translations on it. “There are almost two hundred symbols. Are you certain? Our table has seventy-five, I think, and it’s the most complete of any in the world.”
“ But your people are still finding new ones, right?” Rias ticked his fingernail on the top of the device. “You’ll believe me when you see the tunnels, but for now just trust me when I say these people were more advanced than us.”
“ More advanced?”
He had hinted of that in his tale of the tunnels, but she had not truly thought it possible. Though, advanced technology might explain how this device had dug its legs into the earth, piercing tile, wood, and permafrost to do so. She clasped her hand over her mouth and stared at the runes. There was no existing evidence that a people more advanced than modern man had ever lived. This was rewrite-the-history-books kind of stuff. Incredible. If it was true.
“ I just want to be certain. I don’t see what you’re seeing to make these identifications. Nor does the layout of the symbols look like the table I’m familiar with, but I’ve only had a cursory introduction to alchemy. It wasn’t anything I thought I’d come across studying ancient languages.” She realized she was making excuses and decided to still her lips before it grew more obvious. Rias had thought so highly of her intelligence; she hated to give him reason to think less of her.
“ I’ve spent my life looking for patterns and trying to find the predictable in situations others see as unpredictable. If this odd skill can be of use to you now, I’m delighted.” Rias slid next to her in front of the interface and poked one of the simplest runes and brought it to life before their eyes. “The atomic structure is incorporated into the symbol itself.”
“ Oh!” As soon as he said it, she saw it. “Hydrogen.” She slapped herself on the forehead. “I thought these might be numbers. It never occurred to me that an ancient people might have this kind of scientific knowledge, with specialized symbols for…”
Rias tapped hydrogen again and another rune. The symbols appeared in the air. “How do you-” he started, but bonds formed on their own.
“ Water.” Tikaya grinned. The symbols were not nearly as simple as the diagrams her people used to represent the various elements-indeed, these reminded her of the bizarre perception puzzles a professor had distributed during a lesson on optics-but if one knew what to look for, the structures were there.
The water molecule flashed twice, then disappeared to be replaced by the far more complex image she had been seeing all afternoon.
“ I guess that isn’t the answer.” Rias gave her a sad smile. “I’m afraid that’s about the extent of my knowledge in this area. I haven’t an idea what that could be.” He swiped his finger through the dozens of linked symbols hovering in the air. The image did not waver. “Something we haven’t invented yet, probably. I can look through the shelves in the offices. It’s a long shot, but there might be a book that has our mediocre table of elements in it. Maybe that’ll help you with translating. Sorry I don’t have the answer.”
“ Sorry!” Tikaya grabbed his arms. “You have no idea how much this helps. I mean, this could be the key to translating this whole language. You’re amazing!” She kissed him on the cheek, then danced back to her chalkboards. Now that he had pointed out the structures so cunningly crafted into the symbols, she could pick out ten or twelve she remembered from school. That was enough to get her started. Although…
“ Actually, yes, I could use a book with your table in it.” She turned back and was about to ask him to look, but he was staring at her, his fingers touching the cheek she had kissed.
“ Yes, of course.” He lowered his hand.
She bit her lip, tickled at his reaction. “Do you not get praised often?”
“ It’s been a while,” he admitted. “And before Krychek, uhm, more often by men than women.”
“ Not even your wife?”
He snorted. “Especially not by her.”
They shared a chuckle, and she admitted herself curious about the woman, though it should not matter. Rias’s past relationships were none of her business, and they had more important things to worry about. Besides, he had left her anyway. Tikaya blinked. Or had he? Maybe she was something, like his land and his name, that the empire had taken from him as punishment. Still, he did not sound disappointed.
“ Horrible woman?” she asked, fishing.
“ No, but we weren’t a good match from the start. It never would have lasted as long as it did if I hadn’t been away at sea so much of the time. She had my home, my money, and the freedom to spend time wherever-” he winced, “-with whomever, she pleased.”
Tikaya grimaced in sympathy. Like her, Parkonis had not been perfect, but he had always been faithful. “How’d you end up together to start with?”
“ I was twenty, she was pretty, and our parents thought it would be a good idea.” Rias laughed ruefully. “But mostly I was twenty and she was pretty.” He waved away further discussion. “I’ll get that book.”
“ Be careful.”
He waved an acknowledgment on his way out, and Tikaya shifted uneasily, as worried for him as for herself. Agarik had walked out, and she had not seen him since. Rias was only going to search this building, she told herself, and settled into work.
A few moments later, Tikaya had three chalkboards lined up, all full. She listed the translations for the atoms she recognized. Also, she listed runes she remembered from the rubbings, those displaying what she now recognized as molecular structures. The elements came up surprisingly often in what she had assumed was normal writing. Perhaps the subject was always science. Or maybe these people-this race? — had a language specifically for scientific matters. The Herdoctans had a different written language for religion, so why not?
A hand touched her shoulder, and she jumped, dropping her chalk.
“ Sorry.” Rias held a book with his finger marking a page.
“ No, don’t apologize. My fault for not paying attention.” Tikaya picked up the chalk and accepted the book. She glanced at the cover. “ Torture and Interrogation Methods Technical Manual?”
Rias cleared his throat. “Yes, ah, just stick to the chapter on chemical applications.”
“ Oh, I will. I don’t want to chance upon any Turgonian brutality secrets.” Or pictures more gruesome than the bodies on the floor.
He surveyed the chalkboards with bemusement and scraped at dried blood on the corner of one. “You know, some women wouldn’t be willing to work in a room full of corpses.”
She had already started writing and almost missed the comment. “What?”
Rias chuckled. “Nothing. Continue your work. I’ll stand guard.”
Tikaya straightened, wincing at the ache in her lower back. She stretched her arms toward the ceiling and shook out a cramp in her hand. Midnight had to be near, maybe past. Her stomach growled. Fatigue numbed her brain, and her mouth battled unsuccessfully against yawns. Even if the lighting had been better, her notes and the symbols on the device would have blurred and swam before her bleary eyes.
Rias stood guard by the door, checking the hallway from time to time, but mostly staying silent and letting her work.
A scream raced down the street below the hill. What if she translated the writing too late? After the entire team killed each other? She eyed the bodies in the corner. Rias had dragged them out of the way, muttering something about funeral pyres in the morning, but she worried about getting to morning. If enough people attacked at once, she and Rias could end up like that before dawn.
No, she decided, watching him standing with his ear cocked. Despite the hour, he was alert, rifle across his arms, hand on the stock, finger near the trigger. Not tense but relaxed and ready. She imagined he could fight off superior odds for a long time, but he would not want to do so. He’d be shooting his own people, the very men they were supposed to help later on.
Rias saw her watching him and lifted his eyebrows.
Tikaya felt silly to have been caught gazing at him. “I was wondering if you could get my mind off this for a moment.”
Rias joined her. He set the rifle butt on the floor and rested his forearms across the muzzle. He surveyed her, and she felt a self-conscious twinge. No doubt she had strands of hair sticking out in all directions and dark
