The Archeon Codex: Guardians of the Galactic Sentinel Book 2

by Phillip Nolte

  His tablet told him it was only 2045 hours, and he had no choice but to wait. He found the same dim corner booth where he'd met with Sergei two long days ago and ordered a non-alcoholic drink which he carefully nursed while keeping an eye on the door. A real beer would have tasted really good right about then, but Spaski knew even a single drink could take the edge off a man and, right now, he needed his wits to stay as sharp as he could keep them. While he was waiting, he busied himself surfing the newsfeeds on his tablet and making frequent checks towards the entrance. When it got to be 2105 hours, and Sergei hadn't shown up yet, he began to get worried. Getting him and his friends somewhere safe was going to be all but impossible without the help of his former commanding officer.

  He'd told Eva and Bobrik to wait an hour and then find another hiding place. That hour was almost half gone already. Finally, at ten minutes past the hour, Sergei came quietly in with his Oriental friend. The captain glanced around the bar and immediately spotted Spaski back in his corner. Sergei and Won made their way over to the booth and took seats across from the chief.

  "I can't tell you how relieved I am to see you, sir."

  "Sorry to keep you waiting," said Sergei. "There was an altercation down on the docks between the security forces and one of the ship's crews. You can guess who got the better of it. We had to wait for the right opportunity to get around it."

  "That kind of thing is becoming more and more common these days," replied Spaski.

  "So I understand," said Sergei. "Did you have any luck with our project?"

  "Way more than I bargained for," said Spaski, shaking his head. He tapped a few commands into his tablet, found the video of security chief Lipnitsky meeting with the Custodian and handed the tablet to his former captain.

  Sergei handed the tablet back after watching the video, a disgusted look on his face. "It is as we expected," he said. "The New Belgrade authorities are in league with the Custodians. Can I have copies of that?"

  "Of course," replied Spaski, "but that video isn't all we got. We also copied a bunch of classified files, but we haven't had a chance to look at them yet."

  "Good work. How did you manage that?"

  "I went to find one of my men, a computer tech, who'd been falsely arrested. One of his mates came to me and reported that Political Security had come in and dragged him out the bar they were in. When I checked on him, I found they hadn't taken the trouble to process him through the normal channels. I got ahold of a friend who helped me get him out of the brig. When we got to his cell, we found out he'd also been drugged."

  "So you were able to get him out?"

  "Yes, and he hacked into the security system to us get that video. It looks to me like his kidnapping is part of a pattern. Our best techs are being 'transferred' left and right, and we never see or hear from them again."

  "Probably disposing of the personnel who have the expertise to expose them," said Sergei.

  "How much more proof do we need?" asked Won. "We need to get back to the ship, she leaves in three hours. The chief can come with us."

  "We have another problem, sir."

  "What is it?"

  "The political security people are going to find out what happened very soon, if they haven't already, and I do need you to take me with you if you can, but..." He paused for a moment, "...it isn't just me, there's three of us."

  "Who are they?"

  "The tech I rescued and my friend from security who helped me spring him."

  "This complicates matters," said Sergei, "but I doubt the authorities have any idea how much we know or why the security information was taken. Of course you and your friends can come with us. We're going to need all the help we can get in the coming months."

  "Thank you, sir."

  "How long ago did all this happen?"

  "Just over eight hours ago," said Spaski. "Our man is a computer whiz and he did the best he could to cover our tracks, but they have to have techs who are almost as good. It's only a matter of time before they uncover something."

  "We'll have to figure out a way to get the three of you onto the ship without anyone seeing. Where are your friends?"

  "Just a little ways from here, in a brothel."

  Sergei gave his friend a look but said, "Sounds like a good place to hide. It wouldn't draw too much attention if they made an effort to cover their faces as they came out. It could work to our advantage."

  "Good thinking, sir. That gets us out of this area, but how do we get on board the ship?"

  "Maybe I could have my merchant friend bring some dockworker uniforms over to the brothel. Those should get you down onto the docks. Then we'll have the three of you haul some containers onto the ship where we switch you out for real workers."

  It was simple plan, one that didn't have too many moving parts. It would probably have worked, if there hadn't been an abrupt change in the status quo.

  "Uh oh," said Spaski, eyeing the video monitor mounted over the top of the bar.

  "What is it?" asked Sergei, turning to get his own look at the monitor. On the screen were video captures of the three conspirators with their names below the corresponding images.

  "Attention! These three fugitives are wanted by Station Security. If you see any of them, do not approach but contact your nearest Security Office immediately. Subjects are considered to be armed and dangerous." The message began to repeat.

  "Damn," said Sergei, "so much for that plan."

  "I'm sure we can come up with something else, sir."

  Chapter 34. Angle of Attack.

  Deimos, Sol System, October 8, 2676.

  Back within Deimos, spurred on by the progress of the day before, the four symbologists assaulted their task with renewed vigor. Even Arnold, who hadn't had a proper rest in days, was caught up in the new feeling of optimism.

  "After all of you went to bed last night," he said, "I worked some more with Kathryn's idea that the text wraps the around the pyramid. I may have interpreted several of the mystery symbols."

  "Which ones?" asked Kathryn.

  "These two, for starters," replied Arnold, as he brought up the images of two glyphs, one appearing on the first facet and one from the second. Both of the symbols had, so far, eluded all attempts to understand what they meant. "I did just as Kathryn suggested, and I went to a place where I could see two facets at once. The different perspective was most enlightening. She also pointed out the test was intended to be difficult, and there was no reason to believe the rules haven't been changed on us. Look at this..."

  He touched his tablet and the two images slid together to form a new image.

  Those are two half symbols?" said MacPherson.

  "It sure looks like it," replied Arnold. "When you put them together, you get something that seems to make a lot more sense."

  "And, if we put these half symbols in the new context," said MacPherson, "we get a completely new view."

  "Are there others that could be half symbols?" asked Olga.

  "I don't know," replied Arnold. "I was working on it, but I got so tired I fell asleep."

  "What if the entire string of symbols following those two halves are half symbols as well?" suggested Kathryn.

  "And if you put them together..." said MacPherson.

  "...you get the actual phrase!" said Kathryn.

  "Let me see what I can do," said Arnold. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Could someone get me a cup of coffee or something? I need something to wake me up."

  "No problem," said MacPherson. "You take it black?"

  "Normally I do, but a couple of cc's of sucrose would probably do me some good."

  MacPherson left the Sentinel chamber, where they'd all been working, and headed through the Teaching and Learning chamber into the common room. There he set to work getting coffee for his three colleagues and tea for himself.

  Arnold, concentrating on his tablet, displayed the partial phrase from facet two and, directly below it, what he thought was the complementary phrase from facet thre
e. To the amazement of everyone, the new alignment of symbols created a whole new phrase.

  "Look," cried Olga, "Here is symbol for man."

  "And this one is for 'sun' or 'star,'" said Kathryn.

  MacPherson returned to the chamber with a tray full of coffee and tea to find the rest of the crew in the middle of a relieved and mildly exuberant celebration after Arnold's revelation.

  "What did I miss?" he asked.

  Kathryn explained what had just happened.

  "Absolutely superb!" exclaimed the Professor. "Anybody else need something from the common room? I'd be more than happy to fetch it. Seems the last time I left, something very good happened."

  His request was met with laughter from his now rejuvenated colleagues.

  Arnold and the two women gratefully accepted the coffee. While leaning back from the table to savor the brew, he scanned the new list of symbols. He got to the eighth one in line and set his cup down, a look of worried concentration on his face. "Look at this everyone," he said as he highlighted the symbol. "It's another one of the Scarab glyphs. There could be more information about the Custodians in this phrase!"

  Everyone agreed with him, and the mood in the chamber again became subdued as the group worked on the new phrase. Further investigation revealed the phrase just underneath the new hybrid one was also the first half of another new phrase, the other portion of which was also on the third facet.

  "You were absolutely right, Kathryn," said MacPherson. "They did change the rules on us. No wonder we couldn't figure anything out."

  Arnold, concentrating intently on the new material, said, "I really can't take full credit for this discovery," he said. "I just remembered some of this was revealed to me in the dream I had this morning."

  "Maybe you need to have more of those dreams," said MacPherson. "Could you handle that?"

  "I suppose I'll have to," replied Arnold. "Knowing they could provide us with more information may make them a little easier to swallow. You do realize I have absolutely no control over these visions, don't you?"

  "Of course," said MacPherson.

  The group made rapid progress on several of the phrases, the interpretations coming much more easily as they worked with complete symbols and complete phrases. By evening they'd made as much progress as they had during the entire two weeks before.

  "According to this, if we're reading it right, there is indeed another artifact," said MacPherson.

  "Any information on where it might be?" asked Kathryn.

  "Nothing so far," said the Professor. "Perhaps that will be revealed to us when we figure out the proper activation sequence."

  As the night progressed, the group was able to puzzle out more and more of the symbols. Olga identified what everyone agreed were very likely two activation sequences, and Kathryn found two more before they all took a break and headed for the common room to grab some dinner.

  A half hour later, they returned to the Sentinel chamber and resumed working. Shortly afterwards, MacPherson made an announcement.

  "I think I've found the fifth activation sequence!" he said, unable to keep the excitement out of his voice.

  "Show us," said Olga.

  "Right here," said MacPherson, as he pointed out his discovery. These two half symbols mark the beginning of what almost has to be another activation sequence."

  The other three scientists scrutinized the Professor's phrase, and found all of them were in agreement.

  "That's it then?" asked Kathryn.

  "Sure looks like it," said MacPherson.

  "Do we dare to activate it?" said Olga.

  "I think we should wait until the other Representatives return before we do that," said Arnold. "They're supposed to get back sometime within the next couple of days." He shrugged as the others looked at him. "I just have a feeling it's the right thing to do."

  Though their disappointment was obvious, none of his fellow scientists disagreed with the decision. As there was still much that remained untranslated, they still had plenty to do to keep them busy.

  Chapter 35. Change of Plan.

  New Belgrade Orbital Station, October 8, 2676.

  The faces of Spaski, Eva and Bobrik continued to be displayed on the video monitor above the bar in the Iron Maiden. In their booth in the back corner of the bar, Spaski and Sergei looked at one another. "Well now," said Sergei, "this is going to complicate things." He took a moment to think, turning the problem rapidly over in his mind. Finally he said, "It could be worse, at least now we know what they're up to. It just means we have to be a lot more careful." After another short pause, he added, "Take us to your friends."

  The three of them left the bar and made their way down the street and around the corner to the Pink Lady. Spaski nodded at the proprietor as they passed the front desk and led the way back to the room where he knocked softly on the door. "It's me," he said. "I've brought some friends."

  Eva unlocked the door and let them in. The small room had been cramped before, but it was absolutely stuffed with the arrival of two more people. Spaski performed introductions. There was no need to explain the vastly deteriorated situation to Eva and Bobrik. They'd been watching the news video feeds and were well aware their unauthorized activities had been uncovered.

  "Okay, now that we have some idea of what we're up against," said Sergei, "we need to figure out what to do next. Felix? You and Eva are stationed here, what do you suggest?"

  "They'll be watching the docks more closely than ever now," said Eva.

  "I know," said Spaski, "but it doesn't look like they've locked down the port. At least not yet. That means they probably don't know why we busted Bobrik out or what kind of information we've got. We need to move fast, before they dig any deeper. Eva, you've got more experience with security protocols than I do. Where will they not be looking? Where are the holes in their net?"

  "Well," said Eva, after some thought, "none of the new security people have really been tested since all the new restrictions came down. From what I've seen, most of these new people are loyal enough, they're just not very experienced nor are they very imaginative. They'll be looking for people in uniform or someone of our general description disguised as dockworkers.

  "Our original plan isn't going to work," said Sergei. He looked at the two big chiefs and the smallish computer tech and felt an idea take root. An image came to mind of the three security thugs who manhandled Jakob right after Odessa pulled into the docks. Two of them were quite large individuals while the other was on the smallish side. Sergei nodded his head. "What if we got you some Political Corps uniforms? If you were wearing those, regular security people wouldn't mess with you at all."

  "Where are we going to get our hands on something like that?" asked Spaski.

  "I know of some security types who might lend us their uniforms -- if we use the right kind of persuasion. We'll check into it. Meanwhile, you three had better stay here while Won and I head over to the ship. We'll be back for you as soon as we can."

  A half hour later, Jakob Luken was standing on the dock next to the rear cargo bay of Odessa. The ship owner watched the approach of the same trio of racketeers posing as Political Security who had confronted him after he landed just a couple of days ago. The three agents sauntered up to where Jakob was standing next to the open cargo doors of Odessa.

  "Captain Luken," said the leader, "how nice to see you again."

  "Good day, Officer Babkin."

  "I trust your cargo manifests are all in order?" said the little agent, his patently false smile back with a vengeance.

  "Yes except..."

  "Except what, Captain Luken?" The false smile morphed instantly into an accusing glare.

  "I have a shipping crate that was added at the last minute. I need you to take a look at it and sign a release form."

  The glare changed into an oily, avaricious grin. "That's gonna cost you extra, you know."

  "I expected it would," replied Luken. "How much?"

  "Depends on what i
t is. Let's have a look first."

  "This way," said Jakob as he led them up the cargo ramp and into the hold. "That crate over there."

  He led them over to a large rectangular shipping crate with "Fragile" stamped on the sides and stopped about a three meters short of it. "This one," he said.

  The three racketeers moved around Luken to get a closer look at the crate. Two crewmen were just finishing up the process of securing a nearby crate to the deck as the trio approached. Before any of the intruders could figure out they'd been led into a trap, the crewmen -- who were actually Won and Sergei in disguise -- turned as one to confront their designated targets.

  By prior agreement, Won Ling-tsu, who might as well have been a master of Oriental martial arts with all his years of hand-to-hand combat experience, took on the largest of the three men. With no apparent skill or grace, the goon hunched forward and bull-rushed his much smaller opponent. This time, Won held nothing back. After taking a single, graceful step towards the thug, he spun completely around and caught the man with a perfectly-timed, vicious kick to the head. With his adversary momentarily standing upright, stunned, and shaking his head as if to clear it, Won pressed his advantage. Giving the man absolutely no time whatsoever to recover, he seamlessly continued his attack with astonishing grace and precision, delivering a vicious vertical kick, this time to the groin, a kick so powerful it actually lifted the big man up onto his toes. The big agent fell heavily to the floor where he involuntarily scrunched into fetal position and lay groaning in agony.

  Sergei's battle with the other enforcer was still ongoing. Without the sparring he and Won had shared on the way here, he might have been in real trouble. Fortunately, the two thugs had been picked more for their size than their fighting skills -- or their brains. Using the same tactic as the one employed by his colleague, the second goon simply rushed straight at Sergei. Remembering what Won had taught him, the captain dodged deftly to one side and, pivoting as his adversary passed by him, caught the big man with a solid and resounding jab to the side of his head. The thug wheeled clumsily around to face his adversary, his right ear ringing painfully and his balance shaken. Angered by the pain and convinced Sergei's blow had been a lucky fluke, the enforcer tried the same bull-rush tactic a second time with similar results, only this time it was his other ear doing the ringing.