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‘They intrigued me too when I first got to Devansi.’

He jumped on her slip-up. ‘You’re not from this planet.’

She fell silent for a moment. ‘Nada, I am not.’

She didn’t offer more, so he let it go, making note of it. Even those many years ago, she’d never shared her heritage, careful never to give away her identity.

Accepting her reticence, he turned his attention to the view.

Riv’s home these last few years was his ship, with an occasional night spent in his mountainside villa on the edge of Eden II’s dark valleys of J’Urg Mihor.

Besides the rare outing to Rhesia or Dunia, he’d not taken long walks on terra-formed land in recent months.

He was often either leading a raid onto a planet or hunting a fugitive through space, which gave him little time to admire any local flora and fauna.

So his eyes drank in the beauty, and he almost enjoyed the view of the freakish world.

He spotted silver-colored feathered birds and metallic critters scurrying about, their fur helping to reflect the harsh light.

Most vegetation had shallow root systems, spines, and thorns, and was chrome-covered, sending shards of illumination bouncing throughout the peculiar vista.

Their path sank towards one of the open fissures, where the rock began to enclose them from above.

It led to an enormous tree bent into an arch over the chasmic entry.

‘Fokk!’ Riv exclaimed, stunned by its size. ‘It’s over three hundred meters tall. What the hell is it?’

Élisa came to his rescue. ‘It’s called the staff of Devansi. The locals believe an entity in the nebula cast out its walking stick in anger at the planet, and this is where it landed.’

Riv’s eyes widened as they strolled under the tree’s gigantic burnished branches, shrouding the walking track.

Once inside the open chasm, the temperature cooled, and the rays streaked more as the cave-like roof overhangs stopped the worst of the roiling star’s beams.

The dappled sunlight here nurtured a rich woodland, and the lush understory overflowed with chrome, emerald trees and mossy ferns beneath.

They hiked past secluded waterfalls, vast tracts of old-growth forest, stands of towering hardwoods, and some of the tallest flowering plants he’d ever seen in all his travels.

Further, they meandered close to several other astonishing examples of the planet’s ancient majesty, including a massive twin-trunked tree and its cavernous trunk big enough for half a dozen people to sit inside.

Riv made sure to negotiate the slippery track with care. Its surface was slick due to the near-constant dampness in the fissured undergrowth, in contrast to the dryness of the desert above.

In a silence broken only by bird calls and the gentle squeak of the cargo pallet, they followed the wide walking trail down to the tannin-stained river.

Small platypus-like creatures romped alongside native water rats, pygmy marsupials, and chrome-furred birds of prey, the latter nesting within the large hollows of the surrounding rocks.

A rustling in the bushes caught Riv’s attention, and he narrowed in on a face peering at them out of a fallen tree hollow before easing back.

‘Someone’s got eyes on us.’

‘Not a surprise,’ came Élisa’s dry response from behind. ‘It’s a Devansi local from one of the chasm tribes. They’re timid and, most of the time, harmless and peaceful. They also know me and let me pass at free will.’

She’d relaxed now. Riv sensed maybe because she was at home in this bizarre yet captivating place.

‘It’s the wild desert nomads you must look out for above ground,’ she said. ‘They’re the ones ravenous for food, water, and blood.’

He wondered how she’d survived this desolate world alone. Then, the thought that she might not be solo hit hard, dampening his mood.

Was a man, or a lover, waiting for her? Someone who cared and looked after her? Was it possible that he may have been replaced?