about an hour. It gets real dark here still, workers haven't been able to put up many light pylons yet."

"I should probably head back to the ship, then. Don't want to get caught in the dark." Red meant it as a goodbye.

"You could stay here, if you wanted. I sleep in the back. It's not very big, but it's better than sleeping in my parents' work lodge. But there's room for ya." Carlyle offered.

Red wasn't sure what to pick. They flipped a coin in their head, and nodded. "Sure. I'll stay. The floor is fine with me. I've slept on plenty of bedrolls before."

Carlyle showed them the living space. There was a small mobile kitchen set up in one corner and a bed against the other. A refrigeration unit lived under the bed. The floor was covered in clothes, and the lack of shelves in the room meant books and food and cleaning supplies and entertainment devices lined the wall. "Sorry it's a bit messy, I don't usually have a reason to clean up."

Red wasn't bothered, and actually kind of liked it. "Temples are always kept perfectly ordered, so it's nice to see something else for a change."

"Yeah. I don't wanna settle in here too much. My plan is to make enough money to go to school and then give this store back to my parents. Besides, I don't really get along with the other people here our age. Most of them are just criminals..." Carlyle explained.

"That makes sense. What would you study?" Red asked.

"I wanna build FTL drives. I've been tinkering on spacecraft my whole life, but you need a degree if you want to go into R&D."

"I guess in a career like this there's not much else to do."

"Yeah. My dad's a technician on refinery arrays, so I've been around big machines my whole life."

"I've been in the Jhikae Order since I was thirteen. Not a whole lot going on there." Red tried to remember something interesting from their childhood but could not.

"I bet. I'd be bored out of my mind if I had to meditate all the time every day." Carlyle opened the refrigerator and took out two bottles of alcoholic cider, popping them both open and handing one to Red.

Red took a sip and felt sick. They kept drinking. "It's not so bad, it's like... After a while you get so attuned to the mindscape that it becomes just as real as anything else here. So you can do a lot with it. So then it becomes about honing that skill."

"Sounds like a lot of work." Carlyle was already done with her drink.

"It is. But it's worth it. Someone has to protect us from the gods." Red shrugged.

"Or what?"

"Or we die, in droves, for no reason. At least, that's usually what happens." Red chugged as much of the cider as they could.

They choked, coughed, and made a fool of themselves. Carlyle laughed. "So, you wanna watch a movie or something?"

"I haven't seen a movie in like six months." Red didn't really like movies, but wanted to humor Carlyle.

"We could watch Forty Years, that should be up your alley!" Carlyle suggested.

"Isn't that the one about Fenith Tyr?" Red asked.

"Yeah, it just came out. Even Jhikae Order scholars say it's good." Carlyle tried her best to sell it.

"Yeah, sure, we can watch that." Red had wanted to escape their branding as a Jhikae monk, but had failed. Now they had to watch a boring movie.

Carlyle set up a projector against the wall opposite the bed. She climbed onto the bed and pressed play, patting the bed next to her as an invitation for Red.

Red pretended to be interested in the movie. Whenever Carlyle pointed out a factoid, Red provided proper historical context and explained how the Jhikae Order actually worked. Carlyle's understanding barely grasped real life as a monk, but instead of being annoyed Red found it kind of cute.

After three hours, the movie finally ended. Red realized that this meant they were stuck there, even if they wanted to leave. It was too dark outside to safely return to the Shining Thunder.

"So uh, do you have any before bed rituals?" Carlyle asked.

"Yeah. I meditate for thirty minutes every night. Sometimes I just go and sit in the mindscape. It helps me sleep," Red said.

"Can I join you?" she asked.

"Sure."

Red sat down on the floor and crossed their legs. Carlyle sat down facing them, smiled, and closed her eyes. Red took a deep breath and entered the mindscape. To their surprise, Carlyle was there, glowing bright pink and shedding sparkles. "Is this real?" Red asked the mindscape figure.

"Didn't expect me to be good at mindscape manipulation, huh?" Carlyle teased.

"No. What do you wanna do?" Red asked.

"I've got an idea," Carlyle said.

Carlyle looked at the space around them and turned it into a jungle cliff-side at sunset. A river ran next to them and birds, butterflies, and xandybugs fluttered in the sky. Carlyle sat down in a strong camping chair and one materialized next to her for Red. Red sat down and admired the scene.

"Do you like it?" Carlyle asked.

Red leaned back in their chair. "Yeah. It's beautiful. You could be an artist, you know."

"Yeah, I could, but I don't like it as much. I prefer to keep beautiful things to myself. Or people worth sharing it with."

Red suddenly became aware of the tension between them. They weren't sure if they even wanted it, but there it was. Red shook their head. The heart was such a dangerous thing. Carlyle reached over and put a hand on Red's arm.

Red looked into Carlyle's eyes to see burning green emeralds in their place. "A-are, you ok?" they asked.

"I can feel it..." Carlyle seemed in a daze.

"Feel what?"

Carlyle stood up, spun around, and then pointed in a direction. "That way!"

Carlyle disappeared from the mindscape, leaving Red alone in blackness.

Red exited the mindscape as well, opening their eyes to see Carlyle opening the door and running through the store to the entrance. Red got up and followed her. "Where are you going!?" Red yelled.

Carlyle didn't acknowledge Red, instead opening the door and walking out into the street barefoot. Red continued following, trying to catch up, but their shorter stature meant they had to take two steps for each of Carlyle's, and Carlyle ran full speed through Musgrave. At the edge of town, Carlyle halted a moment to let Red catch up. Then, she yelled at the top of her voice, "I've found something!"

Carlyle started running again. A few people came out of their homes to see what was going on. When they saw Carlyle, they started to run after her as well. "Carlyle found something! Everyone, wake up! We've gotta mark it out!"

Red still wasn't sure what was going on, they just knew that they had to follow her.

After about a mile, Carlyle stopped, panting. She reached down and picked up a handful of dirt. "Hey, Red, look at this!" Carlyle instructed.

Red walked over to her and saw green minerals in her palm. A few of the workers had caught up to them now, and started to dig with blasting shovels around where Carlyle stopped. After only a few feet, the dirt gave way to a pool of green gold.

"We found another one! Get Martin out here!" one of the men digging yelled.

Red stared at Carlyle.