by Frank Carey
"No. But that's moot now."
"Why?"
"You mean you don't know?"
"Know what?"
"I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but Thorenn was killed two months ago. Someone hired a hit man to do the job."
Nebulon just looked at Ciara without saying a word. No sadness. No remorse. No loss. Nothing.
"Doctor, are you okay? Can I get you something?"
"No, I'm fine. Thorenn was a moment in my life, nothing more. I'm sorry to hear he's dead, but I'm not surprised. Why am I here, Director?"
"It has to do with your report."
"It's fairly straight forward. I can't identify the artifact as belonging to any known civilization. Its construction indicates that it was manufactured by people more advanced than any of ours, yet it's a thousand centuries old," Nebulon said as she walked around the room looking at some of the Director's unique plants. As she went past one of them, it leaned out at her and hissed while it tried to bite her.
"Easy there, Ernst, she's a friendly," Ciara said without looking up. The plant leaned back and relaxed. "You have to forgive them, Doctor. They're not trusting of strangers."
"They're plants, right? Nebulon said as she tried to keep a safe distance.
"Yes, though they do seem to have blurred the line between flora and fauna. The only one you really need to be careful of is the blood-red one. That's Clevon and he takes being a snapdragon hybrid very seriously.
Nebulon looked closely at Clevon and saw tendrils of smoke coming from the center portion of his flower.
"Let me come to the point. OffSec keeps an eye on anything which may be dangerous to the League. Our purview covers anything going from point A to point B. Lately, we've been seeing an uptick in the number of alien antiquities coming up for auction on the black market. Normally, we leave this to local law enforcement, but the Ministry of Science has been stumped while trying to identify some of these items, like the power supply we gave you."
"No idea where it came from?"
"Only that its point of origin on the bill of lading was Orinoco Station. We're afraid there may be more items like it, items that have a bite to them."
"Isn't that a little hyperbolic?"
"I'm paid to think in hyperbolic. If I can come up with a disaster scenario, then it probably can happen, and I prefer to prevent them from happening. Weren't there booby traps in the Pyramids on Earth?"
"A few," Nebulon admitted, "but none deadly. They were designed to confuse intruders."
"Now imagine if one of those booby traps made use of a nuclear bomb."
"I see your point."
"I want to start out by hiring you as a consultant. I need you to go back to the museum and dig up anything you can find out about the current crop of black market artifacts. What I would really like to know is where these artifacts are coming from and who's finding them."
"That I can do. I have contacts at several of the major museums."
"Good. I'll forward the paperwork to the museum. You are now on our clock. I'll have Jason take you back. Keep in touch," she said as she pressed a button on her desk. Jason entered and escorted Nebulon back to the Ascendant. "We look forward to working with you," Ciara said as her office door closed.
CHAPTER FIVE
Once she was back at the museum, Nebulon started a search for any information pertaining to the new artifacts that were making their way to market. As a Tralaskan xenoarchaeologist, she was familiar with the seedier side of the antiquities trade. Through a friend, she was able to gain entrance to one of the larger black-market auctions being held in Capital City. Before putting her plan in motion, she called Ciara to get her input.
"That's wonderful news, Dr. Blyst. Is there any possibility of you bringing a companion?" Ciara asked.
"Tralaskan tradition says I should attend one of these functions with someone, so I was going to ask a colleague of mine to join me. Do you have someone else in mind?"
"Yes, I do. Jason, Natalie, and the Ascendant are waiting on a shipment at the Capital City Spaceport. He would love to escort you to this black-market soiree."
"Jason? I didn't think of him as being a soiree kind of guy."
"Oh, you'd be surprised what a tux and a hairbrush will do for a man."
"Excellent. Have him pick me up at my apartment at twenty hundred hours. You have the address on file?"
"Of course."
Nebulon closed the connection and smiled. She hadn't been on a date in a while and hoped she remembered how to do it. Date? What the hell am I thinking? She chastised herself. This is work. It's a job. Get in, get the artifacts, and get out. Date? Pah!
At twenty hundred hours, Nebulon heard a knock at her apartment door. She opened it and found Jason standing there dressed to the nines. She realized she had stopped breathing.
"Doc, you're starting to make me feel nervous. You okay?"
"Sorry. Ciara said you cleaned-up well, but didn't mention how well. I may need to bring a ball bat."
"I've got a baton in the copter. Would that do?"
"Copter? You brought a copter?"
"The Director felt that it would be good to present ourselves in style. Speaking of which, you're looking mighty hot yourself, Doc."
"You really think so?"
"Yes, yes I do."
They stopped and looked at one another for a moment.
Suddenly uncomfortable, Nebulon said, "We should go. I assume you parked up on the roof?"
"Yeah, valet parking was full,” Jason said with a small smile.
They arrived at the auction where Jason parked on the roof and tipped the valet with a 100-credit chip. "Wow, OffSec pays their pilots well," she said.
"Yes, their consultants also do well," he said, handing her a currency card. This has a 10 million credit limit. The Director is fond of antiquities and anything in purple."
"Did you say ten million credits?" she said, trembling.
"Is that enough? I can get more," he said with a worried look on his face.
"No, this is fine," she said as she gripped his arm.
They made it to the entrance where Nebulon showed her invite.
"Welcome, ma'am. You'll have to leave the Earther outside. We don't allow his kind in here."
"Make that half-Earther. You may know my mother, Lady Laya, the Countess of House Jurta," he said as he showed them a small, but intricate tattoo at the base of his neck.
"What seems to be the problem?" a gentleman asked as he walked up to the two guards, one of whom leaned over and whispered something into his ear. His eyes went large when he looked and saw the tattoo. "My apologies, Viscount Jurta. My name is Fausto Reynard, and I am the sponsor of this auction. Forgive my guards. It's just so difficult to find good help these days. Please, follow me."
Reynard led them to a pair of seats in the VIP lounge and instructed the hostess to bring them anything they needed.
"Thank you, Mr. Reynard, your kindness and hospitality are noted. My mother will be pleased."
Reynard bowed before walking off into the crowd.
"Did Ciara fail to mention something?" an incredulous Nebulon asked as the hostess brought them drinks.
"We all think Ciara was Loki, the Norse god of mischief on Earth, in a previous life. I thought she had briefed you on my family ties to Tralaska. Ya gotta love her, the little minx."
"You're the son of Lady Laya? Why do you pilot a spaceship for OffSec?"
"I love to fly. Oh, the auction is starting," he said.
For the next two hours, item after item came and went on the block. If an item was of interest, she would signal Jason who would bid for her. At the end of the night, they had bought over a dozen pieces and still had money left on the card.
"Nice job, Doc. I'll have some of our people pick them up and deliver them to the museum for you to examine. We'll send the ones that pass muster to the Cube for analysis."
"What about the ones that are just normal alien artifacts?"
"They
'll be donated to the museum in my Mother's name to thank her for her help."
"But that could be millions of credits worth of antiquities!"
"And who better to preserve them for posterity than Dr. Nebulon Blyst?"
Shocked at the thought of such generosity, Nebulon didn’t know what to do so she kissed Jason. "Thank you," she said when she finished.
He smiled. "You're welcome, Doc. Listen, I've got an early flight in the morning, so I'll drop you off at your apartment on my way back to the spaceport."
CHAPTER SIX
The next morning found Nebulon in her lab cataloging antiquities. After eight of the twelve artifacts turned out to be normal artifacts from known civilizations, she started to think her identification skills were off. Number nine, though, broke her losing streak. It was a sphere with a cylindrical hole running through its center. The object was made from some type of ceramic material. As before, she ran it through every scanner she had available. During one scan, a flash of light came from the hole. Curious, Nebulon stopped the scan and examined the hole with a lipstick video camera. When she looked at the monitor she saw a star field. She removed the camera, looked in the hole, and saw stars, which shifted if she rotated the sphere. She placed the camera back in the hole and recorded video which she sent off to a colleague in the Astrophysics Department.
Two hours later, Dr. Naska ran in carrying hard copy frame captures of the video she sent him. "Nebs, where did you get these?" he asked.
"Here," she said, showing him the artifact. He looked down the hole a while before rotating it this way and that while giggling.
"Nebs, do you know what you have here?"
"No. I was hoping you could tell me."
"It's a remote viewer for a telescope located a hundred light-years from here. We have tilt and pan control of whatever the device is and it's being controlled in real-time."
Nebulon looked at him, realizing the ramifications of what he was saying. Real-time communications, let alone control, was currently impossible at that distance. She called Ciara, who asked to talk to Dr. Naska. After a lot of nodding and a lot of smiling, Dr. Naska handed the commlink back to Nebulon before skipping out the lab door with his new toy.
"Excellent work, Doctor," the Director said. "Dr. Naska is going to pinpoint the location of whatever is at the other end of that viewer, and when he does, I'm going to order a probe be sent to find it. Speaking of artifacts how was Jason? Did he behave?"
"He was a gentleman through and through. It was like being with a Count," she said.
"No, only a viscount," Ciara said with a guilty note to her voice. "Let me know if you find anything else."
Nebulon looked at the dead commlink and smiled before getting back to work with the remaining antiquities.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The sun rose over the jungle as Lexa and Doma jogged to the rise overlooking the ruins. It was Larigo Pack's duty this cycle to guard the tribe's perimeter, and they had drawn the lookout near the old ruins.
Lexa, female, fair-haired ran ahead of Doma, the darker-haired male. Longer-legged and taller than her friend, Lexa thought about slowing her travel to allow him to catch up with her. She didn't for she knew it was a matter of pride for him to keep up with her.
They arrived at the heavy thicket at the top of the rise and took positions where they could watch not only the ruins, but the area to either side. They both reached into their packs and pulled out what could only be described as binoculars, which they used to inspect the space in front of them.
"I heard that Soorta has accepted your invitation to the festival," Lexa said as she put the field glasses away and sat, watching the open area around the ancient structures.
"Yes. It is a great honor. What of you? You're almost of age, has none of the young men asked you?"
"Many have asked, and I have refused all of them," she said, vexed.
"Why? You're strong, agile, and intelligent. You have been chosen by the Crafter to be his apprentice and learn the ancient skills," he said as he held out the binoculars for emphasis.
"I want more. I want to see what's beyond the village. I want to see what's beyond the great jungle. There must be more than birth, coming of age, settling, and death. There must be more."
"It is forbidden to go beyond the jungle." Doma said as they watched the land.
"Why? Why is it forbidden?"
"The same reason why we watch the ruins. Because it's what we do."
"Pah," she replied. Doma ran his clawed fingers gently over the tip of her left ear, causing it to twitch. She swatted him, knowing he was trying to bring her out of her funk. She was about to say something when she saw him tense up and abruptly bring up his binoculars and scan the ruins.
"North side, domed building. Movement," he said quietly.
She brought up her optics and zoomed in on the area he indicated. The top of a circular-shaped structure was rotating back into the ground, revealing a spherical object sitting on top of a long, tapered pole. The sphere seemed to occupy the center of a bowl-shaped depression. As they watched, lightning danced on the strange object. In an instant, a red-orange globe filled the depression. It looked like it was made of fire.
"We must go and tell the Pack Leader."
"No, we need more information,” she said as she reached into her pack and pulled out a boomerang-shaped object which she aimed at the building for a moment before throwing it behind her. It flew off into the distance. "Follow me," she said as she veiled and started down the rise in the direction of the buildings. Without hesitation, Doma veiled and followed her.
###
"What do you mean you have a feeling that something might happen," the Leader asked the Shaman while they walked through the village. Around them the villagers bowed in respect.
"I woke up this morning with a feeling of dread, as when a storm approaches. I can't shake it.”
"Leader, come quickly," a villager said as he ran up while trying to bow at the same time. "A courier landed in the square."
"You have done well. Fetch the pack leaders. Now go," he said as he and the Shaman walked quickly to the square.
"It's Lexa's" the Shaman said when she saw the device.
"The Leader picked up the device and pressed a depression on its top surface. A hologram showing the orb forming amongst the ruins appeared. By then, the pack leaders had arrived.
"That's Lexa and Doma's patrol area," Pack Leader Renta said. "She would not have sent this unless she had a confirmed sighting."
"I want a recon team assembled here in five minutes. I will lead. Renta, send out runners. I need to know the rest of our perimeter is safe."
"Yes, Leader," he said, bowing. He ran to the great hall to gather runners while the other Pack Leaders gathered the reconnaissance team.
###
Lexa and Doma hid within the doorway of one of the ruined buildings and deveiled, as maintaining the camouflage was too energy consuming to perform for long. Now that they were out in the open they could make use of natural cover. Lexa peered around a corner to watch the orb. "So that's what an orb looks like. Much more spectacular than the paintings on the Shaman's wall."
Doma looked as well. "I detect no heat; a cub's first fire would be more satisfying."
"We should move closer," Lexa said. Doma's hand held her back while he pointed at the orb.
"Wait. Something's emerging."
Four silver ball-shaped objects appeared and hovered about two meters off the ground just in front of the fiery orb. Without warning, they flew off, each to a compass point.
Lexa detected a familiar scent and was about to turn when she felt a small touch to her right shoulder. She turned and saw the Leader standing behind her with a recon team behind him. He motioned for them to follow him into a nearby building.
"Report," the Leader said as the recon team kept watch on the orb. Lexa told the Leader what happened while Doma confirmed.
"Blast and damn. You two have done well. I want you bot
h to return to where you were and maintain watch while the team and I check the area. This isn't good," he said as he and the team disappeared out the door.
"I have never seen your father this worried," Doma said.
"Neither have I. Come, we must get back to our position."
An hour passed before a being walked from the orb. She stood just in front of the orb and turned a full three-sixty as she watched. She was tall, with red hair. Since the wind was in their favor, Lexa sniffed. "Interesting, she has a hint of iron. Perhaps she once feasted on blood."
"You are blessed with the best nose in the tribe. I smell only her. She is interesting," Doma said smiling.
Lexa cuffed him. "Shame on you! You’re about to be betrothed. What children would you have with one like her?"
As they watched, the woman spoke at length into a device before putting it away. She stood and waited. There was the sound of thunder as the four spheres returned and flew into the orb. She took one final look around before walking back through the portal. Moments later, it disappeared as the building's roof returned and covered the pit.
The Leader and his recon team appeared from between the other buildings. "We must return to the village. I must confer with the Shaman and the Crafter," he said as he led them out of the ruins.
###
Exactly one week after the dome opened and the orb formed, Lexa and Doma found themselves on the same rise, watching the same buildings. This time, though, it was late afternoon.
Lex was about to ask Doma something, but stopped when she saw the dome retracting again. "Incoming," she said as she watched through her binoculars. “I count one female, three males, and eight that look like guards of some type, gender unknown."
"Confirmed," Doma said. "They're moving through the ruins, going from doorway to doorway."
"It looks like they're going to set up a portable building in the square," Doma said.
"And the guards are patrolling the perimeter. Why don't we go see how good they are?" Lexa said as she veiled.
Shaking his head at what some could construe as Lexa's recklessness, he veiled and followed her.
