Lost Tales of Kirev

Steel

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Magna isn't like the lush, fantastical exoplanets in old novels. Well, it is, if you replace the soil with gray iron sand, the oceans with liquid gallium, the exotic plants with jutting magnetite outcrops, and the huge variety of animals with iros. Whatever they're supposed to be.

I lowered my chin to my folded arms and watched a small mass of silvery-black ferrofluid creep up the side of its glass jar. A metal coil was wrapped around the container, collecting the induced current from the changes in magnetism inside. The iro glistened in the light of my UV lamp as it rose. When it reached the top, it began to make its way down. Mesmerizing.

Except, before it reached the bottom, it flattened. The fluid coated the container in a gravity-defying, Dalí-esque bent circle, and I sat up. "Ben? It's doing it again."

His footsteps approached, and he leaned in, an analytic scowl beneath his mustache. "Could be nothing," he said, noting a date and time on his clipboard. "Must be. Haven't heard-"

An alarm blared across the lab, and Kia's voice pierced through the whine. I was reminded that I hadn't asked her out yet. Where to go, though? "A massive iro wave just appeared on the radar," she said. "East-northeast. The general's sending some guys out; it should be fine, but if it isn't, your corner of the hab'll be hit first. Brace yourselves."

"There's only ocean to the east," Ben complained to himself, looking in the wrong direction. I shot a glance at the jarred iro, which was reaching even further, shivering, straining. I looked away.

Out the window, I could cover the approaching wave with my thumb. Ben came up behind me and nodded down at the people in white spacesuits carrying glass-vacs. The wave was just below their shoulders, moving slowly but steadily. As iros began to separate from the amorphous surge and funnel into the clear vacuum tubes, Ben said, "Too bad we don't have enough vacs, or we could bring them all back to the furnace." A white figure in the distance raised their tube, and a jet of iros flew into the air, spraying blackish blobs in an approximately western direction. They scattered across the beach and disappeared into the liquid silver.

"Don't you ever wonder?" I asked.

"About what?"

"You know. Whether this is right. Whether they're alive."

He chuckled and rested his hand on my shoulder. "I made the exact same mistake when I arrived, Zyair. It's all magnetism. Ferrofluids move in interesting ways, don't they?"

The alarm abruptly stopped. The iro in the jar was starting to gather itself up again. "What if it knew? What if they were trying to rescue it?" I insisted.

"You're anthropomorphizing." He showed his teeth. "Learned that word just for this. Besides, how could it have known? There's no brain in there."

"But-"

"You're so suspicious of the hand that feeds you. Do you know how pricey iron is out here?"

I tried to keep a blade out of my voice. "Yes. I'm from Ahe."

"We're all going to get filthy rich working on Magna," he said as he reached into his pocket for his buzzing communicator. "Just stay out of trouble." He peered at the screen. "One of this morning's exploration parties found something they want us to check out. Next island over."