Free Dark Phase by Jonathan Davison Page A

tolerances, the cool conditions meant that for a few moments, Sarazen felt lacklustre and drained of power, his limbs were stiff, his thoughts muddied and difficult to process. He was also wet from the morning dew that had covered him as he slept. Sarazen shuddered to think what the corrosive fluid was doing to his exterior. After some residual heat was built up, he consciously used some of his core heat to raise the temperature in his exoskeletal plates and underlying weave, thus quickly evaporating any moisture.
    Sarazen climbed the last of the steps which had been showered in rubble and grit and poked his head out into the surface. He smiled to himself as on all four limbs, he crawled out of his hole like the leggy organic he had so admired in the previous cycle. Scanning the landscape, he felt safe in the knowledge that this hideout was well concealed and unlikely to draw the attention of silicants going about their cyclical duties. The new den had given Sarazen the opportunity to dwell and think in safety, to plan and plot his next move, to prioritise his actions. Uppermost on his agenda was the capture of some phosphorylin. He knew that with every passing cycle, his functionality would deteriorate if he could not obtain some of the highly specialized substance. It was the chemical concoction that maintained the Vitalin, the fluid transport system inside the silicant anatomy. Without the recycling of Vitalin, its properties would diminish and the effects would be catastrophic for the individual. Secondly, Sarazen hoped to obtain the power cells and necessary spare parts which could be adapted for extended use in non light conditions. Both these and the phosphorylin could only be obtained in the city and with a certain amount of peril required. Looking back into the underground lair, Sarazen longed to explore the unprecedented find. However, it was clear that his power reserves would quickly be depleted without the constancy of the Star’s life giving rays. He estimated that only a few fleeting moments could be spent in the darkness before shut down. If that happened and he became stranded down there, he would remain, indefinitely entombed in the subterranean chamber.
    Curiosity, however, is a powerful driving force, and Sarazen’s need to seek the answer to the questions which confounded him was perhaps one of his most prominent traits. He shuffled back down the hole into the darkness once more, his back still bathed in light. Risk, Sarazen thought, a concept explained by his friend Cole, was now part of his cyclical existence. Every action that Sarazen performed now seemed to have an element of risk. He had to analyse the possible dangers and balance those with the possible rewards. Surely his power cells could last for a few brief moments whilst he surveyed the mysterious descending staircase? Sarazen engaged a number of energy saving modes, disabling some of his ancillary functions leaving only the cognitive centre and his motor system fully operational. He disabled his now redundant network port and some regulatory systems which could withstand a short outage with no major lasting effects, and wondered why he had not done this sooner. He leaned back and shuffled his body into the light and ensured his light receptors were well lit. Now he would have to wait. He did not know how long it would take to charge his power cells to capacity with so many systems off line or how long he could function thereafter in the darkness, but if it were only enough time to catch a glimpse of what lay beyond the dark steps, he would be satisfied until such juncture he could prolong his exploration.
    The Star’s prominence in the sky grew as the cycle passed, when it was at its peak and its blazing radiance had warmed the silicant to such temperatures that a haze of heat could be seen to emanate from his body, Sarazen decided that it was now or never. Moving slowly to save as much energy as possible, he shuffled down from the light of