Barbara watched the green creatures scatter into the darkness.
Then looked down at Alan, who had finally dragged himself out of the stream.
“Sid, we need to—”
Sid lay perfectly flat against the stone.
A distant hominid screamed.
Then—
CRUNCH.
The scream stopped.
Barbara went still.
“Sid?”
She looked up.
The Tyrannosaurus towered above her.
Its massive head swung in her direction.
Barbara stared into its eyes.
“Nah.”
She immediately lowered herself.
Another fleeing hominid shrieked.
The predator’s head snapped toward the sound.
It moved.
Its jaws closed around the creature.
CRUNCH.
Then it continued after the others.
Barbara slowly raised her head.
The Tyrannosaurus ignored them completely.
No hesitation.
No investigation.
Nothing.
As though three skeletons lying in a stream simply weren’t worth acknowledging.
Sid watched it disappear.
“Ah…”
He stared after the fleeing hominids.
“My precious specimens.”
THUD.
Another scream.
Sid winced.
THUD.
Then silence.
Eventually, even the footsteps faded.
Sid climbed to his feet.
“Interesting.”
He stroked his chin.
“That species appears to prioritise flesh over bone.”
Alan rubbed the side of his skull.
“So we’re not food?”
“It appears not.”
Sid nodded thoughtfully.
“A predator of that size would require substantial caloric intake. We possess no flesh, organs or fat.”
Barbara stood.
“So it ignores us.”
“Apparently.”
Sid pointed in the direction the Tyrannosaurus had gone.
“Good news, though.”
Alan looked at him.
“The hominids are definitely edible.”
Silence.
Barbara stared.
“That was your takeaway?”
“One of them.”
Alan walked over to the creature Sid had killed.
It lay half-submerged in the stream, green skin darkened by the water. Small, roughly humanoid, with long arms and pointed ears.
He nudged it with his foot.
“Looks like a goblin.”
Sid’s head snapped around.
“A what?”
Alan blinked.
“A goblin.”
Sid stared.
“You’ve never heard of goblins?”
“No.”
“Seriously?”
“Should I have?”
Alan rubbed his brow.
“They’re… you know. Goblins.”
“No.”
“Small green humanoids.”
Alan gestured at the corpse.
“Like that.”
“Circular definition.”
“Fine. Kind of like a small orc.”
Sid tilted his head.
“What’s an orc?”
Alan stared at him.
Then at Barbara.
Barbara shrugged.
Alan looked back at Sid.
“You’re hopeless.”
Sid had already lost interest.
Something glowed beneath the water.
He crouched.
One of the silver stones rested between his feet.
Sid picked it up.
Pale light washed across his fingers.
“Interesting…”
He rotated the stone.
The glow shifted.
Sid stopped.
Fine silver veins had appeared across the carvings along his fingers.
They spread slowly over the back of his hand.
Then toward his wrist.
“Ew.”
He dropped the stone.
Plunk.
The silver veins remained.
Sid stared at his hand.
Barbara leaned closer.
“What did it do?”
“I don’t know.”
“Helpful.”
Sid crouched again.
The stone still glowed beneath the water.
“A reactive mineral?”
He examined his hand.
“Some form of bioluminescent organism?”
Alan stepped closer.
“Those are very different things.”
“Yes.”
Sid’s gaze drifted toward the dim crystal hanging from his belt.
He stopped.
“Oh.”
Barbara immediately pointed at him.
“I don’t like that sound.”
Sid pulled the crystal free.
“What if…”
He retrieved the silver stone and carefully pressed the crystal’s tip against its surface.
Nothing.
Alan waited.
“Well?”
“Quiet.”
A faint spark appeared inside the crystal.
Sid froze.
Another followed.
Then another.
Tiny silver points flickered awake beneath its surface.
The stone dimmed.
The crystal brightened.
Sid held perfectly still.
Silver light crept through the crystal from its tip toward the base, hundreds of tiny points joining until the entire shard glowed.
The stone in his other hand faded with it.
Dimmer.
Dimmer.
Then dark.
The transfer stopped.
Sid stared at the crystal.
It had been blue once.
Then dimmed almost to nothing.
Now it shone silver.
Barbara leaned closer.
“What happened?”
Sid rotated it slowly.
“The crystal absorbed something.”
Alan looked at the dead stone.
“And changed colour.”
“No.”
Sid’s blue eye lights narrowed.
“It retained the colour of whatever it absorbed.”
Silence.
Alan looked between the stone and the crystal.
“Is that important?”
Sid slowly turned toward him.
“Extremely.”
He tucked the silver crystal into his belt.
Then pointed at the goblin corpses.
“Bring those.”
Barbara stared at him.
“Why?”
“Specimens.”
“You mean the bodies?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Tendons.”
Barbara paused.
“Rope.”
She sighed.
“Fine.”
A few minutes later, they set off again.
Barbara carried the two salvageable goblin corpses over one shoulder, the dinosaur skull hanging from the other.
Alan carried Sid’s remaining green crystals.
Sid walked ahead.
Empty-handed.
Alan stared at the back of his skull.
“I’m beginning to see a pattern here.”
“Elias.”
Kaya stood several metres from the stream.
“I think I found something.”
Elias continued shaping wet clay around the kiln.
“Yes, Kaya?”
“It’s over here.”
She pointed toward the vegetation.
“Is it important?”
Kaya stared at him.
“That’s what I’m asking you.”
Elias stopped.
“Tsk.”
He stood.
Kaya led him through the golden cavern.
Thick moss covered the stone beneath them, giving way occasionally to patches of bare rock. Yellow crystals rose between broad-leafed plants, their warm light catching on moisture across the cavern walls.
After several minutes, something flashed between the vegetation.
Elias stopped.
Metallic.
He moved closer.
Then suddenly broke into a run.
Kaya blinked.
“Elias?”
“This is very good.”
His thoughts echoed across the cavern.
Very good.
Very good.
He dropped to one knee beside an exposed reddish-brown deposit and drew his crystal.
CLINK.
Stone chipped away.
CLINK.
More sediment scattered across the ground.
Kaya folded her arms.
“What is it?”
Elias didn’t answer.
He worked around the deposit, freeing a dense chunk from the surrounding rock.
Finally—
CRACK.
The sample came loose.
Elias caught it.
He turned it over beneath the golden crystal light.
Dark red.
Dense.
Metallic in places.
His crimson eye lights widened.
Kaya waited.
“Well?”
Elias looked up.
A pause.
“Good…”
His jaw tightened.
“…work.”
Kaya stared at him.
Elias visibly winced.
“Was that a compliment?”
“Yes.”
“You look like it hurt.”
“It did.”
Kaya crouched beside him.
“So what did I find?”
Elias held up the sample.
“Iron ore.”
Her eye lights widened slightly.
“Actually?”
“Probably.”
He scraped away some of the surrounding sediment.
“Hematite, if I’m identifying it correctly.”
Kaya looked at the reddish lump.
“How can you tell?”
“Colour. Density. The surrounding geology.”
He rotated the sample.
“The red-brown material is consistent with iron oxide.”
A pause.
“But I would prefer to test it before declaring victory.”
Kaya nodded solemnly.
“Yippee.”
Elias ignored her.
He looked back at the exposed deposit.
There was more.
A great deal more.
“Sid will be pleased.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
Elias glanced over.
“I wonder who he’ll revive next.”
Kaya groaned.
“Please don’t say that.”
“Why?”
“Because every time he revives somebody, something weird happens.”
Elias considered this.
A pause.
“Fair.”
Kaya pointed at him.
“Thank you.”
Elias looked back at the ore.
“Hopefully somebody useful.”
Kaya’s shoulders sagged.
“You just had to ruin it.”