The group followed the path until the where well away from the others, the picked a spot to start their study. James almost immediately found a small pocket of ionic rock, and the four of them picked a stone each. The largest price was the size of a fist while the smallest was about the size of a pea. Ella took the smallest fragment and pulled out her microscope. Reuben took the largest, as it was the only one large enough to make out a subtle hum from the material. He was ready to attempt a recording of the sound. Devon pulled one about the size of his finger and started playing with it. He had no instruments to help with his part of the research, so he soon settled on writing out a general description of the rock.
Meanwhile, James simply started tossing fragments against each other. He was bored already and had little interest in the work. He figured the other three would do most of the work, and he could just add his name to the paper as he was paired up with them. At the same time, he was still formulating a plan of revenge for how they had handled him earlier in the week.
"Ugh, I need a smaller piece," Ella stated. The piece she had was getting in the way of zooming in, and she couldn't clearly see any structure since the piece was too thick and light was too dim.
"If it makes you feel any better, my piece isn't big enough to produce a hum I can record," Reuben replied. "We may need to find a better spot. I think this area has been picked over too well."
"I think we should try again tomorrow," Devon replied, noticing the sun starting to go down below the ridge line. "In all our excitement, I don't think we ever noticed how late it was when we got here."
James agreed almost immediately. "This is so boring, I'd rather head back for now myself."
The team held on to the stones they collected, even though they hadn't amounted to much the first day. Together they went back to their cave, where the night passed quickly.
Saturday morning, they were awoken by their teacher's voice," I need everyone to come outside for a quick meeting."
The four all got up, quickly got ready for the day and headed down to the lower path. As they left, they placed their stones together on the main room table. Devon thought he heard something, but dismissed it as he headed out with the group. "My ears must be sensitive from the lack of noise in the cave," he thought.
As they gathered with their classmates, Mrs. Helen began her announcement. "As you all know, we only have today and tomorrow morning to work on your research. Use the time you have to do as complete of a study as you can. Tomorrow afternoon, we will be meeting in a clearing at the base of the crater, where you will all get to see the star stone."
Excitement ran through the students. Most were eager not only to see the star stone, but to hold it and attempt to awaken their abilities.
"With that in mind, go make the most of your day." Mrs Helen dismissed the students.
"Alright guys, where do you want to check out today?" Reuben asked the group.
"I have an idea," Devon said as all eyes turned toward him. "We were told not to go near that dark patch, but what if we tried the terrain above it? It's a bit of a hike, but we should be able to find more pieces of the death stone that could meet our needs. This lower area is all cleaned out."
"Are you sure that's safe? I don't see any markers in that area," Ella replied.
"I agree with her," James stated. More or less he didn't care for a long hike up a crater.
"I think we should do it," Reuben offered. "We won't get anything better than yesterday down here, and I really want to get that recording. If we follow the markers to the left side we would arrive about half way up the slow, then we could cut across, and still have plenty of distance between us and the dark area."
"Alright, I'll bite," Ella finally agreed. "It's worth it if I get the piece I need. I don't want to go back empty handed."
James started to complain, but followed along anyway. "Who knows, being that far away, I may just be able to get even with those two.. as long as their friend doesn't notice."
After plotting the course the team to off. After half an hour, they reached the base on the other side.
The trek up from there was a bit more hazardous. There were many loose stones and no path to follow. The group carefully made their way up, and found a route to the right, a small ledge that brought them over the top of the dark patch.
"This is our spot!" Devon exclaimed, looking around at all the pieces of death stone. "Do you guys notice anything different between her and where we were yesterday?"
The group looked around, unsure of what he was referring to. "The hum. It's different here, not just a bit louder, but the sound is different."
"They all stood still and listened. The hum was different, instead of a monotonous tone, it was more of a harmony of different notes.
"I'm going to look for a couple larger chunks to record! I'll try them separately, then by each other. James, give me a hand over here," Reuben called out as he made his way to a decent pile of stone fragments.
As James headed off with him, Ella headed the other way, searching for a fragment that she could use in the microscope. Being left alone, Devon began writing the new findings, wondering if any of the information would be be to his city, and hoping some may be new to the world.
As he finished writing, James suddenly called out to him. "Hey, Devon, come give us a hand, this one's heavy!!"
Devon got up, out his stuff to the side and ran over along the side of the ledge. As he neared the duo, he suddenly felt something slick under his foot. He lost his balance and cried out "Ahh!!" before falling over the ledge.