The story
Deepvein, as the Drift tells it.
The crystal mine. Deepvein is a mining world whose richest workings lie in caverns miles down. Crystal formations fill the caverns, some taller than the lift towers that reach them.
The post. The relay sits in a cavern the miners call the resonance chamber. When the relay transmits, the crystal formations around it resonate, and the miners say the caves sing back. The flame is carved into the stone at the lift head.
The keeper. Ora Slate is a geologist who stayed down too long. She keeps the network's deep archive in the singing crystals. She has never described how in detail, and nobody has asked twice. Miners say the caves sing back on the old bands too. Ora says caves do all sorts of things.
What lives there. Cave crabs with glowing shells crawl the cavern walls, and miners use them to find their way when the lamps fail.
