occurred to her to ask what exactly they were looking for after the fact.
Sylvan shook his head.
“I wish I knew. I only know that my niece, Nadiah, who is the High Priestess of the Goddess on First World, which is the Kindred’s home planet, was given a vision about it. She was told where we could find it and that we must get to it before anyone else did.”
“So someone else is looking for it?” Penny asked. Was she getting herself in a hostile Indiana Jones-type situation here, where several different scientists were vying to be the first to find the same valuable artifact?
“We’re not sure,” Sylvan said honestly. “It could just be that the Fox’ens are about to move to the part of Yown Beta where the Eye is hidden and we don’t want them to discover it before we do.”
“They’re the people who are living on Yown Beta now, but they’re not indigenous to it, right?” Penny asked.
“Exactly. I don’t think anyone could be indigenous to Yown Beta—it’s a frozen waste land that makes my own home world of Tranq Prime look temperate,” Sylvan said dryly. “But the Fox’ens seem to be particularly well suited to cold-weather systems.”
“They have a natural fur coat and they’re uniquely suited to freezing temperatures,” Kat said. “I think they look kind of like those cute Artic foxes you always see on nature documentaries.” She shrugged. “Well, if Artic foxes were six and a half feet tall, anyway.”
“They’ve been living on the large Southern continent of Yown Beta for three centuries,” Sylvan explained. “But recently they’ve had a population explosion and now they’re starting to colonize the smaller, Northern continent, where the Eye of Ten’gu is hidden. Your goal will be to get to Yown Beta without being seen by the Fox’ens, take the Eye, and be gone before they even know you’re there.”
“I see.” Penny nodded thoughtfully. So it was an Indiana Jones kind of situation—which never happened in real life archeology. The reality of a modern dig was much less eventful than the movies. But their dig on Yown Beta would doubtless be more exciting than any Earthbound expedition. She couldn’t wait to get started!
“Whatever you do, once you get the Eye, you must keep it away from direct sunlight,” Sylvan said, frowning. “I have already told this to Commander Rive and his wife, Y’lla, but I must tell you as well. Nadiah said that the vision she received was very clear on that point—the Eye of Ten’gu must not be exposed to any kind of natural light. It must not be allowed to ‘awaken’.”
“Awaken?” Penny stared at him blankly. “I mean, it’s a stone artifact, right? How in the world could it awaken?”
Sylvan shook his head.
“There is much we don’t know. The Eye is so ancient it is only spoken of in our oldest scrolls in the temple on First World. We think that’s why the Goddess sent the vision to Nadiah—she’s one of the few people who have studied the ancient writings and would know what they meant.”
“I see.” Penny nodded. She didn’t say anything about the Goddess or Commander Sylvan’s belief that his niece had been given a vision or a prophecy or whatever. As a scientist, of course, Penny didn’t believe in such things. But she knew better than to trivialize anyone else’s religion.
She also didn’t believe that an ancient stone artifact could suddenly come to life. Again, that was the kind of thing that happened in the movies—not on a real-life archeological dig. But she would keep that opinion to herself, out of respect.
“All right, Sylvan, if you’re done with the briefing, I still have to get Penny fitted in her warm-skin,” Kat said. “After that, I’ll bring her to the Docking Bay myself. Lock is making dinner tonight and Deep is watching the boys so it’s not a problem.”
Sylvan nodded.
“Thank you, Kat. I’ll see the two of you later then.”
He shut the door and Kat turned to Penny.
“All right now, let’s get you into your warm-skin—you’re going to need it on Yown Beta.”
She sent Penny behind the folding screen in the corner of her office and handed her a black jumpsuit which seemed to be made of extremely thin, strong, stretchy silk.
Penny struggled into it and was aghast at how tightly it clung to her more-than-generous curves.
“Kat!” she protested, stepping out from behind the screen. “I can’t wear this! It’s skin-tight. I look like a plus-sized Cat Woman from the Batman movies.”
“You know, you kind