All went quiet.
I peered around the door frame. The two guards were sprawled on the floor, out cold courtesy of the cyborg twins.
Mason beamed and snatched up their guns. “You’re getting slower,” he said to his sister.
Skylar folded her arms. “No, I’m not.”
Mason chuckled and handed me a gun.
I looked at it, then made to give it back. “I’m not the best person to use this.”
“You’re the only person,” Mason said. “Skylar can’t have anything to slow her down, Eve’s unconscious, and Kelvin is, well, he’s Kelvin.”
“I heard that,” Kelvin replied as he joined us with Eve in his arms. “I’m a little busy to use a gun.”
I hurried to the desk and passed Mason and Skylar their phase-bands, tucking Kelvin’s phase-band and scanner under my free arm. I checked the game map. There were more red dots in the next room.
“Let’s go.” I ran to the door, opened it, and peered out.
Three more guards stood inside the main warehouse. I held up three fingers to the others and indicated their approximate positions. “Three, two, one . . .”
We burst through the door, and I knocked out the nearest guard with a well-placed shot to his chest. Mason took care of the second. Skylar ran to the third guard, kicked the gun from his hands, and ducked in time for me and Mason to bring him down with more blasts.
Not pausing for breath, we sprinted to the silver ship and climbed aboard.
I helped Kelvin get Eve inside, then handed over his phase-band and scanner. “Thanks.” He strapped them onto his arm and brought up the holographic display. “Still got a location on the blocker.”
Good news.
Mason ran across the warehouse and punched the controls for the doors. They slid open as he jogged back to us.
Eve was still unconscious.
The moment Mason climbed on board, Skylar hit the ignition. A low, grinding sound reverberated beneath our feet. I flinched, not relishing the idea of crashing again.
Skylar pulled back on the control stick. The ship lifted a few feet into the air, wobbled, and glided forward.
Eve groaned.
I grabbed her hand. “Are you okay? How are you feeling?”
“Worst. Headache. Ever.” Eve clutched her chest and stomach. “Everything hurts. Why does everything hurt?” She then seemed to remember something. “Oh. Thank you, Leo.”
I Shrugged. “All part of the game. It was nothing.” I assumed saving her life was just another obstacle placed in my way by the CodeX. One of many. I half smiled at her. “Hang in there,” I said. “We’re leaving.”
We were halfway across the warehouse when two giant bird-like silhouettes moved in front of the door. Ancampi soldiers with giant mechanical wings. Smoke swirled around them as they flapped back and forth, magic-filled jars on their backs, oversized cannons pointed at us.
Everyone’s shoulders hitched.
Forty-Two
The two flying Ancampi soldiers hovered outside the warehouse door, their guns aimed at our tinfoil ship.
I exhaled. “What is it with everyone trying to kill us?”
Our craft had nothing to fight them off with. I was about to ask if anyone fancied jumping out of the ship in a feat of selfless heroism and shooting the Ancampi butterflies with one of their own weapons, when the ship lurched, throwing us back in our seats.
Skylar flew across the hanger, shifting right and left to avoid blasts. She dived until she was mere inches from the floor, then pulled up at the last moment and shot at the mechanical soldiers, catching them off guard.
They moved out of the way, trying to avoid us, and crashed into one another, buckling their wings.
A second later Skylar dipped, built up speed, and flew into the air and away.
I peered out of the rear window, relieved to see both mechanical butterflies reduced to smoking wreckage, the soldiers crawling out. Sometimes reckless and impulsive reactions turned out to be the best solutions.
I rested a hand on Skylar’s shoulder. “Thanks.”
“No problem,” she murmured, her tongue poking out of the side of her mouth.
“Let’s find the signal blocker and get out of here,” Mason said.
I shook my head. “Eve needs to get—”
“I’m fine,” she interrupted.
I gave her a dubious look.
“Only bruises.” Eve removed her glasses, revealing her vibrant green eyes. “If these will bond with you, you can see for yourself.”
I slipped on the glasses, and warmth radiated from the crystal into my forehead.
I went to yank them off, but Eve stopped me. “It’s okay,” she said. “You’re bonding with them.”
Sure enough, the warmth faded, and I clapped a hand over my mouth as Eve’s skin turned transparent. It took all my willpower not to chuck up.
“Disgusting,” I murmured as I looked at her askance. “Proper gross.”
Is this how she sees the world all the time? Ugh.
“No broken bones or internal bleeding, though,” Eve said.
I handed the glasses back, telling myself never to do that again. “What about concussion? Or things the glasses can’t see?”
She smiled. “I promise to get checked out once we return to the Last Horizon.”
Kelvin held up his arm, and the Bluestone crystals in his phase-band glowed, sending energy wrapping around the scanner device and out from the ship. He studied the display. “Skylar, fly in a circle.”
She did, and he studied the meter readout.
“I’m picking up a slight increase in strength. The closer we get, the more obvious it’ll be.” He pointed. “That way.”
Skylar flew across floating orchards, then dipped down to an ocean.
“How long do we have left to get this done?” I asked.
“Thirty-five minutes,” Mason said with a pained expression.
My chest tightened. I was anxious to see if we would we make it in time. Not only did we have to find and deactivate the signal blocker, but we also had to transmit to the Leviathan—not to mention get Eve medical help. I glanced at her, relieved to see colour returning to her cheeks.
Kelvin watched the signal strength. “Stop. It’s here.”
Skylar hovered. “Where?”
We peered out of the windows, and I spotted a star-shaped island to our left. It was on the ocean rather than hovering, and no bigger than a football pitch. Flaming torches lined a path leading from one of the points to a square granite building with a giant golden spire.
Eve pressed her face against the glass. “What is that?”
“A temple,” I said.
Mason’s eyes widened. “And the signal blocker is down there?”
“It would be a good place to stash it.” I surveyed the landscape. “It’s so remote that I bet the Ancampi hardly ever come out here.”
“Or it’s off limits,” Eve said.
I agreed. The Ancampi wouldn’t appreciate five teenagers scrambling over their precious temple, but we didn’t have much choice.
We landed on a small patch of concrete in front of the building and climbed out.
The sea around Star Island was calm, with no wind or waves. Considering there was no moon, that made sense.
“Try not to disturb anything.” I turned back to Eve, all too aware of the dark shadows under her eyes. “Want to wait on the craft?”
She gave me a feeble nod.
“Any trouble, call.” I hurried along the path with the others.
A line of statues stood on either side of the avenue—ten monks with their heads bowed, wearing amulets around their necks displaying different symbols.
The majority of the building reminded me of a Roman temple, with pillars holding up a pitched roof. At the very top, the golden spire pointed at the sky like a lightning rod.
Kelvin consulted his phase-band and scanner. “The signal blocker is here somewhere.”
Mason pointed at th
e building’s entrance. “No prizes for guessing where.”
The four of us jogged up the steps and stopped at a stone door, ten feet high by six wide. There was no handle and no visible hinge of any kind.
Mason cracked his knuckles.
I grabbed his arm. “Let’s not smash unless we have to, okay? This is a holy site.”
Mason looked disappointed, and I couldn’t help but smirk at him. If I had strength like his, I’d be chomping at the bit to go demolition mode whenever I got the chance too.
I ran my fingers over the door. “Cold.” There were no markings in the stonework either, no way to know how to open it.
I stepped back. “CodeX, any help here would be great.”
The CodeX remained silent.
“Brilliant. Thanks for nothing.”
My gaze moved around the outer frame and over to a column of glyphs nearby—a star with a hole, a spiral, an eye, and a cross inside a square.
The lowermost symbol, raised and in the shape of an inverted triangle, snagged my attention. I pressed it, and as if by magic, the door swung open.
That was easy.
Mason grinned. “Nice one.”
We stepped into a vast chamber, its walls filled floor to ceiling with more hieroglyphs. They were divided into tall panels and separated by strips of gold. They ran down the walls and across the floor, ending in a statue of a slender alien with a bulbous head, triangular face, and large eyes, wearing a long robe with a hood. On the robe was a symbol I recognised—a circle surrounded by an octagon.
“Azurean monk,” Skylar said, revolving slowly to take it all in. “Did they build this place?”
Above the statue the golden strips met, and I pointed at an octagon and circle symbol.
“Bluestone?” Mason said, frowning. “Why’s the symbol for Bluestone here?” His eyes moved to the monk. “And why the hell would Azurean monks want to protect these Ancampi?”
“CodeX,” I murmured, “what do these symbols mean?” I staggered back as all the hieroglyphs shifted—not on the walls themselves, but in my mind. Suddenly I could read them as if they were in English. It had to be the weirdest sensation I’d experienced in the crazy game up until that moment, like watching a translator on a smartphone working in real time, only in my actual brain. Finally, the CodeX was doing something useful.
“What do you see?” Kelvin asked me.
“The hieroglyphs are a combination of words and short sentences, and these pictures are entire scenes.” I pointed to one that showed a battle between two advanced civilisations. “A war spanning several solar systems and hundreds of years wiped out almost all life.”
“The Azurean monks and the Kraythons,” Skylar said.
I continued along the wall. “The monks returned not long after the destruction of most of this planet, helped the Ancampi survivors create a new world, and encased them in a protective outer shell, where they would remain hidden and unaware.” I shook my head. “Look at this.”
One of the final images showed thousands of self-replicating missiles—the ones that had attacked the fleet. They were precautions taken to wipe out any visitors who dared to get too close.
My gaze rested on a familiar symbol below an image of an Azurean monk—the sideways infinity glyph from the front cover of the CodeX and my grandmother’s locket.
I stepped toward it. “What does it mean?” I breathed. And why is it here?
“Wait,” Skylar said, “all this means the Kraythons didn’t attack the fleet?”
I shook my head. “It’s the monks’ planetary protection. The Antarian fleet got too close and activated its defences.”
“But the Azurean monks are on our side,” Skylar said. “How could they do this to us?”
Mason whistled. “That’s one hell of a defence system.”
Kelvin shook his head. “I can’t believe all those missiles are there to protect the Ancampi.” He staggered back and leaned against the wall. “It’s my fault. If I hadn’t sent the drone too close, the missiles—”
“No,” I said, cutting him off. “It’s not your fault. The fleet would have triggered those missiles anyway.”
Kelvin let out a breath and nodded.
“What about the Kraython ship?” Skylar said.
“It was a long-range scout,” Kelvin said. “The Kraythons must have seen the Antarian fleet fly into the solar system and vanish. They came to investigate.”
“In that case, won’t the Leviathan hold back?” Mason said. “If they’ve noticed the fleet has gone, they’ll realise something’s up.”
“They’ll be overconfident,” Kelvin said. “They’ll know something is blocking signals, but they’ll have no idea that missiles capable of destroying them are waiting here.”
“We still need to find the signal blocker.” I looked about. “It must be here somewhere.”
“Wait.” Skylar held up a hand. “If we destroy the blocker, these people won’t remain hidden from the rest of the galaxy.” She looked at us. “We can’t do it to them. We have no right.”
I had to agree with her. It wasn’t up to us to introduce the Ancampi to other worlds or vice versa.
“Okay,” I said. “We’ll shut it down for long enough to contact the Leviathan. Agreed?”
Mason and Skylar nodded, but Kelvin didn’t look so convinced.
“What?” I said, bracing myself.
“Star Chaser hasn’t got a powerful transmitter. The only way to get ahold of the Leviathan is via the Last Horizon.”
I sighed. That meant we had even less time.
“Is there anything here written about the signal blocker?” Kelvin asked.
I shook my head. All the hieroglyphs showed was the Azurean monks’ story along with the infinity symbol, but on that subject, the CodeX remained silent.
“We’re running out of time,” Mason said. “It’s got to be here somewhere. An island, off limits? A temple? Perfect hiding place.”
My attention moved to the floor. Can the signal blocker be beneath the flagstones? Not seeing any obvious trapdoors, my gaze moved to the walls.
Kelvin examined the gold strips, following them from the statue, across the floor, and into the ceiling.
He faced me, grinning. “This is the signal blocker,” he said, pointing at the gold strips. “The spire on the roof, remember? The whole temple is the device.”
I stared at him for a moment. “You’re right.”
Together, we hurried to the statue. “Not seeing anything,” Kelvin said.
I stepped back. “Call Eve.”
Kelvin raised his phase-band. “Eve?”
“Yeah?”
“Can you look over here?” he said to her. “Use your artifact to find anything that could be the signal blocker.”
“Hold on.”
A few seconds went by, then wisps of blue energy pulsated through the temple in undulating waves, scanning up and down. They passed through the statue, and I spotted a disturbance.
Eve said, “There’s something in the base.”
My fingers found a join in the stone.
First, I pushed inward. Nothing happened, so I pressed down. Sure enough, a drawer slid open, full of weird-looking glass shapes glowing bright white.
Kelvin peered inside. “That’s it.” He pointed at a cube in the corner of the drawer. “Power source.”
“Guys.” Mason held up his phase-band. “We’ve only got twenty-six minutes.”
Kelvin rested his hand on the cube. The crystal in his artifact glowed, and he powered down the signal blocker.
He stepped back, wiping his brow. “I only hope it works.”
I nodded. “It’ll work.”
We were heading for the door when I froze, remembering what Skylar had said about leaving the Ancampi unprotected. “I’ll stay behind.” I stepped back. “You four go to the Last Horizon and get the word out. Then come back for me.” I took a breath. “These people have been here hundreds of years.”
“Are you cr
azy?” Mason said. “We can’t leave you here.”
“It’s the right thing.” Skylar’s face softened, and for the first time, she actually looked grateful. “Thank you.”
“I’ll reactivate the signal blocker when you’re done,” I said.
“There are no guarantees the silver ship will handle another trip down here,” Kelvin said. “And we’ll be exposing this civilisation to our culture again.”
I jerked my thumb at the door. “Seriously, go. It’s the only way.”
Kelvin pursed his lips. “Not necessarily.” He clicked his fingers and rushed back to the statue.
“What are you doing?” Skylar cried. “We’re almost out of time.”
Kelvin fiddled with the controls on his artifact, unclipped it, and rested it next to the cube. He stepped back. “I’ll be able to activate a pulse from my artifact to switch the power back on the moment we’ve contacted the Leviathan.”
“You can do that?” I said. “I thought you could only work artifacts when you’re wearing them?”
Kelvin shook his head. “Class Ones can be set and left; they fuse with the artifacts. With Class Threes, you have to be very close.” He gestured at his device in the drawer. “Class Twos can be operated remotely. They only have a finite range, though, so I’ll need to concentrate to stay connected.”
“But you’ll lose your artifact,” Mason said. “Forever.”
“This is a temple,” Kelvin said. “The Ancampi won’t find it.” He closed the drawer and stepped back.
I rested a hand on his shoulder. “Are you doing this out of guilt?” I said. “About the missiles and the fleet?”
Kelvin swallowed and shook his head. “Leaving an artifact here is better than losing a crewmate.”
“Exactly,” Mason said. “So, can we get out of here now?”
The four of us ran from the temple. I closed the door, making sure it sealed shut, then we sprinted down the steps and back to the silver ship.
“Is it done?” Eve asked as we climbed on board.
I nodded and vowed to get Kelvin’s Bluestone artifact back as soon as we could.
“How long?” I asked as Skylar got us airborne.
“We’ve got twenty-one minutes to get back to the Last Horizon.” She leaned forward. “I’ll go as fast as I can.”
GAME SPACE - Full Novel Page 23
