Jinks snatched his gun and fired once.
Nova stepped to her right, well out of the way of the shot. She squeezed her own trigger and a flash of blue light screamed through the air between them. The man's gun exploded into scraps of metal.
"Two for two," Nova said.
"I'll admit you're a good shot," Jinks said.
"Damn right," Tiny said. "But we aren't coming with you."
She shrugged. "Too bad."
Nova fired two more shots, they slammed into the men's chests and they collapsed backwards. Their heads lolled onto the sand, eyes still open.
Nova sighed and flicked her gun back from 'stun' to 'lethal'. They would be unconscious for some time, but they would survive. It looked like she would be carrying two bodies out of the tunnels after all.
She looked around the corridor and down the other fork. There had to be some kind of carting device for carrying the sand and dirt of the excavation back up out of the tunnel. She strode away from the men and down the other fork, toward the sound of digging.
The tunnels were darker in this area. The metal plating and strange lights dimmed, turning from a yellowy-red to blue. The floor was sandier and covered in newly churned dirt but there was no sign of a cart.
More writing covered the wall at the next turn. Nova frowned at it. Her curiosity had gotten her into mountains of trouble in the past, but it had also saved her life, and it was more reliable than her luck, however unlikely that was.
She'd always been fascinated by ancient civilizations. The thought that somehow ancient Earth languages had reached this tiny, far-away planet sent her imagination soaring.
They were so far away from Old-Earth, both in time and distance. It seemed impossible that any travel could have happened so long ago. But it was equally impossible to think that the same languages evolved independently. Her mind also turned with the why of it all; why was there no life recorded on this planet when there obviously had been.
"You are great. You are powerful. You should fear you," she read more of the text. "What? That doesn't make sense."
She frowned and re-read the writing. You should fear you. What was that supposed to mean?
"Cal, run some variance analysis on this bit of text," she said. "It doesn't add up."
"Confirmed," Cal said.
A few seconds later, Cal's voice returned to her head. "Variance analysis reveals only one possible solution based on syntax and word order."
"Well, what is it?" she said.
"We."
"What?"
"The translation patch has mistakenly translated 'We' to 'You'," Cal repeated.
Nova said the passage again with the new translation. "We are great. We are powerful. You should fear us."
"Cal, update my chip," she said. The words rearranged themselves in front of her. There was something about the passage that she wasn't seeing. What did the translation error mean? Her memory ran over the words she'd seen so far.
The blood drained from Nova's face.
Open and we will have the power to control the universe.
It was the text above the entrance, the words that Codon was so excited about. So excited because he'd been using the old patch with the wrong translation.
This changed everything.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Nova turned on her heel and sprinted from the sound of digging. Her feet slapped against the sandy floor, carrying her through tunnels and dim passages. Her mind raced with what she'd seen, only barely aware of her direction, her movement.
She ran straight past the tunnel with the two unconscious fugitives. Onwards and upwards. Her heart pounded in her chest and adrenalin pumped through her veins.
Two works carrying a large relic between them blocked the tunnel ahead.
"Get out of the way! Move!"
They turned and stumbled to a stop, staring at her. "What—"
"Move!"
They edged to the side and Nova sprinted past. Her shoulder scraped against the tunnel wall but she kept running.
She gasped for breath and cold sweat trickled down her neck. She couldn't get the ancient words out of her head. How could the Confederacy be so stupid? Didn't they realize what they were about to unleash?
She burst out of the tunnels and into the night air and was hit with a blast of cool wind, but it wasn't enough to calm her nerves. She brushed past workers and sprinted out into the desert near the Confederacy ships.
Shouts erupted around her but she paid them no attention. There was only one thing she could do; get to Codon.
She ran past the smaller ships, Confederacy soldiers closed in on her.
"You! Stop!"
Their boots scraped on the and behind her but so far they hadn't fired any shots. Good; she'd keep running.
Her feet sunk in the soft sand of the desert and each step she had to pull them free to push forward. The desert grit flicked up into her eyes and caught in the back of her throat. She coughed but didn't slow, pushed with every ounce of strength she had.
Codon's ship loomed above her. Not far to go. She just had to get to the stairs and then up into—
A heavy weight slammed into her back and carried her forward. She collided with the ground and sand poured into her open mouth.
Someone snatched her legs and another held her arms. The flipped her over and shone a bright light into her face.
"It's the damned hunter from earlier," a rough voice said.
"Why the hell was she down in the tomb?" another asked.
"She was forbidden by Codon himself. I heard it all."
"What did you expect? Probably trying to steal herself a tidy profit."
Nova spit the sand out and coughed as grains slid their rough way down her throat. "I wasn't stealing anything."
"That's what it looked like."
"Even if I had it wouldn't be any worse than what you're doing," Nova said. She glared at whoever was pointing the bright light into her eyes; she couldn't see a damned thing.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Let me go," she said. "I need to talk to Codon."
"Where are your manners, hunter?" Alaina's voice was unmistakable.
A sharp pain erupted up Nova's side, the result of someone's boot.
She spluttered and would have curled into a ball if they didn't have her limbs pinned. "Let. Me. Go. He needs to know—"
"I don't think there's anything he needs to know."
"I need to talk to him right away. You'll regret it."
"Go easy on the threats there," Alaina said. "I don't think you're in any position to be making them."
Nova drew a rasping breath. "And I don't—"
"He wants to see her," someone said.
"Why would he want to see her?" Alaina said.
"I have no idea. Maybe he thinks she made some wondrous discovery."
"That damned man! He has no respect for how things should be done. Why the general left a scientist in charge beats the hell out of me," Alaina said.
"They're the orders."
A new voice spoke, "What do you think we could pin her for?"
"I reckon we could get ten years on the Zeta Asteroid for her."
Alaina's sharp words cut through the night air. "Blast the Zeta Asteroid. She should be shot. She's an insult to the Confederacy."
"Well the kick you gave her might just kill her."
"I wish," Alaina said. "Bloody hunters."
"Orders are orders."
"Fine," Alaina said. "But she won't leave this planet. She's a danger to the Confederacy and a blasted nuisance."
"You know I'll look the other way."
"Copy that," the third voice said.
Rough hands grabbed hold of Nova's arms and pulled her to her feet. Alaina shoved her forward and the muzzle of a gun prodded Nova in the spine.
Nova stumbled up the stairs of Codon's ship, one hand clutching her bruised stomach, and the other ready to snatch a knife from her belt if Alaina tried anything.
The door at the top of the ship hissed open and blinding light spilled out. Nova squinted against the glare.
"I suppose he's in the ridiculous lab of his," Alaina said.
They swept into the ship, past people in Confederacy uniform who studied screens set into the walls. They stopped to stare at Nova as she was marched past.
Dark corridors stretched away in all directions and it took them five minutes of walking through a maze of passages to reach a thick, steel door.
"Why does he need such a massive door?" the man in front said.
"To guard his precious research, of course," Alaina said. "I heard he's even got a new shield on it; better than anything our ships have."
"Why don't we have that technology?"
"Beats me. The man's a nut-case. He probably imagined the whole thing."
The door slid open to reveal Codon. He wore a thick pair of plastic glasses and the same clothes Nova had seen earlier.
"Codon, I have to talk to you," Nova said.
"Sir, she's a problem. She's already defied your orders by going down into the tunnels. I recommend you let me deal with her," Alaina said.
"She'll have to be punished. But first, what's the problem?" Codon asked. He glanced over his shoulder, into the room beyond, and then back to Nova. "The fugitives haven't escaped, have they?"
"No, it's worse than that," Nova said. "It's about what you're digging up."
"What about it?"
She had to make Codon listen, make him understand but she couldn't do anything with Alaina's gun pressed into her spinal column.
"I've discovered something important," Nova said.
"Oh?"
"Perhaps you want to keep it confidential?" she said. "You never know who's listening. This could be a significant find."
Codon's eyes widened and his tongue flicked out to lick his bottom lip.
"Leave her here. Wait outside," Codon said to the soldiers.
"Sir, I don't think that's a good idea. It could be a trap," Alaina said.
"I'm sure I can take care of myself."
Nova stepped away from Alaina and stood beside Codon, inside the door. He gestured at the door and it slid shut on Alaina's face.
Nova's gaze swept the room. A compact laboratory with sensing equipment and machines along the walls. A bench covered in fragments of stone took up the middle of the room and a brush and tools lay next to the pile of rubble.
"What is this amazing find?" he said.
"It's not a find exactly. But you have to listen to me. There's something—"
"No. You listen." Codon whipped his hand out from behind his back to reveal a black semi-automatic pistol. His mouth twisted up to one side. "I generously let you stay here, against my better judgment. I should have had you thrown off of the planet and been done with you. But I didn't. I let you stay so you could finish your little mission. I specifically told you not to interfere with my dig."
"Just listen—"
"I'm not finished!" Codon yelled. His face was red and his nostrils flared. The timid scientist was gone, replaced by a stern and hard-faced man. "What were you doing? Hoping to steal a few trinkets and sell them on the black market? Was that your little plan? Were you trying to take my great discovery?"
"No. I—"
"What made you come running? Tell me now or I will have you killed."
Nova's heart pummeled her ribs and her fists clenched at her sides as she imagined slamming them into the man's stomach again and again. "Doctor Codon! I would suggest you shut up and listen or you and all of your men will be dead." Her voice was even louder than his and drowned out whatever he was going to say. "You translated it wrong."
Codon's open mouth snapped shut and his eyebrow rose. "What do you mean?"
"I mean the words above the entrance. You translated them wrong."
"That's impossible. The languages are so similar to old-Earth dialects that it barely took the computers a minute to create the translation software. Plus, I'm never wrong."
"There's a first time for everything. Your computers got it wrong."
"Are you worried about a few grammar mistakes?" Codon said. His voice was low and stony, a condescending sneer played at the corner of his mouth.
"It's a little more important than that."
"Well?"
"You read it as; enter and you will have the power to control the universe."
"Yes, that's the closest translation."
"It should be' open and we will have the power to control the universe'."
"What does that even mean?" Codon said.
Nova wanted to strangle the man. How could he not see what was right in front of him? It changed everything. "It means that whatever you're hoping to uncover won't help you."
"That's ridiculous. It's just some ancient text. I'm sure whatever is buried there will benefit whoever finds it. Which, by the way, will be me. I deserve it; I've worked my whole life for this, for the great discovery."
"I don't think you've—"
The floor fell away beneath Nova's feet. The whole world lifted up on her right and fell down on her left as the ship fell sideways
Nova's eyes widened. How could a ship this big fall over? That was impossible.
She dropped down and tucked her body into a tight ball, protecting her head as best she could.
The ship teetered and then fell the rest of the way, hurling everything inside it against the far wall.
Glasses, books and paintings whizzed past Nova's face in a desperate race to reach the opposing wall where they exploded into hundreds of tiny pieces. Shards of glass shot out in all directions followed by chunks of metal and bits of plastic.
Nova and Codon's fleshy bodies struck with solid thuds. She landed shoulder first and pain coursed through her arm and into her side. The agony in her ribs compounded the pain from being kicked earlier.
Her eyes flew open to see a couch falling toward her and Codon. She grimaced, grabbed Codon's shoulders, and rolled them both to the side. Her skin scraped along pieces of broken glass.
The couch slammed into the side of the ship inches away from Nova's leg and left a sizable dent. The wall shuddered under the force of the blow and other debris flew free. The couch shivered in place and then lay still against the wall.
Loose pieces of paper fluttered down and landed on the rubble but everything else in the room was bolted down. The entire place leaned sideways like a drunkard. The sounds of falling items echoed from other rooms.
Nova and Codon lay on top of a pile of shattered glass and debris. Miraculously, their bones and bodies were still intact.
CHAPTER EIGHT
"What the hell was that?" Codon said. He pushed Nova to the side and stood.
She scrambled to her feet. It was disorientating to stand on the wall of the ship instead of the floor. "I warned you. And what sort of lab has a couch?"
"A mistranslation does not lead to an earthquake," Codon said.
He shouldered past her and climbed over the fallen couch, toward the door.
Nova trailed after him. It was like walking through the broken remains of someone's life. Little pieces of everyday things jumbled together to create a garbage heap. Her boots crunched pieces of glass into even smaller specks that glinted in the bright lights.
"I think you'll count yourself lucky if it's an earthquake," she said.
The door to the lab slid open and Codon managed to clamber through it and out of the lab. Nova followed him.
Three bodies lay crumpled just outside of the door, Alaina among them. Blood trailed out of their mouths, nostrils and ears.
Codon knelt beside Alaina and placed his hand on her neck. "She's dead." He went to the next soldier, and then the next. "They're all dead. What the hell happened?"
Nova shrugged. "Cal, can you hear me?" She thought the words, rather than saying them out loud.
"Confirmed," Cal said.
"How's Crusader?"
"We were forced to land but Crusader is no more dam
aged than before. We're some distance from the source of the blast. How are you and the others?"
"I'm with Doctor Codon but I don't think anyone else is left."
"Our scanners detected a massive shock-wave. Technological systems appear unaffected, but some of your plants have died."
"What?" Her eyebrows drew together. Why would Cal be talking about her flowers at a time like this?
"It was the blast. They turned brown and wilted."
"It targeted living things."
"Confirmed," Cal said. "But you and the doctor survived. It is beyond my understanding."
"Mine too," she said. She imagined the soldiers and workers outside, if Cal was right, they'd all be dead. Then why wasn't she?
"Damned thing!" Codon yelled. A loud bang brought Nova back to the present.
She forced her eyes to focus on Codon. He was back inside the laboratory, slamming his fingers onto a large screen. Numbers and maps flicked across the display.
"What is it?" she said.
"We're grounded," he said.
"Where is the ship damaged?"
"That's just it. It's not damaged, we just can't take off."
"That doesn't make any sense."
"Well thank you, hunter, for pointing that out. Work, damn you!" Codon said.
"Cal, are you able to leave?"
"Negative. Crusader's engines are in working order, or at least are working as usual, but we are unable to lift," Cal said.
Nova couldn't help the corners of her mouth twitching.
"Look, Doc, there has to be some kind of force-field keeping us grounded," she said.
"What the hell would create a force-field like that?" Codon said.
"That's what I've been trying to tell you. The writing above the door said 'we'. 'Open and we will have the power to control the universe'. There was something waiting inside that tomb, and you let it out."
"That's ridiculous. What could possibly be down there?" Codon said.
"I'm sure we'll find out sooner than we would have liked."
Codon started off down the corridor, away from his laboratory and the three bodies. Nova followed him but rubble and pieces of broken furniture blocked their way. Worse than that, the doorways were all the wrong way so they either fell away below their feet or opened above their heads in what was now the ceiling.
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