Page 150 - The Chronicles Ser2 (6-10)

“The hardest part to find was the Silith Particle Separator” he said after taking a sip of a drink he’d
ordered, continuing he added “Shiloh “Hunter” Parks had found most of the filter in a Scabber Rat
nest to the north of his property last month. The rest was stuck up a Tyrovon Tree at one of the
waterholes. Those things are high, and the bark is slippery, but somehow he’d managed to get it
down in relatively one piece.” He went on to explain that Shiloh was a cousin of his who had
“settled” on a farmstead; being hired to divine water for the Farm owners.

“What livestock could possibly survive here?” Krysta asked

“A native lizard has a mineral rich hide and edible flesh. The Locals call it a “Thug Claw Skink”; they
can grow to two and a half meters in length, and can survive on the scrub and sparse vegetation
hereabouts. Farther south we have a pampas of sorts, and a mammalian life form similar to a sheep
thrives there. The colonists who first settled here used their fleece to make a fine woollen thread,
though it’s more hair-like than wool-like” Vidal replied. He ordered them another round of drinks
and continued “I saw your landing craft come down while I was in the wasteland, an impressive
sight. Are they of Untharan design?” he asked

“No; they are a new design from Terra Prime. The Untharans have the only manufacturing rights at
present, as they produce the finest Ceramic metals in the Unity, though a variant of the design is
being drawn up that uses Shild Bronze and other alloys for commercial use. My Chief Engineer
should have been here, he would be fascinated by your… er… transport” Krysta said in response.
Vidal laughed and spluttered.

“You mean Old Betsy! She’s my brother’s craft; my Sand ship is in Synvar Docks undergoing shield
repairs. He put the thing together from salvaged parts collected during and after the Border
Skirmishes. He’s the history buff in the family” Vidal chuckled and produced a holograph of himself
and another Shardvolk male “He’s two years older than me, though he behaves more like a teenager
at times.” He chatted until a coms unit in his dungarees pouch bleeped. He answered it and was in
an animated conversation in a language that sounded more like garbled Chinese than anything else
Krysta had heard. He stood upright looking shocked. “Forgive me ladies, but I’ve been asked by the
local sheriff to find a lost traveller who’s wandered away from a Safari group. Till we meet again!”
and he uncoupled the trailer, mounted his strange craft and sped off into the north end of the
settlement and out of the north gate.

“Can you have the items on this list that I’ve indicated taken aboard your ship? The rest of them I’ll
assemble here for the town, it’s what I promised them.” T’luha asked. Krysta nodded and used her
coms unit to get help from the lander. A couple of Mechanoids arrived with a medium sized
hovercraft to take the indicated items back to the lander. Krysta watched as T’luha pieced together
the filtering system to help screen out particles for the town’s water system.

“The local water table hereabouts is polluted with Iridium particulates left over from the Border
battles and other fallout materials from the munitions works that used to be the predominant
industry here, until recently.” T’luha explained. She went on to explain that some mining companies
had started to mine the desert areas again for Silica Schist and other mineral conglomerates. That’s
when the source of a strange element was found that the Unity had sought for decades to
reproduce artificially. The deposits on Rega were the purest form and incredibly abundant. “Many
worlds use the element in Ablative Plasma shielding, despite there being a much more effective
electronic method these days. The element is unusually dense, but the form here is granular and
easier to incorporate into alloys and ceramics” she added. She worked quickly and within two hours
had the filtering system hooked up to the outpost’s main water supply. She then collected her
equipment and joined Krysta and the others on the hovercraft to head to the ship. Before they set
off Vidal arrived back.