Kidd Dustie's Arc

Chapter 2 of 7

Kidd studied the horizon from atop the ancient stone head. The map showed water symbols, but he couldn't read them clearly through his foggy goggles. He needed to learn the desert's patterns first. Wind direction, sand colors, where birds circled. His ancestor must have used these same signs. But patterns weren't enough. He needed facts, real records. Somewhere in this desert, the old stories had to be written down. Kidd slid down the stone face and climbed back into his buggy. The engine coughed to life. He turned east, where the oldest parts of Hunky Dory waited beneath the sand. The ground changed after an hour of driving. Hard rock replaced soft dunes. Then Kidd spotted it—a wooden ladder sticking up from a crack in the earth. He stopped the buggy and approached carefully. The ladder descended into darkness. Cool air drifted up from below. Kidd climbed down, counting twenty rungs before his feet touched sandy floor. His eyes adjusted slowly. Shelves lined the walls, packed with ancient books and scrolls. A tomb, but not for bodies. This place stored knowledge. Kidd pulled a scroll from the nearest shelf and unrolled it. Symbols covered the surface, some matching his map. He grabbed three more scrolls and tucked them under his arm. His ancestor's journey had been recorded. Now he just had to read it. Back at the surface, Kidd loaded the scrolls into his buggy. The sun hung low in the sky. He drove west toward home, the engine humming steadily across the hardpan. His underground dwelling appeared first as a dark opening, then the flamingo came into view. Kidd parked and unloaded his cargo. He spread the scrolls across the sandy floor of his main room. Three showed maps with water symbols. One showed a worm drinking from a pool surrounded by palm trees. He traced the route with his claw—five days northeast from the stone head. But first, he needed water for the journey. Tomorrow he would build a well near his home. The sandstone he'd seen an hour south would work. He could carve it with the tools in his buggy, add desert flowers around the base to mark the spot. The scrolls had given him direction. Now he needed to prepare. The next morning, Kidd drove south with his tools rattling in the buggy bed. He found the sandstone outcrop and spent hours carving. His claws ached, but the well took shape. He drilled deep until water trickled up through the rock. Desert flowers grew nearby, and he transplanted them around the base. The carvings on the sandstone caught the light, showing cacti patterns he'd etched himself. Back home, he built a stand outside his dwelling using scraps of wood. He decorated it with more desert designs and mounted his ancestor's maps on top. The charts showed the route clearly now. Water symbols lined a path northeast. Kidd filled containers from his new well and loaded them into the buggy. His supplies were ready. The oasis waited five days away, and tomorrow he would begin the real journey. Everything he'd learned had led to this moment.