I became a Scholar of New Alexandria in order to avoid the sandy wastes, not get lost in them.
That plan hadn't worked out so well.
* * *
Everyone hears stories of the Metal Men and the Mechanics as children. Giant brass automatons that once walked among men, living parallel lives to our own. But the brilliant Mechanics that made them became scared of their own creations, and left the craft altogether. No one quite knows why. The Metal Men were soon lost to the sands, and the Mechanics nothing but a bedtime story. Some said they left scrolls of their experiments hidden in secret archives. Some said if you could reunite the five lost Scrolls, you could reawaken the Metal Men once more.
That's if they existed, of course. But it was just a fairy story. Yeah, right.
Most people never believed those stories. Lifelike metal men, manifestations of life created from nothingness by mysterious Mechanics? Everyone thought it was simply too far fetched. Except me. That's why when the first Metal Man was unearthed five years ago, I was one of the first on the team.
You see, the discovery of the dormant Metal Men didn't just herald a new age of scientific discovery and innovation. It brought about other changes, as well.
That's when my sleepy little life as a Scholar turned into more of an adventurer role. Goggles and sand speeders replaced my books and maps, and I roam around the country looking for their remnants. Being one of the foremost experts on Metal Men has its perks, after all. Despite my reservations, the possibility of reawakening the long-lost race remains too seductive to ignore.
"Suma, over here! I think I've found something."
My heart races as I hurry over to where my colleague stands, pointing in the distance at a hazy outline of a building.
"One of the scrolls should be in there, miss," Jabari states, looking down at his map then up at me. Jabari and I have worked together since nearly the beginning. Besides his unmatched skill at map-making, he boasts a strong arm and a stout heart. Both come in handy out in the Wastes.
"Let's go, then," I nod. "The sun's slipping fast."
"You heard 'er," Jabari calls to the rest of the team resting nearby. "We continue!"
The warm rumble of sand speeder engines drown out any murmur of movement and we carry on.
* * *
My hair flies out behind me in wispy tendrils as we fly toward our quarry. Even with the goggles and most of my face covered by my head scarf, the silt in the air stings. The building begins to take shape as its brass spires lance through the haze into the sky.
"Suma!" A voice cuts through the fog and I whip my head backwards. It's Jabari. He's worried. "Sandstorm!"
"Shit," I mouth through the grit in the air. I tap the communicator at my temple and look up Jabari's contact. It will be easier to talk over the roar of the engines this way. What direction?
Behind us.
How soon?
...Approaching quick.
What do you recommend?
I hold my breath, waiting for an answer. The only sounds are the rushing of wind in my ears, the purring of the engines, and the tell-tale rumble of a coming storm. It's loud enough to carry over the roar of the engines. That's never good. In the meantime, I push the speeder forward, eking out every last drop of speed as I attempt to leave the storm behind. We're so close.
We won't make it, comes Jabari's strangled reply.
I grit my teeth. Failure is not an option. RUN!
The sandstorm roars behind us and we push forward, the sand at our heels as we make a last wild dash for the temple.
We need to get underground! I hear Jabari shrieking through my communicator.
Where?
Look out in front of—
The words cut off as the speeder lurches beneath me. The ground yawns open like a mouth, swallowing me whole.
YOU ARE READING
Suma and the Five Scrolls
Adventure"I became a Scholar of New Alexandria in order to avoid the sandy wastes, not get lost in them. That plan hadn't worked out so well." Join Suma, Jabari, and team as they race across the Wastes to find a hidden artifact that could unlock a dormant sp...
