The cluster was closer than it had looked from camp. I stopped at the edge of where my Sense could read them clearly, twenty bodies moving in a slow orbit around a central presence that was bigger than everything else.
The ground where I was had changed, no more rust colored sand and dead stone, the wasteland giving way to dark compacted dirt, and from that dirt things grew.
Moss spread in softly glowing patches across the ground. I could also sense a dark lake near the cluster.
I opened my inventory.
The sterling armor and helmet caught my attention again. I still had not asked Phinyx about cleansing it. I made a mental note to deal with it when I got back, closed the thought, and focused on the Hibrem cube that was resting now in my hand.
The plan assembled itself in my mind.
