by A. K. DuBoff
Kaiden shrugged. “Maybe there are different types of crystals?”
I dropped the inert crystal I’d picked up, then looked over at the crystals framing the opening. “We won’t get any answers standing around out here.”
“All right, let’s do it.” Kaiden trudged toward what we hoped was the entrance to the Archive.
The terrain was broken up by clumps of crystal amid rocks and boulders of various sizes. Some of the formations towered twenty meters above us, and others barely cleared the top of my head. The dark stones were similar to those where we’d encountered the stone lizards, so I kept my hand on the hilt of my sheathed sabre just in case.
The final stretch of terrain was only a slight incline, but the gravel and crystal shards underfoot shifted with every step. I slid down almost as much ground as I gained with each stride. After several unsuccessful attempts, I took a running start and loped up the hill as quickly as I could. To my relief, the strategy worked. I found solid footing at the top of the slope.
I grinned down at my companions. “What’s taking you guys so long?”
Kaiden sighed. “Very funny.” He stepped back and then took a running start like I had, clearing the patch of scree in a dozen rapid strides.
Toran followed suit. “That shouldn’t have been the most difficult thing we’ve done today.”
I chuckled. “The day isn’t over yet!”
The flat landing outside the entrance was only four meters deep, so I had to crane my neck to look at the top of the two crystals framing the entrance. Each was approximately ten meters tall, with flat faces near their pointed tops arranged so they held each other in place against the base of the one-hundred-meter-tall crystal behind them.
Standing at the entrance, I could now tell that the path inside hugged the outside edge of that mammoth vertical crystal, with the glass-like surface on the left and dark, rough rock on the right for as far as I could see into the dim cave mouth.
“I was expecting something more high-tech,” I commented.
“Me too. ‘Archive’ sounds more like a datacenter, not a cave,” Kaiden agreed.
Toran strode through the opening, undeterred. “No telling what’s inside.”
I followed him in. The temperature immediately dropped by five degrees.
“I don’t suppose anyone brought a light?” Toran asked. “I didn’t think to grab a flashlight from the ship.”
“Me either,” I realized. With the image of a datacenter in my head, illumination needs weren’t even a consideration.
“No worries.” Kaiden followed us in. The glow of his pendant cast a pool of soft blue light around him. He then extended his right hand, and a larger orb appeared in his palm.
I raised my eyebrows. “Neat trick.”
“See? Not all fireballs and blasting stuff.”
“Lead the way.” Toran motioned for Kaiden to go ahead.
The light cast from the orb was just bright enough to illuminate the cave’s ceiling eight meters overhead. Shadows seemed to absorb the light, but the crystal wall to the left shined with extra brilliance, though none of its glow extended beyond the crystal’s face.
Past the entry archway, the cavern sloped downward as it spiraled around the massive central crystal, gradually narrowing until the tunnel was six meters wide and five tall. One hundred fifty meters in, the glow from Kaiden’s hand hit what appeared to be a back stone wall. A single two-meter-tall crystal column stood at the center of a domed chamber at the terminus, with the wall of crystal still to our left.
“That’s it?” I frowned.
Kaiden’s brow knit. “No, there has to be more here.”
The three of us approached the opaque, white column. As we neared, I discovered that the back wall wasn’t as featureless as I’d assumed from the distance. There were three symbols carved into the stone wall, each inlaid with crystal: a sword, a wand, and a shield.
“Those look familiar.” I pointed at the symbols.
“Sure do,” Kaiden agreed.
Toran scrutinized the freestanding crystal column. “I believe there’s writing carved on here.”
I walked over next to him to take a look. There were definitely markings in the crystal, but the language didn’t look familiar to me. “No clue what that says.”
Kaiden joined us. “Huh. I think that’s Laeric.”
I’d never seen the ancient root language in print before, but I’d heard about it in my writing composition classes in school. “You know it?”
He winced. “Not exactly. A lot of the biology terms from my agro classes have Laeric roots. I took one semester of the language years ago as a foundation course, but that’s…” He shook his head.
“It’s a lot more than I can offer,” I said.
Toran sighed. “I’m afraid my studies were more focused on numbers than words.”
“What we need is a camera so we can run it through the translator in the shuttle’s computer,” I said.
“Didn’t think to bring one of those, either,” Toran said.
“Yeah, and I’m guessing it’s not one of those things that’s randomly in the emergency supplies.” I sighed. “Okay, so this has been a good learning experience about other gear we should get.”
“The little things you don’t think about,” Kaiden muttered. He pursed his lips as he examined the column. “Some of this is familiar. Like, this word here, comes up in plant genetics talking about the… original, or iconic, standard for a species. I believe the literal translation is something along the lines of ‘artifact’.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Any idea what that means?”
“No. But I also see mentions of ‘three’ and ‘open’,” he said. “Could be referencing us.”
“Perhaps we each need to touch the symbol associated with our discipline?” Toran suggested.
“Makes sense to me.” I returned to the back wall and touched the carved sword symbol with my right hand.
Kaiden and Toran each touched their respective symbols.
I waited. After ten seconds of nothing, I scowled. “Is there some sort of secret incantation, maybe?”
“If that’s the case, it could be anything.” Kaiden looked around the chamber. “Open Archive?”
We waited another five seconds with no avail.
Kaiden tried again, “Access Master Archi—”
“This is pointless,” Toran interrupted. “No designer would make it so people had to guess random phrases. We’re missing something.”
Kaiden groaned. “You think?”
I thought for a moment. “That center monument might be instructions. What if the ‘artifacts’ it’s talking about are actual objects? Like, ancient relics or something.”
Toran frowned. “Meaning we might need to gather those objects—whatever they may be—in order to access the Master Archive?”
Kaiden sighed. “Well, that’s going to be a problem.”
7
I wandered over to the column in the center of the chamber. “How do we figure out what and where the artifacts are, if that is what this is indicating?”
“There’s more here, but I can’t read it,” Kaiden said returning to the monument. “Maybe it’s instructions for how to find them.”
“We need a copy of this.” I ran my fingertips over the crystal’s surface. The text was carved, leaving a recess for each stroke. “And it doesn’t have to be a picture. What about a rubbing?”
Kaiden’s face lit up. “Good thinking! We just need a sheet of something thin and smooth.”
“What about a writing implement?” Toran asked. “I haven’t seen anything non-digital since I arrived on the Evangiel.”
“Charcoal?” I suggested.
Kaiden grinned. “All I hear is an excuse to burn something with a fireball.”
“Let’s go raid the shuttle and see what we can find.” I jogged up the shallow incline of the tunnel.
Upon exiting the
cave, Kaiden extinguished his light orb, and we skidded down the scree to get back to our shuttle.
Finding a suitable material for our needs was tricky. I’d hoped that maybe we would find a camera or something else to snap a shot of the carving, but the only devices capable of capturing an image were integrated with the ship and would be too difficult to remove. That left the alternative plan of a rubbing, but we needed a sheet of thin paper or something similar that would be able to pick up the fine lines of the carved text.
I considered the bed sheets on the bunk, but they were too thick. The only other thin-ish materials were sheets for emergency patching, but those had no give to get a relief imprint. Even the materials in the lavatory came up short.
“There has to be a way to duplicate that image aside from re-drawing it,” I said, staring at the scavenged supplies strewn around the common room.
“Might just have to go back to the Evangiel to get a camera and come back,” Kaiden said.
“No, we just need to get creative.” My eye was drawn to the patching supplies. “Maybe we’ve been thinking about this the wrong way.”
“What’s the other option?” Toran asked.
I grabbed the sheet of patching material. “I was originally thinking we could take a relief rubbing, but what if we take a negative instead?”
“Ah, yes!” Toran nodded. “Paint something on the face of the column and use it like a stamp on the sheet.”
“Exactly.”
Kaiden drooped. “So, no more fireballs.”
“Not right now.”
He sighed. “Oh well.” He eyed the items on the floor. “That black sealant could work for the paint.”
I smiled. “I think we’re back in business.”
We grabbed the supplies, including a flashlight, and scrambled back up the hill to the cavern. I took the sealant so Kaiden could light our way, and Toran carried the piece of sheeting.
Once we were back at the crystal column, I had a pang of regret. “Is it wrong of us to deface monument like this?”
“There won’t be anything left of it if we can’t protect it, and we can’t protect it if we can’t get inside the Archive,” Kaiden pointed out. He switched from the light orb in his hand to the flashlight; the new illumination didn’t fill the cavern as well, but he’d need both hands free.
“Sealant can be removed,” Toran said. “When we come back with the artifacts, we’ll make it good as new.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
The sealant painted on easily using an applicator at the top of the can. I coated the front of the column, careful not to get any of the material in the carved grooves of the letters. When the area containing text was completely coated, Toran and Kaiden lifted the sheet into place. Toran held it steady against the column’s face while Kaiden carefully smoothed his hands over it to make sure it made consistent contact. They then pulled it straight back to avoid smudging the imprint.
I breathed a sigh of relief as soon as I saw the result. The characters had crisp lines at their edges surrounded by the black sealant. The contrast wasn’t great with the black against dull gray, but a little digital manipulation of the scan and the computer on the Evangiel could sort out the translation for us.
Kaiden nodded with satisfaction as he looked over our handiwork. “For not planning any of this, that went surprisingly well.”
“If the universe-saving doesn’t go well, I think the Dark Sentinels have a future as archaeologists,” I joked.
“Always smart to foster multiple career prospects.” Kaiden smiled.
Toran seemed disinterested in the joking as he grabbed hold of the sheeting. “This will take time to set completely. We should get back to the shuttle.”
I took one last look around the cavern. “All right. We’ll be back.”
Toran carried the sheet out while I took the sealant and Kaiden restored his light orb.
We set a brisk pace, anxious to get back to the Evangiel and learn what the engraving said. When we reached the shuttle, we secured the sheet on the floor in the common room and then took our seats on the bridge.
“Everyone is going to be really disappointed when they find out we haven’t accomplished anything,” I said while I strapped in.
Kaiden powered up the shuttle. “We did do something. I mean, we have more information than we did before.”
“Even Colren admitted that this wouldn’t be straightforward,” Toran added. “I imagine they were prepared for us to return having not completed the task.”
I nodded. “All the same, you always hope you’re wrong and that everything will go smoothly.”
“That’s true.”
“At least we’re bringing back something with us,” Kaiden said.
“That’s true—it’s something tangible,” I agreed. “They won’t be able to accuse us of flying around and not trying before we came back.”
Kaiden laughed. “I’d really hope they wouldn’t do that.”
I shrugged. “These military guys, you never know. ‘If you’re still breathing, you didn’t try hard enough!’ ”
Toran snorted behind me. “And you still wanted to go to Tactical School?”
“Well, yeah. Because… spaceships.”
“I guess things are working out pretty well for you now, then,” he replied, a touch of bitterness in his tone.
“Believe me, this is not how I expected my summer vacation to go.” I looked over my shoulder at him. “I don’t want you to think I’m taking this situation lightly. I may joke around, but that’s how I deal with stress.”
“I got that impression,” he murmured.
I softened. “Hey, I get that you’re worried about your family. I am, too.”
“It’s sinking in now,” Toran continued. “Colren had been telling us all we had to do was wait until we extracted someone who picked Strength, and then we could seal the Archive and go back to our lives. Maybe we’d play a role in stopping the Darkness, whatever it is, but our only certain task was to protect the Master Archive. Now, we know that sealing it isn’t an easy afternoon activity. And if this is complicated, you can bet the rest of it will be, too. I don’t know when I’ll be able to see my family again, or if we’ll even be able to seal the Archive while there’s anything left to save.”
“Thinking about the worst case scenario isn’t going to help us,” Kaiden said while he lifted the shuttle off the ground. “We can freak out if the text from the column doesn’t give us any clues, but I’m going to count today as forward progress until I know otherwise.”
I nodded. “Yes, we need to stay positive. Everyone will be safe in suspended animation until this gets sorted out.” I needed to believe it was true for my own sake—for my loved ones back home.
Then it struck me, too. I had no idea where my home was relative to our present location. Down on this alien world, for all I knew, we could be the only three people left in existence.
I shook off the feeling and buried the thoughts in the back of my mind. The here and now is what mattered. Worrying about things that were beyond my control would only distract me. Even it came off as aloof to Toran, we all had to cope with the situation in our own ways.
The shuttle rose up in the center of the valley until it was enveloped in clouds. Turbulent winds shook the craft as soon the valley was out of sight.
“Enough of this.” Kaiden angled the craft upward and initiated the control sequence to launch it into space.
The initial acceleration without the compensators pinned me against the back of my seat. After a minute of feeling too heavy to lift my hand, the pressure began to subside.
The control console chirped.
Kaiden chuckled. “Sure, now we have a navigation lock.” He changed the destination to the Evangiel, and the autopilot took over. The shuttle glided toward the larger ship in orbit of the purple planet. He tapped behind his ear. “Evangiel, this is Shuttle 1 returning from the surface.”
; “We read you, Shuttle 1. This is Central Command,” a woman said on the shuttle’s central comm. “Proceed to debrief with Commander Colren upon arrival.”
The docking assist display that had saved us appeared on the front screen as we made the final approach. With barely more than a bump, the shuttle touched down on the landing platform and then passed through the golden electrostatic field. Workers ran over to receive the craft as it returned to its parking space inside the hanger, and the engine wound down.
“We probably shouldn’t say anything about what we found down there until we’ve talked with Colren,” I suggested.
“Agreed,” Toran said.
“Should be an interesting debrief.” Kaiden unstrapped his harness and stood up.
I rose from my own seat. “On the bright side of things, we got in a fight and are now two minutes closer to meeting the prerequisites for powered armor.”
Kaiden laughed. “Seriously, that’s what you’re thinking around right now?”
“Hey, it’s related to the mission!”
Toran groaned. “I’ll get the sheet with the inscription.”
Kaiden released the side hatch to drop the exit ramp, and I followed him down while Toran brought up the rear with the piece of sheeting.
“Sorry it’s kind of a mess in there,” I said to Tami when she approached. “We, uh, needed to improvise. And, the inertial compensators are out.”
“Also, a portable camera would be super helpful,” Kaiden added.
She squinted at us and tilted her head. “What in the stars did you do down there?”
“Impromptu archaeology,” I replied, then followed Kaiden toward the exit.
“We’re starting out with such a good impression with the maintenance team.” Toran shook his head.
“I don’t remember where anything in there goes. Better they put it back how it’s supposed to be,” Kaiden replied.
“I think we should make ourselves a travel bag with all the random stuff we might need,” I suggested.
Kaiden raised his staff. “Yes.”
“It may be difficult to anticipate everything, but I think that’s a very good idea,” Toran concurred.
