For some time, Sio helped look after the children with Auburn outside. She felt Laura needed a break, and she was also in need of a little distraction. It was a strange feeling, knowing things that most people in the village didn't know. It was even more strange being a kid and learning things that other children might never know in their whole lives. It was lonely, sobering, yet freeing. She watched Laura's children start building a little army for their snow fort. She helped gather stones and the like to build a pathway to the small fort's entrance.
Just as she was finishing the last touches to the fort, a shadow appeared over the entrance. Sio looked up and saw Otheyo standing there a few meters away, speaking with Auburn. His figure blotted out the sun. Sio noted they were talking rather intensely. She listened in.
" –one takes responsibility for it, all are likely suspects." Otheyo said.
"The mines are the lifeblood of the town, if we don't focus on finding a way to repair the pump, this town dies." Auburn replied.
"I know. But I need eyes and ears, Auburn. You're one I know who couldn't have done it." Otheyo murmured. Auburn sighed deeply.
"I have a few thoughts, but we best discuss it elsewhere." Auburn relented.
"My office, early in the morning. We'll see if we can't catch a rat." Otheyo said as he left.
Auburn looked tired, his shoulders dropped and stature slumped over. Sio thought he would fall over just then, but he straightened and turned around. Sio made it seem like she was gathering some snow for the tower of the fort which the other two children were completing. Auburn walked towards her.
"Little Sio, we best get going," he said. Sio stood, and wiped at the snow covering her knees. Laura made an appearance in the doorway to the shell-unit.
"Leaving already?" She called out. Auburn nodded his head. Sio waved at Laura, but stepped forward and hugged her. She was truly glad she had someone like her. Laura returned it and laughed. "See you soon, Sio." And she patted her shoulder as Sio turned toward Auburn hopping the last few steps toward him.
They waved their goodbyes and set off toward their shell-unit.
–
Sio kicked off her boots and shed the outer shell-suit in the door way where they normally hung. It was good to feel the space-heated interior of their home once more after traversing out in the cold. Sio felt a little lighter after having her chat with Laura. She hung her shell-suit in the closet and put her boots on the drying rack. She noticed Lurio's shell suit was missing from its rack. He must have also taken advantage of the clearer weather to go somewhere. She also felt a bit of reassurance knowing Otheyo was on the case to solve the sabotaged water pump. The man did save her life, and she owed him a great debt. But she felt she needed to help. She had tried the direct way, letting the adults know just what she was about to do, but they shunned her for it. She was going to try the indirect way, and hopefully not get caught doing it. If they didn't think a child could help, then Sio would have to help in other ways. She got to work.
Auburn left her to her own devices when they were at home for the most part, checking in every so often to make sure Sio was alright. She would use the time to her advantage. Sio rummaged through her things she had yet to unpack and brought out a wristband. It was an older model of the holo-band that Auburn wore for his work at the mines, but it did the job. It was her grandmother's which explained its age. She stopped receiving updated holo-bands when she left her vocation to pursue the stars. The functionality was the same, however. It kept logs of the quotas she would have to meet, and also provided detailed information of the surrounding area. Sio put it around her wrist as tightly as it allowed, but it was still loose for someone of her size. She opened up the logging application and began listing names of miners whom worked the day of the malfunction.
But the names didn't come up.
She sighed. It was likely the internal database for her holo-band was out of date and not synced up with the current roster. Maybe if she asked Auburn politely she could sync up with his database. But then he would ask why, and Sio didn't want to lie to Auburn. He'd been nothing but supportive of her. She would have to do it without his knowledge. Maybe when he was asleep.
She searched other things in the meantime. While her grandmother's holo-band was not up to date on the mining progress of the salt mines within the last fifteen years, it still held information surrounding Helix-One, and that was enough for Sio to go on.
Sio began searching for traces of the Obelisk. She entered the word, naturally. Nothing came up. She searched again, broadening the term and setting different parameters.
A few results came up.
Interestingly enough, one article regarding the Comet of the North came up in the search. It couldn't have been a coincidence. Sio delved deeper.
She found her grandmother's research into the Comet went deeper than what she first imagined. There in the article were several diagrams, starcharts, ship classifications during the first human contact in the system, and so much more. Her mind whirled with information she didn't know the first thing about, but Sio then took a deep breath, the world steadied. She scanned the document again having the internal AI decode some of the notes into more simplified language. Sio began to understand the gist. It was an astronomer's chart, numbers were noted to coordinates nearby; places her grandmother had been to chart the stars from the surface of Helix-One.
She was certainly traveled.
There were spots that Sio had visited with her grandmother and family that she recognized on the map, The Mirror being one of the locations. But there were numerous others that she did not recognize, and that peaked her interest.
She zoomed in to look at an overhead view of the area and saw familiar buildings then used those as landmarks to see what other places she could figure out. She saw her old home and began from there. She traced her grandmother's steps and found several sites of interest, one was in the mines that were currently collapsed and another was in a cave, one noted that Sio's grandmother did not explore.
It was at least a full day's walk away, Sio wouldn't be able to manage that without the adults getting worried, but she had something now to go on.
She just had to wait for nightfall.