'Nother random story in progress...

Constance stepped out of the temp-controlled air of the burping, steaming hypertrain onto the platform and the baking air wrapped itself around her head like cotton wool. She gasped at the sudden heat and the taste of hot dust filled her mouth and dried her lungs. Putting a hand up to shade her eyes, she peered at the world around her. The desert even looked hot. But a dry heat, which many claimed was more bearable, though Constance wasn't sure about that as she felt all her energy sapped away just standing here. The sun was low in the sky, now, however, and the temperature was gradually cooling for the evening, but the sand still sent up ripples of heat distorting the two pale moons in the sky.

She felt the first beads of sweat roll down the small of her back and fidgeted with her blouse. Sighing, she took her suitcase from the porter and proceeded through the station to the horse-drawn cabs that waited on the other side. She wasn't looking forward to this.

Just as expected, she was greeted by a short, local man in a thick, woolen sweater holding a sign with her name.

"No sweat on his brow," she thought, as she sighed again and walked up to the carriage.

"Ms. Heart?" the small man asked politely with a warm smile.

"Yes. Pleased to meet you." She smiled dutifully but wearily.

"My name is Ahmad and I'll be your escort. Let me get that for you." He gestured to her bag and Constance was too tired to argue. He opened the door for her to step in, before hefting the large suitcase onto the carriage roof.

Inside the carriage, Constance plopped down into the seat a bit less graciously than she would have liked, but smiled in relief as the cool air massaged the back of her neck and her forehead. She began to perk up again and reminded herself of the planet's greater gravity and that she needed to be more cautious. She opened her purse and retrieved her datapad. Might as well read up a bit on the way to the dig.

* * *

The city on Hurghada Prime had grown up around a large, natural oasis, nomadic tents gradually being replaced by mudbrick huts, and then two or three-storied adobe houses made from the clay found deep beneath the sand. The first builders had always been cautious to replant vegetation even as they used it, and in so doing, the oasis had actually grown.

When the United Delegation had first arrived from Earth, the small city was already well-established, though hopelessly primitive according to the new arrivals. But, they found a few reasons to stay; the curative effects of the lothan blossom, the beautiful women, and the excellent gin that could be made from the seedpods of the jinzo palm that spread its roots right out into the waters of the oasis.

After some exploration, the colonizers also found that the distant moon, Malo, was rich with a strange mineral that was malleable and easily mined, but hardened incredibly when mixed with the clay of the planet. With this discovery, skyscrapers sprang up, rails were laid for the steam trains, and channels were dug to bring the coastal waters in.

The Delegation was less concerned about preserving nature, and more adept at manipulating it. And not without a great deal of success. The meteorologists constantly monitored the atmosphere, helping the scientists to make use of every bit of information, such as finding distant clouds so they could be seeded in order to collect the rainfall for use in the city.

The extra water required huge cisterns which were placed some distance from the city, and dug deep into the clay, which both helped to keep the water cooler and kept the surface landscape from being scarred by eyesores. Once there was a group of five or more cisterns together, a new location around the perimeter of the city was chosen. It was during the excavation of a new cistern location that the ruins were discovered. And the bodies within those ruins.

* * *