by John Foster
Smiles lit up the crew, Bosky clasped the hands and arms of Vincent as they shouted with joy as their respective dreams were coming true. The navigation officer turned to Vincent and asked for orders. “Home,” he said.
The wind whipped up the desert sands of the Gobi around his boots and the heavy cloak swung in the gathering wind. The sun rising above earth never failed to impress Dragaan particularly the warmth of it and the yellow rays that shone down across the landscape. On Nuevo Petersburg, the sun rose once every two earth months and it was too far to feel much of its warmth, his world was a perpetual icebox of cold and dark. There was too little moisture in the atmosphere to allow snow but it was still cold enough without it and exposure was certain death without environmental suits.
The sound of sand crunching under boots brought Dragaan out of his reverie as his first officer approached.
“Commander, it is time.”
“Good, signal the men to ready the ship for takeoff. We’ll leave as soon as the device is in our hands.” Dragaan turned back from his first officer to watch the slow rise of the yellow sun. It was hypnotizing and he was fascinated by it. Shaking his head to clear it of these superfluous thoughts. He had work to do and very important work it was, too. If this disc was actually a map that led to a new weapon, then it could yet be a game changer in the war with the Soshi and possibly cause a change in the Unification Government on earth as well. Dragaan relished the potential power that could be at his fingertips in a few short hours and he smiled at the thought of all that could be accomplished.
Hidden among the rocks and boulders a hundred paces away from Dragaan stood a slight black hooded figure with a long pole studded with small gem like knobs along its sides. It grimly smiled as Dragaan stood upon this rock of this pathetic little world. The creature reflected no light and was practically invisible even though on closer inspection it was dressed in a dark cloak and hood. It could listen in on Dragaan’s conversation with his first officer and knew it was time for to strike and strike hard.
Taos dropped his rope ladder into the hole in the tunnel. It had been a simple matter to find the tunnel using the map that the agent had supplied. Everything had been easily identifiable. Breaking into the tunnel had been somewhat a different manner though and that had taken a lot longer than anticipated. They had tried picks and shovels but had failed to penetrate even the smallest of pits into the top of the tunnel. They had eventually found an old cover that they had accidentally activated and the plate had moved of its own accord revealing an entrance to the void below. Grateful for his good luck at finding such an accommodating entrance, he and one other man, Tsamar, roped their way down into the tunnel. The air in the tunnel stank of age but it wasn’t unfamiliar and reminded him of his own home in an ancient city where he had grown up in northern Africa. In fact, the Gobi could easily be a copy of his homeland. The ground in the tunnel was littered with debris, old storage jars, wood crates, and all manner of items. They wound their way through the debris being careful to be quiet and not disturb anything. Tsamar was his companion in the tunnel and he was one of the most trusted of his men, deadly with either knife or machine pistol, Taos didn’t expect any trouble but his friend would die to protect him and their objective, if necessary.
They walked down the tunnel to the burial. Taos didn’t like the idea of looking at the skeleton, much less touching it, but he would do it or feared that he would suffer the same fate if he didn’t. He looked at Tsamar as they walked, the hand light bobbing up and down as they traveled the corridor and in the reflections of light saw a wiry man of the same age and build as Taos but with feral beady eyes. Those eyes had been the last thing many a person had seen in the dark before they had been forever extinguished. In the distance, Taos could see the lights that were still on over the burial area and was grateful for this boon that the foreign digger people had left them. It would make their job easier with so much light. And no guard, their agent had told them that the foolish digger leader didn’t think it was likely or even possible for anyone to know what they had found and didn’t even mount a guard. Taos smiled at the thought as they neared the burial. He motioned Tsamar to move around the burial and stand at the base of the ladder to watch for movement and listen for the approach of anyone.
Taos started to sweat now that he had reached the burial and was grateful that the skull was covered by a cloth. He knew his quest was under the skull and doubted that he could obtain it without removing the cover. The diggers had done well and had carefully removed all of the soil around the bones and Taos was careful to touch nothing except the skull area. As his fingers moved around the base of the skull he could feel a metal disc like object just below. He first tried to move it with both hands to see how easily it might move, but it seemed wedged between the skull and something hard under it. The light was bright but not hot but he still sweated as he realized that he could feel little pores in the skull as his fingers moved about. A drop of sweat snaked its way to the tip of his nose and then hung for a moment and dropped to the cloth below. He shifted his weight and moved from a crouch to his knees so that he could exert more force. There was a slight give in the disc. He could feel something under the disc also move but he had no idea what it was. It occurred to him that the item below the disc might also be valuable and no one knew what it might be. He fantasied that it might be a chest with gold or gems in it. His forehead creased and the sweat increased as he also considered it might be part of a booby trap. It was not unknown of the ancients to lay traps for looters. Taos stopped and called Tsamar to him.
“I can’t move it, you try.”
“Aye, I can do it,” said Tsamar. Tsamar looked at Taos with hint of scorn in his eyes and dropped to his knees and flipped off the cloth over the skull. Both men gasped as they saw the three eyes sockets in the skull.
“Mother of god,” murmured Tsamar, his face clinched and white.
“Fool, you’ve let it see us,” whispered Taos.
Tsamar quickly replaced the cloth over the skull. His face shone with fear as he suddenly jerked the disc and it came free in his hands, the motion dislodged the skull and it rolled out from under the cloth again. It rolled once and then sat staring at them and they stared back. They jumped to their feet, the disc in Tsamar’s hand. Taos grabbed it and placed it in a small pouch around his neck and tied it securely.
Taos was feeling like the spell of the moment had been broken and some how he felt free again. He listened and could hear nothing. He then noticed a blinking light on the equipment and lights above them. He saw a red light on what looked like a very odd camera aimed right at them. They then heard voices from beyond the open hole above them. His eyes widened and his mouth opened slightly, “we must go and now,” as he turned and started to run back the way they had come. As they ran along, Taos said, “You may have work yet this night.”
Tsamar smiled as they hastened along the darkened tunnel.
“Okay, let’s go,” said West. They looked to West as he moved toward the burial and then followed. Madison kept to the left with her left hand and light moving along the wall of the corridor as if to keep the light away from her body. West had one light in his right hand and the pistol in his left. Theo and Volkum were to the right of West and trailing slightly behind. They came to the burial and stopped while West gave it a quick appraisal.
“They got the disc,” West said as he picked up the skull and admired it and then quickly put it down again. The rest edged away from it attempting to avoid any more disturbance.
As soon as they were away from the burial they started to jog down the corridor.
“West!” Theo said.
“What?” West replied
“That guy at the burial had a gun.”
“What?” West said, his voice trailing at the end.
West put up his hand and came to a halt. “Shit, I can’t risk your lives for this artifact, but I’m going to have to go on. It’s just too damn important if the disc leads to a weapon o
f such power.”
“We understand, we’ll go with you, it’s that important,” said Theo looking for confirmation from the others. They looked at him and as one they nodded at him.
“All right, let’s go,” said West.
They moved again and West could now see foot prints in the dust at their feet.
“There are two of them,” said Theo shining the light at his feet.
“Busy little place,” said Madison.
They moved forward, the pace picking up, sensing that the quarry was melting away.
Taos and Tsamar were running, their hand lights bobbing up and down as they fled down the corridor. They skirted the wooden debris that littered this part of the tunnel. Weaving in and out avoiding as much as possible, they hurried as they could see a faint glow appear behind them. They both turned, looking down the tunnel, their chests heaving and the sweat beading on their faces.
“You want me to send them to their creator?” asked Tsamar.
“Not yet, they don’t know how far ahead we are.”
They turned as one and started to run, jumping over and around the litter of the past.
West could see a dim flickering glow moving down the corridor ahead of them moving back and forth.
“I can see their light, we’ve got them, and for gawd’s sake keep your heads down.”
They resumed their pace, a little faster, but then slowed down as they started to encounter all the broken containers, debris, and pottery jars.
Taos looked over his shoulder and could now see the lights had gained on them and as he turned back, he tripped and fell with the backpack flying out of his hand and into the dust among the broken bits of pottery and decayed wood. A cloud of dust fragments and pieces of old cloth filled the air hovering as if suspended. He cursed while Tsamar, seeing his plight turned and crouched and held his gun pointing down the corridor.
Taos held his ankle feeling the sharp pain of it from the fall. He cursed again softly under his breath. He scrambled forward holding his breath fighting the pain as he sought the pack. He moved about the litter pushing and pulling at it to see where the pack had fallen. His light had broken during the fall and he turned to Tsamar.
“Give me your light, mine’s broken.”
Wordlessly, Tsamar quickly turned to him and handed it over.
Taos returned to his quest, searching frantically, now hearing words and then seeing the faint light of the pursuers in the dark behind them.
The only sounds were the stomping of boots on the soft soil and their labored breathing as they pushed forward. West peered forward and dodged the various items that hindered their passage. They were forced to single file in many places and while this slowed them down, West was grateful for the cover it provided. If the looters were armed, it would be extremely dangerous in this enclosed space and the corridors being straight as an arrow would provide an easy path to fire down. The lights ahead were moving but didn’t seem to be getting any farther away and West sensed that they had stopped.
“Get down!” he cried as the snap and whine of a bullet screamed into the wall at his left.
The rest of the team dived for cover throwing up their arms and hands to protect their heads. A huge cloud of dust rose around them obscuring their vision. West had dropped to a kneeling position and aiming his pistol down the dust filled corridor fired. The noise and flame of the flash burst out of the gun like a cannon and boomed down the corridor leaving everyone with their ears ringing.
The smile that framed Tsamar’s face disappeared as the crack and boom of the diggers response to his shot into the dark. He hadn’t expected them to be armed and he was dismayed at the obvious power of their weapon as it easily passed through several old storage jars to his left. He flopped to the ground and leveled his pistol again, but not firing, holding it ready. Taos eyes tightened but he grinned through clinched teeth at his companion’s natural instincts to keep their pursuers at bay. His hand ripped and pushed among the rubble, his ears ringing with the gun shots. He waved his hands trying to clear the air to see. His light shining eerily in the particle filled air. Then he saw the pack hanging as if placed on a rack from the cross tree of an old wagon harness. He grabbed at it pulling down the wagon tongue as it came free. It fell across Tsmars’ legs who cried out in pain and surprise.
“Be quiet you fool,” said Taos. Tsamar glared at Taos but said nothing.
“You wait here while I make it to the hole,” said Taos.
“How will I see to get through all this shit to get out?” said Tasmar.
Taos gave a crooked smile, “use their light” pointing down the corridor and then turned and limped away.
Tsamar was not daunted by this remark and actually relished the challenge. He was trained to kill and while he was outnumbered he was confident that his pursuers weren’t killers and waiting in ambush he was sure to put down most if not all of them in short order.
The dust was slowly settling around them and West noticed how close the bullet had come to his head by the dark mark on the wall to his left. The passing bullet had only left a dark stain but no scratch to mark its passage and West wondered at that but turned to face down the corridor.
“Everybody okay?” he asked.
There were exclamations of relief as if they were all holding their breath and West realized that they probably were. He certainly had been. But they all eventually answered that they were uninjured.
He rose to a crouched position and started to slowly move forward his pistol leveled and steady. He noted that his hand was level and while he didn’t flinch from a fight he had never been in a gun battle before and smiled at his seemingly unwavering nerves. He could see the dim light ahead moving up and down as if it were searching for something. He frowned and peered intently but couldn’t imagine what they were doing. Maybe they had encountered a roof fall or debris had fallen and blocked their path.
“They’re not moving” he said, looking back over his shoulder.
Theo rose up beside him, his head and beard covered in layers of dust and debris. He shook his hairy head and dust flew in all directions. “Damn, that was lucky,” said Theo.
West nodded his head continuing to look down the corridor. He turned off his hand light and fastened it to his belt.
“You all stay here with your lights plying on the walls and ceiling while I crawl down the corridor,” said West. He felt a hand on his leg and looked back at Madison who was now holding his foot. Her eyes were clinched and her mouth set. She looked up at him and said, “don’t break any of those old pots” and her eyes twinkled.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be careful of them.” He gave a little laugh and his eyes tightened as he turned from her and started to move through the dust and rubble. Volkum and Thomas had moved to his left and were moving forward on their stomachs, and then both rose up wiping off the dust.
“I’m going with you. I’ll be safe behind you,” Volkum said laughing.
“Okay, let’s go,” said West. He looked over his shoulder and said, “I’ll blink the light at you twice to come forward but only 20 meters at a time and keep your lights on the ceiling so they don’t silhouette us,” said West. He could only see Madison who had joined Thomas near the wall and nodded. West reluctantly went into a crouch and moved forward using the faint light ahead to see the outline of the crates and pottery jars in front of them and while not perfect it provided a guide through the mess about them.
Tsamar listened to Taos move through the corridor behind him and then scooted behind some large fragments of pottery to better hide his outline if the diggers shone a light down the corridor.
Taos felt that there was another 100 meters before he would come to the hole and be able to leave this cursed place. He felt confident that Tsamar would either kill the digger people or force them back. He also frowned as he considered how he was going to climb up that rope to the entrance. He would tie the rope around his waist and then his six men at the entrance could pull him up. Smiling at t
he solution he continued to hobble his way forward.
West and Volkum could see Taos’s light moving away and they hurried their pace. After about 30 feet West turned and blinked the light twice. They turned and then moved forward again.
Tsamar waited, seeing the lights flickering down the corridor. He couldn’t tell what they were doing but it didn’t appear that they were moving. He was nervous but only in anticipation of what was coming. He hefted a heavy pottery fragment in front of him and decided that it would be an ideal booby-trap. He moved it between some large pottery jars where they would be forced to cross over it. He then placed a small homemade hand grenade under it that he carried in a pouch under his cloak. He crouched and slowly pulled the little aluminum tab that was the safety on it. He had made hundreds of these little gems that he called offerings, and they were perfectly safe if you were careful. The lever that would explode the device, was an old silver spoon that he had hammered and then fixed into the grenade. He had been quite adept at such creativity. He knew the grenade probably wouldn’t kill any of them but in these tight quarters it would certainly make a mess. A mess meant more time and that was what he needed.
He set it carefully so that when it was moved or nudged the lever would be released and instant sorrow would result. He grinned and moved back down the corridor moving in and around the debris touching and feeling his way. He moved about 20 meters down the tunnel and took off his pouch with the little gems in it. He hung the pouch from a broken ladder that leaned against the wall. Tsamar held the pouch in both hands and then with two fingers, he lifted each grenade out of the pouch and hung them one by one on a broken rung of the ladder. Their safety rings providing handy loops to hold them to the foot rung where he could get them easily. Many of the digger people might die here tonight.