“You can identify hyperphasic frequencies?”
“I am a 9G-x, sir, with a ScanField-3 sensor array at his disposal. Of course, identifying hyperphasic frequencies isn’t a function the Benevolence gave me. I taught myself how to do it based on common scientific knowledge and meticulous calibrations. A 9G quantum processor can get a lot done during one hundred and eighty-seven years of spare time.”
“You are full of surprises.”
“Far more than you might imagine, sir.”
“So how do I get to this other hyper dimension?”
“I’m not sure that you can, sir. Perhaps the Krixis insurgents who attempted to enter this place knew how to, but I have been unable to figure out a method, despite pondering the problem over the last nineteen decades.”
“Surely not through the use of a stardrive…”
“Certainly not, sir.”
“Where’s the energy source you’re detecting located?”
“Within the other dimension, sir.”
Gav considered his imperfect and basic knowledge of how hyper dimensions worked. It wasn’t a subject that had ever held much interest to him, so he knew only as much as any other well-educated citizen. And to be fair, scientists only had a basic, working understanding of other dimensions.
“Is that possible?”
“Not according to what we know, sir. So, bottom line, we have at least learned something here.”
“Yeah, great.” Gav plopped down onto the platform and hunched his shoulders, as if the weight of all his fatigue had finally caught up to him. He ran his hands through his hair and sighed deeply. “So all of this effort, the risks I took, the fact the Krixis in orbit might kill me and my team… It was all for naught.”
“Do you still have companions elsewhere on the planet, sir?”
“Three of them, waiting in a starship under the ocean. Sorry, I didn’t think to fill you in on how I got here.”
“Understood, sir. I boosted my signal when I detected your ship in orbit, but I didn’t want to waste energy on a thorough scan. I’m not sure how we’ll get you out of the tunnels, sir, but I’m certain I can save your companions.”
“I hope so. I got them into this mess.”
“As long as they have enough food, sir.”
“They do.”
“The Krixis consider this temple and the tunnels sacred. They are not going to venture down here. The guardians, I think we stand a good chance of keeping them at bay. But as long as the Krixis up top know you’re down here, they can wait on the surface. Eventually, you’ll either starve or give up and go onto the surface.”
“Where they’ll kill me.”
“Exactly, sir.”
“So how do we save my friends?”
“First, we need to make sure they remain unseen. I suspect the Krixis are detecting their presence. They just can't pinpoint their location. But it’s only a matter of time. However, I think I can keep them hidden, so that the Krixis won’t likely find them.”
“How?”
“A set of frequencies, sir, that will match this planet’s electromagnetic field and the electrical currents within the ocean. I spent quite a while here. I know this planet, and I learned a good deal about hiding from Eyana.”
“Won’t the Krixis pick up on us trying to contact them?”
“Secure military channel, sir. That’s how we do it.”
“The Outworld Ranger isn’t a military ship.”
“That’s cute, sir. All Benevolency ships have this capability.”
“Huh.”
“I’m going to need you to pretend you don’t know about that if we get out of here. It’s classified.”
“Done. Open the channel when you’re ready.”
“Not that simple, sir. It’s text only. I’ll send them the instructions, along with everything else we know about this situation.”
“How long will they have to wait?”
“Only a few weeks or months longer that it would reasonably take you to starve to death down here.”
“Comforting. Let them know that. Also, tell them I’m sorry.”
Gav fidgeted for a minute while Silky sent the data along.
“Message sent and acknowledged, sir. They are broadcasting the frequency and shifting their position to a lower depth. A Mr. Tonis says you’re a crazy bastard but wishes you luck and says, along with the others, that he hopes you make it out.”
Gav nodded. If his crew survived, that would ease his conscience. Leaving a ten-year-old son behind without a father or mother didn’t make him feel any better. Sure, he was gone on expeditions much of the time, but when he was home researching and lecturing, he spent as much time as possible with the boy. And eventually, he’d be able to bring Siv along with him.
Gav lifted the amulet by the cord and stared at it. “Well, if we do get out of here somehow, at least I got one artifact for my troubles.”
“And you rescued me, sir. I suspect there will be a substantial reward for doing so.”
“One can hope. Expeditions like this aren’t cheap.”
Holding the amulet up by the cord with his left hand, he lowered it into the palm of his right.
As soon as the ceramic touched his skin, a ghostly image appeared.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Gav Gendin
A faint green halo shimmered around the translucent woman standing at the entrance to the temple. She appeared to be in her mid-thirties, with a muscled build, purple hair, a round face, and deep-set eyes. She was wearing the same advanced combat gear he was currently wearing. He had seen her before in the tunnels.
“Silky? Do you…do you see this? Or am I hallucinating?”
“Sir, I have no idea what you are talking about.”
The woman smiled faintly at him as she walked toward him, but said nothing.
Timidly, Gav spoke to her out loud. “Hello?”
“Sir? Are you okay?”
Gav simply nodded, which was a poor way to respond to a chippy. “I guess.”
“Why do I feel I’m going to be asking you that a lot?”
She smiled again but still didn’t speak. Perhaps she couldn’t, though he didn’t see why not. Shouldn’t his hallucinations be able to better communicate with him?
“Can you show me an image of Eyana?”
“Yes…I can, sir. But why?”
“Just do it.” An image popped up into his HUD, confirming his suspicions. “It’s her. Eyana’s ghost is here.”
“Oh.” The chippy sounded odd, almost grief stricken, for a brief moment. Then it continued normally. “What is she doing, sir?”
Right. Silky couldn't record what he couldn't see. If Gav wanted any record of this, he’d have to dictate it as it happened.
Spirit Eyana stepped onto the platform and knelt before the pedestal. She pressed a seemingly random spot on its base. A tiny drawer extended outward. She removed a ghostly copy of the amulet he was still touching and dropped it into the drawer, which then slid back into the base.
She winked at him then disappeared.
Gav told Silky what he’d seen.
“Is this seeing visions something you can normally do?”
“Nothing mystical has ever happened to me before. Well, I did see her earlier, in the tunnels. But that was different, just random glimpses of…” He found himself hesitant to say “her death” to the chippy. For some reason it felt insensitive, even though he knew perfectly well that chippies didn’t have emotions. Then again chippies didn't normally last centuries or identify hyperphasic frequencies either. “…what happened to the two of you, before she died? It was random and chaotic. This was calm and directed towards me. This vision was clearly telling me something.”
“We know ghosts aren’t real, sir. So what you saw out in the tunnel earlier must have been some sort of echo created by hyperphasic energies leaking out from the temple.”
“And what I just saw?”
“I think, sir, that must be the amulet’s doi
ng. Eyana was the last to touch it, so the amulet simply used her form to communicate with you.”
“Is the amulet alive?”
“No, sir. I can detect nothing at all unusual about it. According to my scans it is exactly what it looks like. There is, however, significantly advanced Ancient technology connected with this temple. Appearances can be deceiving and, in this case, definitely are.”
Gav touched the base where Eyana had in the vision. A drawer popped out. He held the amulet over the drawer but didn't let go.
“Sir, I don’t think you have any option other than to follow the vision’s instructions. Worst case scenario nothing happens. In which case you might starve to death down here, depending on how persistent and patient the Krixis starship captain up top is. Best case is you learn something awesome that gets us both out of this mess.”
“I guess you're right.”
He sighed and dropped the amulet into the drawer, which snapped shut. Vertigo tossed his senses into a blender. Bright colors wavered around him as he fell over and vomited what little remained in his stomach onto the floor. He could feel himself shifting, as if he were going into hyperspace or wraith space, but this experience was not nearly so tidy as having a hyperdrive whisk you between dimensions. It was more like a sinister amusement park ride.
The sensation stopped abruptly. Wiping his chin, he sat up and looked around. A smile spread across his face. He was in the other dimension.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Gav Gendin
Despite the lingering sickness from being thrust between dimensions, Gav grinned. Even from his position on the stone floor he could see two perfectly preserved Ancient artifacts. A gleaming, meter-tall, titanium canister stood on the pedestal in front of him, and beyond it sat a padded chair, not unlike the command chair on the Outworld Ranger. There might be more, but he was far too dizzy to get up and look around.
The columns still lacked detail, and the space as a whole remained lifeless and unadorned. It had clearly been constructed as a place of necessity with no need for decoration. So it wasn’t a temple as he had originally thought but probably something more like a military outpost, especially given how difficult it was to access. Which meant that the canister on the pedestal was probably…
“Silky, is that the weapon?”
“On the pedestal? I believe so, sir. I recommend avoiding it. I have no idea how it works or what might set it off.”
“Oh, I’m not touching that thing. I don’t even want to look at it. That’s the one piece of Ancient technology I have absolutely no interest in examining.”
“Not even a little, sir?”
Gav fought back a fresh wave of dizziness as he responded. “I’m reckless—clearly. That’s how I ended up trapped here, facing an almost certain death just for a glimpse of an Ancient temple. But I’m not stupid.”
“Is that so, sir?”
“For all I know a weapon like that is what wiped out the Ancients and it’s why we can hardly find any trace of them.”
“Your restraint is wise, sir. Very wise.”
And painful. Saying he was uninterested was a blatant lie, but a Services agent had died to protect this thing. He had no intention of invalidating her sacrifice. Gav frowned.
“You know, you never explained exactly why Eyana died to protect this.”
“I thought it was obvious, sir. It’s a terrible weapon of unknown power.”
“I get that much, but does the Benevolence know about this? Is knowledge about the Ancients being kept from us?”
“I do not think the Benevolence knows about this, sir. If it’s keeping knowledge of the Ancients away from you, then it’s doing the same to me. That’s not me keeping secrets classified bullshit. It’s honesty.”
“Okay, then, but the Krixis seem to be the ones protecting this system. So why did I see Eyana fighting Krixis in the tunnels?”
“Ah, well that’s the thing, sir. The Krixis are protecting it. This is a sacred system to them, to be protected at any cost. But Eyana happened upon a group of Krixis insurgents hellbent on using the weapon to destroy the Benevolency. She destroyed their ship and killed the last of their crew here, but…” Silky’s voice caught a moment “…her injuries were too great and she couldn’t make it out.”
“So the Krixis have access to a weapon that could destroy us, yet they choose not to use it? Even though we’ve defeated them in four wars now.”
“The weapon is meant for the great enemy, the Ones from the Dark, according to Eyana’s translation of their thought language. And they think using it against us would be…unethical.”
“Sweet ‘Nevolence. The Krixis have a weapon they won’t use because they think it’s unethical? Have you seen some of the tactics they use?”
“I have, sir. Firsthand. Did you say four wars?”
“Oh, you missed two while you were trapped down here. One major, the other minor, more of a skirmish really.”
“I have a lot of catching up to do, I’m sure.”
The weapon might be off-limits, but there had to be other treasures here. Gav took a deep breath and rolled, as smoothly as possible, up to kneel on the floor. The room spun around him. He caught himself with his hands and dry heaved.
“Are you okay, sir? Your vitals are all over the place.”
“This sensation…it’s what I’d imagine a rough jump into wraith space would be like.”
“That doesn’t sound pleasant, sir. Eyana couldn’t go into wraith space without getting sick, because of her empathic ability. Do you have any empathic ability? That could be making things worse.”
The room continued to swim around him, so Gav closed his eyes. Only that resulted in twirling afterimages and didn’t make him feel any better.
“They tested me when I was little. Second generation, advanced.”
“That’s probably not enough to cause these symptoms. But it could certainly make you more sensitive, and it might explain why you saw hyperphasic echoes in the tunnels. Hopefully, it will pass soon, sir.”
Gav groaned. To be this close to what should be a treasure trove of Ancient artifacts and be stymied by hyperphasic sickness was excruciating. He stopped. This wasn’t the time to wallow in his pain. He had an advanced chippy with access to a scanning array. He could find out what was in here without moving a muscle. Of course, that would ruin the surprise, cheating him out of the thrill of that moment of discovery.
He opened his eyes, saw swirling lights, and fought back another wave of nausea. If this sickness didn’t pass, he wouldn’t have much chance to study them anyway, so he might as well have Silky do a preliminary scan so he could start cataloguing and prioritizing what was here.
“Silky, I don’t want to wait until I’m able to get started. Tell me about all the new objects here.”
“You mean the weapon and the chair, sir?”
A sense of dread gnawed at him. “Yes and…and anything else…”
“Sorry, sir, but that’s it.”
Tears stinging his eyes, Gav curled into a ball. A chair, a bloody chair and a weapon he didn't dare touch? That was what he’d risked everything for?!
“I think they intended to do more with this outpost, sir. Only they must not have ever had the chance.”
“Or someone else…cleared it out.”
“I guess the Krixis could have done so, sir.”
The tiny drawer on the base of the pedestal popped open again. Gav glanced at it, then curled back up.
“Sir, the amulet might help with your symptoms. It is what got you here, after all.”
With a half-shrug, Gav sat up and withdrew the amulet. The drawer clicked shut. He looped the amulet over his neck. His vertigo and the lights dancing in his vision improved immediately. His hyperphasic sickness continued, but he no longer wanted to die just to end the experience.
“It’s…helping.”
“Excellent news, sir.”
“Can you do another scan on the room…as thorough as possible…just
in case.”
“You want me to conduct a level five scan.”
“Are you asking me?”
“Telling, sir. You’re new to this. Level five is the highest setting, and it’s more sensitive than…well, probably any of the equipment you normally use. It drains a lot of power, though”
“Impressive.”
“I try to be, sir. The scan is now in progress.”
“Good.” He started to sit up, but the nausea returned. “I’m going to rest while you do the scan. Hopefully, the amulet will continue…”
A ghost, its form humanoid but otherwise too vague to decipher, fluttered past him.
“…to reduce the symptoms so…”
A faint, lyrical voice whispered. He glanced around but couldn’t identify the source. The words were musical but nonsensical. He listened closely, but after a minute the voice faded away.
“Did you hear that?”
“Hear what, sir?”
“Someone speaking. A woman, I think.”
“I didn’t detect any sounds in the room, sir. Was it another vision?”
“I don’t know.”
Gav sat up, head spinning, and glanced around. He didn’t see any other ghosts, but the room itself seemed to be filling with mist, and a pulsing sound, like an alarm, echoed in the distance.
The hyperphasic sickness had not gone away. The amulet had just altered it. Silky didn’t mention mists or alarms sounding, so he assumed it was all in his head. He curled back up, focused his mind on a spot right in front of his nose, and took deep breaths.
“Sir, have you given any thought to how to get out of here?”
“I figured I’d trigger the drawer again and put the amulet inside.”
“And if reversing the process that got you here doesn’t work, sir?”
“Then you’ll probably spend a few more centuries awaiting a rescue.”
“That, sir, would suck Krixis balls.”
“Do they have balls?”
“Pinecones.”
“They have…what?!”
“Little ones, I suspect. Probably more acorns than anything.”
Forbidden System: A Benevolency Universe Novel (Fall of the Benevolence Book 1) Page 16
