- How the hell am I supposed to understand that now?! - Katya surely panicked, using curses from the arsenal of her native language.
Leo sat next to her in a worried mood because he did not expect such tricks, but there was no more doubt - the planet is inhabited by Nomads and the guys need to get out of this damned place. It is possible that they are now being hunted by both the Nomads and those who live here. An encounter in orbit demonstrated that the Order's ship is not welcome here, and the underground trip only increased suspicions. The girl was so disturbed that she even forgot that she had almost no clothes on - the fire was still burning, keeping the warmth around her. Katya noticed it when she put her head down and frantically tightened the edges of the jacket Leo gave her.
- Hmph…Your clothes are still wet in places, I'm going to turn them over and they will dry on the fire, be patient for a little while longer, - Leo actually did what he promised and continued to warm himself by the fire next to Katya.
The rumbling in her stomach told the guy to use up the leftovers and he pulled the last nutritious briquette out of his backpack. Divided in two, Leo gave the larger piece to her and ate the smaller one himself:
- This should be enough for the next several hours, but then left with no food.
The situation looked very pessimistic, but neither Katya nor Leo wanted to remain buried in the depths of the cold world somewhere on the edge of the Tau sector. However, they found entertainment while the clothes were drying - Katya tried to teach him some russian words and played various children's games. Some would say they're crazy to be adults and dabble in catch-up games, but you can’t judge somebody who lost in the middle of nowhere. Running barefoot on the rocks wasn't good for them, though it was more fun that way. Katya and Leo were alone for miles around and no one could stop them from having as much fun as they wanted.
Having laughed enough, our travelers decided to go on, when Katya's clothes dried enough not to get sick from the cold. This time the road was relatively flat, and the cave was wide enough for vehicles to pass through, but not only made feels Leo relieved – there was a stream of fresh wind from somewhere ahead, signifying that a way out awaited them. After walking a little more, Katya noticed that the walls had outlines of symbols unknown to her, which had almost been erased over time.
- Do you see what I see, Serre? – she asked him looking around. - Yes, but I don't understand anything. This place looks…abandoned and too old, - the guy tried to point the flashlight beam onto rock carvings, - I have never seen something like this before, even in Order science division or xenoarcheologist labs. Everything looks almost done except this one large crescent.
- What crescent? What are you?... - she turned around and saw the rock crescent too, which looked much clearer than the other symbols. Katya felt her artifact vibrate strangely and she pulled out the crystal - it flashed with tremendous frequency.
The girl twirled it in her hand and suddenly a bright red beam hit the wall of the cave, just in the center of the symbol. The outline of the crescent began to glow yellow, gradually becoming brighter and brighter. Serre and Rogozina covered their eyes with their hands when the light became enormously bright and everything fell into darkness again. Leo opened his eyes and looked at that wall again – there were no symbols, but pure rock. Only something small glowing lay at the guy's feet, he picked it up and looked closely - it was the same crescent, only now it was the same size as Katya's artifact.
- Looks like we found what Sally and William were looking for, - Katya came close to Leo and looked at their new find. - Show me your artifact, Katya, - Leo asked her to compare them. The girl took the crystal out of her pocket and gave it to the agent, - Yes, they are similar. Both artifacts radiate the same light and same warmth, just different colors.
A sharp gust of wind shook the hair and made the guys shudder.
- Let’s go on, my friend, we have no reason to stay here any longer, - Leo gave an artifact back to Katya and they continued their trip.
The guy and the girl didn't yet know that something ahead ran with a chirp.