A stark sunrise lit up the eastern mountains. The robotic eyes of the DPIP buzzed through the sky like birds. Outside their provisional shelters, the colonists of Snip’s Pinnacle Point prepared for the day. At the demands of more gems, Perseus, Cera, and Anagg gathered supplies for a mining expedition. Meanwhile, Frog herded several whelps to join him for foraging. Pikk, Nero, and Novu, having recently returned from a L’Hatzif expedition, lounged together. As for Karo, he preferred to hang back at the colony.

   It was impressive how Snip managed to find a location for the colony somehow worse than atop a desert peak. Rekes was renowned for being the most treacherous region, and the colony emplacement on the highest mountain she could find didn’t help. Every day, Karo feared for the safety of his friends. He could easily imagine any one of them disappearing into the monstrous valleys torn into the earth.

   At least at the colony Karo felt safe. He left the shelter emplacements, making his way up the mountain. Snip retrieved some cargo yesterday, and had yet to unpack it. Rather than run around the dangerous landscape, Karo would take initiative unpacking. 

   The purple hued starship was, as usual, parked precariously on the mountaintop. Its three legs looked proportionally spindly, but sunk into the rock and held the ship steady. The door was left open, and bulky cargo occupied most of the deck. Karo realized he probably should have enlisted Anagg’s help. No… she was busy, Pikk could probably lend him a hand though. 

   Karo poked his head into the entrance, gauging what he could carry down by himself before dragging Pikk up to help with the rest. Beep. Karo jumped at the noise, hitting his head on the top of the doorway. Beep. Beep. It rang from the cabin of the ship. A telecom? 

   With some effort, Karo dragged the larger boxes out of the landing. Even with those out of the way, he had to squeeze his way into the ship. It was clearly designed with aliens of Snip’s size in mind, rather than tsabhua. Fortunately, the ship opened up into a larger main cabin with the computer display. A notification flashed in sync with another beep. 

DPIP ON ALERT
IGNORE ALL RUMORS OF STRANGE STRUCTURES.
WAIT FOR OUR ORDERS AND REPORTS THAT WILL BE ARRIVING SOON.

   The communication went on to detail out rewards for turning over sealed information packets, but lacked further details. They truly just expected colonies to just ignore whatever was going on. Odd… What was the DPIP trying to hide?

   Karo was among the few who’d never directly interacted with the DPIP. But Anagg, Urgon, Carli, Orex, even Frith, and many of their newest whelps came to the colony directly through immigration. None knew much about it, but few trusted the organization, despite its title. 

✮

   “Pikk, I need your help.” After a short climb down from, and back to the ship, Pikk stared incredulously at Karo and the cargo. 

   “You dragged me up here just to move some boxes? I thought it was something urgent.” She huffed. 

   “Well, yes and no. Come take a look at this Telecom.” Karo said, leading Pikk into the cabin.

   Two tsabhua started to challenge the notion that the cabin was roomy. Nonetheless, both squeeze in, and Pikk looked over the comms. 

   “Has Snip seen the comm yet?” Pikk asked. “Not that she gives a squat what the DPIP thinks, but with these incentives…”

   Karo shook his head. “Nah, but I’d like to spread the word, at least to those that won’t tell her. Ask people to keep an eye out for anything suspicious.” He paused. “...Except only Anagg and you listen to me… everyone else just thinks I’m paranoid.” He pouted.

   “Sure, sure, I’ll spread the word.” Pikk assured him. “What d’ya think the DPIP is after?” “You tell me.” Karo said. “You just went to the City, did you hear any rumors?”

   “The DPIP said to ignore all rumors.” Pikk replied, voice flat. Then, after a beat, broke into a snicker. “Uhh, can’t say I recall any rumors, but I did notice more drone activity there. It seems there's more drones here now too.”

   “It’s gotta be something big.” Karo shrugged. “And we can’t do anything about it unless we know.”

   Pikk looked past the ship’s windshield as another drone whirred by. “I bet they know.” She turned her gaze to the panel.

   “Pikk don’t!” Karo gasped, grabbing her shoulder, but she muscled him aside. “We’ll get in real trouble!”

   A blue streak cut through the sky, nearly silent. Two pieces of the drone fell to the mountainside below.

   “Heh heh heh, I’ve been waiting for a reason to use that. Welp, catch you later, unless you want to scour the mountainside for drone bits with me.” Pikk ruffled Karo’s mane, knowing the answer already.

✮

   “Anagg, clear your schedule!” Pikk shouted, dancing up to the viper striped tsabhua. 

   When they were whelps, Anagg would follow Pikk’s every whim. Eager to please, eager to have fun. Now, she simply smiled as Pikk. “Sorry, going mining. Can it wait until tomorrow?”

   Pikk rolled her eyes. “You’re no fun, can’t someone else go-” She caught sight of Cera, who was doing maintenance on the C.R.A.T.E.S. “-Oh. Heh, hows that going?”

   “What?”

   “Cera, silly. You tell her?” Pikk nudged Anagg. Anagg’s expression said it all. “Well, you two have fun. But tomorrow you better save some time, Karo and I are onto something big.” 

   Anagg looked puzzled, but Pikk wouldn’t give anymore details in the public setting. It looked like she’d be retrieving the drone alone, as well as spreading the word, since Karo insisted on getting in his own way. No matter, this was the most exciting thing to happen in months. 

✮

  Back in the ship, Karo downloaded the communication to the computer’s internal storage, then deleted the notice. Part of him felt guilty for hiding this from their researcher. But, with the alien’s willful wand impulsive nature, it was best not to leave this up to chance.