by Frank Carey
"We have photographed it down to the microscopic level and under every wavelength of light from far UV to long IR," Ciara explained. "We're keeping the packing crate in a lab down the hall. You, of course have full access to everything.
"Damn, the detail is incredible," she said as she saw the image of a dust mote fall past her face. She looked closely at the row of ornaments. She was convinced they were controls. She told Ciara.
"We'll see if your hunch is correct."
"Director, we’re ready," the lead scientist said.
"We've rigged what amounts to a robotic arm that will simulate the motion the auction caller made when he hit the sphere in the stadium. The simulation is set up so that the arm's orientation matches his perfectly. Do it," she ordered.
The lead scientist nodded. "Yes, ma’am. Recorders to speed. Cameras to speed,"
One of the techs said, "Synch!"
"Initiate!" the lead scientist said.
The hand touched the row of buttons. There was a flash of light. The device was gone along with a hemispherical piece of floor.
"Playback," Ciara said, "one thousandth speed."
The screens flickered before the scene repeated, this time in slow motion. As they watched, the device was enveloped in a ball of fire the moment the hand touched the controls. The ball or orb was only present for a few frames.
"Contact Space Command and give them the particulars on the tracker tags. We might get lucky."
"Where did it go?" Nebulon asked as she looked down into the holographic pit left by the device.
"Don't know, but it definitely went someplace. The asteroid has less mass which means the floor and sphere didn't just vaporize."
"At least this explains the stadium, but what about Tennosh?"
"The second unit could have been damaged either before being shot or by the bullet itself. I would bet its power source exploded. We'll know more after we get another one to examine. If the robotic hand survived the trip to wherever it went, it's programmed to repeat its motion in exactly one hour. Hopefully that will cause the sphere to return. We've equipped it with cameras and sensors which we hope will record enough information to tell us where it went."
"What next?"
"While we wait, I need you to analyze the crate. You mentioned Erdexi?"
"The Erdexi are an ancient race that lived in the Elspeth Expanse about a thousand centuries ago. We have enough of their written language to translate it, but little is known about them since no one has really traveled into the Expanse to search for what they might have left behind."
"You make it sound like they left."
"That's the current thinking. These spheres are the first real indication that they were highly advanced. I wish I could link the other two artifacts to them."
"Can you translate the glyphs on the sphere? It might help us figure out what its purpose is other than to dig big pits."
"I'll try. First thing is to do a search of the literature."
"Good. I'll leave you to it. Your badge will give you access to all Cube computer systems and databases. Let me know if you need anything. Houser! Take Dr. Blyst to Data Room Three and get her anything she needs."
"Yes, ma'am," the young aide said as he led Nebulon out the door.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Nebulon perched on another chair back, staring at an image on the lab's main view screen. On it was the tablet she last saw several years ago in the far-off museum.
"Computer, list all research concerning the Erdexi for the last ten years."
"Working… There are two hundred fifty-eight papers published on the subject of the Erdexi in the last ten years."
"Display list of titles and primary authors."
"Working… Displayed."
"Excellent. Hmmmm… Retrieve and display paper thirty-eight by Rand Nootra.
"Working… Unable to display. File is unavailable."
"Odd. How about Paper forty-two by Sully Mossberg?
"Working… Unable to display. File is unavailable.
"I do not like this at all. Computer, display all papers."
"Working… Unable to display. Files are unavailable.
"That's insane. Computer, recheck," she said. They showed up in a search yet none were in any database.
"Working… Unable to display. Files are unavailable.
"Blast and damn," she said as she got off the chair and paced the room. There was a knock at the lab door. "Come."
Jason and Nat walked in and looked around. "You okay, Doc? You look agitated."
"I think I'm doing something wrong. Are either you two any good with computers?"
"Nat, here, has been known to make even the most stubborn computer swoon," Jason said as Nat took a bow.
"What do you need, Doc?" she asked.
"The computer says none of these files are available, yet they show up in search," she said as she pointed to the screen. I can't believe they've all gone missing.
Nat sat down and looked at the list and Nebulon's attempts at retrieving them. Squinting at the screen, she started to type commands into the computer at a speed Nebulon didn't think possible. Pages of code appeared and disappeared on the view screen. The room lights dimmed a couple of times.
"Someone has been very busy," Natalie said as she transferred data into Nebulon's datapad.
"What do you mean?" Nebulon asked amazed at what Natalie had found.
"Someone has gone through the system, including the 'secure' Cube database, and systematically erased every copy of those papers. Lucky for us they didn't think to look in the archival storage we maintain in the event of a disaster. I found all your papers, and a few more that were erased before the search engines could catalog them. Copies have been loaded onto your datapad. I've left the InterWeb alone so as not to let the perp or perps know what you're up to."
Ciara burst into the room, obviously perturbed. "Nat, I got your message. Who's been playing with my systems?" she asked.
Nat gave her a run down along with another datapad containing all her findings. "Director, none of this would have cropped up if Nebulon hadn't tried to find information pertaining to the Erdexi. Someone thinks this information is too valuable to share."
"I love you guys, I really, really do. Keep me posted," Ciara said. "By the way, the sphere returned. Complete with its piece of asteroid. They reappeared a few centimeters from where they started, which means it probably has a pre-programmed set of coordinates. The science and engineering types are having a field day. They’re trying to break into the little beast's control systems. They even have a name for it."
"What, pray tell o fearless leader, do we call it?" Jason asked.
"The official name is 'Orb Generator.' I love it." She said as she ducked out the door.
"I think I saw a tear," Jason said as he watched the door close behind her.
"I heard that," came from the hallway, getting a grin from Jason.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Nebulon sat in her office at the museum reading printouts of the papers Natalie had downloaded into her tablet. Each one made reference to the Erdexi in one way or another. Some posited they were cruel conquerors of the region, which had been driven out by the true residents of the Elspeth Expanse, while others posited the Erdexi were the inhabitants which were driven out by some unknown invading force. Unfortunately, there was no mention of any Erdexi advanced tech being found.
As she was about to take a break, she ran across a paper in the League Journal of Mythological Studies which mentioned a story about a magical gateway that could be used to travel across great distances instantly. Though it did not mention the Erdexi by name, it did refer to a civilization of thinkers and scholars who populated a faraway place. She turned the page to find a hand-drawn picture of a large orb surrounding a small sphere. Several figures could be seen entering and leaving the orb. "Hello there, beautiful. Where have I seen you before?" she asked out loud as she ran searches cross-referencing the paper with planets of origin for
the story. She watched as a map formed on a monitor, a map that butted up against the Elspeth Expanse.
Before she could continue her search, she looked out her window and saw a crowd of people pointing toward the roof of her building. There was a knock at her door.
"Come," she said.
The door swung open to reveal Jason surrounded by several museum guards.
"Ma'am, he landed on the roof without permission and blew past reception. He says he works with you," the guard informed her.
"He's mine. Call the Chancellor's office. They will confirm he has a reserved parking space up there."
"Yes, ma'am. Sorry sir, protocol," the guard said as he and the others left.
"Doc, sorry for the short notice…"
"You mean no notice, don't you?"
"Yeah, that too. The Director caught us at takeoff, and told us to get you pronto. We've got a hot one," he said as he handed her a datapad.
She looked at the first page of the report. "You know where we're going?" she asked.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Good," she said as she grabbed him and led him to the elevators.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Nebulon took no notice of the plasma streamers passing her porthole as the Ascendant traveled through FTL space on its way to their assignment. She was too engrossed in the report Ciara had sent her. Jason sat down across from her and just stared.
"What," she asked, looking up from her datapad.
"Just looking to see if you were still breathing."
"Very funny. What's our ETA?"
"Two hours. We'll drop you off at the command ship while we help with search and rescue."
"Anything you can add to this report?" she said as she put the pad down and rubbed her temples.
"Not really. A ship, the League Transport Vessel Transcor, arrived at Constantine Station in route to Talador and docked. During loading, something happened and a seventy-meter diameter, sphere-shaped piece of the station is missing along with the Transcor. Luckily, the station's power core is untouched. Emergency bulkheads reduced lives lost to a minimum."
"The report says thirty known dead. I assume those are the personnel who died outside the orb."
"Correct. At last report, they were still trying to do a head count," he replied
"Hopefully, they will have video footage we can examine," she said.
"Headache, Doc? I can give you something."
"I'm fine, just tension. Thanks for asking, though."
"Let me know if you change your mind. Did you find anything in all those papers Nat downloaded for you?"
She explained what she had found. "I've got to see if I can find any other mentions of this mysterious race referenced in the story. The similarity of the orb in the story with our orb generators could be coincidental. I just need a positive connection."
"Can I see the drawing from the article, the one with the orb?"
She brought it up on a datapad and handed it to him," The people who drew that picture are long dead. They were at the same level of technology as nineteenth century Earth. I'm thinking that the magic reference was designed by the more advance race to minimize cultural contamination."
"Hmmm. It's different than ours."
"How so?"
"The one in the stadium, the one in Laboratory Eighteen, and the one reported at the station, came on momentarily. This one is on long enough for these people to walk in and out of."
Nebulon took the pad and looked at it. "Damn, you're right. How did I miss that? These people are casually taking a stroll into and out of the orb. You don't do that unless someone is controlling the time it stays on."
"What happens if we tie all this to the Erdexi?"
"We'll know a hell of a lot more about them. From the OffSec side, we can narrow the field of suspects to those who have been digging into Erdexi lore. Right now, every black-market collector and supplier is a suspect."
"Interesting. Need help?"
"Always," she said as she handed him a datapad and told him what to look for.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Even from three clicks out and only using their naked eyes, they could see the damage to the station. Like the stadium on Tennosh, it was like someone had used a giant ice cream scoop on it.
Ascendant docked with the League Warship Mercator and offloaded Nebulon before joining the search and rescue operation.
"Dr. Blyst, my name is Quartain, and I am the coordinator for rescue operations. I was asked by Dir. Devlin to assist you with your investigation in any way possible. What do you need?"
"An office with InterWeb access, a computer, and every scrap of data you have concerning the disaster: ship's records, vid feeds, interviews, medical records, crew records, everything."
"This way, Doctor," he said as he led her to an empty office on the edge of the shuttle bay. Within an hour she was deeply at work looking through every piece of data she had requested. With only an occasional break for coffee, food, and a good stretch, she searched for an explanation of what happened. Outside in the bay, ships went and returned with an occasional survivor, but mostly with sadness. Unable to help, she found herself staying in her office for longer stretches of time.
A knock at the door was followed closely by Jason's head poking inside. "How's it going, Doc?" he asked as he surveyed the piles of printouts surrounding her desk.
Nebulon smiled when she saw him, happy that he and Natalie had returned unharmed. "It goes well. How are you two holding up with all this?"
"We're hanging in. It's tough, but worth it when you find a survivor. We've found three, so far. All are well and headed to Sickbay. Find anything?" he asked as he stepped inside the cluttered room.
"Actually, I did. Look," she said as she brought up security footage on the rooms large vid screen. It was from a camera monitoring the berth where the Transcor was docked. It showed a crewman pulling a hover lift up the ships ramp. There were several crates on it, many of which were open. She stopped the feed and used a laser pen to point out the interesting bits. "Computer, zoom in on the area indicated by laser." The computer complied and a familiar shape shimmered into view. It was the power supply she tried to identify when she first started working for OffSec. "Computer, pan right one screen width, same magnification." Now the view was of an open crate containing a sphere like those at Tennosh. "Now, watch," she said as she resumed vid playback.
As they watched, the hover lift got stuck, so the operator tried to jerk it free. The crate containing the sphere fell off and landed on its side, with the sphere rolling out. Its row of control buttons stopped it from rolling far. There was a flash, then nothing.
"You're kidding me. Doesn't it have any safety interlocks?" Jason said, disgusted.
"The crates have the same glyphs. They look to be the same age. I'm convinced they came from the same source, and the glyphs suggest they’re Erdexi in origin. I'm going to surmise that the Erdexi were more advanced technologically than the League, even though they're from a thousand centuries in the past."
"So, this is like leaving a fully-charged and activated blaster in a cave to be found a thousand years later?"
"Yes. Or, as Ciara suggested, like leaving a live nuke to guard a Pharaoh. All of these Erdexi artifacts need to be treated as being extremely toxic. We need to find their source and shut it down."
"I'm with you, Doc, one hundred percent."
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Upon her return from Constantine Station and debriefing, Dir. Devlin called Nebulon down to her office to discuss a pending personnel matter.
"Dr. Blyst, come in and have a seat. I called you down here to offer you a job."
"I already have a job."
"Not like this one. You've been working with Jason and Natalie. What do you think of them?"
"They're great. Both seem to know what they're doing and even what the other is doing. They make a great team."
"And there lies the rub. According to Cube regulations, they're not a team. The
y're missing a key member: the team leader."
"Isn't Jason the leader?"
"No. He's the pilot and Nat is his co-pilot. They need at least one more person to keep everything running smoothly, and I think that would be you."
"I still don't understand what I'd be doing."
"Every survey team has from three to eight members, one of which is the Leader. The leader coordinates missions and acts as a liaison between their team and the rest of the Cube. They're also responsible for such mundane things as keeping bourbon stocked in case I visit."
"So, why me?"
"You're smart and used to running small research groups. You also have extremely valuable skills that OffSec needs now that it's moving into more closely monitoring the antiquities black market. You couldn't be more perfect for the job."
"What about my position at the museum?"
"We've talked to them. They will list you as being on indefinite sabbatical. We thought you wouldn't mind if they moved Jen into your current position. Are you interested, Doctor?"
"Wow. Yes, thank you. I accept."
"Great. Let me have a thumbprint here," she said as she handed Nebulon a datapad. Nebulon pressed her thumb in the spot indicated. "Good. Now get down to the shuttle bay. Jason has your briefing waiting."
When she found the Ascendant, Jason and Natalie was already prepared for launch and waiting for her. "Doctor, glad you could join us. Let me take your bag," he said. After stowing her gear, the three of them sat down at the cabin table and discussed their mission.
"Doc, the League has lost a ship, and we’re being sent out to find out what happened."
"Isn't this a job for Space Command?"
"Normally, yes, but this ship, the LTV Ionis, was carrying a group of xenoarchaeologists and their students to an extended dig complete with tools and supplies for several weeks. They were heading to a planet in the Elspeth Expanse. Space Command got a call from a worried parent who can't seem to get a call through to their kid. SpaceNet tried to get through without success, so now they're worried, but don't have any Search & Rescue assets available due to the Constantine Station disaster. Ciara decided to volunteer us."
