She felt the disturbance again, the bright splinter against the evening sky, descending in controlled defiance of gravity.

  The air parted wrong around it, as it was a foreign, unnatural object.

  They were coming closer to her nest in the mountain range this time.

  The mountain they chose was old basalt and granite, ridged with wind-scored shelves and sparse growth clinging where soil had gathered.

  It overlooked the braided rivers below, and the open plains; a place of vantage, to spread one’s wings to the thermal updrafts and soar in the sky.

  They, however, had no wings.

  She stilled within the depths of her basin and extended her awareness along the mana channels.

  The leylines here were hotter than beneath the wetlands, but they carried cleanly. The mountain’s roots ran deep; she could feel the stress fractures in its bones, the slow creep of tectonic memory.

  The descending craft corrected and settled on a plateau carved by the ages.

  The engines quieted, leaving only residual tremors fading through rock.

  The warning she had issued together with the planet had changed their movements, not their purpose.

  The same small figures emerged from the vessel, still with weapons first.

  They came with steel spheres; they commanded them to spread and to dig around.

  They were measuring again.

  The mountain simply endured.

  She considered whether to make this place less welcoming.

  A minor tremor would be easy. A subtle shift along a fracture line. Enough to remind them that high ground did not mean safety.

  But she would also damage the mountain more than the invaders even could.

  Instead, she listened through stone as their instruments pulsed. Their machines tapped at the surface of deeper flows but did not reach them.

  Ignorance shielded them as much as it shielded her.

  For now.

  The vessel’s shadow shifted with the slow climb of the sun. The air currents adjusted around its hull. If anything, they were methodical and patient.

  If they found what they sought, they would return in greater numbers.

  She coiled deeper into the mountain’s leyline, spreading her presence thin so that even the most sensitive of their instruments would read only background fluctuation.

  Being one with the ????? was starting to take its toll; she would have to shift back to her form, to breathe and move as a living creature, as she was born as one.

  She needed to think of a way to make them desist before that.

  Osbert

  I watched the plateau rise through the forward display, basalt and granite cut into terraces by wind and ice.

  The mountains had thinner air, thermal drafts, and localized electromagnetic drift. The latter had our geologists, like Bianca, biting at their reins to get some sampling going.

  We, of course, compensated for the environment. More oxygen in reserve, for starters.

  The retros flared. The hull shuddered through final correction, and we settled onto the plateau with a vibration I felt through my boots more than heard — stone answering the suspensions of the shuttle.

  -Landing area established. Come on, gentlemen, you know the drill.- stated Liam to the security detail.

  There wasn’t much growing up here. Sparse lichen. Wind-scraped shelves. Distant coniferous forest clung sparsely to rocks. It was the kind of high-altitude austerity you’d expect from the plateaus of Tibet.

  I checked the shuttle cargo and extracted my pad.

  -Deploying geo-probes.- I announced. -Mind the movement patterns.-

  -Yeah, as if we want to be hit by a working probe.- chuckled Haidar.

  -You have partial control, Specialist. You’d better start announcing when you relocate them.-

  Haidar clearly wanted to reply, but a glance from Liam made him desist. -Yes, sir!- he simply acknowledged.

  The spheres deployed in clean arcs, stabilizers humming as they spread across the plateau.

  From orbit, it would be impossible to be this deliberate.

  We needed methodical intrusion. Core drilling modules engaged as samples were extracted.

  We weren’t digging for beauty; we needed planetary history and soil composition.

  I stepped out last, with Liam tailing me.

  The suit compensated for the thinner oxygen mix, but the air still felt sharp — cold, dry, and thin enough that my lungs noticed even with assist.

  Gravity was the biggest hurdle. No active biohazards beyond what we already knew.

  -So, are we gonna keep our deployment around the shuttle, Lieutenant?- he asked, businesslike.

  -Yes, unless something pops up to make us stop. Probes will be full in half an hour.

  We send them back to the Salaminia and get new ones to cut the wait time. We’ll perform a sweep grid, two to two and a half hours out, and we keep visual distance with the shuttle at all times if possible.-

  I glanced at the mission briefing on my pad: eight standard hours of deployment. Flag any interesting rock formations for direct probe dispatch.

  Liam nodded, acknowledging the plan.

  The wind moved differently up here — faster, less forgiving. Dust scraped faintly against the shuttle’s hull. I found myself looking toward the higher ridgelines, more out of habit than expectation. Motion scan showed nothing large.

  The probes pulsed steadily on my display, feeding back initial composition data and the number of layers found. Predictable mineral bands.

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Bellatrix approached me, turning off the recording with a clear gesture. I did the same.

  -Oz, are we really just here for the rocks?-

  -Nope.- I grinned.

  -The area is teeming with roaming fauna. Smaller stuff than in the prairies below, but there’s consistent life up here.-

  She groaned. -Figured as much from the sensor contacts. Anything dangerous?-

  I sighed. -Come on, Bellatrix. Everything is dangerous to a degree. That’s why you’re here with the rifle. But be real — we’re being loud as hell and digging in the ground. Worst-case scenario, there’s gonna be some kind of very angry marmot after our arses.-

  -Yeah, I'd like angry marmots more than I'd like any more advances from your colleague.- she said with a sigh. -Anyway, you’re the boss, Lieutenant. I’m gonna watch your back.-

  She resumed patrol, switching back to the official mission log. I chuckled a little.

  Of course, Kit had tried to romance her already. She was way more dangerous than the mountains out there, that was for sure.

  I would never understand how the heck he managed to avoid being killed.

  I turned back to the data stream, which at least was more readable.

  Again, a weird mass moved deep underground. The signal was fainter; maybe it was deeper than last time. So the biggest creatures dug into this planet?

  It made sense in high gravity, but at the same time, it was… preoccupying.

  My eyes went back, tracing the broken line of the peaks above us. The movements kept way out of the warning perimeter. If anything was watching, it was doing a better job of hiding than we were of arriving.

  -Liam. Let’s up the warning level.-

  Liam raised an eyebrow. -Reasoning?- he asked, coming closer.

  -Sensor sees another moving mass deep underground. Like in the aquifer. We may have underground predators like on Gliese…- I showed him the data pattern on the pad.

  -Look sharp, people. Big space worms are possible.- Liam relayed, raising his rifle. -They may come after the probes.-

  Security shifted gears immediately. The grip on their weapons tightened, and they assumed a ready-to-fire position.

  A pulse flickered across my display — I saw it reflected in Liam’s helm.

  -Contact. Fauna, two o’clock.- I said automatically.

  Three small thermal signatures broke from the ridgeline above us, detaching from stone so smoothly they might have been shadows at first. They rode the updraft instead of flapping, their membranes catching the rising air.

  Bellatrix already had the rifle tracking, though not locking.

  They weren’t large; roughly a meter and a half from snout to tail, with a wingspan of about three meters. Dense bodies, narrow muscular torsos tapering into counterweight tails. They reminded me of a cross between a manta ray and a pteranodon. Their mouths were wide, and each had four wings: the first pair stretched like hide between elongated forelimbs, while a second, smaller pair extended from near the torso, forming a broad membrane for gliding.

  From this distance, I couldn’t identify any other means of locomotion.

  One banked sharply, revealing a row of black eyes above its mouth. Thermal readings suggested they were cold-blooded — likely scavengers, possibly opportunistic predators.

  True enough, they circled us, riding the thermal column rising from sun-warmed rock, then peeled away toward a higher shelf. Rifles remained trained on them at all times.

  -Either we seem too much trouble for our worth...- I said. -Or they aren’t aggressive.-

  -Angry marmots come with wings, on this planet.- Haidar added. I almost chuckled.

  -Keep eyes peeled. That mouth was bigger than yours, private. They can swallow you whole.- Liam ordered.

  The sensors signaled another flock of creatures that circled us with curiosity, wings catching the updraft, and then disappeared behind the same higher ridge. The thermal traces vanished, leaving only a faint pulse across the display.

  -We’ve been noted, for now. Sweep patterns and eyes open.- Liam said

  The wind shifted again, carrying dust and a faint, acrid scent of heated sulphur.

  I wasn't the only one noticing the smell.

  -Marvelous. - I crouched near a probe screen to get the readouts, studying the faint blips on the screen - Confirmed past volcanic activity.-

  -How bad? - Liam murmured, tapping me on the shoulder.

  The probes would finish their cycle in minutes, and the samples would be analyzed on the Salaminia more.

  -Not an expert.- I glanced back toward the ridgeline one last time. - Those beasts are more in my ballpark than rocks. We’re gonna need data from the ship. Definitely nothing immediate, Salaminia's sensors can tell an active zone from a dormant one at least.-

  Liam nodded.

  For now, it was time to send the first batch of data to the Salaminia.

  \\ elsewhere \\

  She felt their thoughts through the ?????.

  She almost saw the unknown shapes down below.

  “Food? Danger?

  Tight-packed herd-like behaviour.

  Only tiny morsels.

  Not worth the risks.”

  They were opportunistic beings, but she could feel the hunger dominate their behaviour. Perfect vectors, if she chose to direct them.

  A flick of intent through the ?????, and the creatures could be nudged toward the clumsy shapes below, forced to become a threat.

  She could gauge their weapons’ capabilities, at least. But she would need to sacrifice the flock.

  For now, she would wait. Or maybe not interfere if the creatures became bolder on their own.