Kiera's Sun (#2, Anshan Saga)

Chapter Seven

"There's nothing here," Turi said, frustrated. He planted his hands on his hips and stared at a wall.

Kiera nodded, exhausted after the hours they spent exploring the underground network of corridors and chambers. It appeared to have been some kind of dwelling at one point, perhaps a larger version of the lunar home where A'Ran's family lived. However, the chambers were completely empty without any indication of when or who had lived there.

"I need a break," she said and sank down with her back against one wall. The energy of Anshan was fainter here than anywhere else. It had gone from a tingle to an inconsistent spark.

The stale, heavy and still air was worse than in the cavern. It reminded her of a hot, muggy day in her home of Monterey. Sweat trickled down her neck, back and legs, and she'd braided her long hair to keep its weight from annoying her.

"We spotted no other entrance or exit, no windows, nothing," Turi stated.

Kiera was feeling too lightheaded to listen. She was thirsty, hungry and guessed it was past her normal bedtime. Combined with the stress of being kidnapped and trapped underground, she wasn't feeling up to much of anything. No grass grew here in the stone chambers, though the lights went on in whatever room she stepped into. She rested her head back against the wall and closed her eyes for a brief moment of rest. Anshan had appeared to her in dreams recently, but the images were generally blurry and disjointed. She sought to recall something of the dreams as she sat.

Red rocks, a storm and ... the green space with the strange creature beckoning to her ... the images were too fleeting. She always saw the surface of the planet and had no recollection of the dreams ever mentioning the underground world.

Turi nudged her with a foot. Her eyes opened.

"Did you not hear me?" he asked with tried patience. His eyes were bloodshot and face flushed, as if he, too felt the lack of oxygen in the air.

"No, sorry," she replied.

"Tell me what is wrong with the planet."

"Aside from A'Ran blowing it up?" she asked with a forced chuckle. "The mines are overproducing ore and poisoning everything. The storms are toxic and creating electromagnetic fields that mess with any ship within range."

Turi was listening.

"If what's happening to the planet is also what's happening to me, I think ..." she drifted off. "Well, the life force of the planet is where the trouble lies. My cells are degenerating rapidly. I'm dying from the inside out, and Anshan seems to be poisoning itself from the inside out."

"In your world, how would they fix you?"

She snorted. "They wouldn't know how to. Our medicine is many cycles behind the Five Galaxies."

"I am almost grateful Anshan rejected us," he grumbled. "We found another door on our initial exploration of the caverns. Let us try it." He struck off down the hallway back towards the way they'd come.

Kiera got up with a groan, ready for some sleep, and started to follow but stopped short as she considered another possibility. In the chamber where she'd awakened the planet, she'd been alone. Was it possible the planet would communicate with her somehow better if she wasn't with Turi? It was responding to her with light; she knew it was aware of her being there.

Closing her eyes, she listened, uncertain how a planet communicated with anyone. The heavy air was stifling. No daydreams emerged from the depths of her mind. No sounds, no flickering lights, not even the faintest breeze reached her. The only difference between standing here and exploring the rest of the underground building: the sparks of Anshan's energy were more frequent here, as if she were getting warmer on her search for she knew not what.