We stopped before we got too close, half-sheltered behind a large rock.
“What are they doing?” Isharu asked.
We peered into the rain. Water was running from my hair down into the back of my suit.
The headlights from the vehicles reflected in the shards of rain teeming down. One closest to us came first. The vehicle next to it was slightly behind and backlit its neighbour. It was a blocky thing, lumbering and heavy. It left behind an area of disturbed ground, steaming with warm moisture when hit by the rain.
As the first vehicle moved past us, it hit something with a clunk. A rock rolled over the disturbed earth.
They were clearing the land of rocks.
There were at least ten of these vehicles, and they were systematically sweeping the valley floor for big rocks, combing through the top
