Mining the Crystal Fountains

We've seen the mine now, apparently the detour wasn't very far or it would have taken much longer. Our transport docked in a cylindrical station off the main part of the mine and we were ferried around on levitating pallets. (The mines aren't very accessible to what the Xala call tôkleka, or "wingless kaja", so they usually improvise for tours.)

The whole facility is controlled from a large ring that is built onto this giant chamber where they collect the crystals. There are dozens of little stations all around the ring. According to the yela'kaja, the raw "crystal" is actually some sort of gas or plasma that breaks out of the ground and spews up like a geyser, which is why they translate their term for the effect, tyaxad (kyah-khaz), as "fountain". Dozens of control stations are used to regulate the flow of the raw crystal.

The Ŋãna were all over the control stations. Since the station wasn't active at the moment (the fountain wasn't "erupting") we were allowed to get up close to the control system, even activate them to see the displays (with the help of my earpiece for myself, and a special collar for each of the Ngana). According to the Yela'kaja, there are a number of packs maintaining the mines that move around as different fountains erupt, so this one was mostly empty with just a skeleton crew to monitor the whole thing encase something happened unexpectedly.

The Kesata didn't seem much interested in all that. They kept up talking amongst themselves with their wild motions and all those bright colors. I think that some humans would have seizures if they had to watch Kesata talk all day. While their waving their arms around singing to each other, all these patterns and colors just wash over their bodies. Sometimes it looks really psychedelic. My yela'kaja seems to like it, though. He said he once saw a Kesata play while he was getting some "language and culture" training on their planet. Apparently on their homeworld they have massive ampitheatres underwater where they perform these odd dancing plays -- like a ballet without music. He told me he'd show me one when we're done with the tour of Jed. I didn't want to refuse, so I just took a bite out of one of those Jed powerbars and nodded. That's a while in the future, so maybe travelling with the Kesata will get me used to the flashing colors.

Anyway, after a quick pass through the ring, we entered the collection chamber through a maintenance hole. We hovered a while on pallets while the yela'kaja showed us the deep, narrow shaft, and the light at the bottom of it where the fountain is warming up for its next eruption. I was a bit woozy looking down there, and it looked like a couple Kesata were about to fall off the pallet. The Ngana didn't mind though, but then they live in tall trees.

Finally, the Kesata were taken to see the specific equipment that they were there to look at. Their yela'kaja offered to take me and the Ngana along, but I decided I'd go back to the transport, and the Ngana were in agreement, though for different reasons. I needed to recover from hanging in midair over a nearly bottomless pit, while they were more concerned about getting to their poles and swinging around and exercise their muscles that had fallen asleep while they stood so long on the little pallets being hauled around, according to my yela'kaja.

Ah, well. I'm not sure where we'll be going next. I think the Jed sunrise is coming up soon, and the yela'kaja told me a lot of kaja like to watch a sunrise or an eclipse while they're here. Me, I'm not so sentimental, but it'll be good to have some change in the sky. It's still a bit unnerving the way that great massive planet takes up so much of it.