Page 39 of Captured By the Dragon Warlord
“We get supplies from Darax and the others. Driok guards the star fuel as well as distributes it to other planets.”
Scarlett stares down at the pad. “Is it up here? Where the cave-in took place?” she asks, pointing to the branch up ahead.
“It is. How do you know? It’s not been marked yet.”
“There’s something…” She lifts the pad up to me. “Here.” A slender, clawless finger points to the screen, “It’s different.”
I lean in over her shoulder to study the pad where she is indicating.
“That’s a probe,” I say.
“But it’s nowhere near the skein,” Scarlett points out. “I mean, it’s not even close if you were looking for it. See?” She moves her finger. “This is where you’ve been working, so logic dictates you’d be searching over here.”
I growl under my breath.
“I think we should have a look at that probe.” I stalk past her and down the passage.
Something smells strange. Amidst all the flurry of activity in getting out those warriors who were buried and injured, along with those who were killed, it didn’t give me time to stop, listen, scent.
“What is it?” Scarlett is beside me.
“I can smell…” I lift my hand up to the excavated wall.
“The probe, or whatever it is, is just above you.” Scarlett looks down at her pad and back up at me.
I rear up on my hind legs and shove my muzzle against the stone, huffing out smoke as I pull in the scent.
It doesn’t smell good at all.
“Do you need to get tools or something?” Scarlett asks. “It looks quite deep in there.”
I shove my claws hard into the rock and pull out a chunk, flinging it behind me, away from her.
“Okay, maybe not,” Scarlett says as I rip deeper.
I enjoy destruction, like any hot-blooded Sarkarnii should, and mining certainly gives us plenty of opportunity for such mayhem, interspersed with explosives. In any other situation, this is a Sarkarnii paradise.
The smell gets stronger, almost overpowering, and a light blinks at me.
“Do you see it?” Scarlett asks.
“I can smell it,” I growl. “There is something here.”
“Take care,” she warns. “This device is indicating whatever it is, it’s unknown. It might be booby-trapped.”
“There is no trap which can hold me,” I rasp, digging my claws in deeper to scoop out the item along with the rock it is buried in. “Booby or otherwise.”
I drop it at Scarlett’s feet like a prize. She jumps back initially, but curiosity draws her in once more to the light.
“What is it?”
“Use the scan function on the vid-pad,” I suggest. “Now you have it close, it should be better able to determine the origin of whatever this thing is.”
It’s tubular, as far as I can make out. My claws are blunt instruments now. It would be better in my biped form in order to remove it from where it has been buried. Likelihood is, as Sarkarnii, I would damage the thing.
Scarlett clambers up onto the rock and uses the pad to take a scan. It bleeps at her suddenly and she frowns.
“This is not Sarkarnii,” she says.
