Eleven moons, a sight to reap,
When all align, no time for sleep
A shaft of light, where the ions flow
Onto the shroud, the glow does go.
When one beholds the moons of orn,
Be sure to look up at the horn.
The crescent marks the spot to be
When the time strikes keen and on the mark
And when you read the map of gold
In your hands you’ll graciously hold
The elixir of life
The holy grail
The reason we’re on
The rising trail.
Giles rubbed his chin. “It’s that first verse. No time for sleep… so that’s something to do with the dead, I’m sure.”
Arlene nodded. “Right. So where is the burial site then?” She looked around, turning on the spot as if trying to orientate herself with a map.
Giles shook his head. “I can’t figure it out.” He paused. “But then there is the shaft of light where ions flow. And then reference to the shroud. I think we’ve got to find where there is a casket or something, and it needs to be outside, or at least have access to the light like our little cavern did back there, so their ion stream can get in.”
Arlene’s furrowed brow was getting more pronounced by the second. “But that assumes that we’re here at the time of whatever alignment this is.”
Giles was deep in concentration. “We need a simulation of that rosette thingy that Scamp was on about. Can you message him and get him to render something for us?”
Arlene was already tapping a message to Scamp. “Sure.”
“Those ions have to be coming from somewhere,” he told her confidently. “But my bet is that it only happens very rarely. The chance that we’re here at the right time is pretty slim.”
Arlene looked up from her holo. “Okay. He’s working on it. Shouldn’t be long.”
Giles grunted and ventured deeper into the hall. “This place is really an engineering feat,” he mused. “To think that someone could build all this, on a planet with no atmosphere, and yet have it protected from the cosmic erosion.” He shook his head in disbelief and wandered over to the altar in the middle of the room.
“What is it?” Arlene asked, noticing his attention had been pulled.
“I think this is the burial piece.”
“The altar?” she checked. “That would be… odd.”
Giles nodded. “Unless it’s not an altar,” he mused. He examined the whole piece, running his finger over patterns and inscriptions and images.
“You know,” he said, pulling at a ledge carved into the wooden construction. “I think this is just a shell.”
He pulled again, and it moved. “Hey, give me a hand with this, will you?” he called to Arlene.
Arlene was by his side in an instant and helping him to lift what was turning out to be a cover.
They hauled the slab of wood off askew and peered into the alter-sized box.
Below there was a force-field.
Inside the force field, there was the talisman.
Arlene went to reach for it, but Giles grabbed her hand. “Wait!” he said anxiously. He looked around the ceilings around them. “If we didn’t have the poem, that’s what we’d be… like tomb raiders.”
Arlene pulled her arm back. “Yeah, I was expecting the force field might also kick me back,” she explained. “But I wanted to try.”
Giles nodded. “Yeah, but if that force field is disturbed there’s no telling what it might set off.”
“You’re thinking boobie traps?” she asked, her eyes wide with excitement more than fear.
“Yeah,” Giles confirmed, his eyes giving away how excited he was too. “Of a scale we can’t imagine right now.” His eyes started scanning the ceiling to confirm his idea.
The pair backed away from the altar.
Just then Arlene’s holo beeped. She glanced down. “It’s Scamp with the model.”
Giles turned to her, and stepped down away from the altar. “Great. Let’s have a look.”
Arlene hit the button and pulled up a three-dimensional rendering of the systems they were in, the eleven moons all held in a perfect complex orbit around each other.
“He’s marked on where they are now, and given us a run time to watch the system evolve.” She hit ‘RUN’ and the moons danced around in a complicated formation.
Giles watched, his eyes darting from following one track to another. When it had finished, he asked for her to repeat the simulation again.
Then again.
And again.
After several replays, he had a thought. “What was it Scamp said about our moon moving out of reach of the nearest star, so being shielded from the radiation, hence the big freeze?”
Arlene’s eyes lit up. “That needs to go into the model!” she exclaimed excitedly. Immediately she messaged Scamp back. “Okay,” she confirmed after a moment, “he’s working on it.”
Minutes later they had a second model, this time including the radiation from the distant stars that could possibly affect the array.
“There!” Giles pointed excitedly, spotting the moment when the moon emerged out of the shadows of three of the other larger ones.
“What happened?” Arlene asked, running the program back again to replay it. She played it again, and then she saw it.
Giles bobbed his head, pleased as punch. “Something to do with the way the radiation hits the moon again, and spikes through the force field. It acts like an artificial atmosphere that then channels that sudden flash of radiation through this area on the surface here,” he said pointing. “My guess is that we’re slap bang on this line of radiation when that happens when the moon comes into alignment with the star.”
Arlene looked up at him. “And this temporarily disables the force field?”
Giles nodded.
Arlene frowned looking at the model again. “But, doesn’t this mean we’ve already missed it? That leading edge of radiation?”
Giles put one hand on his hip, still looking at the paused simulation. “Yeah, it does,” he agreed. He ruffled his hair in frustration. “It would have happened when we were sleeping in the cavern, waiting for the freeze to break.”
Arlene’s eyes widened. “Like the poem said, no time for sleep. Maybe they weren’t referring to a burial place?”
Giles eyes flicked up as he considered the option. Then he began nodding slowly. “Yep. Yep. You could be right.”
Arlene’s eyes drooped a little as she went back to the simulation. “So then? What are we going to do?”
Giles sighed. “Well, unless there is another point at which we get that ion blast, I wonder if we can get Scamp to simulate it.”
He went back to inspecting the cavern ceiling. “The ions must have an entry point somewhere…”
“Hey,” he spun round, thinking of something new. “See if you can have Scamp locate us and then scan the area, taking into account the angle those ions would have been coming in from. That would narrow it down. And then he just has to overload this force field down here in the same way he did when we were outside the planet.”
Arlene looked skeptical. “Seriously? You think that’ll work?”
Giles shrugged, pushing his bottom lip out. “You wanna spend another god knows how long here in this chamber, waiting for that freeze to cycle round again?”
Arlene grinned. “I’ll get right on it,” she said quickly.
Giles smiled, hoping his idea was plausible and not just some fantastical wish of a rogue archaeologist.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Aboard the Flutningsaðili, Level 4, Restricted Access Area
Dr. Brahms looked up at the vent as Sean stood on the desk fiddling with the screws. “Are you sure that we’re all going to fit through there?”
Sean glanced down at the rather bulky old man and then back up at the vent. “Should do,” he gruffed. “Though, whether the vent will hold our weights is another matter.”
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He glanced over at Anne, Maya, and Lara. “The girls will probably be okay. We should let them go first, just in case we break it, cutting them off.”
He passed his key card to Anne. Anne studied it, carefully avoiding eye contact. “Here, you take this,” he told her gently. “We’ll send you through first. We’ve got a friend who is getting into the computer system on this ship as we speak. Once he has access he’ll be able to let you through any door with that card. We’ve got another friend, Brock, who is going to get us a ship on level…?”
He looked out across the room, now talking on his audio connection with his friends, who seemed to be coming to do the rescuing. “Pieter, what level was it again?”
Sean’s eyes were on Anne and Lara. “Level 1. Top of the ship. You get to there, find him on the hangar deck, and he’ll get you to safety. If we can follow, we will,” he added, glancing over at Dr. Brahms.
Anne closed her hand around the card and nodded. Without saying a word she slipped it into her pants pocket.
Sean went back to the vent and finished taking out the last screw. The vent cover hung down, leaving the mouth open.
Anne heard footsteps. She noticed that Sean’s head turned just a fraction of a second before she registered the sound. For a second she wondered if he was like her.
He jumped off the table and moved it away from where it was obvious what he had been doing. The lights started coming on through the crowded warehousing area.
Sean looked over at Anne and Lara. “Okay, remember what we talked about. Girls, as soon as you get the chance, we’re putting you in there. Maya,” he added, “if you go with them, they’ll have a better chance.”
Maya nodded, then turned her attention to the oncoming footsteps moving closer to the glass door.
There was only one set, though.
Anne stayed back, but she could see it was a woman who was rounding the corner and approaching their meeting-room prison.
Maya was already at the window to greet her. “Hi Griselle, what are you doing here?” she called out brightly.
This was probably one of her teammates, Anne reasoned. The woman was human, and walked with the confidence of someone who was physically very capable. She looked fit and toned, and Anne would bet from the way she walked she would be able to give most fighters a run for their money.
She put that together with the military demeanor of the man, Sean, and deduced they were probably both part of a military team.
The newcomer headed straight for the access panel to the room. “You know the code?” she asked, looking up through the glass at Maya and Sean.
“No, they don’t,” a bone chilling voice came from behind her. “But I do…”
The new human female spun around to see a figure emerging from the shadows. It was the boss person. The same person who was likely responsible for them being here.
“Time to let them go, Pike,” she instructed with authority. “We have a truce. Our people are coming to get us.”
Pike must be the name of this boss man, Anne realized.
He shook his head. “They may be on their way, and yes, we did agree on an unsatisfactory truce. And once they are here they too will become subject to our containment methodology.” A smirk spread across his smarmy lips.
The fighter woman took a step towards him.
Suddenly a dozen of his security guards stepped out from the shadows of the heavy equipment in the room. They came forward, their weapons weighing heavy in the consciousness of the prisoners.
She frowned. “So you plan to kill us all?”
The man smiled as he played with a key card in his hand. “Kill is such an archaic and brutal word, don’t you think? I’m merely taking the necessary action to secure the interests of my client.”
His holo beeped and he glanced down at the screen. “And there they are now. Right on schedule.”
He looked back at her. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to go and tend to something, but I’ll be back shortly.”
He waved at a couple of the guards to watch her, and then withdrew, taking another two of his security detail with him.
There was a sudden flurry of activity in the meeting room. Jack spun round, looking in, still unable to get through the door.
“Okay, now,” Sean said quietly to Anne.
Sean moved the desk back under the vent and was up on the table, pulling Anne up with him.
The security personnel came forward. “Stop. What are you doing?” she heard them protesting.
But it was too late. Sean had already lifted her up like she was nothing but a rag doll and placed her into the vent. Anne took hold of the sides of the duct and pulled herself over the ledge and inside. Her heart was pounding, and there was clearly a scuffle going on beneath her.
“Go!” Sean shouted out to her. Without thinking or looking back, her survival instincts kicked in and she started moving, the commotion of the room behind her.
She could hear people and furniture being moved around, but not gunfire. She scrambled on as quickly as she possibly could, trying to recall the instructions.
Level 1, at the top, she repeated to herself. She needed to move upward through the floors. And she had no idea how far down she was right now. If she could just get away to the next floor she might be able to poke her head out and get her bearings.
Anne scrambled on, trying to be as quiet as possible, to not draw attention. The vents were filthy and her hands were already black from dust and dirt. Breathing wasn’t pleasant either, but at least she could do something now. At least she wasn’t trapped. She was free.
And she had someone who was going to help.
Another human, called Brock. On Level 1.
Get to Brock, she told herself. And maybe it was going to be all okay…
Aboard the Scamp Princess
Beno’or sat at the pilot’s console, listening intently to the conversation between Arlene and Scamp. He’d worked with AIs of a sort back on Kurilia, but the way Scamp operated, practically thinking for himself, was beyond anything their AIs had evolved into.
No wonder Molly’s crew had been so damn effective, he thought to himself, recalling the help she had given in dealing with their rogue military commander, who had tried to start a galactic war.
Arlene’s voice lilted over the intercom. “So you think it is possible?”
“Should be,” Scamp told her. “It’s how we overloaded the initial force field. It’s the same technology and it would have to be working at the same frequency in order for the force field to boost the radiation to the right wavelength for it to disable the second shield in your tomb.”
Arlene seemed satisfied. “Great. I’ll let Giles know and we’ll make preparations down here.”
Scamp was already running calculations on a screen in front of Beno’or. “Okay. I just need to see if we can stream enough radiation in a narrow enough beam to make it work.” Scamp went quiet for a moment. “And then we need to find the entry point,” he added.
“Okay,” Arlene confirmed. “Well, let us know if we can help with anything. Or if we need to get out of the way.”
“Of course,” Scamp replied. “I’ll be in touch shortly.”
The intercom went dead.
Scamp’s screens were filled with maps and calculations and feedback data on the weapons system. Beno’or watched, amazed at the capacity for so many simultaneous, self-directed calculations.
“Anything I can help with?” he asked after a few moments.
“Actually, yes,” Scamp replied politely. “I may need some organic interaction to correct for the high noise to signal ratio on the scans of the rocky surface so we can pinpoint where this radiation stream needs to be directed.”
“Absolutely. Just point me in the right direction,” Beno’or said, sitting upright in his antigrav chair, readying himself for business.
“Okay,” Scamp replied. “Let me locate them using their holos and then I’ll give you an image of the surrounding area to lo
ok at for me.”
Within moments new holoscreens flashed up in the console space in front of Beno’or.
“Here we go,” Scamp told him. “And while you do that, I need to discharge the weapons we’ll use. I need to see if I can get this modulation correct and with a small enough beam.”
Beno’or had started scanning examining his screens. “What does that mean?” he asked, not fully understanding what Scamp was telling him.
“It means,” Scamp explained, appearing on a holoscreen next to his console unit, “that I need to get out over some deserted area to test it. So we’ll be in flight for a little while.”
Beno’or relaxed. “Okay by me, Scamp! This is quite the machine. I’d be interested to see what you can do.”
Scamp smiled on the visual-render of his simulated entity-self. “Right on. Let’s do this!” His smile dropped and his expression became serious sudden. “Though, you might want to buckle up your harness.”
Beno’or took the suggestion seriously. He’d learned what that meant. He immediately stopped what he was doing and scrambled to put his harness on and get it buckled up before Scamp powered up the engines and took the ship into flight.
Aboard the Flutningsaðili, Hangar Deck, Level 1
“Since when do we leave people behind?”
Anne could hear a human voice just ahead of her through the vent exit. She wondered if it was the Brock human she had been told to meet with.
There was quiet, then the voice spoke again. “What if I were to just stay, and you guys go on ahead? I’ve got a vessel. I can catch up.”
She guessed the person was having a conversation on a holo connection or something. He huffed in frustration. Anne scooted forwards to see him through the vent. She saw him put his hands up to his face and started pacing. He looked agitated, like he was in a pressured situation.
She felt confident it was probably him. Brock.
And he would be waiting for her.
She pushed forward quietly to get a better look, but her foot slipped and she tilted forwards down the duct, making a clatter.
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