The northern reaches are different from the regions we have surveyed. The desert thins gradually as we fly, sand giving way to hard-packed earth, and then to the farmland the northern territories were known for. The bones of what were once carefully cultivated fields spread out beneath us.
"It looks like a quilt," Cody observes. "You can still see all the different plots. Where one field ended and another began."
"The northern territories fed most of Ceraste," I explain. "Farming communities worked the lowlands where the soil was richest, and several mining operations ran along the Rel'kan ridgeline." I gesture toward the dark peaks rising in the distance. "The population was sparse even before—" I catch myself. Even before Diamalla. "Even before."
Cody nods, understanding what I haven't said.
We fly in comfortable silence for a while, the ship's shadow racing across the land beneath us like a dark bird. L'Stourn occasionally murmurs to Dr. Reyes, who responds with brief, quiet replies. I let the hum of the engines and the low murmur of their voices settle over me, my attention moving between my tablet and the view beyond the viewport. My gaze drifts to Cody's hands on the controls. He flies the way he does everything, steady and sure, and the want that blooms in my belly at the thought is still new enough to send heat rushing up my throat.
The farmland gradually gives way to rougher ground as the Rel'kan ridgeline rises ahead of us. Old mining roads scar the lower slopes, switchbacking up toward shaft entrances carved into the rock. We pass a handful of abandoned facilities along the way, crumbling and falling apart. I note them on my tablet.They are likely too deteriorated for salvage, but worth a ground assessment before the next team writes them off entirely.
Cody suddenly leans forward.
"Hey, A'Vanti, is that one of the mines?" His voice shifts from casual curiosity to something sharper. He points through the viewport. "It looks weird."
I follow the line of his arm and squint against the glare of the twin suns. At first, I see only what I expect: the rocky slopes of the ridgeline, scattered with the remnants of old mining operations. But then I see what he's pointing at. A cluster of structures tucked into the shadow of a massive rock formation. Where the other facilities we passed were crumbling and worn, these look almost untouched. They are built from the same stone as the ridge, but there is nothing Cerastean about their design. Just flat walls and hard angles, blocky and plain, as if whoever built them cared about nothing beyond function.
"I don't know," I say, and the admission unsettles me more than it should. I know Cerastean architecture the way I know my own heartbeat. I have studied every style, every regional variation, every evolution of design from the earliest settlements to the modern capital. This does not look like any of it. Cerastean buildings work with the landscape. Curved walls to deflect wind, sloped rooflines to shed sand, and materials that blend with their surroundings. These buildings ignore everything around them. They squat against the rock like something forced into a place it does not belong.
"L'Stourn." I turn in my seat. "Do you recognize this?"
L'Stourn leans forward, peering through the viewport. His brow ridges draw together. "I am from the southern territories. I've never traveled to this region." He studies the structures for a long moment. "I cannot say whether this is typical of northern construction. But it does not look right to me."
That is not reassuring.
"I'm going to circle around," Cody says. He is already adjusting course, banking the shuttle in a wide arc. "So you can get a better look."
As we circle, my unease deepens. The facility is larger than I initially thought. It is made of several structures connected by covered walkways. The largest building sits flush to the mountain itself, its back wall disappearing directly into the rock face.
This place is new. Far newer than anything else in this region.
"That's not Cerastean," I murmur, more to myself than anyone else.
Dr. Reyes has unclipped from her seat and moved to the viewport on the port side. "The design doesn't match anything we've cataloged," she says. "But whoever built it used local stone. I think that large building is housing a mine entrance."
The sight of this strange facility settles into my gut like a stone.
Cody keys the comm. "D'Rett, L'Zaen, this is Cody. We've got an unidentified facility in the northern reaches. Coordinates transmitting now. It doesn't match any Cerastean architecture and it looks new. We're circling for a closer look."
D'Rett's response comes back immediately, his voice carrying the edge of concern. "Copy that, Cody. Proceed with caution and keep your comm open. I'm scrambling a team to your coordinates now, but you're a long way out. It'll take time."
L'Zaen's voice follows, measured and analytical as always. "Get me visual data as soon as you have it. We'll review from here."
"Will do." Cody completes another pass, lower now.
"I'm deploying a survey bot," he says. "Let's see what we're dealing with before we get any closer."
He taps the console, and I hear the whir of the bot bay opening beneath us. The small reconnaissance drone drops from the ship's belly and streaks toward the facility, its sensors sweeping over the buildings in expanding arcs.
We wait. The cabin is very quiet.
The bot's telemetry feeds back to Cody's console. He studies the readout, then shakes his head.
"No life signs," he says. "Nothing alive is inside those buildings. Whoever was here is long gone." He looks at me. "What do you think?"
"I think we need to go down and investigate," I say, even though the words feel like glass shards in my mouth.
Cody studies my face for a moment, then nods.
