The sol began to rise over the seemingly endless deserts of Aten. I pulled myself up off my cot and watched the sol rise above the horizon through the cracks in the rock. An eerie orange glow was cast over the planet. Shadows cast out along the rolling, barren hills. Heat began to creep into everything chasing off the coldness of the night.
Slivers of light filtered through the cracks as the sol crept higher and higher across the sky. Day was breaking fast. The lines of light danced across the small cavern that we called home. I kicked the blankets off my legs and sat the rest of the way up. I heard the shift in the wind. I snatched the fraying towel from the ground and stuffed it into the crack in the rock.
The wind howled as it banged against the rock around us. Grains of sand and dirt still managed to find their way inside the cavern. The wind shifted again; pounding right into the rock face. The rocks around us hummed as the wind pummeled against the rocks. Everyone was stirring now, except for Gabriel next to me. They remained asleep, curled up without a care of what was going on.
I felt a hand wrap around my upper arm. I glanced over at my brother, Jaymes. His eyes were filled with worry. The others began to move around. The fear of the cavern caving in was always in our minds when the winds changed. Samirah hurried to the back of the cavern, waiting in the little tunnel that lead down into the aquifer. Kannan followed after her. He wrapped his arms around her as she shivered. Rock slides were an ever-present fear of hers.
There was an ear-splitting crack echoing around and off the rocks bringing Gabriel sitting straight up on their cot. Thunder rolled all around us. Echoing off the rock face, echoing down through the aquifer and across the water. Echoing across the sandy hills. In the night, a storm had formed and the rising sol warmed the air enough for the storm to explode around us.
Samirah slipped down the tunnel; Kannan following along behind her. Zeb jumped up grabbing Jaymes’ arm and dragging him off his cot. I rolled off my cot into the small space between it and Gabriel’s.
“Briel,” I whispered to him, “Come on.” I pulled at their tunic sleeve. I leaned down and grabbed the heavy leather gloves from their backpack and tossed them on their lap. I pulled at their sleeve again. “Briel, come on. There’s a storm.”
Gabriel shook their head slightly and pushed me away. They jumped off the cot and ran with me after the others. I ducked down and slide into the tunnel. I managed to keep my feet under myself this time and not go face first into the gravel lining the tunnel all the way down. The others were waiting for us along the rim of the aquifer pool. Samirah was sitting there with her feet dipped in the cold water. Kannan sat next to her; his hand resting on her shoulder keeping her calm. Zeb was waiting at the end of the tunnel, no doubt gaging the atmospheric conditions.
Thunder continued to rattle everything around us. There was less vibrations down this deep. All the rock that surrounded us dove deep underground. Jaymes was leaning against the cavern wall. His head back against the rock. I walked over to him. I could feel Gabriel following behind me.
“How long?” I asked my brother. He shrugged before answering.
“A few hours,” he said. “The storm isn’t at its strongest yet.” I heard Samirah groan. She was not thrilled by high winds or vibrating bolts of electricity. Kannan squeezed her shoulder. Jaymes caught my arm. Electricity seared through me as lightning struck the rocks above us. I felt Gabriel’s hand on my back. The electricity prickled at my skin. I could feel it tingling in my fingertips. Samirah whimpered as the thunder roared again. I pushed the electricity out and away. The currents shifting and changing outside.
Gabriel slipped past me and leaned back against the rocks. Jaymes pushed off the rocks and walked to Zeb. They both ventured up the tunnel a little, probably trying to gauge the power of the storm. I turned and leaned back against rocks. Gabriel sighed and slid into the gravel. They wrapped their arms around their legs. I let myself drop down into the gravel next to them. They gave me a sideways glance. I bumped my shoulder against theirs.
“Nash,” they said quietly, “what are you doing?”
“Sitting with you.” They rolled their eyes at me and shuffled slightly closer to me. I laid my head on their shoulder. I could feel their body tense slightly.
The soft tapping of rain soon filled the cavern. Rain was such a rare event on Aten. Electrical storms happened almost every night somewhere on the planet. The soft tap became a dull roar as rain battered the outside. The wind continued to howl, whistling through the cracks in the rock.
Gabriel slipped their hand in mine. It startled me at first. Hand holding was a fairly new display of affection for them. I ran my thumb over the worn leather of their gloves. They pressed closer to me. Head turned towards me; their cheek against my forehead. Their long hair the only thing separating our skin.
I felt the electricity begin to build again. Thunder roared all around us, closer than before. Gabriel squeezed my hand as Samirah's screams echoed around us. Kannan wrapped his arms around her and held her to his chest. Zeb and my brother came sliding down the tunnel.
“The storm is getting stronger,” Zeb said. “The hot air rising up off the desert is feeding it. This might last for a while.”
“A few hours at least,” Jaymes added.
“That messes up our plans,” Samirah said with a shaky voice. “If we don’t meet with Roz then we'll lose all those supplies.”
“We won’t even make it to the pass in this storm,” said Kannan quietly.
Gabriel squeeze my hand again. “I can go,” they said. All eyes seemed to turn them.
“I'll go with,” I said sitting up straight. Gabriel glanced back at me, giving me a confused look. I put my hand on their shoulder and pushed myself to my feet. “Come on,” I said bumping my foot against Gabriel’s knee. “I know you love my company.”
Gabriel rolled their eyes but nodded. I ran up the tunnel, the gravel crunching and sliding beneath my feet. I jumped up into the cavern. The towel I had stuffed into the crack had been blown out. Water pooled in places along the ground. There was a steady drip from a crack in the ceiling. I grabbed my bag from under my cot.
I glanced over my shoulder as something bright caught my eye. The glint of low light off of blond hair. Gabriel had followed me up. They grabbed their backpack and turned to me. They opened their mouth as if to say something. They bit their lip and turned back away. I held back a laugh as I set my bag down on my cot. I dug out my canvas jacket and tossed it down on the cot. I found my rain coat folded up on the bottom. I set it by my jacket and tossed my bag back under my cot. I grabbed my boots and slipped them on my feet.
I looked over at Gabriel. They were twisting their hair up into a loose braid. I liked when they braided their hair. I turned back to lacing up my boots. I slipped my jacket on and zipped the front. I grabbed the rain coat and stood up. I looked back over at Gabriel. They were pulling their boots on. They had on that old worn leather jacket that I had gotten them all those years ago at the market in Astrid when we met. The jacket probably should have been replaced years ago, but Gabriel rarely took it off long enough for anyone to take it away from them.
“Are you ready?” I asked when they looked up at me. They nodded and grabbed their rain coat. I walked back to the tunnel. I slid down, only tripping slightly once on my way. Zeb and Jaymes were waiting for us. Jaymes held out a satchel to me. I slipped it over my shoulder. Zeb handed Gabriel a small data pad.
There was a small passage at the back of this cavern. You could barely call it a tunnel. It was barely big enough for a person to pass through. I could easily walk through it, but someone with much boarder shoulders like Zeb had to walk sideways through it. I caught Gabriel’s sleeve and pulled them along after me. The passage ended a few meters away under a rock shelf. From the outside, the opening just looked like a crack in the rocks. A little jog in the passage prevents anyone, or anything, from seeing that there is something beyond.
Gabriel and I stood there, the charcoal grey slate stone crunching under our boots. There wasn’t much of a view from here. Just an opposing rock face. Rain continued to pound around us. The wind howled leaving a chill in the air that rarely happened when the sol was above the horizon. Sheets of water poured off the rocks around us. I unfolded my rain coat and slipped it on. I reached into the satchel and pulled out the scarfs. I passed one to Gabriel and wrapped the other around my neck. I pulled it up over my mouth and nose. Gabriel did the same.
Gabriel held out their hand to me. I took a deep breath and laced my fingers through theirs. The air around us swirled, wrapping around and holding us. Power wrapped around us. I could feel the electricity but I could not grasp it. It wasn’t anything that I could control. I felt everything being to unravel; my body breaking at every point. There was a searing pain as the power wrapped through me. The pain never lasted. We quickly faded from reality. Where we went was only Aisling‘s guess. The power began to unravel itself from us. We were slammed back into reality.
Here’s the part where I sometimes pass out. I found myself gasping for air; struggling to keep my eyes open. Gabriel’s arms wrapped around me keeping me upright. I took a deep ragged breath as my lungs decided to finally shake the effects of teleportation.
“It’s okay, Nat,” Gabriel said softly. Their fingers drawing patterns on my back. I took another deep breath and stood up on my own; their arms still around.
“You know you can let go of me now,” I responded.
They looked me right in the eyes and said, “but I like your company.”
I tried to hold back a laugh. They squeezed me slightly before letting me go. “Good thing you are stuck with me for the next few passes.”
“Yeeeaaah.” There was much sarcasm in that reply.
I turned around. We were in a small cave about five klicks away from our base. Teleporting was really the only way to get here untraced. There was a large stone covering the entrance to the cave. It once was located above us on the mountain side but had been ripped from its place in a large electrical storm several years ago. In the corner of the cave was our terrain trekker. It was old and beat up but could outrun any of the new trekkers out there. Zeb had bought it off of a junker in Hallen for only a few credits. Zeb rebuilt it over a few weeks and for some stupid reason let me drive it.
I walked over to the trekker and grabbed the two pairs of goggles off the handlebars. I tossed one pair to Gabriel. I pulled the other pair over my head and down over my eyes. I made sure that they sealed over the scarf on my face. No one wants to inhale sand. I looked back at Gabriel. They had pulled their goggles on and had pulled the hood of their rain coat up and cinched it down.
I pulled my hood up over my hair and cinched it close to my face. I held my hand out towards the trekker. I grasped at the electricity around us. It rested static in the sands at our feet, against the stone all around us, and deep within the planet. The trekker only needed a small jolt to start the motors. I grabbed a strand of electricity snaking through the sands and pulled it into the trekker. The quiet humming of the motor hissed through my ears.
I climbed up onto the trekker. I wrapped my hands around the handles, my fingers brushing along the accelerator and braking controls. Gabriel stepped aside as I compressed the accelerator control and the trekker lurched forward. I let it roll to the stone covering the cave opening. There was a low rumble as the stone slowly slide aside. I glanced back over my shoulder and watched Gabriel. Their eyes were closed as they concentrated on moving the stone.
The stone slide far enough that I could squeeze the trekker out. Rain pounded down against my rain coat as the trekker rolled out of the cave. Gabriel slipped out after me as the stone slide back into place. I held out my hand. Gabriel took my hand as they climbed up behind me. Their hands resting lightly on my hips. I compressed the accelerator control and we shot out across the wet sand; rain pounding down on us.
.....continued
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