Caveman pulled a short, clear crystal rod about the circumference of Olivia's pinkie finger from his jacket's top pocket. Hesitating at the lock, he turned and looked deeply into her eyes. "What you are about to see you cannot speak of, Olivia, neither with us outside the confines of the chamber, nor with any other being under any circumstances. Do you understand?"
She nodded. "I understand, but—"
He hushed her. "No talking. Breaking your vow of silence is an offense punishable by the possible death of us all."
Olivia gulped. Hernando put an arm around her shoulder and squeezed it. She patted his hand. At least he cares about me to keep me safe... Didn't he try and convince me to go lie down and leave this to the ruling council? What got into me? Why did I act arrogant and boss my way into this situation?
Caveman slid the rod into the hole in the plate. Tiny motes of ruby light glittered within the rod, dancing to a complicated pattern. She heard several series of mechanical bolts sliding back and clicking into place before the large door slowly opened. It was all Olivia could do but gasp in awe as they stepped one-by-one into the chamber.
This couldn't be happening... This wasn't what it appeared to be, was it? Could it be some kind of mind control trick such as Valori had used on the henchmen on the plane?
Olivia blinked. No, it was real, but it provoked more questions than answers. The Pure Bloods' technology was this advanced? Their present culture and civilization on the surface appeared antiquated and degenerate, a steampunk world of metal gears and coal powered machines, but the sleekness and newness of this technology belied this notion. They had been spacefarers after all and possessed the technology of the Portal.
She slowed her pace and turned around as they stopped before a row of monitor screens and input keyboards. No doubt about it, the Pure Bloods had built their own version of NASA Mission Control.
The video screen images of the skies above them yielded splashes of vivid colors and masses of constellations against the blackness of space, a visual smorgasbord only the Hubble telescope could have imagined. A low melodic hum of electronics and twinkling of multi-colored indicators on the control panel in front of them added an eerie feel of a sci-fi Christmas tree minus the pine scent. Caveman wandered down a dark row of terminals and stopped to converse with a tall Pure Blood in a long, white lab coat.
"I thought the Pure Bloods couldn't get off the planet," she whispered to Hernando. "I thought they let this sort of thing rot away."
"This room isn't for their spacecraft operations. It's essential to running the Portal successfully," he replied. "It can't just point at Earth and send things back and forth. It needs computing devices and other electronic eyes to scan the heavens." He waved his arm to indicate the room. "From what I've read of Earth technology there's more computing power in this one room than on the whole of your world. It's needed to calculate the incredibly complex equations which allow the Portal to zero in on any particular point on Earth. Only a handful of Pure Bloods’ technicians remain who know how to work these machines, but we are training new ones, Quadsangs and humans. This technology cannot be lost or else BloodDark will be totally cut off from Earth."
So few with so much knowledge and technology... so much power. "I can see how important this technology is, but why all the hush-hush? Everyone knows about the Portal on BloodDark and Earth nowadays."
"They know about it, but they do not understand how it works." Hernando laughed. "I remember how the humans grilled me for information when I first came to Earth. They didn't get much from me because I honestly couldn't tell them anything. My ignorance kept this place safe from their prying eyes."
Olivia reached out and took his hand. "You laugh about it now, but I know it wasn't easy for you then."
He shook his head and forced a smile. "It's all in the past. Anyway, the ruling council didn't understand how this place is essential to its operations until we took charge of the Portal. Very few had access to it, and only one of the coordinators agreed to show us how it operated. We had to win their trust first."
Olivia scanned the terminals and noted there were only a handful of technicians present. They all appeared to be Pure Bloods, lean, angular-featured, thin-skinned with needle-sharp teeth. She tried not to show her discomfort at the thought of being in a sealed chamber with those who had abducted her...
It's what it must have felt like for the freed slaves to have to ask their former masters to help them read and interpret their new world upon Emancipation. Can you really believe what they're teaching you now if they enslaved you before?
"How did you win their trust?" she asked.
Annara chuckled. "Weapons pointed at their heads helped a little, but in the end it came down to the clan rivalries. The Clan Delta had provided technicians for the Portal the time before the control of Clan Alpha. One of their very old instructors agreed to teach humans and Quadsangs the procedures provided we allowed the Deltans use of the Portal from time to time to sell artworks to Earth clients."
"They wanted in on some of the auction action, huh?" Olivia scanned the room again for signs of humans
