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repose. Violet, sapphire, and ruby quartz hues gleamed in sparkling glory. Coronas flared through thin crystal formations. Geodes the size of starships glittered with a thousand illuminated facets.
    The sight took her breath. For a long moment, the capsule seemed to stop midair, as if to grant her a view from deepest fantasies dreamt worlds away.
    Kivita grunted as the capsule’s braking thrusters fired. A thick parachute deployed from the module above her. She braced herself.
    The capsule jerked. Her helmet slammed against the seat. Frost crystals slid across her faceplate, but she blinked away the pain. Kivita started to cough, then choked as the capsule slammed into the surface. Her restraints squeezed the breath from her lungs as she jostled about. Crystal shrapnel smacked the viewport. Red warning lights flashed on the console.
    â€œShit,” she breathed.
    As Kivita unbuckled herself, each inhalation grew harder. Sweat crept down her brow by the time she rose and studied the console. It felt like giant hands were trying to press her down into the floor. She’d forgotten just how much high-G hampered her movements and strained her muscles.
    The console beeped new messages across its screen. One thruster had been crushed, and the port-side bulkhead was cracked, but not breached. Kivita glanced out the viewport. The parachute lay in tatters on sharp stalagmite-like terrain forty yards away.
    â€œGreat. But we’re otherwise okay, you piece of—”
    A steam jet blew against her right arm. She jerked back. Within moments, the steam’s moisture crackledinto ice. The newly formed crystals clattered onto the capsule floor. Kivita fought the rising lump in her chest and studied the readout again. As long as the structure held and the crushed thruster didn’t rupture, she could still take off.
    Her canisters held nine hours of air.
    Kivita took three deep breaths and turned on her wrist compass. The speaker inside her helmet beeped once. The tiny compass screen displayed a flashing arrow, indicating the direction of the trajectory given by Dunaar. The location of the Juxj Star.
    â€œC’mon, five miles?” Under high-G, the distance would be grueling. She also wasn’t sure what time of day she’d landed; she guessed four hours of light remained. After that, Vstrunn would really turn cold.
    Kivita exited the capsule and stepped onto minuscule ruby shards, scorched black from her landing. She gazed around, getting her bearings.
    Sapphire canyon walls rose at least one hundred feet above her, and a slope led into a large black crevice fifty feet on her right. Her landing had been fortunate. Hell, more than fortunate. Shivering, she tried not to guess the fissure’s depth. As she walked from the capsule, her knees wobbled and her lungs compressed. Her heart thumped as if she’d been running.
    â€œSix energy dumps,” she whispered, then stepped onto a mesa covered in fine purple crystals. They crunched under her boots like glassware baubles.
    Ahead, the landscape glittered and twinkled. Huge transparent crystal clusters filled the valley below the mesa. Hundreds of thin, brittle stalks rose dozens of feet into the air, and tiny flakes of frozen hydrogen dusted the landscape.
    For an instant, the visions she’d seen since Xeh’s Crown flooded her mind. Galactic arms filled with yellow, blue, and orange stars, rather than the dying red giants dominating the Cetturo Arm.
    Kivita shook her head. This high-G must be playing tricks on her.
    The compass beeped and the arrow flashed toward the crystalline grove below. Kivita took another deep breath and trudged on. She’d trained in high-G before, but as she climbed down the mesa wall, her muscles burned with exhaustion. Sweat ran in rivulets down her face. Her faceplate’s defroster worked extra just to keep it from fogging over.
    Soon she traveled through the grove she’d spotted from above. Her footsteps