Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5
Grooves in the hard ground catch my attention. I’ve reached a valley with very hard, dry ground. It’s a lot easier to walk here. But the lines that are dug into the ground worry me a bit.
Straight lines that sometimes take sudden turns to the left or right are everywhere. Some even form curves. I wonder what it looks like from above. Did someone try to draw something? A monument, dedicated to the gods?
In the absence of anything more important or interesting to do, I follow one of the lines. To my surprise, I find a huge, blue-gray stone with white bands at its end. What the hell? It almost looks like the stone managed to glide here by itself.
I touch the stone and can feel the heat radiating from it. It’s already afternoon, so the sun had a significant amount of time to supply a lot of energy, which this stone absorbed. Is there some kind of alien technology hidden in it? It might be solar powered!
This has piqued my curiosity. If those stones aren’t from this planet or at least not a natural phenomenon, they might help me find out who or what I am! Well, they might also prove to be completely unrelated to me, but it’s at least possible I might learn something new.
Carefully, I inspect the stone from all sides. Its shape is surprisingly regular, although there are many bumps and dents on its surface. But aside from that, there don’t seem to be any irregularities. No buttons, no thin lines that indicate hatches or something similar.
I press my ear against the stone. No sound, complete silence. I’m a bit disappointed. Some kind of electronic beeping or whirring would have been nice. But maybe I’m too impatient.
I sit down in the shadow the stone casts and take some dried fruits from my backpack. I’m slowly chewing on my diminishing supplies and watch as the sun drops below the horizon.
And together with the sun, the temperature drops too. I start to shiver. Nights in the desert are the worst. The whole day you try to stay cool and then as soon as it gets dark, you start freezing.
I scoot closer to the stone and lean against it. Despite the wet ground around it, it’s is still warm and the heat soaks through my body. Against my will, my eyes slowly close and I fall asleep.
As the first rays of sunlight touch my skin, I hear a weird cracking. At first, I ignore it, but then it gets louder, so I open my eyes and look around. But there is nothing that could be making this sound, aside from the wind. Weird. I close my eyes again and try to fall asleep again.
Which works for about a minute, before I crash down to the ground. What the hell?
I pick myself up and look around in confusion, just to realize that the stone has moved. But how?
I kneel down and inspect the path the stone has left behind. It’s slightly wet. I look at the stone. Seems like it wasn’t alien technology after all.
The water that had been under the stone yesterday when I arrived must have frozen overnight. When the morning sun thawed it, the wind had been able to blow the stone across the flat ground, supported by a thin layer of icy water.
An unusual phenomenon but, as I now start to remember, not an unknown one. These stones even have a name, Sailing Stones they are called. Why couldn’t I remember this earlier? My brain, useless as always.
Waving the stone goodbye, I continue my journey.
Sources:
Mystery of Death Valley's 'Sailing Stones' Solved
The Sailing Stones of Death Valley
Got a scientific topic which you want to see as a story? Leave me a comment!
Check out 
Picture taken from pixabay.com