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The Red Lands, the red areas in the Monox desert. Intense red sand and rock characterized the landscape. There was nothing here but heat and dryness. Not even the barren white trees were there. Only a few bony bushes grew here and there.

The red land lay directly in front of me. The red, almost flat desert stretched as far as the horizon. In between, dark red rock formations rose up like lonely buildings.

Pyro’s star burned mercilessly and made the air shimmer. And yet that was exactly where I wanted to go. In the distance, where the air was hazy. The legends told that the Valakkar was up to mischief in the red land. I wanted to find him, the mighty sandworm.

I knelt down and reached deep into the red sand. Intense warmth flowed through my hand and up my arm. The hairs on my arm stood up. I slowly pulled my hand out of the ground and looked at the red mound of sand in my palm, which was quickly getting smaller. The sand trickled steadily between my fingers. Then I looked into the distance. I was ready.

The hoverbike was packed with water and some food. That was all I needed. Everything else was just a burden that distracted me from the realization, a burden that took me off the middle path.

*

I had been driving through loneliness for hours, but I didn’t feel lonely. I was exactly where I belonged, where I felt comfortable. I kept stopping and walking up a hill to keep an eye out. I had no idea how to find the Valakkar. They said it reacted to disturbances, that it would follow the vibrations of the ground. Maybe the hoverbike was the wrong vehicle, maybe a vehicle that didn’t hover but rolled over the ground would be better. But maybe the rumors weren’t true and I was looking for a ghost.

Still, I felt strange walking through the sand. When I reached the top of a hill, I hopped on the spot. Then I stood frozen and listened to the silence. Nothing happened. The desert was motionless. Only images formed in my head. Images of the ground suddenly opening up beneath me, the sand pouring down and me falling directly into the maw of a Valakkar.

On the way back to my hoverbike, I moved very carefully, more unconsciously than consciously. I gently placed one foot after the other in the soft sand. I walked down the hill step by step. Suddenly I lost my balance, fell backwards into the sand and slid down the slope on my back. When I reached the bottom, I knocked the sand out of my clothes. I had to laugh. As if the Valakkar would come out of the ground like a predator because of a single human. Or would he?

As I rode on with the hoverbike, I was worried about an advertisement. I had already used up almost half of my fuel. The consumption seemed far too high. Did the bike have a defect? Or even a leak? I stopped and checked the hoverbike, but couldn’t find anything.

After another hour of driving, the scanners detected a signal. I changed direction and followed it. Then the scanner indicated that it was a biological signal, a pretty big one at that. Had I actually found a Valakkar?

My tension grew. I raised my head attentively and tried to recognize something in the direction the signal was coming from. I reduced my speed and carefully approached the source. Then the signal broke up into several individual signatures. They were close together, just behind a small elevation.

I slowly felt my way over the rise and then I saw it. It was a herd of Quasi Grazers. All the tension fell away from me at once. I stopped the bike and walked the remaining meters to the peaceful animals. I hadn’t known there were any in the desert of Monox. Unlike those on the planet Microtech, they had no fur. But they also had the typical eggs hanging under their bellies.

I cautiously approached one of the animals. I reached out and touched its forehead. The leathery skin felt hard. I began to scratch the forehead. The animal seemed to like it. It grunted and lay down on the ground in front of me.

At that moment, I had an idea. A single human was not a worthwhile prey for a Valakkar, but perhaps a whole herd of Quasi Grazers was. I walked up the hill, sat down in the sand and waited.

As I waited, the shadows of the Quasi Grazers grew longer and longer. Pyro’s star moved steadily towards the horizon and finally disappeared behind it. I closed my eyes and tried to meditate. Was the Valakkar active during the day or at night? Was it interested in light at all? Could it even see? I didn’t know.

Night had fallen in the meantime. The meditation had not only brought me inner peace, but also tiredness. It was time to get some sleep. At first I wanted to make myself comfortable in the soft sand, but then I changed my mind. A few hundred meters away was a massive boulder. It was better to lie down on the rock, you never know what might suddenly come out of the sand hungry.

The next morning, the herd of quasi grazers was gone. The desert was peaceful and quiet. There were no tracks in the sand to indicate that a giant worm had emerged. I had no choice but to drive on. As I drove, I looked anxiously at the fuel gauge.

I drove all day until Pyro’s star kissed the horizon again. The plain was over and a mountainous landscape lay before me in the pale light of the setting star. Silhouettes of large rock formations cast long shadows. I wouldn’t find the Valakkar there, he needed sand. Nevertheless, I was interested to see what was behind the rock formations. I stood there for a long time and watched as the large fireball disappeared. When it was dark, I went back to sleep on a rock.

The next morning I checked the fuel gauge. Something was wrong. According to the gauge, the tank was almost full. However, the voice of the on-board computer had already reported the day before that there was only 50% left in the tank. I had driven quite a distance since then. I had to take the shortest route back to the settlement. On the other hand, the explorer in me would not rest. What was there, where Pyro’s star had set? What was behind the rock formations?

Curious, I got on the hoverbike and set off. Not back to the settlement, but further into the unknown. Further through the red land. The ride through the mountainous area was much more challenging than through the plain. Sometimes I had to search for the way. At some point, a signature appeared on the scanner. Then another and another. They were bio-signatures. I had found several herds of Quasie Grazer.

And then I saw why there were so many herds here. Just a few meters away was a lake. Water in the middle of the desert on the planet Monox. I hadn’t expected that. I drove right up to the shore and looked at the surface of the water, fascinated. Greenery moved gently with the small waves that lapped softly on the shore. The water kept lapping up to my boots in an almost steady rhythm. It was a moment of incredible peace and relaxation. Behind me, the quasie grazers chewed and the water lapped in front of me. Where else in Pyro could you find so much peace? I dug a can of Rust out of my bag and spent the rest of the day and night in this peaceful place.

The next morning, I stood on the shore for a while before making my way back. Luckily I had memorized some terrain features and the grade I had come from. Although I was pretty sure the direction was right, I hovered at maximum altitude to see as far as possible. My biggest concern, however, was my fuel. Would it last until I reached the settlement?

The journey took forever. I had to keep changing direction to avoid larger rocks that I couldn’t hover over. By now I was no longer sure whether I was still going in the right direction. Then the on-board computer reported that I still had 25% fuel left.

A queasy feeling rose up inside me. It wasn’t panic yet, but I was definitely out of my comfort zone. I kept driving in the direction where I thought the settlement was. Apart from the compass, I had no orientation. By now I had left the Red Lands and was surrounded by the bare white trees again. So the rough direction was right. However, the scanner showed no energy signature. There was nothing to indicate a settlement or spaceships. I was all alone, nothing and nobody was within scanner range.

Suddenly, a signature appeared to my right. A red signature, an enemy spaceship. After the initial shock, I pulled the hoverbike to the left into a dip and stopped. Then another signature appeared in front of me on the left. I looked left, then right, then took a deep breath. Both signatures were over 20 kilometers away. The one on the left was not red. Jackson’s Swap had to be on the right and Sunset Mesa on the left. In between was the free settlers’ community center.

Someone seemed to be attacking Jackson’s Swap again. Then the scanner showed missiles rising into the sky. Whoever was attacking the place, the Citizens for Prosperity were evaluating themselves. I was glad not to have to deal with all the fighting and conflict in Pyro and to be able to see the beautiful side of Pyro.

Thanks to the hoverbike’s low signature, I reached the independent settlers’ community center unnoticed with the last drop of fuel.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)