“And if that doesn’t work?”
“There’s always brute force and jack hammers for that lock,” my dad says. “I’d hate to do it as it might damage something below, but this is too important to leave alone.”
“Did those recovered files from Xinji mention anything about them finding a sublevel?” I ask my dad.
“I don’t think so.”
“Do you want me to look through them?”
“No!”
Surprised by the vehemence in her reply, I glance at my mom.
“There’s an entire team at DES analyzing them. Plus they’ve marked them as highly classified,” Mom says. “I can’t even access them, and if you try to worm into them, you’ll be arrested.”
“Why did they do that?”
“Because everyone in the Galaxy has a theory about why Xinji went silent. These rumors can spread panic and distrust, especially if they take information from those files out of context. DES wants to do a full investigation and then release the facts.”
At least I was able to help a little bit. But if I have to do some illegal worming to solve Lan’s discovery, then I won’t hesitate.
My mom and I are getting ready for dinner when my dad enters the kitchen holding eight stamps… er… keys.
He waves them about. “They’re done! Come on, let’s see if they fit!”
“Three days. That was fast,” Mom says as she turns off the cooker.
We hurry to catch up to Dad as he’s all but sprinting to the archaeology lab. The techs still on duty follow after us and those working in the pits join our joyous parade.
Dad yanks off the sheet covering the hatch with a flourish. We all crowd close as he matches the symbols and inserts each key. I don’t have any desire to become an archaeologist, but I gotta admit, my heart’s doing flips in my chest and I’m on my tiptoes trying to see better.
“Everyone back up a meter,” my dad orders. “We don’t know what will happen.” He tries to turn the keys all at once. First clockwise then counterclockwise.
Nothing moves.
Then he pushes them all down at once. They give. We gasp, but nothing else happens.
“Maybe you have to push and turn at the same time,” someone calls out.
“Then I need more hands,” my dad says. Three techs offer to help.
They try various combinations. Nothing works.
Archaeology and frustration go hand in hand.
“Well shi—”
“Spencer,” Mom interrupts. “You really didn’t think it’d be that easy; everything’s been a puzzle so far. You probably have to press down each key in the right order.”
He sets back on his heels. “Okay, what’s the right order?”
“Numerical. Pit 2 first then go from there.” And when it didn’t work, “Try going backwards, highest to lowest.” And then, “How about in the order they appeared on the screen?”
As my father tries different patterns, I remember what Lan said in her one message. It’s like a code within a code. I move away to a quiet spot, take a trowel and scratch the pit numbers into the sandstone.
2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 24, 32, and 56. I glance around. The aliens liked octagons so it makes sense that the number eight is important to them. There’s sixty-four pits on each planet. And eight symbols for the key. But the numbers aren’t all multiples of eight. Maybe if I add them all together…ugh…that’s…one hundred and thirty-three and even I know that’s not divisible by eight. How about subtraction…that’s a negative twenty-one. Multiplication? Yikes—too big, and forget division.
Eight is key. Two times three is six, but two times four is eight. And five plus three is eight. What about seven? Uh…pass. Thirty-two minus twenty-four is eight. And…fifty-six divided by seven is eight!
When I return, my father is talking about trying sledgehammers before they move on to the jackhammers.
I interrupt him. “Try one more combination.”
“No sense, there’s millions of possibilities.”
“Indulge me.”
“Well, you’ve gotten us this far.” He shoos everyone back. “One more.”
Suddenly nervous and trying to ignore the techs’ eye rolls and muttered comments, I say, “Push down five and three at the same time.”
He does.
“Then the thirty-two and twenty-four at the same time.”
“Next?”
“Four and two.”
He gives me a wild-eyed grin. “And then fifty-six and seven! Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division all equaling eight!”
Dad presses the final two and a loud clunk sounds as the keyhole drops down ten centimeters, releasing a giant whoosh of air. We all jump back and my father scrambles away in case there’s toxic gas escaping.
Yes!
Dad picks me up and twirls me around. “You figured it out! Using math!”
“Lan figured it out, I just followed her logic.”
“But you used math!”
“Does this mean you’ll stop teasing me about my mathematical abilities?”
He sets me down and considers. “Probably not.”
“Can we open the hatch?” one of the techs asks. A group of them are edging closer.
“Not yet,” Mom says. “Keep away from there. We need to sample the air and I’m sure Officer Radcliff would like to be on hand just in case.”
“You think looters have been hiding down there?” one snarks.
“And that is why you’re still a tech, Regan,” Mom says coolly. “Booby traps are far more dangerous than looters.”
They all back up a few more steps.
By the next day, all is ready. I join the group in Pit 4 right after soch-time. My parents are there along with the techs and a security team wearing their black jumpsuits and guns. Six of them, including both Radcliffs. Lovely.
Officer Radcliff hands me a B-app. “Always a pleasure to see you, Miss Daniels.”
Do I detect a hint of sarcasm? Perhaps a smidge. “How are you settling in, Officer Radcliff?”
His gaze jumps to Niall before he says, “Just fine, thanks for asking.”
Oh aren’t we being polite? And I suspect things aren’t just fine by Niall’s hostile expression. Radcliff helps me don the heavy rectangular air filter. The weight rests below my shoulder blades. Then he shows me how to properly seat the clear plastic mask over my face. The peppery scent disappears. I glance around. Radcliff is the last to put on his B-app. Everyone else is wearing one.
I back away as my father gives the signal. He and a few techs muscle the thick slab of stone to the side, revealing a black hole.
Dr. Bernstein crouches next to it and lowers a device that tests the air. “It’s stale and there’s not enough oxygen.” His voice sounds funny through the plastic. “We can install a few ventilation shafts and air exchangers down there and it’ll eventually equalize to what we’re breathing up here.”
Officer Radcliff turns on a flashlight and shines it down. “Anything explosive or acidic?”
“No,” Bernstein says.
“All right, let’s go check it out,” Radcliff says. “Four meters.”
One of the men hands a small ladder to another. They pull it apart until it’s about four meters long. Fancy. They insert it in the hole. Radcliff swings onto it while the two hold it in place. He motions to two others before he climbs down. They follow and the other three officers— who include Niall—take up positions around the hatch.
My mom makes a low derisive sound next to me.
I glance at her with my eyebrows raised.
“I should be going with them,” she explains. Her voice is muffled by the mask.
“Booby traps?” I ask. My words bounce off the plastic—a strange almost echo.
“Yes. He’s not trained to recognize them.”
“Are you sure you’re just not jealous he’s the first to go down there?”
“Smart ass,” Mom says, but she’s smiling. No. She’s grinning like a crazy lady. I haven’t seen her
this excited since we learned about Yulin.
Officer Radcliff shouts up an all-clear and my parents eagerly descend with Dr. Bernstein right behind. Two security officers follow them and I’m left with the techs and Niall. Guess he’s the low man on the team. He keeps his focus on the ladder and the dark hatch.
We wait. And wait. And wait some more. Niall never relaxes, but I’m considering sitting down.
The ladder rattles and Niall holsters his weapon. My father comes up first and Niall helps him step onto solid ground.
Dad is all smiles. He pulls his mask off. “There are rooms and rooms that extend out.” He throws his arms wide.
“What’s in the rooms? More Warriors?” I ask.
“No. There’s strange—perhaps alien—machinery and work areas. There’s evidence of people…or aliens who might have lived here! And we saw a…factory or something. It looked like they might have done something to the Warriors here!” My dad does a little jig.
Now that was worth the wait.
The rest of the team bubbles up from below and my mother is beyond thrilled. Even through her joy, she’s shouting orders before she even steps off the ladder. “Spencer, send word to the other Warrior planets, letting them know about the lower level and how to open it, they need to test beneath every single pit. Del, schedule the cartographers, I want a detailed map as soon as possible. Yuki, go get the carbon dating equipment. Regan, I want you to schedule the techs to work in rotating eight-hour shifts. I want someone down there cataloging twenty-four seven. Lyra, go with Dr. Bernstein and the rest of the techs to get the air exchangers and pumps.”
Everyone rushes off except me.
“Lyra?” Mom asks.
I glance at the hatch. Once the archaeologists get into full discovery mode, I’ll just be in the way. Plus I’m already wearing the B-app. “Can I go down?”
Mom huffs. “We don’t have time right—”
“I’ll take her,” Radcliff offers. “Come on, Miss Daniels. You, too, Niall. Gordy, hold the ladder.”
If Niall is surprised, he doesn’t show it. Radcliff turns the flashlight back on and leads the way. I’m next and Niall is last.
“Don’t touch anything,” my mom calls as we descend into an empty square room.
The walls are smooth and not dug from the sandstone. Dust motes float in the flashlight’s white beam. Sand crunches under our boots as we follow Radcliff through a doorway on the right that leads to a hallway with multiple entrances on either side. The rooms are all different sizes and there are counters and strange silver colored machinery. The tall boxy…things have symbols and grooves, but they don’t resemble anything I’ve seen before. A film of dusty sand coats everything.
Then we enter a cavern—definitely hewn from the sandstone. It’s big and Warriors lie on long tables. There must be hundreds of them. It’s creepy.
Moving deeper into the cavern, we pass more rows of tables. Far in the back is another table. This one is pushed against the wall and is loaded with terracotta… hearts? I stop. It’s beyond creepy. But it’s fascinating as well. I step closer. They appear to be shaped like human hearts, but I’m not an expert. And there’s something written on them.
“Miss Daniels?”
“Can you shine the light here?”
Radcliff stands to my right while Niall comes up on my left. The light is almost swallowed by the deep black of the hearts—not terracotta, and there are silver lines visible on the surface. No. Not lines. Oh. My. Stars. I glance at Niall as my own heart jumps in my chest.
“What’s that?” Radcliff asks. “Chinese calligraphy?”
They’re the same symbols that are on the octagonal artifact. They’re carved into all the hearts. And the desire to touch one burns hot inside me.
Ignoring the voice in my head—my mother’s—warning me to stop, I pick up one of the black hearts to take a closer look at Lan’s symbols, but it disintegrates in my hand. I yelp as a bone-numbing cold coats my fingers and sears my palm.
Ten
2522:127
Radcliff brushes away the bits of the heart left on my skin with his sleeve. “Is it burning you? Some kind of acid? Are you in pain?”
“No.” The truth. The cold disappears as fast as it arrived. “It just…surprised me. I didn’t think the heart would crumble like that.”
“You’re not supposed to touch anything.”
“I know. I just…couldn’t resist. Something about it…” I rub my right hand along my jeans. “Sorry.”
“Well there are hundreds of these, I don’t think your mother will miss one.”
I give him a look. He should know my mother by now.
He sighs. “Yeah.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll fess up.”
“Will you get in trouble?” Niall asks, speaking for the first time.
The words why do you care push at the back of my throat. But I reject the childish retort. “I’ll get a lecture and be assigned the most tedious and mindless task in the lab so I learn just how crucial and valuable every single piece is in a dig site.”
“Sounds like this isn’t the first time you’ve broken something,” Radcliff says. The humor in his voice is evident even through his mask.
“Let’s just say I’m well past my first time and leave it at that.”
He chuckles. “Let’s go back before anything else happens.”
I take one last look. It’ll be dozens of days before I’m allowed in here again. Following Radcliff back through the rooms, I mull over the significance of those hearts. The Warriors are all hollow. They’re life-sized and lifelike, but nothing’s been found inside them. Well…not the broken ones. I rub my hand. If they’re that fragile… then the hearts would have crumbled when the Warriors broke. But why didn’t the digital X-ray scanners see the hearts inside intact Warriors? They did appear to soak up the light, maybe they don’t reflect. Guess that will be a puzzle for my parents to solve.
At least my mistake will warn my mom about how fragile they are. I doubt she’ll see it that way, but a girl can hope.
When we exit, my mother is still barking orders. She spots me. “What do you think? Isn’t it exciting? Did you see they might have used an assembly line of some sort? We have so much work to do! Dr. Bernstein already left, but I need you to—”
“Mom, I…” I take a breath and tell her about the heart.
“Lyra Tian Daniels, what have I told you a million times since you were born?” she asks with barely contained fury.
“Not to touch anything. I’m sor-”
“It’s such a simple rule, but it appears you are incapable of keeping your hands to yourself.” Mom shakes her head. “That’s it. You’re banned from the pits. Go. Get out of here before I say something I’ll regret.”
I expected a lecture, but not to be scolded in front of the Radcliffs. Mortified, I take off the B-app and leave. The Warriors stare at me with censure as I cross through the other pits. If they have hearts, they’ve been well hidden. Wish I could say the same about mine.
When I reach the base, I pause. I don’t want to go back to our quarters, I’m not hungry or tired. I just want to…hide. Except I promised to help the chemists again after dinner. Seems I’m good at preparing slides. Just great. All these useless talents add up to make me an expert in absolutely nothing.
Without a destination in mind, I wander through the corridors, passing groups of scientists and techs on their way to the cafeteria. Excited chatter about the new discovery buzzes in the air. They all know who I am, some have watched me grow up. I get hellos and smiles. But even with a research base filled with people, there’s no one I can really talk to. No Lan to pour my heart out to. No Lan to tell me I’m being melodramatic and should know my mom will eventually relent. Instead, my chest hurts like there’s a scream trapped inside. It’s pushing so hard to escape that I fear I’m about to explode.
I arrive at the game room in the soch-area with no memory of my trip. It’s empty—no surprise since it’s dinner
time and everyone is still settling in to labs and housing units. Plopping into one of the oversized chairs, I stare at the dark screen. Since Niall’s “graduation” I’m not allowed in here by myself during soch-time, so I’ve relinquished it to the quartet of girls. But now there’s no restrictions and I can play by myself. Except that sounds depressing.
Being banned from the pits doesn’t bother me all that much. My parents need all the help they can get so I’ll be shoveling sand in no time as punishment before Mom orders me to finish the reconstruction of Pit 4’s general.
I wonder if Lan found the same hidden room on Xinji, if she discovered those strange black hearts and Warriors lying down as if waiting for…surgery or something. Was she super excited to see the result of all her hard work researching those symbols? Or was finding the room just the first step? Could there be more marvels to discover? I’d give anything to be able to ask her. I glance around at the still empty room. I can’t ask her, but perhaps there’s something in one of those files from Xinji.
Inserting my tangs, I connect with the game system. Hoshi has taught me so much, it’s easy to bypass all the limits, worm into the security cameras, erase my passage through the corridors and make it appear as if the game room is empty. The difficult part will be getting into the classified cluster where DES put the files from Xinji.
In order to reach them, I need to find the smallest of holes to squirm through without causing ripples. It’s a challenge and I run into a number of dead ends. Argh. Going in a different direction, I try again. And again. And again. Maybe if I message Jarren… No. I’ll figure this out on my own.
Those holes in security disappear the closer I get to those files, but maybe if I dip underneath and… Ah ha!
A nice little gap appears and I’m in! Now what?
I do a Q-net search for Warrior hearts and underground. A few files pop up and—
“Lyra!”
My name shatters my concentration. I turn and see Niall standing in the doorway. Bad timing is an understatement.
“Go away,” I say.
Navigating the Stars Page 13