After everyone’s scanner had been calibrated, the doctor unceremoniously kicked the four newcomers out of town, telling them that they had about four hours until dusk and that the area in an roughly ninety degree cone in front of the gate should be devoid of crystal monsters for about a kilometer, as it had been the area where they had captured their current crystals.

Keera and Scarlet had announced that they would form a team, with Keera taking the shovel and Scarlet taking the matches before setting out. As they walked across the clear-cut area around the wall, they looked over to Mendar and Nedri who were heading roughly in the direction the Doctor had pointed out as the center of the cone they had hunted in. Seeing that, Scarlet gestured for Keera to stop, moving close to speak.

“We shouldn’t head in the cone. I have a feeling that the Doctor might have something more in his pocket, he said what we are doing is his exam. I wouldn’t put it past him to only let us back inside if we have managed to get extra crystals.” Scarlet quietly told Keera. Getting into the habit of talking softly and walking stealthily seemed to be a good idea, looking forward. The look on Keera’s face made it clear that she had not considered that there might be a wrinkle in the Doctor's task, one might even say a trap.

“You know, from what I’ve seen, you are probably right. Nedri said that the Doctor killed the guy that woke up with him, merely for talking back, so, yeah, I could see him adding something like that. I could even see him disturbing those who thought to play it safe in the cone he mentioned, even lying about it. Where did he take you, for your crystal?” Keera asked, quickly catching on the game that might be played on Verdun.

As Scarlet pointed out the direction, she felt a need to clarify something.

“Not quite, yes, the Doctor killed the guy but not for talking back. That other guy, I think Roger was his name, I didn’t get to know him, he challenged the Doctor and attacked with his powers.”

“Hrm, he didn’t tell me that. Not that it matters, now. Judging by the direction you went in and the direction I was taken in, what the Doctor said about the cone should be true. Let’s move that way and follow the river. That way, we don’t have to look for an extra water source.” Keera suggested and after a nod from Scarlet, she set off, with Scarlet following behind.

As soon as they were in the forest, Scarlet started to hide herself with her mind, thinking that it would be a good thing to step carefully, but in front of her, Keera moved with the grace of a bull in a china shop, using her shovel to push aside or even hack apart the underbrush whenever it was in her way.

Scarlet let her move like that in the beginning, before hissing at her to stop.

“Do you want to announce to everything with ears where we are?” she snarled after catching up. “Didn’t you pay attention what the Doctor was doing when he led us?”

Once again, it was only her dark skin that prevented a furious blush from showing clearly on Keera’s face but even without that, her body language was obvious enough.

“No, I was a little overwhelmed. I’m a city person, I hate the wilderness.” she admitted, causing Scarlet to utter a few choice curses. In the back of her mind however, a very different calculation took place. If she taught her, Keera would be indebted to Scarlet, depending on her character that could be an invaluable hold to have on her. But it was a hold that only held if Keera let it bind her.

“Didn’t you have survival training?” Scarlet asked, hiding her deeper ruminations under a mask of annoyance. It was a problem, if she wanted to survive, she would most likely need allies. But who could she trust, on a planet filled with criminals and those inconvenient for Psicom and maybe the Federation in general? After all, what better place to get rid of problematic influences than a planet that, by its very nature, prevented any rescue?

“It… it has been a while.” Keera admitted, causing Scarlet to grumble some more, before gesturing for Keera to let her take the lead.

“Copy what I do. But for training you, you owe me. Keep an eye out behind us, just in case someone thinks that it is easier to take our crystals than getting them in the wild.” Scarlet grumbled and took the lead. The concentration and deliberation needed to move silently combined with the mental scanning and her concealment-technique slowed her down to a pace that most snails would deem slow, but it was a trade-off, security against speed. It also allowed her to be vigilant, in case she had misjudged Keera. Another thing that limited her speed was that she kept one hand on her crystal, always ready to use it, if she missed something relevant.

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She moved in the direction of the nearby river, seeking to follow it on while looking for crystal monsters and a good camping spot but she was not planning to get close to it, at least not carelessly. While mental scanning was quite useful, she was not willing to fully rely on it, Mental scanning partially relied on familiarity, something she was lacking in regards to the local fauna, so she might feel something that was harmless and think it was not, or vice versa. Or she might overlook something entirely, if it was asleep or in a mental state that she didn’t recognise.

Behind her, Keera tried to copy her movement to the best of her ability but it had been a decade since she had the two-weeks survival course hosted by the academy that had trained her and since then, she had not needed anything remotely like it. She had worked on one of the urbanised planets, where green-spaces were carefully maintained and the only dangerous animals were other humans. But alas, now she was on Verdun and if she wanted to survive, she needed to get with the program.

Watching the smaller woman, barely more than a girl, move with almost serene grace through the woods, as if knowing what lay on her path before ever seeing it, made her feel clumsy and coloured her previous behaviour in a shameful light. Trying to copy Scarlet’s movements was nigh impossible but it showed her a way to move, not the way she would have to move, her larger and stronger frame was not suitable for that, but it gave her ideas, allowing her to focus on her own movement.

Scarlet, on the other hand, had an almost feeling of deja-vu as she walked through the forest, she had the feeling that she had seen the area around her before, that she knew the rocks, trees and bushes that surrounded her. Allowing herself to be guided by her feeling, moving more by instinct than by conscious thought allowed her to focus on her senses, to make sure that nothing bad happened to her. He heard the changing sounds behind her and felt that Keera was focusing quite hard, her focus quieting her mind. It was a trick that worked quite well but it had its problems, her instructors had shown her better ways to keep another psion from casually understanding her mind.

For about half an hour, the two of them followed the winding river, keeping their distance from it but never to the point that Scarlet lost her perception of it. After that half-hour, Scarlet decided that they had enough distance between them and town, just in case the Doctor was not above throwing wrenches into his exam or someone had bright ideas concerning the two new females and their crystals. Now, it meant that she had to look for a good spot to make their camp, maybe even a cave, if it was not already occupied.

It took some time, but she managed to find a good spot, a recent storm had blown over multiple trees and they had formed a protected space between their branches, almost like a primitive tent.

“Good, we can make camp here. We have more than enough time until it gets dark, enough time to scout the surroundings and make sure that we can spent the night, maybe even the next few days here.” Scarlet announced, putting her backpack down and gesturing for Keera to do the same.

“Alright. I’ll dig a fire-pit, I think I remember how.” Keera answered while putting down her pack.

Just as she did, Scarlet felt a slight tugging sensation at the edge of her perception, making her raise a fist in warning, gesturing in the direction she felt the sensation. It was coming closer and unless she was very much mistaken, it was the sensation of a crystal monster.

“Crystal Monster. Cover me. I’ll deal with it.” Scarlet whispered to Keera before moving toward the sensation.

It was not just a test for herself, if she was able to deal with an attacker, it was also a test directed at Keera, a preliminary show of trust, while keeping very vigilant to an attack from behind.

Scarlet pulled out her crystal and tossed it, withdrawing some of her will to allow the cat out. At the back of her mind, she realised she needed a better name for it, names helped with psionic powers. Not in a way that they added any actual strength but that it helped the subconscious processes to have a distinct designation for something. It was rather confusing but sadly, Psionics were only partially understood. But that was for another time.

She had yet to see the attacker, so she mentally directed her cat to move up a nearby tree, giving it the ability to strike from above. It was similar to the way she had first seen it, hiding in the branches.

When Scarlet saw the attacking monster, she almost giggled, it looked so very much like a large rat that it was funny. Whiskers, long, naked tail, dirt-brown fur, without the strange, mental sensation, it could easily have been a normal rat on some other world. And she had set the cat on it. From her crystal monster came a feeling of hunger and anticipation as it made itself ready to pounce as soon as the rat had passed below the branch.

It never had a chance. The cat pounced, coming from above and behind, its overly large claws ripping into the middle of its prey and its mouth biting into the rat’s neck. It was no contest, after those attacks, there was a surging sensation coming from the cat and the rat’s body looked as if it was made of sand and wind was blowing it away, only that it was blowing into the cats body. Scarlet instantly understood that it was the feeding action the Doctor had mentioned. It only lasted for seconds and once it was done, Scarlet made the cat pick up the small crystal in its maw and carry it over to her. It was barely the size of her thumb, making her realise that the Doctor most likely had made sure that their first crystal monsters were not just run of the mill fodder.

What surprised her, was how much feline character the crystal monster showed, its body-language looked just like some videos she had seen on the datanet and in the mental communication was an element that seemed to desire praise and adoration. It was a strange feeling, coming from what she knew was simply a rock the size of her hand. She made a mental note to observe her monster further, knowledge and understanding were power after all.

And power would keep her alive.