by Mara Amberly
Eric idly wondered what was inside, just out of reach. If the vault was large enough, was it possible to jump literally inside the vault? Then again, what if it was a computer vault and not a literal one?
“Eric, how are things looking down there?” Viktor asked over the comms.
Eric activated the comms and replied. “We’re good to go again. Maybe I ought to stay in engineering when you fire the weapons, in case we run into similar problems again.”
“Whatever you think is best,” he said. “But first I need you to program those missiles. I’d do it myself, but I’m out of practice. It seems like the kind of thing you want to be sure about.”
Eric nodded to himself. Yes, it was. “I’ll get right on it. Give me half an hour and I’ll have the programming ready to go.”
Chapter 6
May 2080, Aboard the Equinox, Draylach Space
Eric interfaced the computer system with one of the missiles and uploaded the propulsion parameters. It had taken some time to work out where the field began, or at least where they thought it did, so he erred on the cautious side, because the last thing they wanted was the missile mired in the field.
“The first missile’s ready to go,” Eric said over the comms.
He watched on a far smaller viewscreen in engineering as they fired the missile.
“Missile is away,” he heard Opal say over the comms. Ten seconds later, she added, “Firing probe.”
The missile entered the field so quickly, Eric couldn’t determine its change in speed, but he could see from the console that the propulsion system had disabled as planned. The missile maintained its course toward the asteroid, then its trajectory changed as it was pulled to the left. Much as they wanted the probe to get through, it was pulled after the missile. Watching the screen, he saw the missile explode, then felt a shock wave that rocked the ship. The probe also disappeared from the sensors.
“Firing another probe,” Opal added.
Eric felt the ship veer away from the field, though he wasn’t sure why. Perhaps Viktor was being overly cautious, in case there was any backlash.
He watched the probe’s progress on the small viewscreen. It passed the point where the missile had veered off and kept on going.
“Excellent!” Eric exclaimed, though there was no one around to hear him and the comms channel was closed.
He couldn’t see the data streaming in. Before he could contact the bridge, Viktor contacted him.
“We have coordinates to clear the field,” Viktor said.
Eric could hear his joy from engineering. “That’s excellent news.”
“Keep an eye on things down there,” he said.
Eric heard the thrusters engage moments later and knew Viktor would take her through the field. It was an afterthought, but he hadn’t considered how the makeup of the field might interact with fifth-dimensional space. The point was moot, however, as the ship came out of its brief jump unharmed.
“That’s it, we’re here,” Viktor told him over the comms. “You’ll want to come up here and look at this.”
When Eric returned to the bridge, a surprising view on the screen greeted him. The Equinox was inside a tunnel in the asteroid, but it narrowed ahead of the ship. Viktor had engaged the outer lights and Eric thought he saw steps hewn into the rock.
“Well, that’s interesting,” he said.
“It’s open to space, so we’ll need the suits.”
He wasn’t sure how safe it would be, as the components of the field could easily damage the suits. At least the ship would be between the tunnel and the field outside.
“Eric, I want you and Rich to go in first. You’re the most capable of defending yourselves,” Viktor said.
Opal sighed in disappointment. “You might need me on the mission. I can’t detect traps if I’m stuck on the ship.”
“Not this time,” Viktor told Opal.
Eric thought it was probably because he was protecting her, but it also made sense to limit the crew members on the away mission to two.
“If we run into anything dubious, we’ll contact the ship over comms,” Eric promised.
Eric felt uneasy leaving through the airlock because he wasn’t sure what he was dealing with. It helped to visualise that treasure just waiting to be salvaged… or liberated, even though he wasn’t a greedy man. It wasn’t the primary reason he was doing this, though he liked a financial reward as much as the next person.
Rich was slightly ahead of him and activated his gravity boots when he reached the ground.
They latched on, and Eric glanced at his surroundings before activating his own and switching on his helmet lights.
He already knew both space suits were chronyon-shielded, just as the ship was. No changes to the timeline would remove them from it, and he found that reassuring, at least.
Eric could see now that there were symbols carved into the grey rock; possibly words written in the supposedly dead language of the Lethians. He retrieved a scanner from the pocket of his vest, but it didn’t provide answers. He was registering the stone walls, and a steel and orethanium alloy further along the tunnel, but very little else. The aliens must have shielded the environment against sensor and scanning technologies.
Eric wondered what the symbols said. ‘Vault this way?’ ‘Beware, traps ahead?’ ‘No smoking?’ It could have been anything. He knew there were other tunnels too. He wasn’t clear why Viktor had chosen this one, except for the fact the Equinox fit in the entrance with room to spare. The former admiral didn’t appear concerned about any risks that might pose, though Viktor would probably re-engage the ship’s shields when he and Rich were further away.
Eric followed Rich up the rough-hewn stairs, his boots coming in contact with around every third step as they moved up the tunnel.
“The video feed has dropped out,” Opal replied over the comms.
“It must be something in the composition of the asteroid,” Rich said. “We’re continuing inside.”
There were deeper indentations in the walls here, though Eric wasn’t sure what purpose they served. The scanner shed no light on it.
“Rich, hold on,” Eric said, gesturing to the wall. “You don’t think these could release projectiles, do you?”
“I have no idea,” he replied. “We could disable the grav lock on our boots and avoid using the steps?”
“Maybe we should,” Eric replied.
That’s what they did. After they pushed off, it was necessary to touch the walls in places to correct their direction. He idly wondered why there were steps in the first place, when they were on an asteroid in space. There was almost no gravity, and it made little sense unless there was an artificial gravity environment the aliens could have engaged. That or the asteroid had originated somewhere else and had been moved there with a purpose in mind—to serve as the Lethians’ vault, Eric supposed. There weren’t any planets close by, so how could it have gotten there? Had it been brought by ship? It seemed more likely it had been there all along.
“It’s strange, isn’t it?” Rich remarked, as he came to a sealed door at the end of the tunnel.
Unlike the stone tunnel surrounding them, the door was a dark-hued metal; no doubt the alloy he’d detected earlier. There was no handle or obvious locking mechanism, but there was a pattern of symbols that ran across the centre of the door in a horizontal band. Eric scanned it, but he detected nothing other than the alloy comprising the surface of the door.
“The scanner isn’t helping. There’s no one aboard who understands any Lethian, is there?” Eric asked over the comms.
He already knew the answer to that question. It was a dead language, though someone had figured out the vault’s location. Maybe someone on board would make more of it than he could.
“You’re the best expert on it we’ve got,” Viktor replied. “Remember when I told you to look at the database?”
Eric laughed. “I did, but that’s not going to help here. We’ve reached a door, and it has a str
ing of symbols across it. Should I poke it and see what happens?”
Viktor answered ‘yes’ and Opal answered ‘no’ at the same time.
Eric hesitated, but Rich didn’t. Rich pushed two of the symbols and they immediately lit up, glowing orange. Moments later, both Eric and Rich heard a hissing sound from the walls beside them.
“I think it’s releasing some kind of gas,” Eric replied. “Rich just pressed two of the symbols.”
“Get away from the door,” Viktor ordered. “It’s a good thing you’re wearing those suits.”
It confirmed for Eric that the asteroid was likely supposed to have an artificial atmosphere. Still, he was nervous that either a compound or nanotechnology might compromise the integrity of his suit. As the moments passed and nothing happened, he concluded they were probably alright. A scan confirmed as much; the gas had tranquilising properties.
He shone his lights back on the door and saw the symbols had lost their orange glow.
“The door still looks to be closed. Now what?” Eric asked. He directed the question at Opal, as she was their ‘trap advisor’.
“Try opening it,” she said. “If it doesn’t work, press one of the symbols and then get back as quickly as you can.”
“Alright,” Eric said, approaching it carefully.
The hissing of gas had ceased now.
Eric stopped at the wall beside the door. He gave the door a careful push with his gloved hand and nothing happened. It was still sealed shut.
“I’m going to touch one of the symbols now,” he said. “One that looks like a square because it reminds me of a vault with a way in!”
Eric pressed the symbol, which turned orange. He quickly pushed off from the wall because he was worried about triggering another trap. There was no hissing of gas this time, but nothing else happened. The symbol held its orange glow, and the door remained closed.
“What’s happening, Eric?” Viktor asked him over the comms.
Rich caught him further along the tunnel, and Eric turned back around to look at it.
“The symbol’s still glowing and I don’t think it released any gas. I get the impression it’s waiting for something.”
“You probably chose the right symbol,” Opal replied. “I want you to try another one, then get out of there. If you make a mistake, it could trigger something else.”
“Maybe we should try another way,” Rich suggested. “Blow it open or something?”
“Don’t forget, these aliens were advanced,” Opal said, “even so long ago. They’d have been prepared for that.”
“Can you try scanning it with the ship’s sensors?” Eric asked. “My hand scanner didn’t tell me much. Apparently, the door’s an alloy of steel and orethanium, and some other materials; some unrecognised.”
“I’ve run an active scan already. Minerals in the rock are blocking the scanner from penetrating the vault. The orethanium is probably doing the same thing. The door doesn’t sound that strong though; you might cut through it,” Opal replied.
“I can’t help thinking that the aliens must’ve thought of that already and planned contingencies,” Eric said. “I’ll press another symbol.”
“How many are there?” Opal asked.
“Twelve or thirteen,” Eric replied. “The one I pressed was in the middle.”
“Go back and take a still image with your scanner, then return down the tunnel and transmit it back to us.”
Eric smiled sheepishly; he should’ve thought of that. He did as Opal asked and waited for word back from the ship as he made his way back to the door. Rich was already waiting there.
“Eric, there’s a symbol like a triangle with a line branching off it on its left side. That one is our best guess.”
“Why is that?” Eric asked out of curiosity.
“I think it looks like someone entering the vault. Viktor thinks it looks like a shovel,” Opal said.
Eric stifled a sigh because he knew there were other things a shovel could represent.
“You’d better get back,” he told Rich. Once he was, Eric pressed the symbol and pushed off from the door, letting his momentum carry him along the tunnel. He was a good twenty feet back when a panel shot down from the ceiling, sealing Eric inside the tunnel. He realised in horror that he was trapped, but when he turned toward the door, he was surprised to see it was sitting open.
Chapter 7
May 2080, The Asteroid of the Lethian Vault, Draylach Space
“Equinox, do you hear me? Equinox, come in. This is Eric.”
The comms were silent. There wasn’t even static. Eric’s heart thundered, but he tried to calm himself. Panicking now wouldn’t do any good. He approached the door and stopped short of it by resting his hand at the wall beside it. The room beyond the door was illuminated inside by circular white lights on the ceiling. It was quite unlike anything he’d expected. The walls were decorated with symbols he couldn’t understand, but there were no shelves, lock boxes or overflowing riches. There was only a single round disturbance in the centre of the room.
“I don’t know if you can hear me, but I’m alive and well. I can see into the room and it looks like there’s a portal at the centre.”
There was no lightning, as commonly occurred with the fifth-dimensional space portals he was used to. There was a narrow band of metal that ran along the floor, and a portal roughly double his height rippled above it. He could see hints of a place on the other side through the ripples, but it was like looking through a frosted glass window. There was no way he could see everything without going through it. He got the impression it might be outdoors, but he couldn’t say for sure.
Eric pulled out his scanner and took readings from the portal. He was detecting a massive energy signature, but he didn’t recognise the form of energy produced. That was practically unheard of in his time.
“It all comes down to how much you want those riches,” Eric murmured to himself.
Was he prepared to turn around and go home, or was he going to risk it all to see what was on the other side of that portal? He didn’t know if he could be trapped somewhere, unable to make it back to his own planet or time. Then again, he already was, wasn’t he?
The others would only wait for so long. It was possible the portal might only be one way out, but his experience of portals suggested they were typically bi-directional. Eric would’ve found it reassuring to talk with the others, but he couldn’t reach them. There was also the matter that he only had a limited supply of air left. He checked the gauge, and he was down to around 4.5 hours. He’d ordinarily consider that a lot, but not when he was trapped. There was one clear way out, if he was bold enough.
Under normal circumstances he would tap on the panel blocking the way out, to see if Rich could hear him on the other side, but with the lack of atmosphere and wearing their space suits, that just wouldn’t be possible. Given enough time, he could probably break through the interference and get a message out, but it wasn’t something he could do quickly.
He turned back to the portal and studied its rippling surface. Whoever had created this vault wanted someone to use it. After all, it was the focal point of the room. It made Eric realise something too. It had seemed a bit too convenient that he’d opened the doorway so easily, but now he had to wonder if it was almost like a lift and different symbols led to different places. If he’d tried different symbols, could they have taken him somewhere else?
Eric considered closing the door and trying another combination, but there was the possibility that might just trap him between the door and the sealed panel. Studying the portal once again, he made his decision and pushed off, floating through it into bright sunlight.
Eric landed awkwardly, as he found himself in an environment with gravity. He caught himself without falling or damaging his space suit, but he came close to it.
There were distant trees overlooking a settlement; their branches and leaves swayed slightly in the breeze. Eric saw a number of square buildings in the
distance, painted in browns and ochres; a rocky hillside slightly blocked the view of them. He couldn’t see anyone down there, but it didn’t mean they weren’t there.
As he rose to his fuller height, he realised he was standing beneath a structure. It had columns that curved with a certain alien artistry, and a single smooth covering of tan fabric. Unlike the surrounding environment, the wind didn’t catch it. Eric couldn’t tell if the wind stirred his space suit or not, but they had obviously used technology to neutralise environmental factors in the portal's presence. They must have been an alien race with a powerful command over the elements. Perhaps there was a form of shielding around the area, he reasoned. The fabric didn’t look old; certainly not thousands of years.
Eric walked forward a few steps and glanced back, reassuring himself that the portal was still active. He took a deep breath as his nerves settled… and then the portal closed with a flash.
“No!” he exclaimed, rushing back to the place it had been, but it was futile. The portal was gone.
“You son of a bitch!” he shouted in vain. There was a strip of metal on the ground, just as there had been in the room—it had more of a golden colour in the bright light, but there was no obvious way to trigger the portal. The pillars were smooth, without so much as an engraved symbol. There was obviously another way, or another place, but he didn’t know what to do.
After a moment of resignation, Eric remembered his scanner. He drew it from his vest pocket and scanned the immediate area. Unlike on the asteroid, there were no environmental factors blocking most of the sensor readings any longer. There was an overwhelming quantity of information, which, if he ever got back, might prove valuable.
There was no reading from the portal, though he could determine there were metallic components in the ground around where the portal had been and in the surrounding pillars. Even a ten-foot radius around it was showing metallic compounds in the soil beneath it. It was interesting, but it didn’t provide the answers he needed to get home, and if he couldn’t, he might yet be stranded here. There was one good thing about it though—the planet had a breathable atmosphere. If he had to, he could survive here longer until he got his current quandary figured out. The only issue was that if he took too long, Viktor and the rest of the crew might be gone by the time he got back.
