Chapter 12: Every Planet Has a Secret

When Ada opened her eyes, she was curled up in her coat, lying on a solid surface, shielded from the wind inside ... something with an almond-shaped opening to the outside. She had cried heavily in her sleep and felt as though more than a day had passed in her unconsciousness. She was thirsty.

She had fully intended to die in the mountains, but now that she was truly thirsty, her body told her to live and ... to eat snow. She stumbled outside. There was no more snow.

Alpha had taken her over the mountains, through a snowy pass that descended into a valley sloping toward another lake as vast as an ocean. The red sun was setting in front of her: they had traveled west. Alpha crouched by a stream of clear water, poking at a creature the size of a rabbit but flat like a lizard with six legs. No scales, but beautiful green and blue fur shimmering in the sunlight. Another Xeno? Where did it come from?

Ada knelt before the stream, licking her lips. Alpha dipped one of his sharp limbs into the water, scooping some up and miming drinking before encouraging her to do the same. At this point, she had no choice.

She cupped her hands, filled them with the icy water, and drank. It was perfectly clear and pure, and cold—yes! But it revived her. Her body rejoiced. If the bacteria were to kill her, it would be a fine way to go. With hydration came clarity. Other lizard-like creatures frolicked in the stream. Were there animals on Clelia?

Alpha pulled out a sort of gelatinous, bright green wafer from the water. Thick, with the texture of candy. He mimed eating it, then handed it to Ada. Trusting the Xeno, she bit into it: it was hearty, rich with chlorophyll and earthy flavors, sticky in her teeth, and bursting with water. But it filled her stomach. It was a freshwater algae, and she saw that the stream was lined with it. The lizards were pulling them out with their teeth before eating them as well.

Maybe she wouldn’t die in the mountains after all. Alpha wasn’t the most talkative companion, but he had saved her, and she could see herself staying here for a while. The view was stunning. A deep hope swelled in her chest.

She finally turned toward her shelter.

This was no makeshift refuge.

She recalled the fiction she used to watch on Calchas-3, The Crew of Captain Wau. In every episode, as they searched for the Planet of the Blind Gods, they arrived on a new world. Often, it featured Xeno dwellings or even lost human colonies. And sometimes, it was just a boring, rocky planet. But Captain Wau, in his booming, godlike voice, always declared, “Every planet has a secret,” and the episode’s plot revolved around uncovering it.

This was Clelia’s secret.

A structure of black stone, forming a perfect semicircle, with an almond-shaped entrance. The semicircle was topped with a slender spire of black stone. A Xeno house.