“In the intangible state? Sort of canned you?” asked Max.
“Exactly. And I could not get out till it ran out of power by itself. And then the field, which was still active, threw me out of the ship. When I was leaving Veles, I noticed the ashes of my brother near the control panel.”
“But he shouldn’t have… I mean, his physical body shouldn’t have died,” said Max.
“That’s right, my friend, the field shouldn’t have killed him. So, I can assume that what happened was this: my brother put up the field and returned to the control panel. Then he must have made a mistake, and the dematerialization wave went out of control. The impulse was so intense that it quickly overwhelmed the entire planet and turned all of Earth’s inhabitants into ghosts. And my brother’s body was destroyed by the energy outburst. And he’s here on this planet and has been living in different bodies ever since. He, as well as other crew members, cannot enter the ship due to some kind of safety device which protects Veles from being ‘hacked.’ But since my brother is capable of retaining memory of his past incarnations, he can achieve a lot here. He may be anyone, anywhere. And if he lays his hands on our technologies again, it may bring about another catastrophe… Now you understand how important it is to protect the Switch?”
“So, what do we do?” asked Athena.
“Right question, sweetheart,” answered Osiris. “And now I’ll tell you about another of Veles’s secrets.”
“Yes, continue,” said Max, who was feeling really crappy now. He was having a hard time breathing; his body lacked oxygen. He could barely keep in the upright sitting position, even though Athena was supporting him.
“So, there are a lot of things on Veles which are normal for me, but not so normal for you. One of them is a set of nanocells, which are used in healing almost any injury in the physical body. They locate damaged cells in the body and replace them, thus recovering the functions of the body part.”
“Like stem cells?” Athena asked.
“Similar, but not quite. The replacement takes place really fast. To start the process, the nanocells must be injected into the injured body. Unfortunately, they cannot fully neutralize the poison, but they can considerably slow the process down and buy us some time. Now we must get to Veles, break in, and obtain the crate with the nanocells.”
Max’s eyes gleamed again. Incredible! He’d thought he had no chance, and now…
“We must get in there right away!” said Athena.
“Sure enough. The faster, the better. But let’s first clarify where exactly we must travel. Veles is right under the Great Pyramid. And we cannot get inside all together. The field is still up, and it recognizes mental bodies of all crew members. If I enter, it will shove me away. Thus, it must be just the two of you.”
“Maybe I go alone?” Athena anxiously looked at Max.
“We never go alone anywhere. Always with a partner. That’s for safety,” answered Osiris.
“But how will we find the crate?” asked Max.
“This I will show you now. Give me a piece of paper. I’ll draw the plan for you.”
“I’ll get one,” said Athena, reaching for her bracelet.
In a minute she was back with a sheet of paper and a pen.
“You’re a wonderful student,” Osiris praised her. “Now, I’ll draw the plan and then we’ll get to the exact spot.”
CHAPTER 15
Under the Pyramids
In the dead of night, three people materialized on the very pinnacle of the Great Pyramid.
“Let’s go over it again,” Osiris said to Max, who wasn’t even trying to stand up now. “Both of you transfer exactly one mile down, and get through the armor and into one of the modules. I don’t know exactly where you will be, so you’ll have to figure it out yourselves. There’s a plan on the wall in each module, like the one I gave you. You just look at it and see where to go. Inside, you stay together.”
Max’s condition was worsening every minute. His arms were almost numb. The upper part of his body was still in control, but he felt weaker and weaker. It was clear that he would become paralyzed within ten or fifteen minutes.
Osiris was quickly giving them the last directions. “Okay, now go! And may luck be with you!”
Max and Athena gave each other a hug and simultaneously disappeared.
For a while, Max felt physical discomfort. Very weird sensations, as if he was fighting his way through some gooey matter or a web. Then it suddenly stopped, and he opened his eyes. It was pitch-black around him. Stale and dry air scratched his nostrils.
He heard some unpleasant rustling and moaning somewhere nearby. He realized that only one person could be producing these sounds, and it was Athena.
Suddenly, soft, cold lights came on; perhaps the sensors had caught their movements. Max saw Athena on the floor. Her body was contorted and motionless. Her right arm was visibly swollen and unnaturally angled. But a fractured arm was not the worst thing…
“No!” Max said quietly as be bent over her, trying to feel the pulse on her carotid. He could not feel it.
He started to shake Athena by the shoulders. But like a rag doll, she was totally listless, with glazed eyes and a greyish face.
Anxiety immobilized Max’s body like he was caught in a pair of vise. What happened? Was it because of the resistance of the Terran matter? Or the pressure jump? How much time has she got? Thoughts swarmed inside his head, and he could not concentrate.
There must be an optimal solution. Something had hit her. There was no time to figure out what it was. He had to save her urgently! The remedy to recover a physical body was somewhere nearby. He had five minutes, six tops. Then nothing would reanimate her, as clinical death would become real death. Her brain would die and there’d be nothing to save her, and he’d follow shortly after.
Max set the timer on his Switch for six minutes, fetched the plan that Osiris had given him, and started to examine it.
His eyes frantically scanned the walls. Where was the space plan? The room was narrow, probably a kind of hallway between units. There were huge trap doors along both sides, all shut. About to collapse, Max crawled to the nearest one and noticed the floor plan. It was carved into the wall and showed all the hallways and cabins on the floor.
It was clear that they were on the eighth deck, the top one, and the sick bay with the crate was on the seventh, but in the opposite wing.
Max activated the Switch. As his left arm got weaker, it was harder to operate it. The poison was steadily doing its job.
He got to the opposite wing of the ship. Again, total darkness surrounded him. If only there were motion detectors to turn the lights on…
But time went on and there was no light. Max started to panic and forced himself to wave his right hand to activate the detectors.
Eventually light went on; it was as soft and cold as in the other room.
This room, however, was totally different: there was a bed, a desk and a chair; the walls were a system of drawers and shelves, seemingly to save space. When Veles had been inhabited, someone had lived here. However, it definitely was not the sick bay.
Max again began to scan the wall, trying to find the floor plan. It was near the door. He had to crawl again to examine it. His attempt failed, as he was totally exhausted. Numbness and dizziness were taking over.
Max activated the Switch again and got to the spot just below the floor plan. He looked at the timer and thought that he should have done so in the previous room rather than crawl and lose so much time.
He had just under two minutes left. Max regained control of himself, as only one thought was beating inside his head: things had never depended upon his speed as much as they did now.
He examined the floor plan. It looked like the sick bay itself was in the next cabin, this one being the cabin of the medic.
This time he got into the sick bay and didn’t wait for the lights to turn on, but actively waved his hand so that the detectors would respond faster.
/> It worked almost immediately. Max looked around. Drawers, shelves along the walls, a desk opposite him. Osiris had said that the crates with medicine should be on the right if you stood by the desk. One of them would have what he needed. He activated the Switch again and got to the shelves.
Okay, the second one from the bottom left corner. Max touched the screen on the door of one of the shelves, but needed to enter a combination.
He fetched the plan from his pocket, unfolded it on the floor, and straightened it with his right hand, which he could hardly move now. The paper was all worn and the combination… Damn! Some unknown characters, each one very much alike.
Max looked at the timer. Every second resounded inside him. Less than a minute left. There was no time to return to Osiris. He scrutinized the characters, looking for their differences, and started to enter the six-picture combination.
The first attempt failed. The screen turned pink and the crate remained locked. Osiris had warned him that he would have only three attempts. After that, it would lock him out for seven hours.
Heart in mouth, Max scrutinized the alien characters, and re-entered the combination. He failed again. A bead of cold sweat appeared on his forehead and ran into his eye. He squinted and tried to wipe it with his sleeve.
Last attempt. The mysterious characters blurred; he was passing out. Max compared the characters on his paper and the panel several times, making sure that he entered them all correctly. His brain resembled an overheated computer, and a buzzing filled his head.
He entered the last character. With a quiet click, the door slightly opened.
Max sighed with relief and opened it fully as quickly as he could. Inside, he saw a small crate with a handle. To open it, one would need to enter the same combination. Max had already learned it by heart.
Now came the most difficult part. With his half-paralyzed fingers, Max set the Switch to dematerialize the crate.
He didn’t look at the timer counting down the last seconds. A bit more effort, and he got back to Athena. Her motionless body was still there. With his heart skipping beats, knitting all his strength together, he entered the combination and opened the crate.
He grabbed the little pistol-like device, put it to Athena’s hand, and pushed the button, just like Osiris had directed.
For a few weary seconds, Athena remained motionless. But then her fingers jerked, she unevenly inhaled the air, and turned her head.
Max beamed. And suddenly she had a seizure, as if she was being electrocuted. Then another one. Then she went unconscious again.
He bent over her, felt her carotid… There was no pulse.
Despair seized him. Was she dead? Had it all been in vain?
He felt a lump in his throat. What had happened? Had it not worked? Had it gone bad after all the millennia? Whatever it was, Athena was dead…
“Damn ship! Damn trap!” In anger, Max was hitting the floor with his half-numb hand.
Shards of Osiris’s story flashed in his memory. Ship… Control panel… Villain brother who had put up the field… Osiris unable to penetrate it… Stop! The field!
Max glanced at Athena’s breathless body. But what if… What if she was somehow affected by this field?
There was no time to think. Anyway, they had to leave the ship. Up there, he would figure it out.
Max shut the crate, used the dematerialization wave on it, and squeezed it between his feet. Now he had to crawl closer to Athena, which was extremely difficult. Nevertheless, he managed to cross those infinite several inches and cuddled up to her. “Darling, hold on a little longer…”
His tongue was barely moving; words didn’t come easy. On his last leg, he activated the Switch. A moment later, they were on top of the pyramid.
They materialized right in front of Osiris, both unconscious. Wind caught Athena’s hair.
Osiris looked at their breathless bodies and tried to feel their pulses. He felt Max’s but not Athena’s.
He opened the crate, took the device and injected the preparation into her. Then he did the same with Max, sat down and watched them.
A few seconds later, he saw the swelling on Athena’s arm shrink. And then her arm straightened, as if it had never been broken.
Osiris reached for her neck again, but stopped. She started to show signs of life. First, she started to breathe, then moved her fingers and her head, then finally opened her eyes and looked around. A few moments later, she propped herself up on both elbows and stared at Osiris.
“What happened on the ship?” Osiris didn’t wait till she had come around fully.
“I don’t know,” she mumbled, and rubbed her arm where it had been broken. “Damn! It hurts… I wasn’t there at all… At first, I felt pain, as if I was electrocuted. I don’t remember anything…”
She glanced at Max, then back at Osiris, as if she was afraid to voice her question.
“He’ll be okay,” said Osiris. “So, you say that you weren’t on the ship? Or you just don’t remember?”
“No… I don’t know.”
“Well, I think I know what happened to you.”
She sat up, still looking at her mentor. “What?”
“Welcome back to the team,” Osiris said with a smile.
* * *
Max finally came around, his heart throbbing. Warm air filled his lungs. He could move his fingers, which were no longer numb. He was still weak, but it felt like he was half-awake rather than sick and dying.
“How are you, honey?” Athena’s voice seemed to be coming from a distance. The buzzing hadn’t stopped yet.
Max opened his eyes. “Darling, you’re alive?” he whispered.
Osiris bent over him.
Max spoke again. “She… Athena was there… on the ship. She was dying… I don’t know what it was. I tried to save her, I had to…”
“If you had delayed a little longer, you both could have stayed there forever! Why didn’t you use it on yourself first?” said Osiris.
“I was afraid there was not enough for both of us. What’s up with your arm? Wasn’t it broken?” Max looked at Athena’s arms with surprise. There was no sign of the fracture.
“There’s plenty of it for the entire crew.” Osiris smiled. “And it completely regenerates the injured tissue.”
Athena rubbed her arm where it had been broken. “It hurts a bit, but not as bad.”
“If I had invented such medicine, I would have named it ‘Lizard Tail,’” said Max.
Osiris smiled. “You can totally call it that. We called it just ‘the regenerator’.”
“Okay. But I’m more interested to know what happened to her on that ship and why.”
“The field. It affected her.”
Max’s jaw dropped. “But why?”
“She’s from Veles,” answered Osiris.
“How is that possible? Athena?”
Unbelievable! Athena. His Athena. Could she have been on that ship originally?
“Let’s get to a more hospitable place and talk,” said Osiris.
A moment later they vanished, leaving the wind to play with the sand, whirling it on top of the ancient pyramid.
CHAPTER 16
Sophie
The little time that passed seemed like an eternity. The breeze outside dashed between the trees in the yard.
“What did you agree upon? What time and where?” Osiris sank in the armchair opposite Max.
“Linda and I meet each other in a couple hours. I do not know what to do. If I don’t give them the combination to unlock the Switch, the poison will kill me.”
“That’s right. The nanocells will block the poison for 24 hours at most.”
“So, what do we do?”
Max thought for a moment. “I have an idea…” he said slowly.
“Tell me.”
“The Switch has two lock functions. One of those is active now. In about two hours, I will be able to unlock it. It will require my fingerprints and the combination that only I know…” Max
looked at the bracelet and his fingers stroked the body of the Switch. “But there is another one: the emergency lock-up. It has never been utilized. It will simply put it out of order for good.”
“And?” Osiris leaned forward.
Athena entered. She was carrying a tray with coffee and sandwiches. She put it on the table and sat down beside Max.
“There is a combination that locks up the Switch entirely after the second activation. In short, if one activates this mode…” Max held out four fingers in a tricky way, “the Switch will work and dematerialize a body. After that, it will materialize the body as usual. But if one activates the Switch after that, it will turn off forever and the body won’t materialize ever again. Neither will the Switch. This time will be its last.”
“Are you sure that this will work?” asked Osiris.
Max was silent. His eyes grew dull with a barely visible trace of some old reflection. He didn’t want to remember that, quite the opposite—he wanted to forget it, hide it from everyone including himself. “I am,” he said. “It worked once before.”
Athena looked at him with surprise. “Tell us.”
Her voice echoed inside his head. Yes, perhaps, I need to tell them. It’s not easy to think about it and much harder to recount. But it’s even worse to hang on to it…
Max rubbed his face, straightened up, and sat back.
“All right. I had a girlfriend. Her name was Sophie. We went to university together. She helped me a lot…”
Max looked at Athena. She held her breath and listened.
“We experimented with dematerialization and it was going well. Sophie knew all about the discovery. After a while, we needed a good software developer, and we called Eddie, who was a student, like us. He was good at science too, but he only developed software for us. Sophie helped me create the Switch based on my father’s studies. We tested the very first model: we disappeared, reappeared, disappeared again…but it was bulky and inconvenient to use.”
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