The Whisps of Wheat

Salinae held her rifle loosely in her hand, backpack hanging limply on her shoulder, following behind Nexakii as she led. Oushiqae trudged behind, marking their movements so they could get back to town, which was already several miles behind them.

Nexakii swept tall grass and underbrush away with a staff, clearing the path for the group as they moved forward.

The foliage out in the forest here was relatively thing, the tree-dotted ground mostly flat with only the occasional bush or bramble.

Salinae lifted up a small device she was holding. It was heavy and made of rusted iron. A small glass display with a needle shone dully in the morning light. The brand and company name had long since faded.

She turned on the device. It began rhythmically clicking, needle moving.

She squinted, holding it up, sweeping it side to side, seeing which direction made the needle move the most to the right.

44.4 SW/s. 31.4 SW/s. 57.9 SW/s.

"That way, due west." Salinae spoke.

"How many Seer Waves?" Oushiqae asked.

"Something like...just under 60."

"Has to be an old Seer Tower." Oushiqae concluded, stepping up beside Salinae to look. "Just the lingering energy, certainly not transmitting anymore."

"I'd think not, nobody even *has* Seer radios anymore." Salinae put in while Nexakii thrashed at the underbrush.

"C'mon, sod it, how much farther?" The crow demanded, swatting away offending foliage in her way. "I'm ready to treat myself already. Whatever this is, it better not be already stripped bare."

The trio trudged forward, soon coming to the edge of the forest to a large clearing, waves of knee-high grass stretching before them. Even from here, they saw a large iron Seer tower peeking just over the next hill.

65.1 SW/s.

"That has to be it."

They approached, cresting the hill, overlooking the small Seer Radio Station that accompanied the tower. It was a simple concrete building, most likely built mid 7th turn. Rusted antennae and forgotten trash adorned the outside, a single rusted and filthy door serving as entrance.

Oushiqae noted it looked like it'd have been used by the old North Illamini army, back during the scuffles to hold the fledging country together.

Now just a relic of that old Illamini optimism.

"Remember, take stones, not paper money." Oushiqae reminded Salinae.

The women searched the outside first, finding little else other than rusted girders, old wheels and signs fruitlessly telling them only authorized North Illamini Army personnel were allowed on the premises.

The front door was locked, as expected, but its hinges were weak.

Oushiqae tested the door a bit, giving a few testing pounds on the front.

"Well, good news is that I'd reckon the inside is completely untouched." Oushqae said, kicking at the door as it held fast. "Bad news is that may be for a very good reason..."

Salinae came up beside Oushiqae, motioning to kick together. The both of them reared, surging forward and combining their strength to break the door down.

Its hinges snapped, a great crash resonating as the door flung to the ground with a clatter.

Oushiqae reached in her pack, pulling out an electric lantern, letting it shine into the pitch-black inside of the station.

She sniffed, holding an air purity sensor in her other hand. Its lights showed green as she slowly stepped inside, followed closely by Salinae.

Oushiqae let her light trace the inside. It was nigh featureless, only a handfull of old chairs and tables against blank concrete walls and a transmission terminal that hadn't been touched for decades.

Documents still lay on the tables and cabinets.

"Okay, so what's good to take to a pawn shop?" Salinae asked, stepping over some trash on the floor.

"Anything not too rusted that seems nostalgic." Oushiqae replied. "Or Roppi stones, if they didn't think to take them when they cleared out."

Salinae, her own lantern in hand, crouched to open a cabinet under a table, Oushiqae clattering with something ahead.

She opened the small cabinet, coughing at the musty smell of old, untouched documents. She reached inside, pulling a few out and setting them on the floor.

Under the paper was a box, empty but with beautiful designs on the outside, which she took. A bit of old country paper money sat uselessly in the back. Behind that was some old spent bullet casings. Otherwise, there was nothing else here.

"A gun." She heard Oushiqae say, the woman shuffling behind her. "Doubt it fires but it's an antique anyway."

"Roppi stones here." Nexakii said, dropping some in her rucksack.

Salinae stood back up, joining Nexakii at the transmission equipment.

"Look at this." Nexakii spoke, stepping to the side. "Oushiqae, the big one here, this is the receiver, right?"

"That's right. Seer was two-way only, always need a receiver to transmit."

"It's been shot. Look, bullet holes." Nexakii said, pointing at the cracked, ruined machine.

Salinae squinted, looking over the machine. Behind them, Oushiqae clattered with something again.

Salinae moved to the side, tracing a hand over the nearby table, looking for anything to sell. The table was covered in paper, practically spilling from several boxes.

'[Whisps of Wheat]'

Salinae paused, taking a look at the papers.

Those words appeared on every document, often several times. Header, footer, sometimes just inserted awkwardly into the center of a message.

Her eyes slowly scanned the table. Oushiqae clattered off to the side.

Every document she looked over seemed to have the words appear more frequently than the last. '[Whisps of Wheat]'.

"Oush...is 'Whisps of Wheat' some old North Illamini Army codeword?"

"Oh, now, Sal, I may be booksmart but I'm not *that* booksmart. Their codes were secret."

Salinae thought on this, looking over the papers, spotting one with no other words than '[Whisps of Wheat]'.

"Hm...another door." Came Oushiqae's voice. Salinae lifted her head, watching Oushiqae try to open the door, once against finding it locked.

"Augh, Sal, can you help me with this one, too?" Oushiqae asked, waving Salinae over.

But Salinae didn't move. Something occurred to her.

"Oush...does that door have a way to lock from the outside?"

There was another clatter, the same she had been hearing from Oushiqae.

But none of the women had moved.

No more words. The three hastily gathered their belongings and left at once.

It wasn't until much later the trio had found that Salinae's Seer Wave detector had spiked up to over 320.2 SW/s while in the radio station.

As though something was trying to send something.