I'm betting you want a taste huh? OK.
The Na'Khaan.
My guts went into my throat as the breaking rockets did their thing.
In a few minutes, I'd either be splattered all across the oxide desert in
crispy chunks or admiring my new home, the former POW colony
unimaginatively named "Ralph", a rotten, dusty, trilithium-rich planet
of about three-quarters of Earth's gravity, just big enough to hold
captive a breathable Oxygen-Helium atmosphere, at least most of its 380
day year, the other part of the year, the northern hemisphere dries
out and the Trilithium dust cuts lovely little microscopic chunks out
of your lungs, giving one the characteristic bloody cough. Oddly, the
Lyrians who leased the place to Earthgov seem almost immune until
the worst of the season, but at least for seven of the nine months of
the year, one could go about without a respirator, the final months
one had to either hold up, use a dust mask, or at worst, go full suit. I
myself, plan to mine Tychanyte crystals in the dry season. screw
Trilithium breath, I don't care if it heals up after you cease exposure,
Hacking up blood doesn't sound very healthy! I thought as I
unstrapped myself from the drop ship pilot seat, shouldered my gear
and climbed down the exit ladder to check out what I'd gotten myself
into. the living dome was of fair size. a ten thousand gallon fresh
water supply, but the former owner suggested I drill a new well if I
installed a fourth extractor. I had three trilithium extractors, I'd be
putting in a fourth soon. decent-sized greenhouse, I won't starve at
least. I was to be the place's third inhabitant in a decade, the other
two families got rich and went back to earth-space. as for myself, I
plan to stay. I've had quite enough "civilization" for one life, the "wild
west" type life would suit me just fine after two wars and an ever
oppressive government, I figure a couple of years and I can afford a
clone wife or maybe interest a natural born in settling with me and
raise some kids to leave the place to.
I placed my palm on the identity lock and then slid my card into the
reader, presto. I officially own you, I thought as the mechanism
folded itself up and fell away from the door for storage and
reuse. something shiny caught my eye, a thumb-sized Tychanite
crystal had gotten blown here by the savage winds during the winter
dry season, I admired it's sponge like, porous, mirrored surface a
moment before pocketing it. an omen of good things to come, I
mused as I entered the dome.
The former owner had left the Trilithium extractors running in his
absence, very thoughtful of him, each bay was full of refined
Trilithium ingots, six months of work already done! Time to unload
the sand walker, load up this nice freebie and lay in supplies. the
extractors had been programmed to shut down once the bays were
full and resume once empty. I looked at the pile of oxide slag that had
Accumulated. Pity there's no use for the stuff other than landfill.
maybe if it was mixed with a bonding agent like lime it would make
decent red concrete? probably not, it was like ground talc, and by the
winter wind storms would be spread to the four winds. It was then I
saw the Mrn'Hnn vines growing at the base of the mound. In the fall,
The vines would produce large, football-shaped, bright yellow
"melons" the flesh of which tasted like mango, but the reddish
Yellow-striped seeds were powerful hallucinogens unless roasted,
properly prepared, they tasted like spicy popcorn. The Lyrans loved
them, but an undercooked one to a human was a two-hour trip into a
technicolor-kissed world of overly bright colors and distorted sounds.
the daily recommended dose of Tryptophan, I laughed. Time to move in,
wake up the drones and get them busy, then head to town to cash in.