They Cannot Scare Me with Their Empty Spaces

Short Story

The desert surely was different from life in the city. They called it the Empty Lands, but it wasn't really empty. There were the scorpials, for starters.

I liked to sit on the stadium steps polishing my first pair of scorpial claws with sand. They would make a nice gift for Kaza, as a token of my respect for her as a soldier. There are long shadows in desert, like the shadows have enough room to stretch. And it's clean in the desert. The sanitation is not good in Horde City. Some of the poorest have to sling their waste into the street. And that means diseases, like the one that took Gran. Perhaps, it's not so good having us all piled up close. Perhaps Silicates, like the shadows, need room to stretch. I decided that I would volunteer to lead a party to clear out the scorpials.

There was more life than I had thought in the desert. I called one cactus the Music Tree as it is folded up like a dadian spindle. When the wind is right, it blows through some holes in the skin and makes a lovely tune. The flesh is no good for eating, but it can hold a couple of pints of water. I tapped the water, drinking water that might have taken a hundred years to accumulate. I was careful not to kill it, so that there will be water for me next time, or for those who come after me.

There's a whole load of insects in the desert if you look closely enough—spiders weaving in the folds of the cacti, ants building cities under the ground. There are flies, beetles, and millionpedes. One beetle comes out in the morning, stands on its front legs and holding out its mouth to catch the morning mist.

And insects can grow big here. I watched them using thermals to soar in the sky at great heights. And they were also very funny to watch when they took dust baths to cool off.  One time there was a heavy rain in the night. What a surprise I got when I found myself waking up with my feet in a puddle full of jumping frogs.

The desert seems a better place than Horde City, which is too crowded. People do the best they can but there is no real planning. 

I even like killing the scorpials. It's like a dance really, I have found the best way to kill them is to jump on their backs and to plunge my long knife through their heads, being careful not to scratch the head jewels of course. 

At night, I watched the stars overhead, and wondered if Gran was in the sky lands. Gran learnt a lot of things when she was on that Vilicus ship. I think it's the Terrans who believe they go to the sky lands. Or is it the Methenes? Of course, I know that when we die, Jum's wife comes for us and guides us to the Underland.  But like many of Gran's stories, this sky land was interesting to me. Things can be beautiful without being true.

#

The worst thing was the mine. I stayed away. Of course, if the protectorate sent me there, like I told the sergeant, I'd be happy to do my duty. But the G12 mine is dead. Many Silicates died in there when the Vilicus were in charge. I can't help wondering if somehow their spirits remain in the rocks.

It will be good when the economic miracle restarts. There are valuable minerals in the mines. Deep underground the dried-up lake beds are rich in gypsum, sodium nitrate, borates and threaded all amongst that are the exotic metals that are so valuable for ship building.

There's nobody who's a better miner that a Silicate. But you have to have someone to sell the valuable minerals to. When the Vilicus were in charge, they had links between the planets in the sector. The metal would get shipped off planet. But when they went, there was nothing. Each planet in the sector had to scrabble about for themselves. And that's why we nearly starved to death. But the protectorate must have plans if they want to re-open the mines, so that will be good.  

Glory to the Thoknar Protectorate! They will sort it out.

And I miss the others in my squad, too. Even Rodja, I guess. I never had any friends before.