His voice broke. “By the time searchers found them, it was too late for Naia. Her heart had given out. On the way back, she’d wandered away from the path and collapsed. She may have realized she couldn’t make it home and sought shelter. We’ll never know. Her last act was to tuck Judah under her, protect his body from the killing rays. But they’d been out there too long. He died in my arms a few hours later.”
Lexi didn’t know what to say. The pain in his voice was raw. Brutal. “I’m sorry” seemed so inadequate. She’d seen death on Earth. But due to advances in medicine only the elderly died. Sent to their eternal rest painlessly when they reached the end of their term. Women no longer endured the physical challenges of childbirth. Their genetically perfect offspring were conceived and raised in a sterile lab, watched over by trained professionals until they were old enough to be handed over to their parents. Accidental injuries were repaired with bio-identical body parts. A pre-term death was practically unheard of.
“It must have been very hard, losing both of them at once,” she finally murmured. He didn’t acknowledge her remark, just lay there on his back with one arm over his face to hide his tears.
The colors on the ceiling dimmed as light from Phalyx and Zalyx seeped in through the translucent crystals. The full effect wouldn’t be seen till sunset when their slanted rays hit the wall directly. At this time of day, it was more like the gradual lightening of the sky before dawn broke. But it was enough to see inside the cave.
They rose and dressed. Ayron broke out the narliphant. But he sat in brooding silence, barely touched his portion. Lexi found herself chattering more than usual, just to fill the void.
“Where does your food come from? Your Tryb doesn’t survive on narliphant alone. I ate a variety of vegetables and what I think was fungi at the feast. Even some sweet treats.”
He stared at her blankly. “Food.” Rousing himself from his thoughts with a palpable effort, he went on. “Food. Yes. It comes from the farms.”
Now it was Lexi’s turn to stare blankly. Maybe her translator chip wasn’t working properly. “Farms? You can’t possibly grow crops out there.” She waved a hand in the direction of the cave’s entrance.
“Our farms aren’t out there. We grow a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, even fungi, in a vast system of underground mines left over from the days when our planet harvested minerals deep below the surface of Iridia. We raise animals too. Pigs and sheep and chickens. We fertilize our crops with their waste. They eat stalks and leaves from the plants we grow, along with vines and herbs raised solely for them.”
He’d aroused her scientific curiosity. “I would love to see that!”
“You’ll have plenty of chances,” he replied drily. “No doubt Mara and Nadina will send you to the farms when they need fresh food. Both of them hate the smell down there.”
“If they’re deep underground, where does the light come from?”
“Remember the coating on the walls of the city?” She nodded. “It’s a living substance, one that evolved after the war. It gives off light in darkness. Over the years, our people have discovered plants that can survive, even thrive, in it.”
Her eyes danced. “That’s amazing. There are so many new life forms to study here.”
“Do you like flowers?”
She nodded. “I love flowers. We have them on Earth. Three kinds — roses, lilies, and daisies.”
“As many as that?” He shot her a sideways glance then stood up. “Come on.”
Ayron picked up a spare torch, stuffed it and a water flask into one of the packs he’d emptied, and headed for the waterfall. He stopped near the rocks she’d tried to climb and took off his sandals.
“It’s slippery. You’ll do better barefoot.”
She took hers off. Following his lead, she tied the laces together and hung the sandals around her neck. Ayron picked his way over the rocks. When he reached the base of the falls, he stretched out his hand.
“Hold your breath.” He stepped into the torrent of water, pulled her after him.
Lexi clutched his hand. She’d taken showers all her life, gone swimming in the enormous wave pools in East Metropolis. But she’d never experienced anything like the sheer power of the waterfall. She gasped as the deluge hit, spluttering for air. In seconds they were through it, into another dim tunnel that ran behind the falls.
Even barefoot, she slipped and slid on the stone floor, covered with a fine mist from the falls. Ayron let go of her hand, and they went single file down the narrow passage. Instead of walking into darkness as they did on the way to the grotto, the way ahead gradually became lighter. Lexi understood why when they came to a glowing moss-like substance on the wall.
The phosphorescent patches became brighter and more colorful as they made their way deeper behind the falls. The passageway curved, opened onto another cavern, smaller than the one where they’d set up camp.
Lexi gasped. A riot of blossoms covered every inch of the grotto, extending up the walls, even hanging from the ceiling. They grew so thick on the ground she could barely set one foot in front of another without crushing one. Impossibly huge flowers the size of dinner plates flourished next to tiny delicate blooms in colors she had no name for.
Enchanted, she whirled around to take it all in.
Chapter Fifteen
“It’s…it’s incredible! How can this be?”
“We think there’s a substance in the underground river that leached into the walls of this grotto. A mineral, a chemical compound —somethingmakes these flowers grow here and only here. We’ve tried to reproduce the conditions in the mines. We’re able to grow a few flowers there. But nothing like this.”
She plucked a blossom that looked like pictures she’d seen of orchids that once thrived in the rain forests on Earth. Amber-orange in the center, the petals gradually lightened to a soft apricot on the outer edges. She ran a fingertip over one, inhaled the scent. Sweet, with a hint of something familiar. Vanilla?
