A puff of wind caressed the sand dunes, creating hypnotic ripples on the surface. A few fine grains rose up, making the warm air even harder to breathe. Acrididae tightened his lips around the cigar in his mouth and took a long drag, as if the heat from the planet's three suns did not bother him in the least. *** This story was written to participate in the Halloween Vault 2021Contest for the Adventure category. The rules required that you be within five hundred words and use the following eight: vessel, tunic, antenna, trap, mutant, cigar, insect and guillotine. I wanted to write an adventure inspired by and linked to another original sci-fi story of mine: "The Rite of Passanger". It deliberately contains tributes to some literary classics, can you spot them? I hope you like it and have fun. Enjoy your reading!