“So this was one of their cities?” Ana-Zhi asked.
“We’re not completely sure, but we think the Coliseum was a sacred site, used for rituals of some sort at certain times of the year. Most of the year it was uninhabited.”
That seemed odd. Obviously a massive amount of effort was spent to build this place. Why just use it for part of the year?
“How much of the complex has been explored?” I asked.
“Between the two expeditions, I’m thinking it’s all been explored,” Chiraine said. “There was a lot of data for me to study. Images. Three-D captures. Physical samples.”
Chiraine went on to explain that a fair number of artifacts had been removed from the site, but they were mostly symbolic religious objects, purely ornamental in nature.
“If we were to hide our artifacts here, where would we stow them?” Ana-Zhi asked.
“That’s the question,” Chiraine said. “There are close to five hundred structures spread across nearly a square kilometer block. If I recall correctly, some of them have underground chambers and storehouses. I can dig into the map data to narrow it down, but if we are serious about this thing, I think we’ll have to see it for ourselves.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” I said. “What kind of hazards are in the area?”
“The previous expeditions didn’t report any hazards,” Chiraine said.
“What, no cthulians up there?” I asked.
“It’s five hundred meters up on the butte,” Narcissa said. “Cthulians can’t climb.”
“Right, I knew that. What about K’Lortai Dragons?”
“They stay down in the mist as well. The buttes on Yueld are pretty desolate places. Not a lot of life up there, especially compared to the swamp level.”
Well, that was encouraging.
“Okay, so maybe I should check it out,” I said.
“Me too,” Chiraine said.
Everyone looked at her.
“What?” she said. “I’ve never had the chance to actually see Yueld for myself. Off-ship, I mean. You guys didn’t let me go to Roan Andessa, and—”
“And we’re not going to let you go to Umbanor either,” Ana-Zhi said firmly.
“Why the hell not?” Chiraine jerked her thumb at Narcissa. “She just told us that there’s nothing dangerous up there. And neither expedition ran into any trouble. It’s an empty ruin.”
“It’s not safe, princess, and that’s that.”
“Would you stop calling me that!” Chiraine stomped forward towards Ana-Zhi.
“Or what?” Ana-Zhi said with a smirk.
“Hey, ladies, calm down,” I said. “Chiraine should get a chance to see some Yueldian ruins for herself.”
“Yes!” Chiraine said. “Thank you, Jannigan.”
“Not a good idea, junior.”
“It’s important to her, Ana-Zhi. And we don’t know what will happen with the Mayir. Just give her this.”
Ana-Zhi didn’t say anything for a few moments. Then she shrugged. “It’s her ass.”
“Then it’s settled. Chiraine and I will do a quick recon, and see if there’s even a place to hide six sleds worth of artifacts.”
“Ho, chief,” Ana-Zhi said. “Not so fast. You guys aren’t going up there alone. No way. I’m coming with you.”
Chiraine sputtered, “You? You’re half dead!”
“She’s right,” I said. “You need to heal up.”
“I’m fine.”
She wasn’t fine and all of us knew it. “You need to sit this one out.”
“I’ll go,” Narcissa said. “Keep an eye on the youngsters.”
“You’re actually not that much older than me,” I told her. “But okay.”
“I don’t know,” Ana-Zhi said.
“It’s fine,” I said. “She’s a much better shot than you. And besides, we need someone to look after the ship.”
“And keep an eye on the Inspector,” Narcissa added.
9
While Narcissa and I geared up and prepped the sled, Chiraine loaded our Auras with topos and data files from the previous expeditions. The plan was to take a sled quickly up to the top of Umbanor, and then power it down. That way we’d only be exposing our energy signature for a minute or two. We couldn’t risk full comm with the ship, but we agreed to a pulse alert every hour on the hour just to let Ana-Zhi know we were okay and vice versa.
As we were ready to launch the sled, Ana-Zhi shook her finger at us. “You assholes get yourself killed and I am one hundred percent going to defect to the Mayir. Got it?”
“Got it.” I smiled at her. “We’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, famous last words.”
Before we opened the cargo bay doors, Ana-Zhi did one last scan of the area to make sure no beasties were waiting for us outside of the ship. She gave us the thumbs up. I keyed the sled’s drive and we launched out into the mist.
It was like flying through a waterfall in the middle of the night. Everything became soaked instantly. Visibility was only a few meters with the sled’s lights, and we had to be careful we didn’t smash into a cliff wall as we rose.
“Everyone doing okay?” Narcissa asked.
Chiraine said, “Yeah, I guess. I didn’t expect it to be this cold. And dark.”
“Your suit’s temp regulators will kick in soon,” I said.
As we ascended, the mist cleared. It was still an hour or so before dawn, so we couldn’t see much—even with the EVS overlay on our visors—but the sled’s nav system kept us on course. It was a simple up and over route, but the winds grew stronger as we rose and buffeted the sled so much I thought I was going to be sick.
Within two minutes I was setting the sled down on the top of the butte, a few hundred meters away from the edge of the Coliseum.
“We should probably find an enclosed place to park it,” Narcissa said.
“Good idea.” I drove the sled towards the dark outline of structures to the north.
As we drew closer, the mass of stone buildings loomed up in the darkness. Some of them reached fifteen meters tall.
The glow of Chiraine’s Aura lit her face as she bent over it. “Head around to the right. There should be a gap that will let us get into the central circle.”
Narcissa kept the light pointed down at an angle so I could see the wall of buildings.
