"Don't say that," cried Anna. "This location is all we've got."
Snark humphed and grumphed.
"Have we got the right spot at all?"
Mouse was listening from Seasprite.
"I've checked the coordinates time after time. The location of the pyramid is the closest structure, or obvious constructed element, to those coordinates. In fact, it's bang on."
Snark could tell even the even-tempered rodent was also feeling frustrated.
Snark and Sissness decided to conduct a full search of the complex, and particularly the main pyramid. This would take time, which was running out, but there was nothing else anyone could think to do. Anna sat at the base of the pyramid, and focused, hoping to have a vision which would help.
They had landed towards the end of the 'day' cycle for the planet. The shadows were lengthening, and the forest surrounding them became darker and somehow, more impenetrable and sinister.
It seemed they had come to a dead-end.
Fifty Five
Even with the coming threat, Patters was enjoying herself immensely, having suggested she reconnoitre the forest surrounding the pyramid site. The three senior officers hadn't seen the harm in letting the cat 'loose', and Patters had stealthily disappeared into the foliage. Schafer did remind her to say something before she came back in range, in case someone shot her accidently. She'd laughed at the notion, but silently made note of the advice.
In her element, she moved at one with the forest, using every part of her body, and the surrounding environment, to effortlessly navigate. Her senses fully alive, she scanned for movement, ears swivelling for sound, and sniffed for the local inhabitants. Insects, birds, and small animals rustled through the undergrowth, in the trees and canopy, or stood suddenly still and silent as they sensed a new predator in the forest. She spotted the knot holes, fallen logs, and hollows which would be home to many animals and birds.
Her suit was a mimic of her own spots, and her specially adapted backpack incorporated her quiver. She blended into the dappled light and foliage, and flowed silently through the forest.
She wore an earbud in one ear, so she could still hear the sounds around her, and any messages at the same time. Up until now, she heard only the orders of the Colonel to his troops, and their background patter.
There was a rustle in a tree, and she looked up. A form had disappeared into a hollow in the tree, and she climbed for a better look. She didn't want to disturb the locals, only find out more about them, but knew she would be terrifying to them, a completely alien element in this world. As she neared the hollow, a brightly coloured parrot flew out, and pecked at her head. Although it couldn't penetrate the suit, Patters felt a little shamefaced, and dropped back to the ground. The parrot flew about her still, squawking and fluttering its wings in indignation. It retreated to its tree, but kept squawking it's warning to others.
Another scuffle, on the ground this time. Patters chased a moving form, leaping, paws outstretched, and gently caught an animal under them. It seemed like a mouse. She carefully released one paw, and saw it was like a mouse, but with wondrously large eyes, a small pointy snout, and paws almost like hands. Like all forms in this galaxy, except humans, it had the centaur shape and three arms, but had some extra skin between its four legs and two of its arms. Patters was thinking of the Mediators' large eyes, and it had a long, curled tail.
The poor thing was clearly terrified, panting, and blinking its eyes rapidly. She went to release it, but could see it was hurt.
"Did I do that?" she asked herself out loud.
"No, but you could have," it replied.
Patters started, but kept her paw on the mouse-like creature. What? It spoke! And her translator translated it, through her tablet in her backpack.
She looked closer, and saw the mouse had a collar with a round bell shaped object around it. Was this a translator unit?
"You can understand me?" she asked the mouse.
"Yes, but if you let me go, we could have a better conversation. It's beneath my dignity to be lying helpless like this."
Patters lifted her paw, expecting the not-mouse to disappear into the undergrowth. Instead it sat up, inspecting Patters.
"You're new to this planet," it said.
"Yes," she said. "Visitors."
"Hmmm. I suppose you regularly chop down being's homes, and chase them on other planets as well, do you?"
"Not always."
"Anyway, to answer your question, I'm already hurt, which is the only way you could ever have caught me."
Patters was a bit dazed by the whole conversation. No intelligent civilisation on the planet?
"And yes, we're civilised, and yes, on this out of the way planet," said the mouse-thing.
"So why didn't the Mediators find you?"
"Oh, we hid from them. Who wants to be classified?"
Patters thought it was quite reasonable.
"What are you called?" she asked politely.
"My name is not important," said the mouse-thing, a bit shamefaced.
"Really?"
"It never translates properly."
"Come on, I have to call you something."
"Oh, alright. It's Bottoms-up."
Patters smiled, and tried hard not to laugh.
"I'm Patters," The mouse-thing sniffed. "What's your species?"
"Don't you know? Ignorant, aren't you? We're sugar-gliders."
Patters looked dumbly at the mouse-thing.
"Possums. We glide from tree to tree. Or we do when we're not injured."
"Can I help you with that?" asked Patters obligingly.
The sugar-glider looked at Patters in amazement.
"You want to help?"
Patters nodded.
"If I can, yes."
"I thought you just wanted to eat me."
"Not an intelligent civilised being. Or not without sauce."
Patters laughed, and hoped the sugar-glider could see the funny side."
"'Not without sauce'. Good one."
The joke fell flat. The sugar-glider looked at Patters seriously.
"If you could get me to my home tree, I'd be grateful."
Patters picked up the sugar-glider carefully.
"Show me where."
The sugar-glider pointed into the forest, and Patters started out in that direction. They'd gone deeper into the forest when Bottoms-up called out.
"This one, here!"
Patters stopped at the tree. The sugar-glider jumped onto the trunk of the tree, clinging with its paws.
"So why are you here?" asked Bottoms-up curiously.
"We're searching for an artefact of great power. But we're battling the Brotherhood to get it before they do, and escape before they can capture us."
"You said the Brotherhood."
"Yes. These forces will be under their pay and instruction."
"And they're coming here?"
"Yes. You know of the Brotherhood?"
"Who doesn't? Even this far out in the galaxy, we know them, and fear their coming."
"I'm sorry. They'll be after us, not you. They won't know you're here as no one else seems to. Stay hidden, and keep away from the pyramid."
"That's easy for you to say! This is our home."
"If the Brotherhood break through our space forces, and they come here, there'll be a fight."
"Bring it on!"
Patters was quite surprised at the little possum's bravado.
"I need to get back soon. Anything else I should know about this jungle?"
"Just that if you need help, we'll be there."
Patters considered the offer, but not seriously. After all, what damage could such a small, fragile creature do? But Patters if nothing was a polite cat, and respected the fighting spirit of all beings.
"Thank you, but it's better if you keep yourselves safe."
With that, Patters turned and slinked away through the jungle.
Fifty six
Sissness, Anna, an
d Snark had still come up with nothing. They climbed back to the top of the pyramid, sat to consider, and have a meal.
The view was even more spectacular with the sun sinking over the mountains, and the colours of the sky changing. It was awe-inspiring, but not helping them find a way into the pyramid.
"We're missing something," said Anna, flicking her hair back crossly.
"We know we're at the right place," said Sissness. "Jamie's additional information makes this the location, and given the murals on Perdita, it can't be anywhere else."
"Bloody 'gods'!" exclaimed Snark. "Why couldn't they make things easier?"
Snark turned abruptly, and, slipping on a patch of slime and moss, lost his balance. Flailing to try and right himself, he tripped on a vine root, over-balanced and fell off the platform. Anna just missed catching him, and careering and somersaulting down the steps, he fell all the way to the bottom, and came to rest, on his feet, some paces away from the last step. His suit had cushioned his fall, and had shifted into full protection mode.
On his way down, he'd obviously triggered something, as there was a horrible grinding noise, stone on stone, and a whole section of the lower steps disappeared down into the earth, leaving a dark entrance-way exposed.
Whatever the missing piece of the puzzle, they were in.
Snark's suit returned to normal, and he approached the entrance cautiously, nose sniffing, and tail extended, his body crouched for instant action.
He took a torch out of his backpack, as Anna and Sissness descended the pyramid carefully. He shone it into the gaping maw of blackness, and could pick out the stone paving leading inside. Snark waited for them to reach him, notified the Colonel of what they were doing, and, guns un-holstered, they ventured inside.
They found themselves in the main room of the lower level of the pyramid, their torchlight flicking over the plain and unadorned, plastered walls. Nothing.
"They're not making it easy for us," sniffed Snark.
"Not at all," commented Sissness drily.
Anna placed a hand on the wall, and listened. It was quiet in the room, suddenly quiet after the noise of the forest, which she hadn't really noticed, but now appreciated. She took a deep breath, and another, and slowed her breathing, focussing on relaxing into the wall. She stood against it, her eyes closed, and Snark and Sissness recognised a trance. They waited.
Anna suddenly but quietly came back into focus. She looked down at her feet, scuffing at the paving stones which made up the floor. She counted them from the entrance, and from the right-hand wall facing from the entrance. She found what she wanted, and knelt, rubbing dust from the stone. The others stood by her.
"Here," she indicated the stone she'd chosen. Faintly carved into the stone was a symbol. "It's like the Scylla cave. This is the symbol for 'honesty', or being 'loyal'."
They looked at something like a human hand, inside a circle.
"I saw," she said simply, smiling at them. "But it's also like I've been here before, a kind of déjà vu."
"Well, keep on 'seeing'", said Snark. "We need all the help we can get."
Anna placed her right hand into the stone etching, and pushed.
A similar grinding noise to the one heard before, except echoing in the chamber, started and increased in volume. They held their hands and paws over their ears. Finally it stopped, and a set of stairs had appeared in the opposite corner leading into an opening in the roof. Snark gestured at the others.
"Ladies first," he said, and Anna started up the stairs, followed by Sissness, with Snark bringing up the rear.
In the second level room of the pyramid, they started looking for clues as to what to do next. They felt the need to hurry.
"We need to get on, get the amulet, and get out," said Snark.
Sissness looked at Anna. Anna rolled her eyes.
"It's not going to be that straightforward," she said. "In the caves at Scylla, there were many barriers to get through."
Snark sighed.
"If it was up to me, it would be simple, but I guess we need to go through a whole lot of trials to get there." The others smiled. "If only 'the gods' had been into simplicity."
"I think they needed to protect the amulet," said Anna.
"I don't think they calculated on a Brotherhood."
"I think they did."
Snark considered, and gave up.
"Let's do this" he said.
They scoured the room for a clue to the next step.
Nothing.
"This is not helping," said Snark.
Anna felt the pressure on her, but she called on all her training with Maraid and the Grand Mother. She took a deep breath, relaxed and went into another trance. Snark and Sissness waited, looking at Anna for signs she was coming out of it. A long time later, Anna took in a deep breath, and her eyes flew open. She staggered, and Snark and Sissness moved to support her. Anna steadied, sat down, and took a large draught of water from her bottle. She looked at them.
"I wasn't here, it was the city. But it was a ruin. There was something evil there, black, and, I don't know," she shook her head. "Frightening. Something I really fear, I was petrified, but I couldn't see what it was. And something else." She took in another deep breath. "It was me, but I was old, very old. And changed. Somehow caught up with the evil. I was looking into a mirror." Anna clenched her fists, and banged them on her drawn up thighs. "I can't see properly. Why can't I see it clearly?"
The others waited for her to gather her strength.
Anna looked around at the chamber. Just white walls, and the stone floor. The evil, and her older self. Like looking into a mirror. A mirror.
She counted the pavers, but this time from the left-hand side, and crouched by one of them. She cleaned the dirt and dust from the stone with her hand, and found very faint scratches in the stone. As before, it was the hand symbol, and she pressed down. The grinding noise echoed through the chamber as before, and another flight of stairs were revealed leading to an opening in the ceiling.
Snark quickly updated the Colonel as to their situation, and Snark went first this time. They climbed up into a room which seemed to be a perfect pyramid, an echo of the whole structure, but in miniature. The ceiling ran up to a point, and there were no windows. They stood in the white room, wondering what to do next.
As the team looked around, a bright, white light shone out from the point in the ceiling, and a man and woman appeared, as Anna, Sissness, and Jamie had seen in the waterfall caves at Scylla. The bright light obscured their physical forms and features, but what could be made out was the figures were tall, similar in form to humans, but still alien.
The male 'god' spoke.
"You have come to the Pyramid of Honesty." There was a pause, as they took in the words, and winced against the light shining all around them. "You seek the Amulet of Truth. Prepare yourself. Truth is not always easy to bear. Step forward those who will accept the judgement of the amulet."
Snark, Anna, and Sissness looked at each other. Anna took Snark's paw in her right hand, and then Sissness's paw in her left. They all stepped forward as one into the images of 'the gods', and the bright light. The light brightened unbearably, and when it cleared, they were gone.
Fifty Seven
Patters re-joined the ground forces and reported to the Colonel. She'd called in to Snark, Anna, and Sissness, and had no reply, so she checked the pyramid. Inside, she followed the stairs to the top pyramid room, and saw there was no one there. Assuming a similar experience had occurred to the one on Scylla Prime, she returned to the ground, consulted with Crocatoa, and called through a situation report to Warspite.
"At least they're on their way to finding the amulet," said Warspite. "We need to protect the pyramid at all costs. It's their only way of getting back from where-ever they've gone." He thought for a nano-second and added, "Colonel, send a team of marines through after Snark and the others. They may need back-up."
The Colonel acknowledged the coms, waved to three o
f his best marines, and gave them their orders. They made their way to the pyramid room, with the Colonel bringing up the rear, then stood in the room, looking around, and waiting.
Nothing happened.
The group felt a little foolish, and the Colonel reported back to Warspite.
"Nothing doing here. I don't know what the others did to trigger whatever the mechanism is, but it's not happening now."
Warspite acknowledged the message, and stood them down. Perhaps no-one could follow?
Patters didn't tell anyone about the sugar-gliders. They'd seemed to want to stay hidden from the galaxy at large, but they must have contact somehow to know who was coming and going, so must have access to technology somewhere. However, she respected their wish to stay out of sight, and there wasn't any point complicating things. She hoped the gliders would keep away if there was a fight.
Patters joined the marines at the base of the pyramid, and prepared for a fight. She hoped Snark, Anna, and Sissness were safe. They didn't have much time.
Warspite was still doing battle tactics, and running scenarios. Depending on the other forces' tactics, he was outnumbered at least fifty to one. And ships were still entering the system from four directions. He had the advantage, as an AI, in being able to move with nano-second speed, and control all ships' systems and weapons as if they were one. However, this number of ships was almost overwhelming.
They had all the advantages except one. Numbers. It wasn't so much individual hitting power which mattered, but a well co-ordinated attack would gradually wear them down, especially if they hit him from all sides at once. Which it appeared they were going to try to do.
A third of each force was remaining at the jump point in ambush for anything jumping in, presumably counting on them having reinforcements arriving at some point, and wanting to catch them flat footed. The rest were now on course for Minor, timed to arrive at the same time, boxing them in against the planet, and the gas giant behind.
The question was where to meet them. If they remained in orbit, they had very little in the way of manoeuvring room, but even then, they would be unable to prevent anything from landing. Their small fleet had no chance of covering the whole planet effectively, and if they stayed above the expedition below, they'd give away its location.
A.I. Destiny 5 Talisman of Tomorrow Page 22