[i]AWOOOOOO[/i]

The little dog pleaded pitifully, spinning round and round among the villagers' refuse, its fluffy tail now over its head, now pointed at the ocean. It cried, helpless and tired. As it passed it caught sight of the old woman whose voice rang out above the rest; the puppy waggled a paw at her, twisting in the swirl to paddle in her direction, to no use. It whined, high-pitched and desperate.

The dog's tawny fur seemed that it had begun to glow a brighter shade of blue, illuminated from below.

All of the spinning detritus had taken on an intense blue shine, as the monolith's etchings glowed with a rapidly growing intensity.

Blue light cast brightly upon the strangers who surrounded the mote, at certain angles threatening to blind whomever might look straight into the glow. And still it intensified, until the mote appeared that it might explode at any moment.

Across the night-dark ocean, if one might look very carefully, one might glimpse a few flashes of brilliant blue light. A reflection? A second mote? ... Something else?

The little dog howled.

The sand dune upon which Capella was perched -- crumbled underneath her.