Waiting Shapeless

Chapter 12. Gnumus

Tyler: Human

The Scouter cruised above the dunes of the dusty planet. Tyler watched the barren landscape of brown and red dust as they zipped above its surface.

There was a beauty to its
simplicity.

There was nothing out there, nothing but dust. This side of the small planet of Gnumus had a thin atmosphere and 'very mild winds' from what the Circuit Queen had told them. The wind piled up small dunes of dust on its surface, but besides the dunes and occasional swirling column of dust blown by the wind, there was nothing to look at.

The Scouter was a small break off ship that could barely fit the entire team. They used the cramped thing when they needed to explore a planet but didn't want to expend the energy to land their entire ship.

Byralnus piloted the small craft at the front while the rest of the team sat in the back waiting patiently. Jirabi sat nearest to Byralnus, occasionally glancing at the small black box that the Queen had given them and leaning towards Byralnus to give him directions.

"Come in, CSC team seven," buzzed a voice on the small ship's intercom system, "Captain Byralnus, this is force officer Toin, we are inbound to Gnumus. Give us the coordinates for the mission and we will meet you there."

Realizing that the team's mission to capture Short was potentially dangerous, Byralnus had enlisted the help of six PPF force officers to assist them.

"Force officer Toin, this is Captain Byralnus." Bryalnus responded. "We will send you the coordinates as soon as we know what they are. Please standby until then."

"Affirmative, Captain." Replied the voice over the intercom. "We will wait for your signal."

The shuttle droned on as it flew over the surface of the planet. If Tyler wasn't so anxious about the mission, the comforting white noise and vibrations of the Scouter could have put her to sleep.

"We're going to need to head more east." Jirabi muttered to Byralnus, pointing off to the side of their course. Tyler could only barely hear him through the hum of their shuttle.

Byralnus nodded.

"Is that thing going to work?" Asked Tyler, fighting to get her voice above the noise. She gestured towards the black Circuit box in Jirabi's hands. "Didn't the Queen say something about Short being almost impossible to find?"

"It's been working so far." Said Jirabi. "From what it's telling me we should be arriving at the wreckage site any time now."

Jirabi glanced down at the box and frowned. He gave it a quick smack with his hand and then began to shake it.

"That's a good sign." Bai muttered sarcastically to Tyler.

"Looks like he spoke too soon." Frowned Tyler, replying to Bai. "What happened Jirabi?"

The large Kelpar smacked the black box again. "It just... quit working."

"What? What happened?" called Byralnus from the front.

"The device stopped working, Captain."

"Here, let me see it." Called Tyler, holding out her hand. Although Tyler had no experience with Circuit technology specifically, she was the team's engineer and had experience with many other alien technologies. Jirabi tossed the black box to her.

She examined the device. It was about the size of a bar of soap, with a solid build that seemed metallic. It's surface was rough like sandpaper, making it easy to grip.

Tyler flipped it to the displaying side, looking at it closely. She had seen it when it worked, it would show a series of pulsating dots that pointed in the direction of the destination, then just like a game of hot or cold the dots would slowly change colors as you got nearer to the destination, finally becoming white on arrival. Sometimes the box would flash characters that Tyler didn't recognize, probably in a Circuit language.