wrong?”
Your attitude, thought Crystal, although she kept her mouth shut. “Warehouse 12 and 13 are a few clicks west. In a couple of hours, when the shadows are at their darkest, we can sneak over there.”
Daf nodded, still staring at the land. “Did you see one?”
Crystal tilted her head at the question. “What do you mean, did I see one?”
Daf turned. “Did you see one of them? The big guys?”
“If you mean the enemy, then yes, I did,” replied Crystal.
Daf glanced at her shoe and then picked at its rubber sole. “Those guys are big.”
“Where the hell did you see one?”
“Ambrose Quarry.” Daf stopped, and then picked harder at her shoe. “I looked up at the top of the quarry and there were hundreds of giants holding glowing spears. They were looking down at us.” She gave a curt laugh. “I about crapped my pants!”
Crystal's eyes widened, filling with hope. “Were there any survivors besides you?”
Daf shook her head, continuing to pick at her shoe, but faster. “I don't know. The big guys shot their weapons, but it didn't seem to hurt our Mechs. But, when their starfighters came they ripped us to shreds. That's when I ran my Mech's ass off.”
“You didn't look to see if there were any survivors?”
Daf stopped picking at her shoe and looked up at Crystal. “How? I was running for my life, Crystal. I was scared to death. I don't even know how I survived. I ran—”
Crystal raised her hand. “Stop. I understand. I was scared, too. I was certain that I was dead. You did more than I did.” She looked at Daf square in the eyes. “You saved my life. And, for that, I thank you.”
Daf folded her arms. “I'm glad you noticed, Chief.” She turned, peering out the window again. She took a deep breath and said, “You're welcome.” Then Daf cleared her throat, wanting to change the subject. “Mount Gabriel is also called Forever Mountain. I've always wondered about that.”
“It's the largest mountain on Lumus. I think they named it that because it seems to go on forever.”
“Oh.” Daf shrugged, knowing that was an easy answer, something clearly observable by looking at the behemoth.
“It could be called that because of another reason, though,” said Crystal who paused, wondering if she should continue, as if what she was about to say would be some type of Mechie or Star Guild violation.
“What is it?” asked Daf.
Crystal shrugged. “I was wandering around a couple of weeks ago, and stumbled across a large cave opening.”
“During work hours?” Daf smiled. “Oooh, the boss was playing hooky?”
“I was investigating.”
Daf perked up, a slow smile appearing on her face. “Investigating what?”
“My curiosity, I suppose.”
“So, what did you find?”
“Tunnels.”
Daf raised her brows and edged closer. “What? Really?”
Crystal looked out of the Mech’s window. Shadows across the land had become even darker, resembling Star Guild's dark blue uniforms, something she used to wear a lifetime ago. She shook her head, then gasped, her eyes widening. She ducked, her knees hitting the cockpit floor.
Daf saw Crystal's reaction and spun around. She peered out the window. A craft had just flown by, but became smaller and smaller the farther away it got. Daf was glad that the Mech wasn't turned on. It would have mimicked Crystal’s duck—a movement the enemy craft surely would have seen.
Crystal, resuming her normal position, rubbed her face. “I was wondering when they'd send another search party. And only one craft this time? I guess we're not so famous anymore.” Crystal feigned a frown.
“Thank the stars!” laughed Daf. “I don't want to be popular. In fact, I've decided that I absolutely detest the idea.”
Crystal nodded her agreement, but kept watching to see if they might have been spotted. But, once the craft had completely disappeared from view, she brought her eyes back to Daf who was fidgeting with her pocket as she watched out of the window. Crystal envied her, and wanted to be as calm as Daf while looking at the terrain. It brought peace to Daf, something she wished the land did for her. All she saw was ebb rock hidden in the shadows and it was everywhere. Instead of feeling tranquil about it, she just wanted to blow it all up so she'd never have to work the quarries again. She shook her head and asked Daf a question. “Where do you think they store all of the ebb we collect?”
Daf shrugged. “I don't know. Perhaps back on Matrona, or on a starship? Why?”
“We've been collecting ebb ever since we've been orbiting Lumus, a little over 800 years. Shouldn't we have enough by now? I never see any new ships or bases being built.” Crystal huffed. “I find that a little strange, don't you?”
“Well, they also use ebb on buildings, warehouses, floors, walls…just about everything,” replied Daf. “They're holding the ebb somewhere, Crystal. Why?”
Crystal closed her eyes and shook her head. “There are two dozen warehouses housing 48 Mechs each. We gather this stuff every day and we don't have near the amount of repairs to use up all of the ebb that we collect, and have collected for hundreds and hundreds of years.” Crystal's eyes narrowed, her face flushing red. “Have you ever seen a pile of ebb after it's been transported off this planet? Have you ever even seen the pilots who fly the Ebb Transports? Why are their windows always tinted so dark that we can never see them? Have you ever met anybody who says they’re on the Ebb Transport Team?” She didn't wait for Daf's reply. “Yeah, me neither.”
“Okay, so what are you saying, Crystal?”
Crystal rolled her eyes, wondering how Daf could be so dense. “I'm saying that it’s being taken someplace else. But where?” In exasperation, she threw her arms up in the air. “I don't know and you don't know, and nobody knows! But, I do know that most of it is not being used by us. That I do know.” Crystal glanced out the window again, focusing on a small mountain silhouetted in the distance and wondering about her life, her constant questions of how things were being run and why they weren't run differently. Hell, why was it mandatory to be over 7 foot 5 inches if you wanted to run for the next governance position of Prime Director? How could life have started on spaceships around planet Lumus? Who created the space ships? Who created the humans? We’re here, so there must be other races out there somewhere, and why don’t we go looking for them? Questions, questions, questions, and never getting any answers. She slumped at the enormity of it all. Through the years, she had come to see everyone as robots doing their best to live life happily as best they could, devoid of any real thoughts. She knew she wouldn't get much more out of Daf, let alone convince her that the governance had a secret they were hiding from everyone about their ebb storage.
“So, you mentioned tunnels?” inquired Daf.
Crystal looked down, jostled out of her thoughts. “Uh, yep.”
“Can I get a little more information there, Chief?”
Crystal cleared her throat, figuring Daf was just another pawn, another thoughtless worker who was definitely not going to believe what she was about to say. But, she took a deep breath. Here goes. “I found a tunnel system that went deep under Mount Gabrielle. They seemed to go on forever. I walked my Mech through them for hours, never coming to a dead end, except for one of the tunnels. There, I came upon an enormous—and I mean an enormous—door that had strange writings etched on it.” She stopped, not wanting to waste her words on someone who most likely would think she was crazy.
Daf's head jerked back. “Huh, who the hell built a door down there?”
Crystal said, “Who knows what Star Guild or the governance does when we're not looking.”
Daf nodded. “Yeah, that's where they must hide the ebb from us.” She giggled.
Crystal gave her a look. “Not funny, Mechie.”
“Then why didn't we hide in one of those tunnels?”
“I only know of one way in, which is also the same way out. I didn't wa
nt to get us trapped down there, just in case. Catch my drift?”
Daf nodded as she stared out the window.
“I saw something else down there,” said Crystal.
Daf looked a little suspicious, as if Crystal was just making it all up for her own enjoyment. “Okay, I'll bite. What did you see?”
Crystal shifted her weight from one leg to the other. She'd been standing for far too long and sighed, then sat down and crossed her legs. She continued. “I saw something else when I was down in the tunnels, Daf.”
“Yes, you said that. What did you see?” Daf tapped her foot against the floor.
“The door. It said, or showed…that we weren't created here.”
“You got that from a door?”
Crystal became still. “Yes, it showed that we weren't created on Lumus or Matrona or Brigantia, or any other star near this galaxy. We were created on another planet, and in another galaxy.”
“How could you have possibly determined all of that by a door?”
Crystal tipped her head to the side and shrugged. She knew how crazy it sounded, and didn't blame Daf for not believing her. She might not believe someone if they told her the same story. She wanted to tell Daf that it wasn't just a door. It was something else, something that changed the more you looked at it. She didn't talk about that part. But, then she faked a smile and lied. “I'm just kidding.”
Daf rolled her eyes. “Okay. You're being strange, Chief.”
“I know. I'm just trying to take our minds off what we're about to do.”
“What are we going to