You follow the strange organism's tail light into a brighter portion of the cave. It is littered with crystals, stalactites and stalagmites. Many more of the one eyed organisms are scattered around the cave, with a large flowstone in the middle.
On top of the flowstone is a little white object, its glossy exterior standing out from the dark red cave walls.
"You're not hurt?"
A robotic voice comes out of the object. You watch it fly up into the air and turn around.
"I'm NOMIA."
You recall the back of the object being NOKIA, but you let it go. Maybe it's even more indestructible than those phones.
"The one who came to trade resources was REQUY, caps included."
REQUY, huh. It reminds you of a certain purple dinosaur back at home.
> Nod your head.
"REQUY likes to trade items, and often they give you more than they ask for. Let it be food or water, they'll handle it."
NOMIA hovers over to you, attempting to peer through the tinted helmet. It hovers and lands on the center of your palm, snuggling into it.
"Extraterrestrial activity is rare here, so all the Questers here are confused."
> REQUY is a Quester?
"Yes, Questers are gentle and don't mean any harm unless you lose their trust."
You sigh in relief and look over at the Questers. They're all crowded behind rocks, stalagmites and even columns. They're shy, but still curious.
> What about the ores?
"Lightores are sources of light and energy. They can be used to power many electronics, or robots like NOMIA!"
Its little legs do a dance on your palm.
> How about the non-illuminating ores?
"Oh, you noticed them. I'm not sure what they are actually... My technology is quite a few years old if I dare say so."
> Well, I can try something.
You pick a small chunk of the ore and stuff it into a compartment of the machine, and some text pops up on the screen.
"Aluminum seems to have the highest concentration. Could it be bauxite?"
> It's a useful element for space crafts.
"I recall the Bayer process, a new technique used to purify such ores to get alumina."
> Bayer process?
"Right, maybe it's not well known for you, it is quite a modern technique."
You hold back on your comment.
The Bayer process was invented in 1899, it's been at least ten centuries.
YOU ARE READING
NOMIA
AdventureWhen you've achieved your dreams of going on a solo mission to Mars, you're met with a wormhole unknown to mankind. What's worse is that you have no clue what planet you landed on is; Mars isn't light gray and pink. As you figure out how to return b...
