Nick spent a little while checking out more ruins on the way to the aliens with the radio tower. One looked like a town that had been completely burned up by fire. Petra's scan picked up a lot of iron nails and a few other odds and ends, but no more piles of gold or silver.

  They found a few copper coins, but that was about it. Picking them up took care, as the Death Star was out, but Nick was careful to stay in shadow. He knew by now to pick them up with a bit of cloth for a mitt, as they were scalding hot from lying in the sun.

  I'm really curious about these places, but I need to focus on the live ones. Nick headed for the radio tower. Again, he was careful to steer a bit to the south, and then turn to approach from a different angle.

  This time, unsurprisingly, no one came out to meet him. He wondered if the aliens would even know he was coming. Did they keep a lookout? Why bother, when there was almost nothing left alive on the planet? Then again, maybe now that they know I'm out here somewhere, I might be making them nervous. Well, one problem at a time.

  Nick got the notification again about the “dungeon” as he approached, but this time he had brought the 3D display along, and he got a good map of the interior of the alien base, along with a clearer scan of the resources available inside that hill. The veins of element 47 running throughout, some of them touching the open spaces, made it obvious. This is an alien silver mine.

  He took another look. I could tell them exactly where to dig, if they wanted more. I wonder if they know there's some gold in there too?

  Then again, I suppose they're a lot more concerned with survival, these days. Their world is dying. Do they even have food? Are they starving to death? Who were they trying to reach with their radio transmissions, anyway?

  Rockhunter was nearly to the entrance. This was closer than Nick had come last time. He considered waiting at a distance, or just dropping items off in the same place as before, but he wasn't sure how well the communicator could handle the light of the Death Star. He was hoping to drop the thing off right at their entrance, in a patch of shade that wouldn't shrink before sunset.

  He was picking up movement inside and nearby, though. Maybe they picked up the vibration and realize that I'm out here and getting really close.

  Uhh...maybe this isn't the best idea. The smart move might be to wait for sunset, but then he would have to contend with the aliens coming out and maybe surrounding him. Fuck it. No matter what I choose, it's going to feel like a dumb plan, so I might as well get this done.

  Nick drove right up to the entrance, and turned Rockhunter so that the hatch opened in the shade. Do this quick and get out. Nick took a deep breath, picked up some ingots, and opened the hatch. He stepped out, ducking instinctively, and started laying out the ingots in neat rows, just like he did the last time.

  The entrance to the mine was an ordinary looking tunnel, with a beat-up wooden door blocking it off about a dozen feet in. The wood had that weird zig-zag grain just like the other examples he'd seen. Nick grabbed another armload of ingots and laid them out, working as fast as he could. Do this quick and get out. Do this quick and get out.

  He heard something.

  It was jarring, to hear a natural sounding noise, instead of the hum of machinery or Petra's synthesized voice. Nick ran back to Rockhunter and grabbed the communicator. You should have put this out first, dumbass! He carried it in one arm and hustled back, just in time to see the door open. He skidded to a halt as two aliens took a step forward.

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  Green. The aliens were green, much like the ones he had seen on Market Street back when all this started. Nick's eyes weren't fully adjusted to the relative darkness in the tunnel, though there was some kind of light source behind the aliens too.

  Everyone stood still.

  Several seconds passed.

  They were vaguely human shaped, but the heads were weirdly triangular. He still couldn't see their faces clearly, but they could probably see him just fine...or maybe not? Maybe their eyes needed to adjust too.

  Two arms, two legs. They were mostly covered in something like clothes, that looked filthy with dust. Nick had no idea what colors they would be when clean.

  Holding his breath, Nick very, very slowly raised his free hand in a greeting. The aliens didn't react. Still moving very, very slowly, Nick pointed at the communicator in his arm, and ran his finger back and forth along it for a second. Then, still very slowly, Nick pointed upward, and swept his finger up and down slightly to indicate the radio tower.

  Very, very slowly, Nick crouched down and set the communicator on the floor of the tunnel, all without taking his eyes off the aliens. He heard some alien speech coming from behind the two in front, who still hadn't moved a muscle up to that point. In response, one turned its head slightly and made a pretty universal shushing sound.

  Nick let go of the communicator, and was about to stand up when he had an awful thought. Oh shit, germs! He made some gestures that he hoped conveyed what he was doing, and then used one sleeve to wipe the parts of the communicator that he had just touched with his bare hands. He pointed at them, and then made cleaning motions at it.

  Very slowly, Nick rose to his feet again. I should talk, but I don't want to breathe germs in their faces. I don't want to breathe their germs either. Taking a chance, he put his sleeve up covering his mouth and nose, raised his other hand in greeting again, and said, “Hello.” He pointed at himself. “Nick. I...go...now.” He took a careful step back.

  The aliens were still basically frozen, so he took another couple of steps back. He gestured at the ingots, making a little shooing motion towards them. “You...get....gifts.” He pointed at himself, then behind him. “I...go...now.”

  He kept backing up, slightly faster. The aliens were moving slightly but not stepping forward. They seemed to be peering down at his gifts. Then one said something in their language, then something else, raising its voice—her voice, maybe? It was higher pitched than the voice on the radio.

  Nick froze, though he probably should have bolted. He could hear noises farther in, coming closer. Get in the car, get in the car, get in the car, he told himself, but stayed put. My curiosity is going to kill me dead someday and someday might be right this fucking minute and I should get in the car, get in the fucking car, Nick...

  The high-voiced alien—the girl, Nick dubbed her mentally—turned suddenly and Nick flinched back. The other alien took a step forward, and Nick finally bolted. The girl called out something in her language, shouting after him as he ran.

  Just as he jumped inside Rockhunter, he heard something oddly familiar: a bouncing metal can. The fuck? Nick looked back.

  The girl was holding out an arm, stopping the other alien from advancing. With a rattle, the tuna can rolled along the tunnel floor towards him. It was open, and empty. Nick stared.

  You gotta be shitting me. We can eat the same food?

  She was calling something urgently to the aliens behind her. Nick paused. Go, dumbass, go, dumbass, go...

  He waited.

  More noises inside. She moved again, then turned back to Nick and held something out. She mimed as if she were bowling a couple of times, then rolled something towards him.

  It stopped short only a couple of feet in front of the alien.

  The alien said a word. Everyone paused again. The alien looked down at the thing, up at Nick, back and forth a couple of times. Then holding up one hand as if to stop him, she took a step forward, bent over and picked up the thing. Then she tried again, throwing much harder.

  The thing bounced towards him, then rolled. It got more than halfway to him. Nick took a step forward, then jumped back in, which must have looked strange. He grabbed his “mitt”, then scurried forward, grabbed the thing, and bolted.

  It was a fucking can, and it felt full.