by K. Aten
A strange automated voice sounded from speakers hidden along the tunnel. “Warning. Hull integrity at ninety percent.” Despite the worry that clouded her head, Castellan couldn't help the thrill of realization that they were indeed in a sailing vessel of sorts.
“Commander!” She looked over to where Spc. Eliseo Calderon, one of their pilots, pointed toward the wall. There was a list of strange writing with numbers and arrows scribed next to it.
Castellan glanced toward the sovereign and Olivienne shook her head. “I’ve never seen the like.”
Tosh looked around the group. “We have a lot of minds here, does anyone have a suggestion? An adventurist mission is more one of discovery and not strong on intel. I chose this team to be flexible and intuitive. And from the feel of that shaking, we’re under a time crunch here! Think people, think!”
Spc. Meza raised her hand. “Ser, I’m getting a sense that we should head that way.” She pointed down the tunnel to the left and Tosh, knowing about the young woman’s level four clairvoyance, accepted it as fact.
The tunnel was more of a hallway than anything else, with walls made of the same material as the long entry hatch. Olivienne too had come to the conclusion that it was a ship of some kind. The fact that it sat below a lake led to the obvious thought that it had sank beneath the surface somehow intact. She also wondered if the high acid content was in any way related to the compromised vessel, or if it was from their belayed anchor bolt. Either way, it was too late to second-guess decisions already made. Guided by Meza’s clairvoyance, the entire Shield unit marched past large windows that were spaced out approximately every twenty yords.
Each window featured more strange writing next to it. They suspected a room on the other side but the light from the hall was not enough to penetrate the darkness beyond the glass. After walking by the third such room, Tosh instructed Olivienne to hold her headlamp directly to the window and she cupped her hands to peer inside. “Bones.” She whispered the word aloud and saw Yazzie shiver nearby. “There are large skeletons lying on the floor, though of what I do not know. Larger than a Psierian, a beast of some sort perhaps.” They stopped at a few others and only found more skeletal remains of various sizes in each.
Lt. Madlin threw out a guess. “Was this a prison, ser?”
Tosh shook her head. “I don’t know. Perhaps it is the menagerie that Lieutenant Savon’s vision spoke of.” The structure around them groaned again and Castellan decided not to investigate the mystery any further.
“Warning. Hull integrity at seventy-five percent.” Cmdr. Tosh’s intuition channel screamed danger with each new tremor and subsequent warning and she instructed the unit to pick up the pace.
Twenty means and two flights of strangely shortened stairs after they arrived at the base of the hatch, they found themselves in a chamber. Per the most recent announcement by the mysterious voice, the hull integrity was down to sixty percent and every member of the team was filled with a sense of great urgency. As soon as the last guardian passed through the entryway, a door that had been recessed in the wall slid shut. The Connate made no secret of her displeasure at not predicting such an obvious trap. “Bollux!”
Cmdr. Tosh quickly went into action, calling out orders to her unit even as Olivienne moved forward to examine the only other door in the room. “Lazaro, update the crew topside on our location and current situation. Madlin, Leggett, Lear, and Devin, get to work on that door. Madlin, use your psychometry and maybe you’ll get lucky and get an image of the operating mechanism. I don’t like being trapped in here against our will. Yazzie, stay close to the Connate. Qent, Dozier, Meza, and Calderon, I want you to walk the perimeter to look for traps or other dangers. Heed Meza’s clairvoyance if something comes to her.” When she was finished doling out orders, she joined Olivienne at the far door.
The room wasn’t large by any measure, maybe ten yords square. But Castellan didn't like being trapped inside just the same, especially with the rumbling and ominous voice calling out their mortality in percentages. As they studied the panel next to the door, they saw four buttons placed along the bottom of a dark screen. It looked almost like glass but black, so black that at first Tosh thought it was made from the natural mineral, obsidae. She reached out to touch it and all four buttons lit up. “What—” Olivienne’s words were cut off when Spc. Qent called out from behind. Everyone in the chamber spun to stare toward the ceiling in the center of the room. A fine mist emanated from three pipes that had lowered from the ceiling and Castellan’s mind scrambled for a solution to the rising panic among her team. “Masks!”
The unit was well versed and practiced in the use of the full face mask, with the exception of Olivienne. But even so, the mist filled the room so fast that every one of them received at least three breaths of it before masks could be pulled on. Despite their obvious exposure, no one had any adverse effects. Olivienne turned to her with wariness in her violet eyes and her voice sounded distorted through the large clear mask. “That is strange, I feel fine but a cloying flavor has coated the back of my tongue. I have never experienced it’s like before.”
“I have.” Tosh immediately removed her mask and clipped it back to her kit belt. At the Connate’s look of dismay, Castellan grimaced and shrugged. “It is harmless, never fear.” Then she raised her voice louder and addressed the entire unit. “The gas is harmless, it is polycyclon. Though you may be more familiar with its other name, truth spray. It leaves a bad taste like sweet rotted fruit and nuts on the back of your tongue, but it will not harm you. Keep your masks handy and resume your current tasks while we investigate the other door.”
When she was finished speaking, the Connate looked at her with much concern. “Why would the Makers administer truth spray to the entire room? What could possibly lie ahead of us?”
A strange mechanical voice came from the speaker in the panel, startling everyone. “Terra Halcyon two-four-seven-nine cargo storage is locked to all unauthorized access. Security protocol Gamma-tau-five to commence.” A series of high-pitched tones sounded through the chamber then the voice resumed. “Requesting illuminated guest to please step to the panel and state your intent.”
Castellan gestured Olivienne forward. “Go on, Connate Dracore, it’s your mission.”
Olivienne shook her head and pointed at the floor below them all. It was comprised of a grid-like pattern and the squares below and around Spc. Yazzie’s feet were lit. “Looks like it’s Yazzie that needs to answer.”
The medican looked down and was startled to see that the floor was indeed glowing below her boots. “Me?” They nodded. “But ser, I don’t even know what to say!”
Tosh gave the woman a wry smile. “Lucky for you, Yazzie, you’ll only be able to say the truth. The effects of polycyclon last for hours but I don’t want to be down here that long so hop to it, Guardian!”
The medican’s eyes widened at the commander’s decisive tone and quickly strode the last few steps to the panel. “Specialist Almeta Yazzie and my intention is to open this door.” The panel flashed red and a tone sounded that was so low and loud that it vibrated the bones in Tosh’s ears.
“Answer is unacceptable, please state your intent.”
“Yazzie, it’s looking for the base reason. While your statement was technically true, it wasn’t absolute truth. You’re here because you’re on the team, you’re on the team because...” She looked pointedly at the woman, then moved her gaze to Olivienne. And the answer dawned on both at the same time.
The twenty-six roto old Shield Corp guardian tried again. “Specialist Almeta Yazzie and my intention is to heal and protect my sovereign, Connate Dracore.”
That time the panel flashed green and the voice spoke again. “Answer is acceptable. Illuminated guest, please step forward.”
It was Tosh’s boots that were outlined in the pale light so she moved to the panel as Yazzie moved away from it. “Commander Castellan Tosh of the Psiere Shield Corp, here to lead this team—” She paused for only a
sec before quickly amending her statement. “Here to protect Olivienne Dracore.” Again the panel flashed green and Castellan suspected that the Connate would be the next one called, since it seemed to be going in order of who was closest to the panel.
“Answer is acceptable. Illuminated guest, please step forward.”
Indeed it was Olivienne and she was prepared to answer after witnessing both Yazzie’s and Tosh’s answers. “Olivienne Dracore, here to retrieve the Key of Antaeus.” The panel didn’t flash that time but rather turned yellow and stayed yellow.
“Please hold, accessing Antaeus files.” A mild tone beeped and repeated every ten secs after. Olivienne looked back at Tosh and the commander could only shrug. Finally, after nearly two meens of beeping, the voice came up again. “Antaeus file access complete. Illuminated guest, please state reason for your Antaeus Key request.”
“I wish to learn more about the Makers.”
The low tone sounded again, even louder than the first time and more than one of the people in the chamber gritted their teeth in pain. “Answer is unacceptable, you have one falsehood remaining. Please state your intent.”
Olivienne took a deep breath and tried again. “My name is Olivienne Dracore, Royal Heir to the Divine Cathedra, Sovereign Connate of Psiere. I wish to improve the lives of my people using the knowledge locked away in the Temple of Antaeus, left behind by the Makers.”
Everyone blew out a sign of relief when the panel flashed green and both doors slid open. “Psionic resonance frequency of Archeos and Illeos temple keys detected. Answer is acceptable. Access granted.”
“That’s it? And how did it know I had the pendants on me?” Olivienne peered inside a room that was so small it was nearly a closet. Lying on a shelf among a multitude of other cases and containers was a box roughly the size of a sheaf of documents. The Psierian temple symbol that matched the pendants around her neck was embedded in the lid. The Connate raised a dark eyebrow with a skeptical look on her face.
Castellan was quick to call her out. “Just be glad you were wearing them and don’t question the voice. Instead, let’s retrieve the key and get out of here. Something is off about this place.” Her words proved to be prescient, despite her lack of channel because as soon as she stopped speaking, great shaking erupted again nearly knocking the team off their feet. An alarm claxon sounded and the voice came across speakers that were hidden somewhere overhead.
“Hull breach in sector seven. Please exit Terra Halcyon two-four-seven-nine in a calm and orderly fashion. Full submersion in T-minus thirty minutes.”
Despite the unfamiliar word, it was close enough to their own word of thirty meens for the unit to extrapolate the meaning of the warning. “Sheddech!” Olivienne darted into the small room and snatched the box from the shelf and stuffed it into her satchel. She gazed mournfully at the other boxes but quickly dashed back out without grabbing any.
Lt. Madlin called out from the far door. “Commander?”
Tosh let out her own curse and pointed back the way they had come from. “Run!” The team sprinted down the corridors and up the flights of stairs they had descended not long before. The automated voice sounded every ten meens, pushing them ever faster.
“Warning...full submersion in T-minus twenty minutes.”
They were passing the first of the glass cells when Spc. Lear stumbled and went to the ground. Tosh waved everyone on. “Keep going!” Olivienne began to slow and Tosh gave her a telekinetic shove. “Go now, I’ll be right behind you!” Then she turned Lear over and took in the pilot’s sweating face and blue lips.
“I’m sorry, Commander. I think that I’m allergic to the truth spray. I have a mild tree nut allergy that I didn’t mention before joining the team...” Her eyes fluttered shut and her voice trailed off as she struggled to breathe. Tosh quickly removed Lear’s mask from the kit belt and clipped in in place, then turned the oxy content up to high to aid with the specialist’s breathing. The tank would only last for twenty meens but that was long enough to get them out. She shouldered the woman and took off at a run. Seeing that the main unit had fully gone from her sight, she decided to speed their travel with her levitation and the glassed rooms passed by at a blur.
“Connate, you have to go now!” Castellan caught up with the group as they were beginning their ascent up the hatch tunnel. The Connate had already ordered the rest of the team up the access tunnel and Lt. Madlin was pleading with Olivienne to enter the hatch herself but the sovereign just stared worriedly back the way they came. The look of relief on her face was obvious as Tosh came into view carrying a limp Necole Lear over her shoulders.
Another round of shaking nearly took the officer off her feet but she managed to stay upright and yell at the Connate at the same time. “Up the hatch, we don’t have much time!”
“Warning...full submersion in T-minus ten minutes.”
The place shook again and Olivienne scrambled into the vertical corridor, climbing the rungs as fast as she was able. Madlin followed her and Tosh drew up the rear. She floated Spc. Lear above her in the passage as they raced up the rungs. The space was too narrow so she couldn’t just push them all out like she had in the giant tree on Mater. She could do more harm than good if one of the team struck their head on the side or a rung. More shaking occurred and she locked her arms around her current rung to prevent coming loose. She heard swearing above and suspected one of the guardians did not take such a precaution. Olivienne’s worried voice called to her from above. “Tosh, we’re not going to make it!”
Castellan grunted as they began to move again ahead of her. “Climb!” At least the commander had the foresight to close and latch the lower hatch before starting her ascent. She wasn’t sure how much time it would buy them but she hoped it would be enough. As soon as she saw daelight above, she paused long enough to grab the voteo from her belt. “Tosh here. Situation dire, ready for team ascent!” She didn’t bother waiting for a reply, merely clipped the voteo back to her belt and resumed the climb.
Spc. Devin’s voice called out from above. “Ser, the island is sinking!”
She used her telepathy to instruct them, saving her breath for the climb. “Put your masks on and clip to the line for ascent as soon as you reach the surface!” She was relieved when Spc. Lear’s body cleared the hatch and she pulled herself into the light of the two suns. However that relief was short-lived as she saw the red water swirling within two yords. She slipped her own mask on and activated the breather and stared up at the people strung out along the anchor line of the dirigible. Illeostone-powered drivers clipped to their harnesses pulled them up the line at a slow but steady pace. She clipped Lear’s driver to the line first and turned it on. Tosh knew someone at the top would grab her and pull her into the airship. When enough space had passed she clipped in her own driver.
A horrific groan filled the air, then a series of muffled booms and the hatch abruptly sunk below the surface of the lake. The dirigible above jerked in the sky and Tosh had the intuition to grab her knife and cut the anchor bolt free from the bottom of the line. She called a warning to the entire team. “Hang tight!” The rope swung wildly in the air below her but they were safe enough as they continued to rise above the water. Then as if to prove their dae could indeed get worse, two serpentine heads rose above the red lake and looked up at the line of climbers. Remembering Lt. Savon’s premonition, Tosh whispered to herself. “Beware the rope—sheddech!” She called out with her mind to every member of her team. “Lock your drivers now!”
She didn’t know what the range was for the drake’s spray but she had to be fast to catch them all if the beast burned through the rope. She could only hope it wouldn’t hit any of their team members. Sure enough, three secs later, one of the drakes gave out a great roar and steaming liquid shot into the sky, perfectly severing the rope between Meza and Calderon. With supreme effort, she caught all six of them that had been cut free from the anchor line and prevented the disastrous fall into the water below. The gua
rdians still attached to the dirigible began climbing again and the second drake reared back as if to spray its own boiling acid into the air. Not wanting to stick around to see the results, Tosh lifted them all straight up toward the rapidly rising dirigible. The distance was significantly greater than she had gone when they flew from the cliffs of Navis and she stumbled with exhaustion when she landed on the staging deck once again.
“Castellan!” Olivienne fairly flew into her arms whilst both Holling and Yazzie began working on Spc. Lear.
Castellan called out to them to speed up the diagnosis. “She said she thinks she’s allergic to the polycyclon. She’ll probably need a stimulant and something to counteract the respiratory distress.”
Holling nodded. “Yes, ser!”
Once that was done, she turned to address her lover and future par. Olivienne had grabbed Tosh in a tight embrace and buried her face in the crook of the commander’s neck out of sheer relief. Castellan tried to get her attention. “Olivienne.” When there was no response, she tried again. “’Vienne.” The sovereign pulled her head back and looked at her with emotion filled eyes and Tosh’s words were a whisper. “We did it.”
The words were repeated, as if Olivienne didn’t quite believe they were true. “We did it.” Together they looked around the deck and watched as Spc. Lear sat upright on her own. Her lips were still tinged blue but she smiled at them and gave the sign for all clear. Other guardians were busy stripping from the uncomfortable waterproof suits and gathering their other gear on the deck.
Lt. Savon came clattering down the stairs from above and clapped Lt. Madlin on the shoulder before turning to the Connate and his commander. “Did you find it?”
Olivienne pulled the box she had retrieved from her satchel and after checking thoroughly for traps, unclasped and opened it. Inside was a stack of vellum, and on top of that lay the third pendant with its gleaming red stone. She pulled the pendant out and glanced at the detailed map of an island and pointed at the coordinates written in scripte in the bottom right corner. Not wanting to chance the wind blowing the vellum pages away, Olivienne quickly shut and stowed the box back in her satchel then held the pendant up to catch the light of the two suns. She looked up at Castellan and smiled. “We did it. We have the coordinates for the Temple of Antaeus and all three keys!”