The noise of the gipens died slowly away as their hunger subsided. The back-up crew that replaced Bracken’s fellow workers quickly fed the hungry animals and herded them back to their holding pens. Grimacing from his still bleeding wound, Bracken walked slowly back to the workers compound. He gazed dejectedly at the surrounding landscape.
The Valley of Raka was not a valley in the normal sense even though mountains surrounded it. The high mesas and crags, which stood in a semi-circle like barren soldiers, dropped their sheer walls almost straight down into the sandy plain on which Terresh Shad had built his gipen farm. Unusual outcroppings of rock rose periodically out of the rippled dry ground. Some appeared like gruesome and monstrous creatures of stone, frozen by the stark daylight, waiting only for the long shadows of the eastern mountains to fall over them, that they might awake again to stalk the unwary inhabitants of Raka. The roots of lonely trees clawed at the few mounds of soil that remained among the great sea of sand and rock. Two of those trees grew in the center of the worker’s compound. The laborers’ quarters were a cluster of decomposing huts pieced together with a combination of sand, slime and used lumber.
Reaching the compound, Bracken joined Ley on the porch of his shack. They chatted quietly. The final ebb of the evening sunlight emblazoned the eastern sky with gold. Bracken found many questions tumbling in his mind. Slowly, he began the painful task of dredging up and sorting through his recent experiences. As he reviewed what had taken place, he became more aware of several conflicting problems. When it came to answers for why Silas had leaped from the cliff, Bracken only had a collection of vague reasons. If it had been pleasant and a step to a higher existence, as Lisha had suggested, then why had Silas screamed before his body was crushed to death. Why hadn’t he merely passed blissfully on? Bracken’s most recent probing in the Mingus passage had uncovered several more unresolved problems. The benevolent commission from the glowing creature he had met in there, was something that Bracken looked forward to filling. But why had even the enlightened being seemed so unclear regarding Silas’ murder. What were the hideous creatures that had attacked him — and why? Then he wondered about that name. Why had he called on that name, and what strange power had it exercised over those who attacked him? The more Bracken struggled with these things, the more it became apparent that going to the source for answers meant going to the Mingus mine itself. Then there was the space disk. That haunting question had managed to follow them all the way to the desert. Bracken ceased his musing and turned to Ley.
"What do you think of Frim’s idea for a gathering near the Pillars?" inquired Bracken. Chepa had received word from Lieter the day before, and had been talking over the possibilities with Ley and the others.
Ley pulled off his left shoe and gently rubbed a blister on his foot. "It appears to be the only option we have at present." His face flinched as he accidentally poked the sore spot too hard. "I don’t want to stay here forever." Ley was aware that the delicate and spontaneous brotherhood that had formed in Accad needed the constant care of its leaders and the influence of the Gem. "The longer we go without some form of unity, the greater the chance that we’ll never be able to restore what has been lost since our problem with the Central Council." Ley grimaced again as he slipped his shoe back on. "If it’s true that Lieter has some pull with the Fathers in his area, then we can be sure that the gathering would go without harassment."
Bracken was sick of the desert. He was ready to leave whatever the reason. "When do we leave?" he asked, relieved by the knowledge that Raka wouldn’t be his permanent home.
"Frim said it would be five days until the meeting. It will take us three days to get there in the max. We’ll leave the day after tomorrow."
Bracken thought about the dry, old gipen farmer. He was apt not to go along with their plan. It would leave him short a whole work crew. "Shad won’t be happy about that."
"I’m sure he won’t. He doesn’t own us even though he’d like to. After what happened today, I’m sure if we stay much longer in this pit we’ll be killing each other."
"You’re right there," added Bracken, growing quiet and staring off at the now gray horizon.
Nights in Raka are often as extreme as the days. With the departing of the sun, a chill quickly settled over the valley, making for an early retirement of the workers to the warmth of their bunks. After a few more words concerning their departure from Raka, Bracken returned to his own shack. He ate a cold meal alone on his porch, then slipped through his front door and crawled into his night covers. He slept a dreamless sleep.