“Nice work, BEll.” Dathan swiveled. “Time to move some sand.”
Zayn nodded. “I’ll get the Big Blower started.”
“Big Blower?” Eos asked.
“Special apparatus to blow off the sand,” Niklas said.
“Wait—” Dathan strode over to the holo-table and tapped the screen. “Blowing the sand will take approximately…forty standard hours. BEll, you said the sand had high quantities of xalica?”
“That’s correct.”
Niklas strode closer. “What are you thinking, Dath?”
“We could rig the mag-lift to attract the xalica.”
His older brother nodded. “Brilliant. We should be able to move the sand much faster.”
“It would take approximately six hours,” BEll said.
Dathan grinned. Nothing like finding a shortcut. “Let’s get to work.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The warm evening breeze curled around Eos. She stood on the peak of a sand dune and looked at a night sky packed with stars and a brilliant view of Amoris and its stunning rings.
It would have been peaceful except for the roar of the mag-lift.
Above her, theInfinitashovered with its exterior lights illuminating the area below in a wash of bright blue-white light. A huge magnetlike device on the belly was directed downward and a large twisting column of sand rose up toward it like some giant serpent. Every few minutes, Zayn would swing the ship away and dump the sand nearby.
Niklas and Dathan stood on either side of the whirling sand and directed Zayn through their Syncs. She watched Dathan as he waved his arms in the air, muscles flexing. He stopped to shout something at Niklas. He didn’t look like the irresponsible adventurer she’d assumed him to be when they’d first started out.
There was much more to Dathan Phoenix. More than he let most people see. She ran her hands up and down her arms. Hewas proving to be just as powerful a lure as the ruins lost beneath the sands.
She forced her gaze back to the shifting sand, waiting to see if anything emerged from the depths. She’d thought discovering Star’s End and its treasures would complete her. Would finally fill that void that her mother’s death had created. She looked back at Dathan. He crouched, studying the sand before standing again in a lithe move that made her mouth water.
Now she was afraid that it would take much, much more. More than this man was willing to give her.
She realized he was waving at her. She lifted her hand, and saw him point to the ground.
Some sort of spire speared out of the sand. Her heart leaped into her throat. She skidded down the slope.
By the time she reached him, the mag-lift had pulled more sand away and the ruins of a building were visible.
Incredible.Her heartbeat pulsed. It was impossible to tell what style of architecture yet, but there was something here.
She laughed, and Dathan picked her up and spun her around. Once she was back on her feet, he leaned down, his lips pressed to her ear.
“You were right, Dr. Rai. Congratulations.”
She gripped his hand. She knew she could never have come this far without his help. Having him by her side to make this discovery seemed right.
“All right, let’s keep at it,” he said.
They worked into the night.
They formed new dunes with the discarded sand, and soon a good portion of the colony was uncovered. By midnight, they shut down the mag-lift. Tired but elated, Eos watched Zayn land theInfinitason a flat section of sand between two dunes.
With an ion flashlight, Eos walked through the buildings. She couldn’t say for sure they were Terran construction, butthey looked right. Simple structures expected of a colony. They had no idea exactly how old Star’s End would have been. But looking at these buildings, they’d been here long enough for the inhabitants to evolve a certain style.
