Shattered Stars

Upgrades

"We're going to your ship, right?" I asked just after we made it over the top of the mountain ridge.

"Yes," Neval said as he literally retraced his footsteps in the snow.

"So why did you park it all the way over here on the other side of the mountain? There's plenty of space near my spot."

Neval took a few seconds to respond. "To shorten the story, I followed you after you left your home. When you settled here for the night, I was uncertain of whether you had planned to take refuge here or if you were resting for the night. I waited to confront you until I was confident you were here to stay. Meanwhile, I needed to be out of sight to be certain you would not accidentally discover my lander."

A small cliff separated us from the more level part of the mountainside. We used the boulders embedded in its face to descend to the bottom. I made a mental note that Neval's suit barely made a sound as he traversed the cliff, similar to the drone that attacked me earlier. I asked him about it.

"Acoustic camouflage, as your species would call it," he said, guiding me in the right direction after we landed at the bottom of the cliff. "While it is impossible to eliminate all sound from material contact, it greatly reduces the amplitude of sound waves from such contact. Furthermore, any sound waves received from external sources will not be reflected, rendering it virtually impossible to track the user via sonar."

"Is that going to be one of my upgrades?" My voice held a hint of enthusiasm. "Because that sounds awesome, no pun intended."

"Indeed."

I grinned.

A short jog along the face of the mountain took us toward a plateau extending naturally from the mountainside. It was devoid of trees, save for a few hanging over the edge of the cliff. Neval slowed to a walk.

I slowed to a stop behind him. "Um, is your ship supposed to be here?"

He turned back toward me. "It is here, but it is cloaked."

"Let's see it, then," I demanded as I gestured to the space in front of us.

Neval stopped and looked ahead. A ship blinked into existence. Its cylindrical body wore two thin rings supported by spokes. Several engines adorned the back of the lander, but other than that there wasn't much to see. It didn't even have wings.

"You guys really like black, huh?" I said as I trudged around the lander in awe.

Neval didn't respond.

The ship gave a small hiss and a set of stairs peeled off from its underbelly, reflecting dim blue light radiating from within. Neval went up the stairs, and as I put my foot on the first step, the outside of the ship cloaked itself again. To the outside observer, I was stepping into another dimension.

The inside chamber wasn't inviting, to say the least. The only light came from where the curved walls met the ceiling. Stairs ascended toward the cockpit, and apparently, another floor was above this one. A row of passenger seats lined both walls.

I lowered to all fours when I reached the top of the stairs; I was too tall for the ceiling. The stairs curled up to its previous position, steps aligning themselves precisely with the floor and leaving no trace of any exit.

I sauntered over to Neval near the back of the room. His armor rippled and the scales cascaded up his arms and legs, around his body, and into a flat container on his back. He glanced at me as he unstrapped the container from his back and put it into a drawer in the wall. "Cutting-edge Asturnian technology."