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Jaydium, Chapter 6
By Deborah J. Ross
Apr 6, 2020 · 1,707 words · 7 minutes
Art by Vincent Di Fate. Edit Art · Remove Art
From the author: Far in the future, an interplanetary civil conflict has ground to an uneasy halt. Kithri, abandoned on a desolate mining planet, meets Eril, shell-shocked pilot. A freak accident sends them back to a time when their desert world was lush and green, when an alien civilization stands on the brink of a war of total destruction. They must choose to remain outside the conflict or to stand up for what they believe.
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JAYDIUM
Chapter 6
"What's happened?" Kithri gasped. "Where the bloody hell are we?"
Eril didn't answer. For the moment, he had no ready answers. Adrenalin thrilled through his veins, bringing his vision into sharp focus--every instrument on the scrubjet's panel, every tone of green filling the endless Plain, every brilliant mote of sunlight.
Silently they circled back and brought Brushwacker to a halt on the wide, wind-scoured ledge. In contrast to the debris-strewn entrance they'd flown into, here they found ample room here to land. Otherwise, the treeless purple-gray mountainside looked just like the one they'd left, but that was the only familiar feature of the landscape.
Kithri yanked the door open and jumped out, Eril at her heels. "The Plain, the dust--it's gone, all gone!" she cried. "Where--oh god, where did all those trees come from? Even the sky looks different, it's..." Her voice trailed off into a whisper. "It's so beautiful..."
Eril had to agree with her. Standing there open-mouthed and momentarily speechless, he could see for hundreds of miles, clear to where the dazzling azure sky melted with the forest in a thin, hazy line. From this height, the expanse of green resembled a felt-topped gaming board. He'd seen forests before, on Terillium where he was born and the two worlds where he saw ground action, but compared to this one they were nothing but pale, manicured gardens. He imagined tigers prowling the depths, hunted by spear-wielding woodmen who guarded the ruins of once fabulous cities, the last remains of a race of galaxy-spanning telepathic tyrants...
Argh! I must have seen too many bad tri-vids as a kid. But his nerves hummed with a
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