From his seat, Zhirrzh stares long and hard at the burning patch of ground. "Is this whole damn planet one big burning hunk of rock?" he asks aloud. "No wonder the original landing party is missing. They were probably incinerated on touchdown."
    He pulls his eyes away from the desolate landscape and looks at Brenon. "How about we skirt the edge of this death trap and keep going north? The way this place spews fire, I'd hate for the Explorer to be over one when is blows."
    Raleigh, still in awe at the site he had witnessed, nods his head emphatically. "I concur Brennon, lets not try our luck in there...I think weve stretched out all the good luck we are going to have for today anyway."
    Brenon pipes up after hearing Raliegh and Zhirrzh, "I agree, that terrain is little unstable to be moving through. I think we should stay close but not TOO close. See if this leads us anywhere....." Brenon pulls up his pair of Magnigoggles and scans the terrain. "Raliegh, wheel the explorer there and keep us 20-30 yards from that desolate land...we'll just skim the wastelands for a bit and look for a resting spot."
    "Got ya, here goes," Raleigh answers, turning the Explorer and keeping away from the smoldering land before the team, heading Northwest.
 
 
 

IC

    Zhirrzh stares silently out the window as the Explorer rolls ever north. The burning terrain makes a bleak landscape, meshing seamlessly with his mood. Occasional bursts of flame provide brief points of interest in an otherwise uneventful ride. Time passes slowly and Zhirrzh is soon lost in thought. The small mushroom bursts soon carry Zhirrzh's thoughts back in time.
 
    Zhirrzh glances up from the book he's reading when his father walks through the door. He's carrying a short length of pipe and places it on the table by Zhirrzh's chair.
    "Another clogged irrigation pipe," the tired Yazirian explains.
    Zhirrzh picks up the pipe and examines it. Inside are lodge several large chunks of some sort of metal. "More evidence of the stupidity of the Taalon mining operators," he sighs.
    "And they'll continue to mine deeper into the mountain, causing more cave-ins and more ore to fall into the underground rivers."
    "Surely there's another spot on the planet where they can mine. Someplace where they won't run the risk of contaminating the local water."
    Zhirrzh's father slowly shakes his head. "No. There is no other place on the planet with as high a concentration of metals. Their profit margin is directly proportional to the amount of metal they can remove. They're not going to abandon the mine short of the UPF sending a contingent to force them out."
    "And seeing how we're just one of the Rim worlds, we're not going to hear from the UPF or Star Law for some time."
    "Star Law wouldn't be able to do anything in any event. The Taalon corporation's contract won't end for another three years. The most we could hope for would be sanctions because of the pollution."
    "Well, were you able to find out how the Council meeting went with the miners earlier this week?" Zhirrzh inquired.
    "Not very well from what I've heard. They hid behind their contract."
    "They certainly don't need that many workers in order to mine the mountain though, do they?" Zhirrzh asked hopefully.
    The older Yazirian's fist clenches reflexively. "There's quite a bit of angry talk among some of the Council members that the Taalons are trying to set up their own colony. I heard Ebsar Nin was talking about leading an armed force into the mining base to demand answers. He's not hiding how he feels about the pollution and the number of miners being shipped in."
    "Surely Ebsar has more sense than that?"
    "He had better," Zhirrzh's father replied.
    It was clear the elder Yazirian had said as much as he was going to as he turned sharply on his heel. Zhirrzh watched as he left the room and stalked into the kitchen, mumbling about politics and profit.
    Zhirrzh leaned back in his chair and stared out the window. The object of their conversation could be seen about 25 kilometers away. The mountain had a base of just over 80 kilometers and soared 6 kilometers into the sky. He wondered how much more could be mined from the mountain. The Taalon's contract was already seven years old. With the number of miners seen moving about, he thought they should have been able to extract all the useful metal by now. Of course, he wasn't the only one who thought that. There were more Yazirians talking like Ebsar than Zhirrzh cared to think about. What frightened Zhirrzh most was that whereas the other Yazirians didn't have the power of the influence to mount an armed posse, Ebsar did.
    As he stared outside at the mammoth mountain, he began to hear something that grabbed his attention and pulled him out of his reverie. It was a low frequency noise that was ever so slowly growing louder. He concentrated on it for another couple of moments and decided that whatever was making the noise, was coming closer. He thought for a moment that it might be a jetcopter, but a jetcopter wouldn't make that much noise until it was visible. Deciding to investigate the noise, he walked outside and onto a nearby hill. Using his hand as a shade for his eyes, he stared intently back toward the mountain.
    In the distance, he could just make out a small spec in the sky, slowly growing larger. Soon, the spec was joined by another spec, then another, until there were over twenty. Suddenly, the specs became more distinct as they seemed to suddenly spring forward. The low frequency thu-thump that he had been hearing suddenly became a high-pitched scream. In open mouthed astonishment, he watched as over twenty full armed jetcopters raced in his direction.
    As if part of some sort of ancient ballet, two 'copters on either side of the formation swung out and away from the main body. Zhirrzh could see burst of light shoot from the nose of the four 'copters. In horror, he watched as the ground exploded in answer. Slowly, comprehension settled in and he knew what he was seeing.
    "We're under attack!" he yelled. Spinning on his right heel, he raced down the hill and toward his home.
    "Father! Mother! Get out!"
    He heard the scream growing louder at an alarming rate and he looked back over his shoulder. Behind him, two jetcopters had broken off from the body of the main group and were moving in his direction. In shock, he lost his rhythm and stumbled, falling face first into the dirt. Reacting on instinct, he rolled left and into some short bushes only a moment before the 'copters raced overhead. He heard several whishing sounds and a series of small explosions.
    Peeking out from the bushes, all thought of the attacking 'copters vanished. Before him, he could see what remained of his home. The north and east walls were completely destroyed. The south and west walls were cracked and wobbling slowly. The center of the house had collapsed under the weight of the roof and several small fires burned as they found carpet and furniture for fuel.
    In a daze, Zhirrzh stood and took two unsteady steps closer. He stopped, staring at the destruction, his mind struggling for comprehension. He didn't know how long he stood there before something brought him back to the present. Someone was shouting.
    "Hide you damn fool!"
    Zhirrzh was brought out of his shock, but he still felt dazed and removed from his surroundings. Turning in the direction of the shouting, he saw a human running toward him. In an almost comical manner, the human was waving his arms and shouting at the top of his lungs. Some small part of Zhirrzh recognized this human.
    "Hid fool! You'll be killed," the human screamed as he ran up to Zhirrzh. The human came to a stop next to Zhirrzh, breathing heavily and seeming to look in all directions at once.
    "Who?" Zhirrzh murmured, his attention having refocused on the remains of his house.
    "Didn't you see the markings on the 'copter?" the human answered. "They belong to the Taalon Corporation. The Taalons attacked."
    "Why?" Zhirrzh asked, still unable to look away from the house.
    He heard the human spit and swear. "Ebsar Nin." The human grabbed Zhirrzh around the arm and began to haul him away.
    The physical contact awakened Zhirrzh to full awareness. In a wave of fury, he tore his arm out of the human's grip and spun to face him. "They destroyed my home!"
    "They've destroyed a dozen homes already, and they'll destroy more before the day is over. We've got to leave."
    "No!" Zhirrzh yelled. "I've got to get to my family!"
    The expression on the human's face, so far a stony mask of concentration, suddenly softened. "Your family is dead Zhirrzh. There's nothing you can do for them now."
    Fury was replaced by grief, was replaced by anger, was replaced again by fury. His voice became cold and the expression on his face caused the human to take a step back.
    "No Brenon. I will stay and avenge them."
    Suddenly, Brenon's head swung south and Zhirrzh could hear the scream of a jetcopter's engine approaching again.
    "Dammit!" Brenon swore. "If you stay here, you're as good as dead. You can't do anything for them if you're dead. Run and live to fight another day." Brenon's voice became cold and soft. "This isn't over yet." Bringing his voice back to a normal level, Brenon pleaded to Zhirrzh's common sense one more time. "At this moment, a ground force of over three thousand armed miners is surrounding this town, closing off all escape. You've got to come with me now if you want to live."
    Brenon's intensity was enough to bring a sense of sanity back to Zhirrzh. Looking back at his home, he felt another pang of grief, then turned back to look at the human. "You're right of course. I'll go."
    A brief nod was all he got as Brenon turned and began running toward the forest. Zhirrzh kept pace just behind him.
 
    Zhirrzh was pulled from his memories as an especially large burst of flame sprouted near the edge of the burning terrain. Sighing slowly, he leaned back in his seat and was soon lost in thought once more.

-----------
    The Explorer continues in a north westerly direction. With the yellow sands of the Volturnian desert to your portside, and the burning wasteland to starboard, you wonder if you haven't signed on with Streele to map Hell itself. Telgar being the closest to a vehicle Techie in the team, Raleigh looks to him as the Explorer drudges through the heat of the unyielding terrain. "We'll need to keep a close eye on this baby and make sure this weather isn't treating her too hard."
    Telgar nods in agreement, grateful for the Air Conditioning of the Enhanced Explorer. Certainly the arid environment without A/C would be overbearing, and Raleigh was always keeping an eye on the vehicle's statistics. Raleigh is careful to keep the Explorer's speed at it's cruising speed and no more...about 50km/hour.
    An hour passes, and Raleigh looks to the west. He rubs his eyes to convince himself he saw what he thought he saw. All the books and holovids told the ancient story of seeing the clear, frigid waters, usually accompanied by a bikini clad woman, in the middle of the desert. Of course, once the half-dead nomad reached their visioned oasis, all he encountered was a pit of sand.
    But no. There was definately trees over there. To the west. And was that water? It looked like it. Magnigoggles. Someone needed to check it out with magnigoggles. Whatever was to the west, it looked green and lush. Not a large area, mind you, but something green and lush all the same. Perhaps 5km away from the hopeful refuge, Raleigh calls everyone's attention to the patch of growth...
 

=====================================
Referee's Note:
      With Magnigoggles, someone will be able to tell that the trees are real...Perhaps 10 Palm-like trees surround a pond of water perhaps 40 yards long. Green shrubbery and grass grow in perhaps a 50 diameter of the area before finally surrendering to the desert and burning lands that surround it. Scanning the horizon, you still see no other sign of life.

--Jeff