The map flashed once, and Slate zoomed on the image. “Dean, go wake the others. We’ve entered Tutep.”
Jules watched as Slate targeted the fourth world. “This can’t be it,” she said. The planet was devoid of any life. Judging by the picture, the place was bone dry, lacking anything resembling an atmosphere. It was gray and black.
“No kidding. But maybe it’s a good hiding place?” Slate shrugged.
“Good morning,” Jules’ dad said. She offered him her spot, and he shook his head, pointing to the chair. “You stay.”
He chose to stand and absently petted his newly-trimmed beard. Jules knew that habit well; it meant he was anxious. Fontem and Karo arrived a moment later, each wearing white jumpsuits.
“Fontem, this isn’t a very hospitable system. Good choice,” Slate said.
“All is not as it seems, my friend.” Fontem’s eyes danced as he spoke.
“Can you cut the riddles? What are you talking about?” Papa asked.
“Continue to the fourth planet and you’ll see,” Fontem advised them.
Jules disappeared, using the hour or so to make some food for their small group. It wasn’t often you had any alone time on a ship this cramped, so she took her time, thinking about her plan. Reaching Udoon wasn’t going to be a problem, but making Viliar use the device to send her to Lom might be tricky.
The message she’d sent Lom had been simple. We have the girl. We’ll use her as bait.
Lom hadn’t replied, and she was nervous, thinking that the device was sitting on Light in her bedroom right now. If her mother stumbled across it, it would ruin everything. She was happy to see her dad pleased with his progress as they’d destroyed Lainna, but it was only a matter of time before Lom stopped him again, threatening his family. He’d eventually go to Udoon Station and sacrifice himself for their sake.
Her father was too important to too many people. He wasn’t just a figurehead; he was a leader. Whether he liked to think so or not, he was in charge of the Alliance. Dean Parker called the shots on Earth, New Spero, Haven, and in the Academy. Indirectly, they all took his lead. The other Alliance members considered him the face of humanity, as well as the head of the Alliance. Regnig had also dubbed him a Recaster. The Theos called him the True. Teelon had said he was special and told him to change the universe. He was important, more important than Jules could ever be. She would take his place at Udoon.
“Jules, we’re arriving!” Dean called from down the hall.
She brought a couple trays with eggs and a carafe of coffee to the compact bridge, and handed the dishes out. Everyone took the offered food with a thank you, and they ate while Slate guided their cloaked Kraski ship toward the world.
“This place is terrible. I guess we’d better suit up,” her dad said.
“That won’t be necessary.” Fontem turned to face them. “Slate, take us into orbit and slowly lower through the atmosphere.”
“There’s nothing but rock there,” Slate told him.
“Just do it,” Fontem ordered. Slate glanced at Papa, who nodded once, saying it was okay.
One moment, Jules was seeing the uninhabited bleak surface; the next, it was a lush and vibrant landscape, full of life and sunlight. “How is this possible?” she asked softly.
“I hid it from outside eyes. Kind of like how you have a cloaking device on this ship. I tricked any randomly passing vessels to continue on. Nothing to see here.” Fontem sounded proud of himself.
“Let me get Regnig,” Papa said, and Jules felt a thrill as she saw the gorgeous planet through the screen.
“Let’s wait for Regnig. There will be some walking first, and his legs aren’t up for the challenge, I’m afraid,” Fontem told them.
Slate let the Terellion advise him where to land, and the ship lowered, setting in the center of a mountain range.
“We’re here.” Fontem started down the corridor, and Slate powered off the ship, peering at her dad.
“Careful where you tread. I have a feeling we’re missing something,” Slate whispered to Papa, loud enough for Jules to hear.
____________
I hoped Slate was being overcautious, but I knew he was right. Fontem had left too many things out, told me too much out of convenience over the last couple of years since he’d been saved from the Collector’s ship. The stories from Regnig about his obsession with returning to his dead wife’s side lingered in my thoughts, and I couldn’t blame the man for wanting that life again. I’d probably be the same way.
Regardless of him telling us the planet’s atmosphere was fully breathable for all of us, we waited until our probes returned, displaying a positive result. We exited the ship to find a wonderful day. This place wasn’t overly hot, not like some of the planets we tended to visit. Rather, the weather was perfect, twenty Celsius with a light breeze.
After experiencing our cramped vessel for three days, being outside was a pleasure. The sky was immense, only dwarfed to my left by the massive mountainside. Thick coniferous-like trees covered the landscape below and up the side of the peaks, creating a dense valley of green vegetation.
“This is a nice place,” Dean said, standing beside me. We were all armed, and I noticed that Dean had taken one of the heavier packs.
“How far is it?” I asked Fontem.
He was already trekking away, long strides carrying him toward the valley. “A day’s walk,” he said.
Slate groaned, picking up another pack of supplies. “A day? Couldn’t we have flown closer?”
“No. I made it impossible to randomly locate. The odds of finding it here are astronomical,” Fontem said, his voice growing quiet as he gained distance.
“I guess we’d better go. Jules, you good?” I asked her.
Her eyes were glowing darker in the bright sunlight, and her hair was pulled into a curly ponytail. She was so grown up these days. When I pictured her in my head, she was still this little kid with thick curls, spinning around and saying things like “I can help.” Here she was, almost a fully grown woman, and it pained me to think she’d eventually leave the nest.
“I’m glad to be here,” she said, starting off. Karo stayed close, passing me a smaller pack, and I slid it over my shoulders.
“This better be worth it,” I told him.
“I hope so too. Can you believe he had the technology to cover the entire planet with a false front? How long has it been like this?” Karo asked, walking with me toward the others.
“A long time. Fontem has a few tricks up his sleeve.”
The air cooled as we dropped in elevation, and since there was no pathway built into the forest, the climb down was extremely slow. Fontem led us to a flowing river directly in the middle of the copse, and he stopped at it, bending over to touch the moving water. “This funnels from multiple tributaries around the mountains. We’re at the lowest point of the region. The water is fresh, and you can drink it.” As if to prove this, he pulled a canteen from his pack and filled it up, drinking deeply.
Slate tested it first, and stuck his thumb up in the universal gesture, signaling it was good. I tried it, finding the liquid chilled and almost sweet.
“We have a long way to go. Let’s continue,” Fontem said.
By the time we took a break, my legs were aching fiercely, and despite the cooler temperatures in the tree cover, I was soaked with sweat. Slate looked about as bad as I felt, but the kids were doing much better. Jules acted like she was out for an evening stroll, and Dean seemed bored, even though he had the most to carry.
Fontem and Karo unpacked some food sticks, handing the flavored bars out, and we sat on the ground. Everything smelled hearty here, and I heard the sharp trilling of something resembling a bird from above.
“You sure there’s nothing dangerous here?” Slate asked, slinging his pulse rifle over his shoulder to set it on the forest bed.
“Nothing we need to concern ourselves with. They only come out at night, and something our size is too large for them,” Fontem
said, not expanding on what exactly these predators were. No one asked.
“How much farther?” Jules asked him.
“A few hours. Trust me, it’ll be worth it,” he assured us.
“How long did it take you to accrue all of your items?” I asked him.
He bit into his bar, chewing it a few times before answering. “Years. Centuries, really. Once I had enough funds, and somewhere to store them, I may have gone a little overboard. I still have a lot of artifacts I don’t understand, but I’ve decided to give Regnig access here when we’re done. He’s expressed interest, and someone should have eyes on them.”
I listened, picking up on the subtle nuances in his statement. It sounded like he wasn’t going to be around for long. I filed that bit of information away for later. I didn’t want to grill him in front of the group. It reminded me of the way my grandmother used to point at things in her house, telling us grandkids what she was leaving us when she died.
“I’m sure he’s going to love that,” Jules said. “Regnig is obsessed with ancient civilizations and all their contraptions.”
“I’d be so bored,” Dean said. “I need to be out like this, exploring planets, racing through space on important missions.”
I smiled at his enthusiasm. Had I ever viewed my life with the same kind of courage? I’d been a mediocre student and had gone straight from high school to college, majoring in accounting. While some of my hometown friends went to Europe on backpacking adventures, I was doing my best to set myself up with a modest career, something stable. I’d never felt like I was missing out, and then I’d met Janine, and everything had seemed to be on the right path. How wrong I’d been.
“Sometimes we need to study what’s been to see what’s coming,” Karo said, with the wisdom only a Theos could muster.
“I can see it both ways. While I like researching with Regnig, I love being out here. I don’t know which path I’d choose,” Jules said.
I did. She’d choose to be out in the universe, assisting others. It was her nature. Hell, it was in my blood too.
“You have to be kidding me, Ju. You’re not the ‘stay-behind-a-desk’ kind of person,” Dean told her, tossing a broken twig at her legs.
“Maybe I am. There are lots of intricacies that make up Jules Parker,” she said lightly, throwing the stick back at him. “What about you, Uncle Zeke. Were you ever a nerd?”
He laughed at her choice of words and rolled his eyes. “Do I look like a nerd?”
“Well…” Dean laughed.
“I didn’t have time to be a nerd. I was too busy trying to make money, and then when I enlisted, it was all get up and go,” Slate said.
He’d told us his history, about how his brother was killed in the line of duty overseas, and how Slate had joined the army to avenge him, nearly losing himself along the way.
“There’s still time, Slate,” I told him. “I have some great books on Ainter Eleven archaeology, if you want to read them.”
“Sounds like a hard pass,” Slate said.
“Imagine the undiscovered secrets out there…” Jules stared toward the sky. “Millions of planets, each with their own stories. Studying Earth history was a literal career for some back home, right, Papa?”
“That’s right.”
“We had classes at the Academy, but they were quite basic. I mean, take this planet, for example. It’s been around for billions of years. It’s transformed many times. Each world has dozens of layers of history, so many cataclysmic events, plagues, fires, ice ages, all sparking the next era. It’s fascinating.” Jules closed her lips as she realized all eyes were on her.
“Eloquently put,” Karo said. “You’re right. Each life is important, and we often forget how many are lost with the passing of every era.”
“That’s part of the reason I was so captivated by my artifacts. I have things long forgotten by every single person in the universe. There’s something special about that, even if I don’t understand the function,” Fontem told us.
“Time to continue?” I asked, knowing my protesting legs were asking to rest. The longer we waited, the more that would become true.
“Yes, let’s move.” Fontem rose and started the journey, pressing deeper into the valley’s forest.
Twenty-One
It was dark by the time we stopped again. Fontem led us to the edge of the mountain, along a rocky cliff face. Most of the range was sloped, full of trees and growth, but here it was a solid drop, almost a straight ninety-degree escarpment.
“We’ve arrived,” Fontem advised us.
The noises around us had changed, the birds growing silent and another animal sending shrill songs through the night air, mixing with dueling insect wails. Overall, it was soothing, and I almost wished we were camping here for the night. But curiosity had me filling with adrenaline as I peered across the stone wall, searching for an opening.
“How do we access it?” I asked.
Fontem’s teeth were bright as he smiled, and he pointed above, some thirty or forty feet up. “There are rungs dug into the stone, hidden behind another device.” He moved his hand over the surface, and it disappeared behind a fake rock overlay. “The opening is up there.”
“Great. Climbing invisible steps in the dark,” Slate muttered.
“Can you shut the device off? Make it easier?” I asked him, but he refused.
“These are my rules,” he said plainly.
The tree cover was less dense here. It had thinned out as we’d climbed from the middle of the valley where the river had expanded. Here, it was mostly rocky ground, leading to Fontem’s cliff. This allowed the sliver of a moon to cast sufficient light to see what we were doing.
I unslung my pack, letting it drop to the ground, and the others followed suit. I felt lighter on my feet without the added burden.
“We’ll need water and sustenance,” Fontem said. “I’d suggest someone stays behind to make camp as well. Perhaps two of us.”
I waited for volunteers, and when none came forward, I asked Slate. “Do you mind?”
He shrugged. “This is more your thing. I’ll stay behind, but I’ll need some company. Dean, how about you?”
Dean grunted and began removing some camping gear from his bag. “No problem. It’s probably just a bunch of dusty glass vases up there anyway.”
“Thanks, guys. Jules, Karo, are you ready?” I asked.
Jules was staring at the spot Fontem had pointed to, and I bet she wished she could just float up there ahead of us. She was being a good sport about it. “Sure thing, Papa.” Her words were rushed, full of excitement.
Fontem took the first steps, demonstrating that the rungs were three feet apart in a straight line. “You can feel them, so grab the next before you release the first one.” He moved up slowly, half of him disappearing behind the fake wall of stone.
Karo went next, and I set a hand on Jules’ shoulder, leaning in. “I’m glad we’re here together.”
“Me too, Papa.” She began climbing, and I went last.
“See you guys soon,” I told them, grasping at the first hidden rung.
____________
First Fontem then Karo vanished into an invisible opening in the rock wall, and Jules took one last look at Dean on the ground. He stopped what he was doing with Slate, and waved at her. She waved back, holding herself up with one hand, before turning to the final section. She climbed it slowly, pretending she couldn’t just drop free and float the last few meters.
Her dad was close behind, making good time. Jules felt no more handholds, and she saw an arm extend out from the rock to help her. She took Karo’s assistance and was pulled through the opening. It was dark, but Fontem had activated a light on the circular corridor’s wall. He pinned the glowing device to his collar, and Jules stepped to the side as her dad came through after her.
“That was… interesting,” Papa said, dusting his hands off. Jules glanced around the tunnel, only seeing for a few yards before the light beams died of
f. “How far does this go on?”
“There are a few different paths to take in here. I used digging bots to create an intricate tunnel system that would be easy to get lost in. I suspect at least a few people have sought my treasures over the years, so even if anyone found this opening, the chances they discover my cache is once again…”
Jules finished the sentence for him. “Astronomical.”
“Right. You’ve been paying attention.” Fontem’s eyes twinkled.
It was obvious the Terellion was thrilled to be here. She suspected he’d been itching to return to this place since she’d freed him, and it was evident he didn’t want further delays.
Fontem started forward, having to crouch for the first twenty paces or so until the tunnels split, giving them two options. “Left. Left. Right. The entire time. Do that, and you can’t lose your way.”
Jules repeated it. Left. Left. Right. The tunnels grew wider, until she could stand without ducking, but Karo was two feet taller than her, and by the time they’d walked inside for a half hour, he’d asked to take a break.
Jules wondered how deep into the mountain they were, and she inhaled deeply, the air so musty, she almost coughed some dirt out. Her uniform was covered in grime now, but all of them were in the same boat.
“Not much farther, Karo. I’m glad you came, Theos.” Fontem turned, and Karo glanced at her dad, who shrugged in return to the unasked question.
Another ten minutes moving through the passageways, and they arrived at the end of this tunnel. It separated into three options. Fontem turned to them and grinned. “This is the end. Take the center.”
Jules glanced to the tunnel near her and saw something inside. She pushed some green light from her hand, light emerald flames licking from her fingers, creating a makeshift torch. “Papa, what’s this?”
He followed behind her, and she nearly tripped on them.
“Bones,” he said, bending down to observe the pile.
Old Secrets (The Survivors Book Thirteen) Page 20