Chapter One - Part 11

"We're about due for ring shadows, Dad. We’d better make camp." Crystal scanned the green-blue skies of Necter Rapstren, holding her hand up to shadow her eyes from the sun.

The shadows of the three rings darkened the hazy atmosphere as though they were just one ring. They advanced toward the insidium fields, growing ever darker, ever narrower. They would continue, until the rings were directly beneath the sun, and directly over the fields. As they advanced, the one great shadow would eventually separate to reveal the two greater outer lines of shadows, with the smaller shadow between.

Once the shadows passed the fields, they would slowly join, and broaden, and lighten, until they would travel beyond the rim of the immense crater that held nearly all of the life on the planet.

"Yeah we'd better get after it... looks like a mild one, though. We can be thankful if we get cloud cover over the fields."

She knew her dad was trying to be optimistic about the haze in the sky; they both knew it would not likely turn to clouds.