My training takes over before my brain catches up, my hands doing what thousands of hours in the cockpit taught them to do. I punch the throttle and bank into the wind. I don't panic and overcorrect, keeping my movements smooth and controlled. The shuttle shudders and groans before quickly leveling out.
"Nice flying," A'Vanti says, and the approval in her voice makes my ego inflate.
"L'Tarne gave me a heads up. Couldn't let his advice go to waste." I give her a grin as my pulse starts to settle.
The water treatment plant comes into view ahead of us. The facility is a sprawling complex of cylindrical tanks and interconnected buildings. A series of massive pipes extends from the main structure, snaking out into the desert in various directions. The whole facility sits on a slight rise, overlooking a valley.
I spot the landing pad, a flat circular platform on the facility's eastern side, and begin our descent. The wind is still present, butwithout skyscrapers or nearby rock formations to churn it into chaos, it's easy to read and compensate for. I set us down with barely a bump.
"Smooth as silk," Dr. Petrova comments, and coming from her, that's practically effusive praise.
Before anyone moves to debark, A'Vanti is already at her tablet, fingers moving across the screen.
"I'm deploying the analysis bot," she says, and somewhere along the hull, a small port slides open. The bot, a sleek and more sophisticated than the cleaning units we left at the terminal, rises into the air outside, hovers for a moment as its sensors calibrate, then zips off toward the structure ahead.
"It will scan for structural instabilities, atmospheric hazards, anything that might pose a risk. I've recalibrated it to also scan for dangerous wildlife. We'll have results in a few minutes."
While we wait, I gaze out the viewport at the landscape surrounding us.
We're just outside the capital proper now, and the difference is striking. Without the buildings to provide scale and context, the desert seems to stretch endlessly in every direction. The vista is an ocean of gold and amber and terracotta, broken only by scattered rock formations and the occasional scrubby plant.
And dominating the horizon, impossible to ignore, stands Spire Mountain.
It's massive. Even from this distance, it towers over everything, a jagged peak of dark stone that rises from the desert floor like a monument to something ancient and powerful. The light catches its upper reaches, painting them in shades of copper and bronze, while the lower slopes remain wrapped in shadow.
"The catacombs are beneath Spire Mountain," A'Vanti says, and I realize she's been watching me study the peak. "Generations of my people rest there now. Including—" Shepauses, her voice catching slightly. "Including the ashes of those who were taken by Diamalla's poison."
I reach over and take her hand. She lets me, her fingers cool in my palm.
"When the capital is livable again," she continues, "I'm going to suggest to Chancellor L'Forn that we erect some kind of monument. A memorial for those we lost." Her gaze stays fixed on the distant mountain. "Perhaps at the base of Spire Mountain, near the entrance to the catacombs. Somewhere their sacrifice can be remembered and honored."
"That's a beautiful idea," I say, and I mean it. "They deserve to be remembered."
"Yes." Her voice is soft but firm. "They do."
The analysis bot returns, zipping back through the auxiliary hatch with a muted electronic chirp. A'Vanti pulls up its report on her tablet, her expression shifting into focused concentration.
"Structural assessment complete," she announces, loud enough for Dr. Petrova and her team to hear. "The facility is largely intact, but there are several areas flagged as potentially unsafe." She manipulates the display, and a three-dimensional schematic of the building blooms into existence, certain sections highlighted in warning red. "The northern pump house shows significant foundation settling. And there's a section of the upper maintenance level where the roof appears to have partially collapsed."
Dr. Petrova leans forward to study the schematic. Her sharp eyes trace over the highlighted areas, and after a moment, she nods with evident satisfaction.
"None of those sections are critical to my work," she says. "The primary filtration systems and control rooms are all in the green zones. We should be able to avoid the damaged areas entirely."
"Then we're clear to proceed," A'Vanti confirms.
The team begins gathering their equipment, the cramped interior of the shuttle becoming even more crowded as people stand and stretch. I stay in my seat, watching through the viewport as they file out the main hatch and head toward the facility's entrance.
"You're not coming?" A'Vanti asks, pausing at my shoulder.
"Figured I'd keep an eye on things from here," I admit. "I'm a pilot, not a scientist. I'd only be in the way while you and Dr. Petrova do the actual work."
She considers this for a moment, then nods. "If you see anything concerning, use the comms."
"Will do."
She heads out to join the others, and I watch until she disappears through the facility's main entrance.
The next few hours pass slowly.
