None sought to stop him as E’lo staggered out of the chamber.

No one realised his intention as he walked to the edge of the mooctic, falling twice along the way.

By the time someone realised he was gone E’lo was on the sand and uncatchable.

E’lo orientated himself by the heat of the auwai and began to walk. He could not maintain the pace he had before. He was too worn and he had at least two days of travel left.

But he could not stop so he walked.

E’lo could not keep track of the number of times he found himself lying in the sand. Fear spurred him up and forward. He did not know how long he had.

The warbling was a balm on his soul. It was still the rhythm of his people and it drove away his doubts.

E’lo’s colony was beyond strained. It would need an injection soon or it would fail.

The rough crumbling carvings under his hand were so unlike the recreations inside.

The spikes dug into his clumsy shaking hands.

The entrance opened with a grating rumble.

E’lo staggered inside.

Uhinicust chirping followed behind him.

“E’lo? What are you doing back here?” Tauw’s voice rang out and finally rid E’lo of the noise that had haunted him for the last hour.

E’lo staggered towards the greeter and collapsed onto him.

“Uh...Uhini…Uhinicust.” E’lo wheezed out, trying to force his hand to grip onto the greeter bracing him up.

“No, really E’lo. What brings you back here? Did someone forget something?”

“Uhinicust!” E’lo cried, the despair coming back. They were coming. He could not hear them through the walls but they were coming.

“Oh. Oh hope.” Tauw shook beneath E’lo. “Uhinicust. Oh hope we’re doomed.”

E’lo pulsed his grip, tightened and loosened as best he could to try break the greeter out of it. With his free hand he unwrapped his face coverings.

“Time. Tauw.” E’lo pushed his aching legs underneath him and bore his own weight. “Time.”

“Oh hope. Ohhope. Ohope. Oop.”

E’lo shook the greeter.

“Tauw! Your people need you.”

Tauw froze. Then he turned. He grabbed a hold of E’lo and began to pull him down the passageways.

E’lo’s shoulders hurt as he bounced against the walls in his efforts to stay upright. Tauw kept pulling him along as he began to stumble. When they stopped at an entrance it was only Tauw’s arm keeping him upright.

Tauw burst into the room.

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“Kuka!” Naauk swore and jolted in fright at the sight of them. The elder grabbed a metal stick from the bench and threw it at Tauw. “Are you trying to kill me you naelae!”

“Naauk!” Puhua stepped over and caught Naauk’s hands in her own. She turned to them and her eyes widened. “What is E’lo doing here?”

“Uhinicust” Tauw wailed. He let go of E’lo’s layers and ran to embrace Puhua.

Naauk’s eyes widened and they jolted and grabbed at the implements beside them. Tauw’s shuddering noises reigned until Naauk relaxed and shuffled towards E’lo.

“Speak Seeker! Tell me everything.”

And so E’lo did.

Naauk dropped the metal implement when E’lo had finished speaking. The elder heaved for a second before gathering themselves.

“Tauw! Puhua!” Naauk barked. Puhua and Tauw separated. “Isolation protocols! Take E’lo with you.”

Puhua and Tauw started towards the door automatically but Puhua halted.

“And you Naauk?”

“I will rally the Elders. We will decide what to do. MOVE!”

Puhua and Tauw jumped and then E’lo was being dragged through passageways again.

They stopped at a door which was seamlessly moulded to the walls around it and Puhua knocked in a definite pattern. The door opened and two Julon greeted them with frowns.

“Lapuna what has happened? We were notified that the entrance was opened.”

One looked passed Puhua and saw E’lo’s shaking form. Their eyes widened.

“Breach!” They shouted and turned back into the room.

“No!” Puhua and Tauw screamed and ran in after.

The other Julon guard let them passed in their shock but grabbed at Tauw. E’lo had to help. He pushed off the wall and launched himself at the Julon.

They fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs.

E’lo was a Seeker. His muscles were strong and enduring from years of travel across the sands. The Julon was pampered and hunched from life in the oasis and a life of little movement.

But E’lo was so tired. He held the Julon down but his arms soon gave out and the Julon rolled on top. He clutched at the Julon but light swats knocked him back. The Julon struck a blow against his head and E’lo stopped.

He lay against the cold hard floor and as his vision blurred and all sound was drowned out by a scuffle and the warble that signalled his people. E’lo’s eyes closed.

The warble cut off.

E’lo smiled but he was done. His conscience was slipping. The Julon must had struck a mighty blow against him. But the Julon’s hope might flourish again but his was slipping away into the sands.

Hands shook him and he clicked a stuffy mouth. It was time. He was done.

“E’lo!”

“B-b-ury in the saaahand.” E’lo croaked. His people would not come back for him. Though he had saved them he did not want to become a part of this oasis. Let him lie in the sands where he lived for hope to spring for another creature.

“Sand. That’s it!”

The hands left him and all became dark.

E’lo woke in a startled fit.

It was so quiet. There was no noise.

His face was bare. Exposed. His eyelids were heavy but he tore them open to look across a gloomy room.

E’lo sipped at his colony, trying to regain strength. A bitter taste filled his mouth. His colony was so weak. What had happened.

E’lo staggered to his feet. He needed to feed his colony. It was dying and if it did so would he.

He was in some tight constricted passages? An oasis?

E’lo thought he saw movement but it was all a blur. His eyes were so heavy. He kept walking until someone gripped his layers.

“E’lo! What are you doing? You should be lying down.”

E’lo struggled to escape from the grip and opened his eyes.

“Tauw?” E’lo coughed out. What was the foot mouth greeter doing here?

“We’re filling the spire with sand E’lo but it is slow and there aren’t enough suits. You can’t help as you are. Rest.”

It all came flooding back.

E’lo began to tug at his layers.

“Take layers.” He croaked. They must take all. “My colony.”

The dark took him again.