Jack and Isaac sat in the tent they shared, staring at the Earth Element piece that was Jack’s spoils for the morning.
Or what used to be Earth Element; the originally opaque brown glassy pebble was now completely clear, looking like a plain glass bead.
“What does this mean?”, Jack gave voice to the obvious question. They hadn’t really noticed it at first; the piece of Earth Element slowly losing it’s deep brown colouring as they had experimented with it in the lantern light. It wasn’t until Jack realised he could no longer sense any energy coming from it even when it was in his pocket that they’d realised something was amiss.
Well, more amiss than him being able to sense it, and draw energy from it in the first place.
“I don’t know”, came the laconic reply. “It should be impossible for someone like you or I to even sense the energy in the stone, yet it’s clear you’ve… sucked it dry. Even awakened cannot do such a thing, they can only absorb a tiny fraction of the energy the Earth Element contains after it’s been refined”. Isaac shook his head in obvious disbelief that they were even discussing such a thing.
“So you’re saying I’m unique?”, Jack asked, rolling the clear bauble through his fingers.
“The Universe is unimaginably large, with more people amongst the stars than there are grains of sand in this desert”, Isaac waxed lyrical, “But yes, within the limits of my knowledge, you are unique”.
Lost in thought, Jack didn’t at first register exactly what Isaac had said. But an insistent thought started clamouring for his attention.
“Wait. You said ‘people amongst the stars’”, Jack looked at Isaac with a furrowed brow. “Does that mean you believe there are people out there”, he asked, pointing upwards, “On other planets? Other worlds? Aliens?”.
Isaac tilted his head and looked strangely at Jack, not sure if he was being serious. “All this is common knowledge. What does belief have to do with it?”.
“It’s… different where I come from”, replied Jack, lost in thought after having some of his suspicions confirmed. He wasn’t familiar with the stars in the night sky here, and he hadn’t been familiar with those above the village where he’d spent time with Confucius and Jun. Nevertheless he was sure that not only were those starry skies different from Earth, there were even differences between the two of them as well.
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He’d always known this wasn’t Earth, but to have it confirmed so casually brought the reality of his situation home.
“E.T phone home”, he slowly lifted his index finger to point upwards.
“Pardon?”, Isaac looked very confused.
“Nevermind. It’s a joke from back home”, Jack smiled and brushed off Isaac’s concern.
----------------------------------------
After an uneventful midday meal of slop and bread, the two headed down the mine again.
“Why did no one stop us from leaving here with the Earth Element earlier?”, Jack asked Isaac. It seemed very lax for what was a valuable resource.
“Why would they bother with the extra effort? It’s of no value to any of us, except as currency to hasten our freedom”, Isaac replied. “Well, except you, it seems. But even so, those that leave are searched very thoroughly before they do so, so hoarding it or hiding it not only keeps us here longer. And I’d imagine the penalty for trying to smuggle it out isn’t pleasant”.
“Makes sense, I suppose”, Jack said. “Although I don’t know what I’m gaining from being able to absorb the energy. I don’t feel any different?”.
“Would you feel stronger after a single day of exercise?”, quipped Isaac.
“I guess not”. Jack was starting to sound like a sulky teenager. “Which I am, damnit. Which teenager wouldn’t be? I’m out amongst the stars humanity has dreamed of exploring - and here I am, mining shiny rocks in the middle of a desert”.
He shook his head to clear the gloomy thoughts as they headed deeper into the mine. Isaac seemed to be heading down a different tunnel than they’d explored this morning.
“I will wait here”, Isaac said as they turned down yet another branching passage. “You head down a bit and try your little magic trick. If you hear me greeting anyone, we’ll pretend that you’re resting and I’m waiting for you”.
Jack had no objections, and delved deeper down the passage to where the lantern light was starting to dim. He picked a spot near one of the walls at random and tried to feel any energy in his meditative pose.
Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.
As with all their attempts in the morning, the first few here also yielded no results. Jack was starting to feel a bit foolish. What if they were just wasting their time?
Jack sat down to enter his meditative state for the fourth time, his expectations low.
There. He felt a faint but distinctive trickle of energy, coming from the wall further down the passage.
“I think I found something!”, he called softly to Isaac, standing guard further up the tunnel. “Stand here, where I’m standing”, he instructed as he moved further down the passage. “Need to triangulate, to figure out exactly where it’s coming from”, he further explained.
Excited, he proceeded with his little magic trick again. “There”, he thought as he pointed to where the trickle of energy was coming from, a spot between himself and Isaac. “It should be around here, maybe a foot in”, he walked to the imaginary point where his first and second readings would intersect, tapping at a spot around head height.
“Here?”, Isaac walked over and confirmed, wasting no time in starting to swing the pickaxe.