They Cannot Scare Me with Their Empty Spaces

Short Story

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Sand gets into everything. Half my sensors weren't working. It was a surprise when I heard the bleepy-bleep noise on my wrist. I tapped it a couple of times, but I shouldn't have bothered because I knew something was wrong by the feel of the air. The wrist sensor just confirmed what I should have been smart enough to know. A sandstorm was coming.

I don't know if I felt afraid or not, because all I knew was that I was running, running, like my legs knew what they were doing. Running away from the stadium towards the open shaft of the mine, not a thought in my head. The sky became black. I ran past the tail of a scorpial burying itself. There was a quiet like I'd never heard before. It was as if all the creatures and the rocks themselves were holding their breaths.

Still I was running, now in a strange twilight. I glanced behind. I saw the biggest thing I'd ever seen—bigger than the world and just as intimidating. I knew that if it caught me it would fill my lungs, overwhelm and suck all the air out of me. Jum's wife was reaching out for me.  The sand flowing like waves over the ground.  Within the sand sparks jumped. I had the feeling that the sandstorm was alive. The sparks were like the electricity of its brain. And it wanted me.  The edge of the sandstorm rasped at my heels as I dove into the mine shaft, falling amongst the broken beams. Down and down. The sand following me down into night where night should not be.

The sand blew after me, deep, like rain, like a grasping hand. I scrambled along the dark passageways to avoid it.

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Granny said that Silicates have memories from the old places, from tiny creatures in the rocks that once lived. These little creatures were hunted, and that old fear becomes part of us. That gives us our defensive nature. I felt at home in this mine, surrounded by rock. My power-cells were charged and I made myself snug, while overhead the sandstorm rages. There was nothing to be afraid of in the mine.

After a while, I got a bit bored and decided to explore. I kept listening for the voice of Jum. But a voice came floating through the tunnels, it didn't sound like Jum should sound. I always thought Jum's voice would be loud like thunder, like the crashing of rocks, like the landscape when the boulders fall. This voice sounded old and cracked and dried. Like somebody on their last legs, a death sound, a mourning sound. Singing an old Silicate nursery rhyme. 

Cautiously, I followed the sound thought the twisting tunnels. The voice led to a deep shaft. "Hello. Is that you, Jum?" I called.

The voice stopped and silence drew around me. I took the rope from my belt and secured it. I climbed down, but had to drop the last dozen metres. I wondered if I'd been smart, dropping down like that.

A knife bounced off my skin. Automatic, I flicked out my arm and grabbed my attacker by the throat.

"Don't kill me."

I nearly dropped him. Or was it her? It's always difficult to tell with the Vilicus.

"You shouldn't be here," said the Vilicus. 

After the uprising, all the Vilicus had left Charmed Rock.

"I had something I needed to do. I'm Doctor Alim Star. I'm pleased to meet you. I haven't had any company for a very long time."

Remembering my manners I said, "I'm Private Lat." We exchanged the universal sign of greeting. "But I think I should kill you." But Sergeant hadn't given me any orders concerning the Vilicus.

"Oh, don't do that, my friend." He nodded his head up and down. "Shall I tell you what I used to do?"

"You oppressed us."