“Sure.” Lysa gestured to the left. “There’s less energy that way. So I say that’s our direction.” She stared down the way. “I wish I had a life reading on our guests. I can’t pick them up on my scanner. And that’s weird.”
“What’s it tell you?”
“They’re not jamming us. I can pick up the energy here, I’ve got information about the radiation from the destruction of our ship. I’ve even got our camp still. The distress beacon’s still blaring by the way. But not the people after us. You don’t think those ships were drones, do you? They might even be AI controlled.”
“I somehow doubt it. Can’t say why.” Kyle glanced over his shoulder, half convinced he’d see soldiers marching up on them. Nothing seemed to be moving, no sounds… nothing he could detect in the dark. Maybe they haven’t even breached the tomb yet. Giving the place that name made his shoulders slump.
Wrong choice of words. Or maybe not. Chances were good they had found an ancient, alien mausoleum. Why protect it with the shields? Maybe it was a chamber to protect the cube, some kind of treasure trove. But why would the defenses lower for us when we arrived? The questions kept coming.
Lysa whacked his arm.
“What?”
“You’re drifting!” Lysa rasped. “Light up ahead. We’re approaching the control room, I think.”
“Lights?” Kyle readied his weapon. “Why?”
“Sensors must’ve detected our presence.” Lysa’s tablet beeped a dozen times in rapid succession. “Well, shit. That’s the distress beacon. It’s being jammed now.”
“But it got off okay, right?”
“I mean, someone will get it in short order. I paid extra for it. I wish I would’ve paid enough to make a more complex message.” Lysa hurried down the rest of the passage. Light ahead grew brighter, orange-yellow in color. The temperature rose too, hot air flowing down from the chamber.
Kyle stepped inside. Tall panels lined the walls to the left and right, indented circles covering the surfaces. The opposite side a darker section of the wall looked like it might be a door of some type. That gave him some relief. It meant they had a way out rather than dumping themselves into a dead end.
Lysa ran her scanner over the panels, rushing about. She gestured to the door without saying anything. Kyle crossed over to it, feeling along the seams. The frame looked completely smooth but as he brushed his fingers over the left side, one piece seemed rougher than the rest. Shoving hard, the panel slid to the left.
“We can get out,” Kyle said. “What’ve you got?”
“That these things are definitely some kind of advanced computer technology… they’re thousands of years old… there’s no dust, no decay and I have no idea how any of it works. I can’t analyze it because it’s well beyond our equipment. In other words, we’re kind of done. We need to get out of here.”
“Okay.” Kyle headed back to the passage they came in from. “You get moving, I’ll leave a surprise for our friends if they manage to follow us.”
“What’ve you got?”
“Some old explosives. A grenade combined with some twine should make for a reasonable deterrent. Just get moving.”
“I’m not leaving you, jackass. If we get separated, we’re in bigger trouble than if I stay.”
Kyle didn’t keep up the argument. He drew the old grenade from his pack, setting it to the left of the doorway. Some tape provided the means to secure it to the wall. He applied several strips to hold it in place. The twine went across the way. The nearest panel had a thin opening in some grating. He slipped the string through it, tying it off.
“Good enough.” He backed away slowly… turned after a few feet. “If we can’t get the shields up, can’t access any defensive measures, then we’d better run, yeah?”
Lysa led the way, casting her light on the floor. The passage went straight for a good twenty feet before curving to the right. It went into a shallow decline with the walls turning rough. The ceiling dipped low at a few points but then they found a set of crude stairs.
Did they not finish this section? Or has it fallen into disrepair?
None of the other parts seemed to suffer decay. This culture is fascinating. Too bad it feels like members of this species are the ones hunting us. I would’ve hoped they’d be friendly. Kyle thought about the cube. Of course, they might have some clue that we stole their artifact. If that thing mattered to them… well, we might’ve committed a ridiculous faux pas.
“I have a bad feeling about this direction,” Lysa said. “Going deeper… I dunno… it feels wrong.”
“There’s gotta be a way out,” Kyle replied.
“Why’s that?”
“Um…” Kyle blanked. “Cause?”
“Fantastic. I love your levelheaded science brain.”
“Relax. We’ll find something soon.” I hope that optimism pays off. He had no idea how far down they were but it felt warmer. We’re probably looping around to the reactor area. Maybe we couldn’t control their computers but making things overload… that’s usually pretty easy. Could be that we’ll buy ourselves some time…
… at the expense of the greatest find in human history. Kyle hated he had to weigh that against survival. But given the choice, archaeology lost the debate. I want to be around for a scolding. Far better than a funeral.
***
Kivda hopped off the ramp, stepping close to the entrance of the ancient temple. He glanced back at the rubble of the alien spacecraft, the smoldering debris poking out of the stone walls. His men secured the entrance, taking up positions to get a good line of sight inside the area as Blauth Niesh, his second, stood beside him.
So these people came to plunder one of our holy places. Kivda wondered why the Lord Marshal hadn’t
