by Jeff Sims
The last thing that they tried was electricity. They charged enough electricity into the sealant to make it change state. They were then able to lift the slab off of the lip and rotate it enough to gain access to the room underneath.
Carank then set up a couple of powerful lights that illuminated the entire chamber. They looked down and saw an overwhelming empty room. There were four small flasks neatly arranged in the center of the floor.
Lorano said, “I think that this is a mausoleum. I recognize those flasks. They look like Altian burial urns.”
Lorano received three quizzical looks, so he continued, “A traditional Altian urn is designed to hold the ashes of a dead body. Urns aren’t in use today, but they were certainly in fashion for thousands of years.”
Carank lowered himself into the chamber and grabbed one of the flasks. He dusted it off and held it up to Lorano. He repeated three times and then hoisted himself back out of the chamber.
Lorano scanned the urns with the diagnostic computer and verified that each did indeed contain the remains of an Altian. The diagnostic computer was also able to radiocarbon date the ashes to around 4,000 years old.
Carank respectfully placed the urns back in the mausoleum and they moved the cover back to its original position. Carank then grabbed his label maker and made a label in Alliance Basic that read ‘Altian Burial Tomb’.
Lexxi removed her giant earphones for a moment and asked, “Well, does the discovery of 4,000 year old dead Altians solve the mystery?”
Lorano replied, “Unfortunately, it doesn’t. It only makes the original mystery more mysterious.”
“Great,” Lexxi replied and put her headphones back on.
Carank said, “So, maybe some of your ancestors dropped four Altians on the planet to build the pyramid. They then returned a couple of hundred years later and buried the bodies and took all of the construction equipment.”
Lorano responded, “And then never bothered to use the energy pyramid or the entire planet for that matter. This doesn’t make sense.”
Lexxi found four more similar structures just north of the burial chamber that they had been investigating. They chose the 3rd from the left to investigate first. While which one they chose first may not be relevant, the decision process used to choose that particular one was.
Carank wanted to start on the first one on the left and then work left to right because it made the most geographical sense. Lorano wanted to work right to left due to the wind direction. If they worked left to right they may blow debris from one onto the others.
Carank counter argued that if they did that, they would in effect then be blowing soil onto already cleaned slabs. If they went left to right, even if they had to remove additional soil they would still finish with 4 clean slabs. If they went the other way, all 4 slabs would not be perfectly clean when they finished.
So, they then had the computer choose a random number between 1 and 4. The computer chose the number 1, but they got into an argument about whether they had decided to count from left to right or right to left.
In apparent utter frustration Clowy grabbed the electro vacuum, chose the aforementioned 3rd one from the left, and began excavating. She didn’t stop and switch to the dust atomizer; she just vacuumed until the slab was clean enough to move.
(For the record, Lorano was correct. The wind did blow the dirt to the right. The 4th from the left, or correspondingly the first from the right, was now buried even deeper. Carank was right as well; they would now cover number 3 when they unburied number 2. Clowy was right as well, it really didn’t matter which one they chose. Lexxi didn’t particularly care.)
They repeated the opening procedure and rotated the slab enough to peer inside the chamber. It was the exact same size as the first one. However, this one was filled with 12 bodies. Each body was heavily wrapped in some type of cloth and coated with a type of resin.
Carank and Lorano carefully lifted the closest body out of the tomb and placed the majority of it on the diagnostic scanner. They had to adjust it a couple of times to scan the whole thing. The diagnostic computer gave the following report.
…The dead body is consistent with the profile of a Solarian or a short Human male. It had part of its brain pulled out through its nose and had its lungs, intestines, stomach, and liver removed. The body has been radiocarbon dated at 4,012 years old with a 99% confidence interval of 10 years…
Lorano said, “Computer, interface with the Travesty and scan all Human and Solarian burial practices for the last 5,000 years. Do any match what was done to this specimen?”
Carank said, “It is frustrating that there is no way to determine whether the body is a Human or a Solarian.”
Lexxi replied, “Why don’t you just slice the covers open and see the color of his skin.”
…The burial method is consistent with mummification. Mummification was practiced on Earth starting 4,600 years ago and continued for approximately 2,000 years…
Lorano cut a small piece of the fabric near the head. All four took turns looking at the color of the mummy’s face. Once everyone had looked, Lorano resealed the tear.
Carank summarized, “Well, that is still inconclusive. However the face looked more brown than blue.”
They carefully slid the body back into the tomb and replaced the lid. They then scanned the remaining three structures. They didn’t bother to clear the soil or open the other three structures. Now that they knew what they were looking at it was very easy to identify that the other three were filled with more mummified human bodies.
Carank summarized, “There are 50 Human bodies total. There is a mixture of males and females. We don’t know for certain whether they are Humans or Solarians. However, the most likely scenario is that they were transported to this planet from Earth by ancient Altians.”
Carank labeled each tomb ‘Human tomb’ in Alliance basic. He briefly considered creating a longer label detailing what he just said, but decided that he didn’t want to waste the label paper.
They spent the next three weeks on the planet. They settled into a routine; expanding the search area outward from the pyramid during the morning hours, then relaxing in the afternoon hours. They found nothing else of interest in their search. The pyramid and the 5 burial chambers were the only artificial structures on the planet as far as they could tell.
Lorano found that he seemed to be enjoying himself; well except for Clowy, and Carank, and Lexxi, and slow websphere service, and finding nothing of interest, and being forced to brush fake hair every day.
Their 22nd day on the planet, Lorano realized that he had forgotten something. He said, “Computer, please display the results of the detailed scan of the solar system. Please list any anomalies.”
…Showing scan results. The remains of an ancient navigational beacon was detected very near where this ship exited hyperspace…
They had a quick team meeting and decided to leave the planet and investigate the remains of the old transponder. They unpacked all non-essential equipment such as the ground vehicle and the spare hyperspace communicator and repacked critical equipment such as the high powered lights, diagnostic computer, and label maker.
They left the planet and flew the mini-freighter to the navigational beacon. Lorano scanned the immediate area and showed the results on the main monitor.
He said, “If we overlay the position of the navigational beacon, it becomes clear that this used to be a hyperspace lane.”
Carank responded, “Someone went to a lot of trouble to erase this system from history.”
Lorano said, “I agree.” He paused a moment and continued, “We are almost in position. Go put on the flight suit.”
Carank opened the hatchway between the inner and outer hull. He entered and closed the inner hull. He then put on the heavy pilot’s suit. This suit was contained a separate oxygen supply and was rated for outer space. He tethered himself to the wall and waited for Lorano’s signal.
Lorano parked the Travesty a
s closely as possible to the remains of the beacon. Carank then opened the outer hatch and made a small jump. He slowly drifted out of the ship and into outer space. He scanned the area; he could see the sun and the habitable planet clearly from his vantage point. He was stunned by how beautiful deep space looked.
Carank reached the remains of the navigational beacon. There was very little left of it. He gathered the remains in one hand and pressed the return button. The winch activated and drew him back into the ship. Carank disrobed, exited the hatchway, and carried the remains to the diagnostic computer.
They performed a full diagnostic scan of the remains, including a metallurgical analysis, a component analysis, and a hardware scan.
…There is a partial file remaining in the storage cube. Playing file now…
Carank said, “That sounded Altian. Lorano, can you translate it to Alliance basic?”
Lorano replied, “It was only a partial sentence. The dialect was ancient, but I think I understood the meaning. It said- what do you mean, better planet.”
Carank responded, “A better planet. Solaria. They must be referring to Solaria.”
Lorano stated, “I think that we can infer from the statement that there must have been two competing groups. Or maybe they were cooperating, who knows. Either way, it is safe to assume that they started to build a colony here for altered Humans, but abandoned it in favor of Solaria.”
Carank mused, “I wonder what makes Solaria so much better than C2L2.”
Lorano: “The EMP. The ancients must have figured out that they could build an EMP weapon from the high magnetization in Solaria’s core. That way they could leave their creation behind with the full knowledge that they could protect themselves.”
“Plus.” Carank added, “Solaria is physically closer to Altian and farther from Earth. There was less risk of interference or discovery.”
Lorano said, “We need to go back to Solaria. I bet the final clue to this puzzle is in the third pyramid.
Chapter 8
An old woman slowly woke from a deep, icy slumber. She yawned and stretched and moved her hands back and forth a few times to work a little of the ache out of her joints. She realized that she was lying down in a cryostasis chamber. She struggled mightily to move since her legs weren’t working very well.
Eventually, she was able to wedge herself into a sitting position in the stasis tube. She looked around and saw that she was in a tiny chamber. She really didn’t remember getting into the stasis chamber or going to sleep. She briefly wondered how long she had been frozen. It could have been days, weeks, months, even years – she had no way of determining the answer.
There was a bottle of water sitting on the control panel next to her. She grabbed it and took a long drink. She paused and took another long drink. She didn’t seem to care that this was her only source of water. She took another long drink, almost draining the bottle.
There were a couple of sea moss meal bars sitting beside the water. She sniffed at them. There was no describable smell. She opened one and took a bite. There was no describable taste either. She frowned and tossed it aside. She was hungry, but not that hungry.
She looked at the control panel right beside her cyrostasis chamber. The panel contained only one button. It was a huge button, roughly three times the size of her hand. There were instructions printed beside it. They read – when the button turns orange, press it.
She looked at the button. It was blinking orange. The old woman stared at it for a few more moments. She suddenly remembered her name, Coed‘be. She also remembered her family and the financial arrangement she had made with the Hiriculan government – a sizeable inheritance in exchange for her help on a secret project. She silently said goodbye to her family one final time.
She pushed the giant orange button.
The ion collectors activated and began stripping the negative charge from atoms. A few minutes later the ion cannon was fully charged. The computer made an imperceptible adjustment to its targeting alignment and fired.
Seven months ago, Admiral Lopeq’la had deposited this mystery object right beside the Opron – Conron hyperspace lane. He had then suffered a resounding military defeat and literally forced himself to forget about the object in its entirety.
The ion cannon fired.
The blast was more powerful than it should have been for its size. The Hiriculan engineers had traded safety shielding for performance. In fact, the walls were only thick enough to direct the initial blast. They were not strong enough to contain the entire blast.
A fraction of a second later the containment walls shuddered and collapsed. Coed’be was incinerated as the entire object was consumed by the blast. There was nothing left of her or the portable ion cannon.
The blast was aimed at the Alliance corvette Informer. The Informer was stationed beside the Opron – Conron hyperspace lane. Its sole purpose was to monitor the Opron system and report any unusual activity by the Hiriculans.
The blast traveled 6 light minutes and struck the unshielded corvette at full strength. The Informer was converted from matter to energy in less than a micro-second. There was nothing left. The Alliance corvette was completely gone; erased from the sky.
The sole method the Alliance used to monitor any Hiriculan incursion from Netron was now gone.
………..…………
The command carrier Retribution completed its last micro jump around the Netron system and arrived at the entryway to the Netron – Opron hyperspace lane. It was the 61st ship to arrive at the rendezvous point. It arrived exactly 70 seconds after ship number 60 in the armada and parked directly behind it. Seventy seconds later ship number 62 appeared and parked directly behind the Retribution.
Ship number 62 was actually ship 61. The command carrier was technically ship number 331, but Supreme Admiral Fruid’la had decided to move up in the jump order. Depending upon how one was counting; either ship 62 or 63 appeared 70 seconds later and moved to the back of the line.
Supreme Admiral Fruid’la contacted Admiral Valod’la, the commander of Fleet 1, and said, “I see that ship number 4 is missing. I assume that it is on the secret mission.”
Valod’la replied, “Yes Supreme Admiral, you are correct. I selected the Intimidator for the mission. It jumped to Opron approximately 20 minutes after we arrived, or 50 minutes ago.”
Supreme Admiral Fruid’la said, “Computer, what is the distance from one side of Opron to the other?”
…The Opron system is 7 light hours across...
Fruid’la performed a quick and calculation. It was wholly unnecessary, but hey, at least he performed it correctly. He gave himself an A for effort.
Fruid’la responded, “Then we have to wait another 6 hours and 10 minutes before jumping on to Opron.”
Valod’la responded, ”I thought the plan was to wait 16.5 hours until the entire fleet made it the Netron – Opron hyperspace lane before jumping to Opron.”
“It is,” Fruid’la conceded. “I was just calculating when would could leave, not when we are going to leave.”
Fruid’la knew that the High Council’s master plan depended upon precise timing, especially in the early phases. The High Council had revealed the majority (he assumed) of their plan to him so that he could create a detailed strategy for its execution. He knew that he didn’t know all of their master plan, but he did know that his knowledge, however incomplete, affirmed that the schedule needed to be maintained as precisely as possible.
A good example of the necessity of schedule adherence was the Intimidator’s secret mission. Once the ship arrived in Opron, it was supposed to send a secret code. Seven hours later the Alliance corvette patrolling the entryway to the Opron – Conron hyperspace lane would mysteriously disappear.
If it didn’t work, the Alliance corvette more than likely wouldn’t be suspicious of a lone Hiriculan cruiser. Conversely, if the Alliance corvette watched Hiriculan warships arrive every minute plus for several straight hours, it would probab
ly have reason for concern and raise an alarm.
Fruid’la spent the next 16 hours impatiently waiting for the rest of the armada to appear. The majority of the time he remained on the flag bridge, just watching a new blip appear on the widescreen monitor every 70 seconds. It was rather boring after the first 60 blips, but Fruid’la had relatively few other options.
He supposed that he could engage his crew in conversation.
Fruid’la laughed at the concept and watched the next blip appear. He checked his communication pad – only another 10 hours left to go. He also considered conducting another simulation or an actual training exercise. However, he really wasn’t in the mood for a simulation and didn’t want to pull the ships out of line for a live combat exercise.
He watched as another blip appeared 70 seconds later. He wondered if another one would appear 70 seconds later. He waited another 70 seconds. Sure enough, another blip appeared. He repeated, with the exact same result.
Finally, it was time to jump to the Opron system. Not really though, they still had over two hours to wait. Something out of the ordinary happened at this very moment though – a commercial ship, specifically a cruise liner, appeared. It is unclear whether or not it was interesting, but at a minimum it was certainly worth mentioning.
The cruise liner was brand new and was the height of luxury travel. It was wonderfully apportioned and included every convenience known. In fact, it even had empty space reserved to add more conveniences as soon as new ones were invented. It was, without question, the nicest, sleekest, most comfortable ship in the galaxy.
(Not to be too snobbish, but it was also the nicest ship in the next galaxy over too.)
…The Barrister has arrived and is hailing you…
Supreme Admiral Fruid’la really didn’t want to the talk to them. He understood that the ship and its contents were critical to the success of the mission, but that didn’t mean he liked it. Double negative aside, he didn’t dislike the crew of the Barrister. In reality, he hadn’t actually met anyone on board the other ship and really hadn’t formed a personal opinion of them.