“No!” Ravana shivered. “It can’t be true!”
“You tell me,” said Kedesh. “How old is Artorius?”
“He said he was eight,” Ravana said quietly.
Ininna frowned. “You’re saying the boy is a clone? From the body in the capsule?”
“Oh my word,” murmured Govannon.
“Cloning people is illegal,” said Zotz, from the crawl tunnel. Xuthus, Hestia and a dubious Urania were whispering excitedly about their theory that the capsule was from the lost USS Constellation. “Except cyberclones. They’re more like robots.”
“What is it with Dhusarians and clones?” murmured Ravana. The revelation left her feeling uneasy. “How did an American capsule get into the chamber? Are you saying the spiders or the greys somehow brought it to Falsafah through the portal?”
Kedesh shrugged. “It’s possible. Somehow, the Dhusarians got wind of it and decided it fitted with their prophecy. That’s why Jizo called him the star man and said that stuff about ‘frozen traveller created anew’. The Americans have a huge exobiology research centre on Avalon, which could be why Artorius was born and raised in the Alpha Centauri system.”
“It’s incredible,” murmured Quirinus.
“So this has nothing to do with Que Qiao?” asked Ravana.
“They financed your dig,” Kedesh pointed out. “Though I’m puzzled as to why the corporation was happy to let the Dhusarians take first innings. Que Qiao is no doubt watching events with interest. Technology like that portal is way ahead of anything we can do.”
“The Americans must have put the capsule there themselves,” Govannon protested. “The dating samples show the chamber last saw sunlight twelve thousand years ago. If it was the same light we saw today, your so-called portal last opened back when humans were stuck on Mesolithic Earth. The capsule could not have arrived that way, see?”
“Time travel,” Hestia said solemnly. “I was right all along.”
Urania snorted. “Don’t be stupid!”
“Watchers don’t play cricket when it comes to regular space-time,” Kedesh told her.
“Paw-prints of the gods?” Ravana suggested accusingly. “Nana and Stripy said the chamber was built by the greys. The hieroglyphs at the entrance were from the Isa-Sastra. Is all this what that damn cat woman referred to as some kind of game?”
“Perhaps the script was added later,” mused Govannon. “As a warning, see?”
Ravana frowned. Yima reappeared at the ceiling hatch looking solemn, holding the vial of blood Kedesh gave him earlier. As the agent climbed through into the Platypus, the boy’s head appeared at the hatch behind him.
“This ship is much better!” Artorius said with glee. “It’s got guns and everything.”
“Take no notice of the silly little boy,” Ravana murmured, patting the console.
Ininna regarded Yima impatiently. “Well?”
“This is from the boy?” asked Yima. He showed Kedesh the vial, who nodded. “What I got from the cartridge is badly degraded, but the DNA matches that of the blood.”
“See?” said Kedesh, smiling smugly at Ininna.
“There’s more.” Yima looked puzzled. “I ran a carbon-fourteen count on the cartridge sample. Whoever it came from took their last breath over ten thousand years ago.”
“What?” cried Ininna. “That must be wrong.”
“It’s pretty close to when you said the portal last opened,” Kedesh told Govannon.
“Nonsense!” retorted the archaeologist, but the way he scratched his stubbly chin suggested doubt. “Carbon dating can’t be used away from Earth. No calibration data, see?”
“Time travel!” protested Hestia. “It must be.”
“There is more going on here than I can take right now,” Ininna told Kedesh irritably. “I would dearly love to arrest you all, but there’s not enough room on our ship and I don’t trust you to follow in this heap of junk. You, the boy and the Dhusarians come with us. Your friends have one hour to leave this system and if I ever see any of them again, or if anyone ever speaks of what we saw, I will personally hunt them down, rip out their tongue and poke a sharp pointy stick in their eyes. Do I make myself understood?”
“Perfectly,” Kedesh murmured.
“Both our eyes?” asked Quirinus and waggled his eye patch.
“Don’t get smart with me,” Ininna growled. “I also want everyone’s wristpads. I saw some of the students recording what was going on down there.”
Xuthus gasped in protest. “Our wristpads?”
“You heard me,” snapped Ininna. She turned to Ravana. “As far as I’m concerned, you’re wanted on Yuanshi, not here. Not my jurisdiction,” she added, with a sideways glance at Kedesh. “But one of your little grey friends gave you something. Give it to me.”
Ravana had forgotten about the globe. Ininna’s fierce glare was enough to persuade her to comply and she pulled it from the pocket of the borrowed jumpsuit. The soft green sphere had lost its sparkle and looked quite mundane under the cabin lights.
“Funny little Nana,” Ravana said and sighed. The grey’s gift was an odd souvenir of their Falsafah adventure. “She’s been through such a lot. I hope they get home okay.”
“You said ‘she’,” Kedesh noted, smiling. “That’s a lot better than saying ‘it’.”
“What’s that?” asked Artorius, watching from above. “Alien poo?”
“Aliens do not exist,” Ininna said coolly. “And that’s official.”
She snatched the globe from Ravana’s hand and dropped it into her own pocket. Pistol in hand, Yima went round the flight deck and took the wristpads from those who had one, then ordered Urania to collect the rest from everyone in the crawl tunnel and beyond. He counted what she returned and gave a satisfied nod.
“The reporter said you’re lucky that place was underground,” said Urania. “Otherwise everything her cambot saw would have gone out live.”
“There will be no news from Falsafah,” snapped Ininna. “Bring the Dhusarians.”
Ravana glanced to the crawl tunnel. Zotz, Xuthus, Hestia and Urania, looking glum following the confiscation of their wristpads, realised they were blocking the entrance and one by one retreated into the carousel. Momus, Lilith and Dagan had been listening on the ship’s intercom and the Dhusarians looked sullen and apprehensive upon entering the flight deck, where Ravana greeted them with a hostile stare. At the hatch above, Artorius took one look at Lilith and disappeared inside the agents’ ship without even so much as a goodbye. Ravana had to admit he seemed okay to be going with Ininna and Yima.
“Poor Artorius.” Ravana sighed. “Does he know he’s a clone?”
“It matters not what he is, only that he is here,” said Lilith, sounding far more smug than Ravana expected given the situation. “What happened at Arallu was unexpected, but he has done Taranis’ bidding and this must be how it is supposed to be.”
“Giant spiders?” Dagan retorted nervously. “I didn’t sign up to church for that.”
“It was the greys who opened the portal,” Ravana pointed out. “Not Artorius.”
With a weary sigh of resignation, Ininna gestured to Yima to lead Lilith and Dagan into the Alf-Sana Booma. Dagan reached for a grab handle and pulled himself up after the agent. Lilith moved to follow but was stopped short by a touch of Ravana’s hand.
“Taranis,” Ravana said, sounding hesitant. “You said he was dead. Is it true?”
Lilith smiled. “I did say that, didn’t I?”
“Answer her question!” growled Kedesh.
“I lied,” Lilith said coldly. “I’m pleased to say that the father of our Church is alive and well. Rest assured he has not forgotten you, my so-called demon king.”
She pushed Ravana’s hand away, reached for the handrail and hauled herself through the hatch, away from the girl’s dumbstruck gaze. Ininna motioned to Kedesh to follow, then rolled her eyes in exasperation when she saw the woman was more interested in retrieving her cricket bat from w
here it had been wedged.
“This is the longest arrest ever,” the agent complained.
Kedesh shoved the bat under an arm, gave Ravana a smile and held out her hand.
“It’s been a pleasure,” she remarked. “A veritable test match of sticky wickets, but final scores were pretty much as expected. The Grand Priory can use people like you.”
Ravana hesitantly shook Kedesh’s hand. “Will you and Artorius be okay?”
“We’ll be fine,” she reassured her. “I won’t bore you with stuff about timelines and paradoxical quantum shifts. Let me know if you’re ever up for some more fun.”
“Get in the ship!” snapped Ininna.
Kedesh grinned and reached for the hatch. Ininna gave one last glare and followed her into the Alf-Sana Booma. The hatch swung closed behind them, then with a muffled thud and puff of jets the agents’ ship broke free of the Platypus. By the time Zotz, Xuthus, Hestia and Urania joined Ravana, Quirinus and Govannon on the flight deck, the Que Qiao ship was firing its main engines to break orbit. Ravana watched it go with a sadness in her heart, for despite Kedesh’s erratic loyalty and Artorius moody selfishness, they had been through a lot together. Zotz came to her side, behind whom she saw Momus, Fornax and Philyra slipping from the crawl tunnel into the crowded cabin. Kedesh’s mention of timelines puzzled her.
“Hey,” Ravana said and ruffled Zotz’s hair. “We didn’t kill Taranis, after all.”
“I heard,” he said. “What happened to your cat?”
She thought about her electric pet clasped tight in Stripy’s grasp. “Jones is in safe hands,” she reassured him. “But I don’t think we’ll see it again.”
“Never mind that,” Philyra complained. “They took my wristpad! I had a really cool picture of me with Artorius, the real-life boy king from Gods of Avalon!”
Quirinus regained his seat and began to plot a course away from Falsafah so they could make the jump to Barnard’s Star. Ravana settled back into her own seat, directed the long-range visual scanner to the archaeology site at Arallu and silently watched the dark scuttling shapes pouring from the ruptured domes. The spiders at the edge of the seething black tide were still, asphyxiated by the unforgiving atmosphere. Ravana shuddered at the thought of what may have happened had the portal been on a planet like Earth.
“That mad Chinese woman called while you were at the dig,” Momus said suddenly, interrupting her thoughts. “There’s frigging lizard men all across the five systems.”
“Ostara?” Ravana asked Momus, who nodded. “So all twelve survived?”
“Endymion also said the copy he had of Taranis’ book was hacked,” added Zotz.
“Jizo had his notes on her slate,” mused Ravana. She wondered where her own slate had gone. “I can’t help thinking they wanted it for more than just this.”
Zotz looked at the console display. “Where are all those spiders coming from?”
He looked more than a little perturbed. The same question troubled Ravana, for the thought that the portal led to a land of giant spiders was not a nice one.
“They rose from the plug hole to hell,” she murmured, watching the screen. “Athene warned that we had no idea of what’s on the other side. Well, we do now.”
“Athene?” asked Hestia, puzzled.
“Our friend, the mysterious watcher,” Ravana said and gave a hollow laugh. “The mad ghost who rode the greys’ chariot into the void.”
“The Dhusarians wanted a place of pilgrimage,” remarked Fornax, who too had her eyes on the console. “The new runway was just the start. That young man Dagan was full of ideas of how Arallu would become their Mecca, their Jerusalem.”
“Looks more like crappy Gomorrah,” muttered Momus.
“Professor Cadmus, a Dhusarian!” remarked Govannon. “What about his Que Qiao Alien Encounters Board? First contact with genuine aliens and they start a cover up!”
“It isn’t the first,” mused Ravana. “Que Qiao know about greys but deny they exist.”
“Hey, Aberystwyth,” said Urania. “Do we include giant spiders in our site reports?”
“You heard the agents. We keep quiet, see. No essay writing when we get back.”
Xuthus moved forward to where Zotz had pulled himself into the port-side chair, both transfixed by the images on the holovid screen. Ravana smiled, recalling how Xuthus had intervened when Ininna threatened to arrest her. With a sudden rush of emotion she reached out, hugged Xuthus tight and gave him a kiss.
“Thanks for sticking up for me,” she said. “You’re not so bad, after all.”
Xuthus gave a strangled yelp and struggled free of her grasp. Ravana caught Urania’s giggle and frowned. Hestia gave her a perturbed look.
“Get off me, scar face!” cried Xuthus. “What did you do that for?”
Ravana turned away, insulted and embarrassed. The console signalled an incoming message and she spun away to activate the transceiver holovid, eager to take advantage of the distraction. To her surprise, the call sign was that of the Dandridge Cole. The signal was a little erratic, but she instantly recognised the beaming face of Professor Wak. He was using a holovid booth near a window in Dockside and a warm yellow glow poured through the frosty glass. Sunlight once again shone brightly within the hollow moon.
“Hello Professor,” she said gaily. “I see you’ve finally fixed the sun.”
“Ravana! You’re safe!” cried Wak. “Never doubted it for a moment, of course.”
“All present and correct,” confirmed Quirinus. “We’re on our way home.”
“No more adventures,” added Ravana. She saw her father’s sideways look and grinned. “We have a lot of work to do when we get back,” she said solemnly. “Don’t we, professor? Crops to plant, animals to defrost, that sort of thing.”
Quirinus frowned. “You went on a simple field trip and ended up rubbing shoulders with a secret agent, aliens and cyberclone monks,” he pointed out. “Farmers spray crops for greenfly, not blast giant spiders with a cannon. Are you sure you won’t be bored?”
“After the last few weeks, boredom suits me fine,” Ravana replied defiantly.
Philyra laughed. “Sure it does.”
Ravana’s gaze fell to the plasma cannon, wedged beneath a rogue tendril at the rear of the cabin. She had a horrible feeling her father and Philyra were right.
THE END
* * *
EBOOK EXTRAS
[Chapter Fourteen] [Contents] [About the Author]
Illustrations
Tau Ceti system
Barnard’s Star system
About the Author
Also available from WyrdStar Books
* * *
About the Author
[Ebook Extras] [Contents] [Title Page]
Steph Bennion is a writer, musician and civil servant in Westminster, born and bred in the Black Country but now living in South London, England. Her science-fiction stories are written as a reaction to the dearth of alternative heroes amidst bookshelves swamped by tales of the supernatural. For every aspiring vampire or wizard, the world needs an astrophysicist, an engineer, or at the very least someone who can make the trains run on time. Paw-Prints of the Gods is her second self-published novel.
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Also available from WyrdStar
HOLLOW MOON
A novel by Steph Bennion
A kidnapped prince, a school band competition and an electric cat that eats everything in sight!
What is the secret of the hollow moon? Join intrepid young heroine Ravana O’Brien in a fast-paced and witty science-fiction mystery of interstellar intrigue. Having fled civil war sixteen light years away, Ravana and her father now live in the sleepy commune of the hollow moon, a forgotten colony ship drifting around Barnard's Star. Yet the evil priest Taranis, the dark architect of destiny, has returned from the dead. What began as a minor escapade to rescue her
erratic electric pet soon leads Ravana and friends on an incredible planet-hopping voyage into the shady dystopian world of politics, terrible music and rebellion! Hollow Moon is an adventure for all those who relish a dose of humour and practical astrophysics with their fantasy, for young adults and adults young at heart.
For news on forthcoming publications, please go to www.wyrdstar.co.uk.
* * *
Also available from WyrdStar
WYRD WORLDS
Science-fiction and fantasy short stories
An anthology of science-fiction and fantasy short stories by indie authors brought together by the social network Goodreads. The collection, which contains 14 stories from 12 writers from around the world, includes a wide range of speculative fiction, from slices of fantasy and time travel to steampunk and science-fiction. The tales vary widely, yet are all born from the same drive to create, share ideas and above all to entertain!
Wyrd Worlds contains stories by Steph Bennion, Ubiquitous Bubba, Alexandra Butcher, Emma Faragher, Ross Harrison, Josh Karaczewski, Peter Lean, Stan Morris, Neil Shooter, Barbara G. Tarn, L. L. Watkin and Gary Weston.
For news on forthcoming publications, please go to www.wyrdstar.co.uk.
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Also available from WyrdStar
Tales from HOLLOW MOON
Short stories by Steph Bennion
To Dance Amongst The Stars
Can the poor, down-trodden kitchen slave Ganesa find a Prince Charming in the shape of young, dashing space captain Hanuman? As they meet for the first time on the dance floor at the American Embassy's Christmas Ball, she is the first to admit he's not exactly her type in this tongue-in-cheek pastiche of Cinderella.
Paw-Prints Of The Gods Page 40