"I still don’t know what you mean."
You will. Do you accept?
Jane looked at me. I nodded.
"I do."
Energy poured into the connection between us.
In my mind, on a beach a long way away, the twins were standing naked in shallow water. They froze, and together, turned in our direction.
"Jane?" said Amanda.
"Jon?" said Aleesha.
The four of us stood at the head of a triangle table. I'd been here before. The twins were clothed I was relieved to see.
Twelve beings materialized to our left. Kali, Ganesha, and a multitude of beings appeared on our right, who I knew were Ascended Masters, and the Entities we had just communed with. Across from us were the ArcAngels.
The sword materialized on my back.
Nothing was said. Nothing happened.
And suddenly, we were back where we had been all along. I opened my eyes, and let go of Jane's hands.
"Jon?" said Amanda, connecting through ship coms.
"Yes?"
"What was that? We just came to on a beach, with Annabelle telling us they'd been trying to revive us for the last thirty minutes."
I checked the time. We had indeed been gone for thirty minutes.
"We'll talk about it later. All is fine. We encountered something unexpected, and it seems the two of you were drawn into it through your connection with me."
"We'll hold you to that," said Aleesha, and the channel closed.
Jane was standing there with a look of amazement on her face. She ran her hands over her suit body, switched rapidly to a belt, and stood there naked. But not naked metal. She looked human.
I stared at her in surprise.
"No," she said. "I'm not human. You remember that sci-fi character who was an android, who wanted to be human?" I nodded. "Well I've been trying to figure out how to make a body like his. I think they just gave it to me."
Her body was exactly like I'd seen her suit body look on the few times I’d seen her fully naked. I held my arms out, and we hugged for a good long time.
"I see your new body is anatomically correct."
She actually blushed. And quickly shifted her belt back into 'slinky red'. I couldn’t help laughing, and she joined me.
"Let's find this gift below, shall we?"
"I know exactly where it is."
She led the way back into the Mole, and instead of taking off, she fired thrusters to make it stand on its nose. The drill started up, and down we went.
It wasn’t very far down, before we entered a cave, and literally fell in. Jane stopped the drill, and the Mole dropped nose first to the ground below, and fell over on its side. As it fell, Jane tweaked the thrusters so the hatch was on the side, and it would be easy for us to get out.
She led the way out into the dark, lit only by the light coming through the hole above us, and out through the hatch. She pulled me to one side, and the bird we'd used in the medical shuttle rescue flew out, and shone a light in all directions. It went up high enough so it didn’t blind us.
We were in a large cavern, which was entirely made up of crystals.
"Record everything," I said to Jane.
"Confirmed."
There was as much awe in her voice as there was in mine. This was something I wanted to be able to see again, and one day hoped to show some people back home.
In the exact center of the cavern, was a large joined stalagmite-stalactite. The base of the mite part looked like a giant egg, almost as tall as I was, sitting on a raised platform. From the top of the egg, a long hose rose to the ceiling. The egg itself was a dull grey colour, which reflected rainbows as the light of the bird hit its surface.
Take the egg. Carefully cut it in half back on your ship.
"We're going to need a salvage droid down here Jane."
I pointed to the egg. She nodded.
"Sword."
My sword appeared on my back, and I drew it.
"What's that?"
"Kali's Scepter, manifesting as a sword."
"If you say so."
"I do."
We grinned at each other.
I walked over to the egg, and very carefully sliced through the hose at the top, just above where it joined the egg itself. At the bottom, I left a full thirty centimeters of the base, and with a single swipe, cut the egg out. It settled slightly into the gap left by the sword underneath it.
When the salvage droid arrived, Jane instructed it to pull the egg out gently, and place it on the sled. She then had it move into the rear room of the Mole, and hover in the middle. For a moment I thought it wasn’t going to fit through the hatch, but apparently Jane had anticipated the need, and it entered without touching the sides of the hatch at all.
I took a long hard look around again, not really wanting to leave. On a whim, I went over to where the egg had been, and sat down on the polished stone left there. I opened a channel to the Mole, accessed the entertainment system, and broadcast 'Let's find that place again' into the cavern. I'd never heard anything like it in my life, and I knew I never would again.
When it finished, I asked Jane if she had recorded it, and she assured me it had been.
With a long sad sigh, I made my way back to the hatch, and we entered and closed it.
This time, Jane stood the Mole on its engines. The salvage droid in the room behind us was unaffected by our movement. We hovered for a moment once upright, as she used the thrusters to line us up with the hole, and then she boosted us up and out.
"Bring Custer down to a thousand meters Jane."
"Confirmed."
We waited for Custer to arrive, and while we still had air outside, the salvage droid transferred to Custer's Cargo Deck. We docked with Custer, and returned to BigMother, where Custer docked to one of the Cargo Deck airlocks. The salvage droid transferred over, and we followed it to meet several cargo droids, while Custer re-docked in her normal position.
Near the access shafts, I had one of the cargo droids gently pull the egg off the sled just over half way, and take its weight, while the other one stood on the sled and took the weight of the other side.
I pulled my sword, carefully selected the line to cut, and smoothly cut down the center of the egg. I put the sword away, and it quietly vanished.
The first cargo droid stepped back, with half the egg in its arms.
Inside, were the most incredible Amethyst geodes I'd ever seen. I'd seen plenty before, both real ones and vids, but these had to be the largest individual geodes inside what they called a cave, I'd ever seen.
"Thank you," I said to the Entities.
I gave instructions for one Amethyst cave to go into my lounge room, and the other to go into the Rec Room.
I waited while the cargo droids boosted themselves up the access shaft, and Jane and I followed. I directed them where to put each one, hugged Jane again, belatedly realized I was still in white, shifted to 'slinky red', and went into the Dining Room to get some lunch.
All in all, a good morning's work.
Twenty Six
Angel kept me company while I ate lunch. Which was just as well, because the ship was empty as far as I could tell. I wolfed down the food Jeeves put in front of me, played with Angel for a short time, and when she lost interest, Jane joined me in the Gig.
A short flight later, we were skinny dipping with the rest of the Alpha team.
Jane received a few odd looks during the afternoon, as if they were wondering what about her was different, without actually seeing anything tangible, but neither of us said anything about her change. I found it really interesting that they couldn’t really tell the difference between her suit impersonation of a human, and the new 'skin' she'd been given.
While lying there on the sand, I used my PC to ask Jane if she'd investigated the change in herself. She told me the security droid was gone, and in its place was a full android body, custom designed to perfectly mimic the human body in all respects, with the outsid
e skin identical to her suit's impersonation. At most, there was a slight difference in the feel of the 'skin', and underneath was far more substantial than the skeletal security droid shape, while not being quite as strong. It was like the security droid had been changed into bones, and the android 'fleshed' out over them. The result was just as sturdy, but far more functional. The downside was the new skin could be pierced, and the internals damaged, necessitating her wearing the suit for protection the same as the rest of us. I asked her if she could change her appearance with the new body, and she replied in the negative, although the suit could still do it for her. Her other avatars were still as they were, suits over security droids. Only her first, and primary, body had been changed.
The twin's button holed me for an explanation of earlier, so I told them what had happened, leaving out Jane's gift.
Amanda asked if they should be getting on training the bulldozer operators, but I told her to chill out and have a day off. Everyone needed one after all.
We were lying on the sand sipping drinks, when Aleesha brought up my sword. She's seen it in the vision, and wondered what it was.
I told them as much as I could.
Of course, they wanted to see it. I shifted back into 'slinky red', and called for the sword. It appeared on my back. Everyone crowded around to see it.
I made them step back, and drew it.
Amanda of course wanted to try it. But as soon as she touched the handle, her fingers were unable to grasp it.
BA asked Jane to have a salvage droid bring something to test the sword on. One turned up with a large rock, and dumped it a short way from us. I went over to it, and cut it in half with no effort at all.
"Nice!" was all BA had to say, but she was particularly hard to impress.
"Not particularly useful," said Alana. We all looked at her. "Well no-one duels with swords anymore. Handy if what you really need is a long sharp knife, but not much use otherwise."
"I beg to differ," said BA thoughtfully. "Take one of those merc units which attacked us. Sword like that, wielded by someone wearing the suits we do, wouldn’t need a gun at all. You could cut them all in half in thirty seconds flat. Come to think of it, it would have come in very handy during the war in several of those ground actions."
I nodded sagely, and hoped I'd never have to put it to the test. If I was reduced to sword fighting on the ground, things would be very dire indeed, and it wasn’t a place I wanted to go.
Aline frowned at the sword, but said nothing, as if she had something stuck on the tip of her tongue, but couldn’t get it out.
Gunbus landed behind the dunes late in the afternoon, and Jeeves came forth with a small army of butlers and cargo droids. A traditional Australian barbeque ensured, and we ate on the sand, looking out over the ocean.
As dusk fell, we watched the sunset as a group. Once the sun was down and moonlight up, Aline took my hand and we walked up the beach. She found a nice secluded spot, and we made love under the stars.
We were lying there after, when the frown reappeared.
"What?"
"Your sword?"
"Which one?"
We both chuckled.
"The fighting sword."
"What about it?"
"Is it fixed in that shape?"
No.
"Apparently not. What did you have in mind?"
"Idle thoughts. If you were using one of the new giant combat suits, it would be a toothpick rather than a sword, and the hand probably wouldn’t even be able to hold it well enough to use."
"Good point."
I stood, shifted back to 'slinky red', called for the sword, and drew it. I asked for it to be big enough for one of the giant combat suits to wield.
And I promptly dropped it. It grew ten times its size, and became both too heavy and unbalanced for me to hold. On a whim, I asked for it to resemble a scythe. It changed shape, while remaining the same size. I still couldn’t pick it up though. I asked for it to return to its original size and shape, and it did so. I sheathed it, and it faded from my back.
Aline motioned unzipping, so I shifted back to a belt. She went to work on my other sword.
It was after eleven before we rejoined the others around a huge bonfire on the shore. By midnight, those of us wanting comfortable beds to sleep in, had piled into Gunbus, and Jane flew us back to said beds.
I skipped training again the following morning, using the time to figure out assignments. Jane and I worked up a list of the world's major burial grounds, and assigned people to go check them out. Jack had submitted a set of sites for the archeology team, we okayed them, and added a few more. Brown got to play Wing Commander while Lacey was away, and he had both fighter sorties and simulations to manage, especially updating the skills of Jack's people, and getting them to work as a team with mine. I pulsed Amanda and Aleesha orders, putting them in charge of cycling all six teams through both the fighting giant combat suits, and with using the bulldozer versions. I also wanted them to do combat suit training as full teams, and as a complete six team force. The latter would have to wait while some of the exploration work was completed, but I told them to allocate the last couple of days to training as a small combat suited army. BA was going to be in her element, but I let the orders come from the twins.
While I really wanted to go to Bermuda, Jane and I instead took the Gig to Ireland.
The United Kingdom didn’t look like the United Kingdom anymore. The English Channel was little more than a river, and Europe extended well to the west of Ireland, and north to Scandinavia. The North Sea was little more than a scattering of lakes.
At the southwest most point of an enlarged Ireland, there was now a large deep water bay. We landed next to the water. To the northeast, a long way in the distance, was the line of hills which had once been the coastline of old Ireland.
For a moment, I was standing in the port area for a very large medieval looking city, looking towards an impressive castle. It was gone before I could register details. It struck me immediately that nothing remained of Camelot. The area was flat, but slightly undulated as if what ruins remained here, had been removed.
There was a new file notification showing, as if I'd been pulsed something. I opened it to find two schematics. The first was labelled Camelot. The second under-laid the first and was simply titled 'Atlantean'. I was surprised by the former, but happy to have the second confirmed.
One of the larger Atlantean cities had once been here. I'd known this from an early age, but never had anyone been in a position to confirm its existence, since until recently, it was too far underwater to access.
Before leaving Earth for good, an ancestor of mine had stood on the edge of the coastline over there on those hills in the long distance, and from a rain soaked sky, a sunbeam had shone through onto a spot over the water, and a voice had whispered the location of both Camelot, and the Atlantean city it had been built over. While to children through the centuries this seemed like completely useless information to be taught, it had finally come to me. Now I knew why. The Hunter Legacy had bequeathed me the information I needed right now. I wondered what else that legacy entailed.
Jane was looking puzzled. I raised an eyebrow at her.
"Did you just get a file appear?" she asked me.
"Yes. You did too?"
"Indeed. Where did it come from?"
"You mean who?"
"Whom?"
"Whatever. The Entities gave it to us."
"I'm so tempted to say 'That does not compute!', but I won't."
I laughed, and she joined in.
"Can you read these specs?"
"What are we looking for?"
"The healing temple of the old city."
"This way."
I followed her. The Gig rose behind us, and followed after. Ten minutes inland, Jane stopped. The Gig landed close by.
"If I read this right, the original bailey of the first Camelot Keep was here. As the city grew, so did the castle, but this spot
was always flat ground. Underneath here, is the healing temple. We need to go down about ten meters before we hit the roof line."
"How do you propose we do that?"
"You tell me," she said with a grin.
My sword appeared on my back.
"Is that a hint?" said Jane.
I drew the sword.
"How big an area do we need to dig out?"
Jane thought for a moment, before picking up four small rocks, and laying them out to define a square.
"That much?" I said.
"I think we need a salvage droid."
"I think you're right."
"While we're waiting, why don’t you try cutting out the square?"
I walked over to one of the stones, thrust the sword into the ground to the hilt, and pulled it along towards the next stone. It cut cleanly, and left a thin line behind it. I left it in the ground, but pondered for a moment.
"Extend the length of the sword to a centimeter above the highest point of the healing temple's building. Also extend it so the handle is a comfortable height for me, without bending."
The handle of the sword rose out of the ground. I grasped it with both hands, twisted it around, and pulled it along the line already complete. There was still no friction at all. I turned it towards the next stone, and continued, until I arrived back where I had started the first deep cut.
"Now what?" I asked generally, even though Jane was the only one there to hear.
"Can you get it to extend at right angles from the bottom for the width of the square? You cut again, but this time it will cut across underneath. All we need do then, is have the salvage droid hoist the square of earth out of the ground."
"Sounds logical."
I made the request verbally, and pulled the sword back along one of the cut lines. I asked for it to return to normal, and it did, coming cleanly out of the ground as I pulled its last few centimeters out. I sheathed it again.
Shortly after, the salvage droid arrived, and Jane had it land in the middle of the square, and when we were well clear, turn its grav on. It rose up, pulling out a rough cube of solid earth. It flew over to a spot well out of the way, and dropped neatly to the ground, where it turned off the grav, and leaving the earth cube behind, returned to land beside the hole.
Hunter Legacy 8: Hero to the Rescue Page 16
