dock key up to the verifier panel and held it there while
poking his little finger into the biosampler slot.
Something moved outside, occluding the light from
the nearest dock flood, then suddenly it loomed closer
and collided with the tube.
'Does it usually take this long?' said Drazuma-Ha*,
now poised quite close by.
Kao Chih glared at the machine. 'Is that another of
your predicaments? - look, it's trying to cut its way in!'
A metre or two back from the airlock, the tube's heavy-
grade material was being pinched. Kao Chih stared at the
deforming plastic with panic and a growing sense of unre-
ality enhanced by the hammering sounds coming from
the access port at the other end of the tube. Then to his
vast relief the verifier panel beeped and the airlock hatch
slid open. Courtesy was not uppermost in his mind as he
dragged himself in round the edge of the coaming, closely
followed by the mech. Once they were inside he punched
the hatch button and a moment later they were sealed off.
'Show me to the pilot controls,' the mech said. 'We
must leave immediately.'
'This way,' Kao Chih said. 'But why the haste now
that we're safe?'
As they reached the main console he heard distinct
hard knocks and thuds coming through the hull.
'Who are those droids?' he muttered. 'And what do
they want?'
'Collectors,' said Drazuma-Ha*. 'Chasing an old
debt. A moment, please.'
Microfield extensors sprang out from the mech's aura
to the console, connecting with several interface ports.
Readouts and symbol telltales flickered in waves across
the cockpit and one of the auxiliary screens unfolded
from its niche to reveal an exterior shot of the
Castellan's hull, underneath, near the midsection. A
strange, angular machine crouched there on several
articulated limbs, reflected light from further back cast-
ing it in silhouette. A second screen showed the other
two droids now in the access tube and making cumber-
some progress towards the airlock. Then a faint whining
noise came from underfoot, beneath the deck.
'It's drilling through the hull,' Kao Chih said, striving
to stay calm.
For a moment the mech made no reply, then:
'All is ready, Gow-Chee - shall we depart?'
'Without delay!'
The Castellan gave a lurch and suddenly he realised
he should have been strapped in. Hurriedly he did so
while keeping most of his attention on the exterior dis-
plays. The access tube had unfastened from the airlock
and was retracting into its housing with the two droids
still holding on. The third still clung to the ship's under-
side and the drilling sound continued unabated. On the
screen, the jumbled shapes and structures of Blacknest
receded as their reaction thrusters burned a departure
trajectory.
'We will soon be far enough away for a safe jump
into hyperspace,' the mech said. 'But there is a problem.'
'What kind of problem?' Kao Chih said hoarsely.
'The hyperjump course data I obtained from Avriqui's
system is supposed to take us to Bryag Station near the
Indroma border, but the value set is several hours out of
date. Clearly he meant to recompile it just before depart-
ing with you and your deceased companion . ..'
Kao Chih's heart sank. 'We could emerge inside a sun
or a planetary atmosphere ...'
'No, not with the safety features built into this vessel,'
Drazuma-Ha* said. 'We would be safe from such perils,
including the one currently attached to our hull - it would
detach itself the moment the hyperdrive initiated its first
phase. But our destination will be indeterminable.'
'And if that breaches the outer hull, we're finished.'
Kao Chih gripped the arms of his couch. 'Do it!'
'You're certain?'
'Just do it now!'
The shield layer rolled across the viewpane and he
murmured a brief prayer to his ancestors as the hyper-
drive gathered all its forces and hurled the Castellan
into the void.
24
GREG
He was almost a dozen metres down the southern face
of Giant's Shoulder, shivering in a cold night breeze,
when his comm chimed. He called out to Teso and
Kolum, his Uvovo accomplices, to stop lowering, then
answered the call.
'Greg Cameron here.'
'Hello Greg, it's Catriona. Just thought I'd call you
before the shuttle leaves.'
'Ah, thanks Cat, that's, um, very thoughtful of you.'
'So, what are you up to this evening? Sounds like
you're outside ...'
'Oh, just studying some pillar carvings, y'know,
trying to figure out if they're ritual or ceremonial ...'
He felt himself break out in a cold sweat, more from the
gnawing sensation of vertigo, suspended there in the
high darkness with a handilamp hanging from his neck,
lighting up the rock face right in front of him.
'Just a moment,' said Catriona. 'Are you ... dammit,
you are! - you're climbing down the side of Giant's
Shoulder in the middle of the night. Are you completely
insane?'
Greg sighed. In the aftermath of the shooting yesterday
he had showed Catriona the scans revealing the passages
and chambers beneath the temple, and together they had
started planning how to reach the opening that led inside.
But Cat had been ordered back to Nivyesta, leaving Greg
to pore over the scans and and an assortment of pictures
of Giant's Shoulder dug out of the files. Then came news
of the bombings, which seized his attention for the rest of
the day.
'Look, I'm fine, I'm safe, the equipment is the best
and I've got friends helping me,' he said, exchanging
waves with the two Uvovo smiling down at him. 'I'm
more worried about you, to be frank.'
'I'm okay. Did you get hold of your mother and your
brothers?'
'I did, and they're all well - no one was anywhere
near Founder Square or the Ros Dubh sports centre,
but there's been no word from Uncle Theo since yester-
day ...'
'Greg, I just wish you'd give up this midnight expedi-
tion and wait for daylight.'
He smiled, thinking - Ah, she really does care. Things
are looking up.
'Och, don't worry, Cat,' he said, i'm strapped into a
body harness with about a thousand D-rings and plenty
of that Uvovo heavy-bearing line . ..' He gave the line a
playful tug. 'Safe as houses . . .'
Which was when the composite strap junction at his
back snapped. He yelled as he swung to the right and
down, head dipping. Through his cold terror he was
aware of his lamp slipping off and falling away into the
blackness, but most of his attention was on trying not to
slip out of the loops that still gripped his legs and left
arm. The two Uvovo called down in fearful voices but
&nb
sp; he tried to reassure them - then cursed when he realised
that he had dropped his comm. By now he had worked
himself into a more upright position, holding on to the
safety line with a gloved hand.
Gods, Cat was right! I must be mad to be doing
this . . .
He glanced down and started to tell the Uvovo to
haul him up, then paused, staring at a faintly glowing
spot on the rock face a few feet below. He stared, held
his breath and listened . . . and, just on the edge of audi-
bility, heard a tiny voice calling his name. Catriona! He
laughed shakily - his comm must be lying on a ledge or
in the tangle of a cliffside bush - and shouted to her to
wait a minute or two. Quickly, he rigged the loose
strapping onto the safety line with toothhooks to take
some of the load off the damaged strap junction, then
told the Uvovo to lower him. Slowly he descended
towards the glow, which he now reckoned might well
be sitting in a niche in the rock. Then he came level
with it and saw his comm, resting in a tangle of dry,
dead roots that spilled out of a sizeable gap in the cliff
face.
Reaching in he grabbed it and saw that Cat had dis-
connected. Quickly he sent a note saying that he was
okay, then activated the comm's little torch and shone it
inside the opening. He stared in surprise for a moment,
then chuckled - beyond the opening was a small pas-
sageway sloping down towards the front of Giant's
Shoulder. The opening was just wide enough to crawl
into, which he did, pausing halfway in to undo the har-
ness then shout to the Uvovo to pull it up. When he
told them he was exploring a cave they became agitated,
imploring him to return.
'I'll be perfectly safe,' he yelled back. 'Just get the
replacement harness from stores and listen out for m .'
'Old places are dangerous, friend Greg,' came Teso's
strained reply. 'Please be very careful.'
'I will be, don't worry!'
Then he turned his attention to the passage. It was
quite narrow and low, just a little over average Uvovo
height. The walls were smoothly worked with even
curves, as was the opening through which he had
entered. Shining his torch further down he could make
out another similar aperture, but choked with coils of
redthorn as well as the decaying detritus of dead plants.
This had to lead to the opening he had seen on the
Heracles scans, and which he had intended to find
tonight.
Perhaps this will be safer than hanging about in the
air, he thought as he tugged out his forest blade and
attacked the tangle of vegetation.
The passage went on for another ten metres or so,
blocked at regular intervals by bushes or creepers that
had taken root in the soil-caked floor near the open-
ings. He was sweating freely by the time the passage
turned back the other way: the water-worn vestiges of
steps were just visible under the layers of dirt and decay.
Insects glimmered and settled in the slim beam of his
comm-torch, which chimed just as he started hacking at
another wall of desiccated twig. It was Cat. He took a
deep breath and answered.
'Hi, Cat!'
'Right, what the hell happened?'
'Eh, nothing serious, just juggling with my comm . ..'
'Dammit, Greg, I... was worried ...'
He heard the catch in her voice and instantly regret-
ted the offhand remark.
'I'm sorry, Cat, I'm okay, just had a wee fright when
a clip broke. But I rigged a repair and I'm now inside the
rock face of Giant's Shoulder and making my way down
a passageway.'
'Is it safe?' she said. 'What does it look like?'
He gave a brief description and assured her that he
was not in any danger.
'Aye, well watch out for doubletails - they nest in
dark, dank places.'
'And they're usually found further to the north than
this,' he said. 'But I will keep my eyes open, I promise.
When's your shuttle flight?'
'Less than an hour.'
'I'll call you when I reach the opening,' he said. 'Or
wherever this is leading to.'
After murmured goodbyes, he thumbed the torch
back on and resumed chopping away dead foliage.
Another thirty-odd minutes later he had hacked, kicked
and torn his way through several barriers of roots,
creepers and bushes, most of it dead growth. His exer-
tions had raised wafts of dust which clung to his clothes
and hair, working its way into the creases of his hands
and face - he felt indescribably grimy and often coughed
in the hazy gloom. But beyond the last clump of vegeta-
tion he came to a level landing and a large square door
in the rock. Opposite the door was a semicircular
window that was blocked by a curtain of heavy-leafed
creeper, some of which had spilled inside.
Beyond the dark threshold of the door was a pitch-
black corridor. With his torch lighting the way, Greg
followed it inwards for about twenty paces before
encountering a double row of pillars that completely
blocked the way. The pillars were square and the rows
were set close together in a staggered formation that
obscured what lay further on. Frowning, he called
Catriona.
'Took ye long enough,' she said.
'I've been doing a bit of pruning,' he said. 'Have you
ever seen square pillars in a Uvovo building?' As he
spoke he took out a small field cam and took a few pic-
tures.
'No, never.'
'Well, I'm looking at some now.' He described them
for her, then examined their tops and bottoms. 'The dirt
and dust buildup is solid around the bases but up at the
ceiling there's a definite gap, as if the pillars slid down -
maybe this is some kind of primitive stone portcullis . ..
wait a second, what's that?'
After probing the gap around one pillar he had
pushed it to see if there was any give, and immediately a
sequence of four glowing symbols had appeared on its
face, one by one down its length, and faded away. A
moment later the sequence repeated itself and he swiftly
took more pictures while describing what was happen-
ing.
'What do the symbols look like?' Cat said.
'Nothing like any of the glyphs that the Uvovo use,
now or in the past.' He bent down for closer study.
'They're composed of straight and curved lines, some
crossing others, some not.'
'Could be ideograms,' she said. 'But what kind of
technology can embed glowing characters in stone and
still be functioning thousands of years later?'
'Aye, those ancient Uvovo sure had a few tricks up
their sleeves . ..'
Suddenly there was more light in the passage as sev-
eral triangular symbols lit up on the adjacent pillar.
'Why have you gone quiet? Greg, what's happening
now?'
'Seven triangles have appeare
d on the next pillar ...
wait, the one at the bottom has gone out so there's
six ...'
'Hmm, odd. Has it come back?'
'No, and another just went out, the top one, when
the four symbols went through the sequence.'
'Hang on, the Uvovo use the triangle to symbolise an
imperative demand for an answer so those other four
ideograms ... must be some kind of question you have
to answer before all the triangles are gone ... I think . . .'
'So how do I answer the question?'
'No idea - how many triangles are left?'
'Two.'
'Get out of there, Greg, now!'
He dived away from the pillars and dashed for the
entrance. As he did, a rumble came from the surround-
ing rock then cracking sounds and a cluster of heavy
impacts. Dust billowed out and settled on his shoes and
trouser legs.
'Greg, are you okay?'
'I am,' he said. 'And now I'm going back inside for a
look.'
if I could reach through this comm . . .'
'There're more pillars, Cat, about fifteen paces in this
time.'
The new obstruction was identical to the first but
pristine, no windblown dust or dry leaf fragments nor
insect remains.
'Don't touch it, Greg - in fact, don't even go near it.
Promise me you'll go back up and wait till morning.
Then you can speak with Foyle at the Institute and get
hold of one of the Listeners to see if they recognise those
symbols.'
'Aye . . . okay, Cat,' he said, retreating to the
entrance. 'Maybe you're right. I'll head back up top,
get some rest.'
'Good, you sleep well and I'll... send you a message
when I'm home.'
'Okay, safe flight.'
For a few moments after the line disconnected, Greg
stood there, smiling thoughtfully, wondering where this
thing with Catriona was going - if it actually was going
somewhere. Then he shrugged.
Hard to be sure now that she's away back to
Nivyesta, he thought. As for this puzzle ... perhaps I'll
wait for Chel, see what he thinks of those symbols, and
when I've got something solid, then I'll tell Foyle at the
Institute ...
He shone the comm torch back along the corridor
one last time, peering at the pillars in the dimness. Then
he saw something he hadn't noticed before, that the
Michael Cobley - Humanity's Fire book 1 Page 24
