It turned out to be a hundred-meter-wide boulevard. Part of a colossal archway marked the entrance and I had to steer around a toppled pillar that was twice the diameter of the sled.
“This is incredible!” Chiraine said.
The sky had cleared a bit and the dim pre-dawn light had increased enough for our EVS overlays to allow us to pick out individual structures, as well as the immense man-made lake. The lake was a good four hundred meters wide, and had an island in the center with some sort of temple-like building.
“We can park in there,” Narcissa said, pointing off to the south.
I steered us towards what looked like a hangar of some sort. But as we drew closer I saw that it was a blocky three-story building with a large part of its front wall collapsed.
“Stop here and I’ll make sure it’s clear.” Narcissa hopped off the sled and readied her Benham, which she had outfitted with an IR scope she found in the Vostok’s weapons locker.
Chiraine and I watched as Narcissa disappeared into the cave-like structure.
“I really hope this place is as desolate as she thinks it is,” Chiraine said.
“Me too.”
The wind picked up again, whistling eerily through the buildings.
Finally, Narcissa appeared at the entrance of the broken building. She waved at us and her voice crackled in my earpiece. “All clear.”
I crept the sled forward into the structure while Chiraine operated the lights. Beams cut through the darkness, revealing a vast open chamber that spanned the entire three stories. It really was like some sort of hangar.
“Just bring it in a dozen meters or so,” Narcissa said. “That should shield us from any orbital cams.”
I did so, and then turned the sled so its bow faced the opening—just in case we needed to make a quick retreat. Then I extended the hydraulic landing blocks, set the sled down, and powered everything off.
“Grab your gear,” I said. But Chiraine was already moving off towards one of the intact walls. As she illuminated it with her hand lamp, I could see strange carvings.
“This is incredible,” she said, her voice filled with awe.
“Don’t wander off.”
I gathered my equipment, including a Winton snub railgun and the mobile comm unit, which I wore like a backpack.
“You want me to carry that?” Narcissa asked.
“No, I’m good. You’re our guard, remember?”
After a few moments of letting the unit calibrate, I sent a pulse alert to Ana-Zhi to let her know that we had reached our destination. Then I asked Chiraine to tear herself away from the carvings. Less than a minute later, the return pulse arrived, confirming she had received our communication.
“Let’s get our bearings and head to that crypt place you found.”
“It’s not a crypt,” she said. “It’s called the Antrum.” She called up the topo on her Aura. “We need to cross the concourse. It’s on the other side.”
“Lead on.”
We headed due west, hunched over as we fought the howling wind. The manmade lake was right in front of us, ringed by a low ornamental wall. As we drew closer, it became apparent that the lake had silted over. Beyond the wall was an expanse of what looked like dried, cracked mud dotted with whitish splotches that could have been dried mineral deposits or bird droppings. From some large birds. Or maybe they were K’Lortai Dragon droppings.
“Across or around?” Narcissa asked.
“Around,” I said. “Definitely around. I don’t feel like getting stuck in some Yueldian quicksand.”
“Technically, it would be quickmud,” Chiraine said.
We followed the low wall as it curved up to the northwest. It was a long, uncomfortable slog, with the wind kicking up a ton of dust.
“What’s that?” Narcissa pointed towards a large domed structure to the north.
Chiraine checked her Aura. “Not sure. One of the temples, I think. The domes are usually temples of some sort.”
“Let’s get out of the wind,” I said.
We ducked into a narrow alleyway and followed it north for fifty meters, hoping to find another street heading west towards our destination. Unfortunately we had stumbled into a maze of narrow lanes that twisted and turned in random directions every dozen meters. At least we were protected against the wind.
We noticed more of the lumpy white substance splattered about various surfaces of the lanes and buildings. The stuff was definitely organic and from the splash patterns, definitely fell from above. Yueldian bird poo, for sure.
“This way,” Chiraine said.
We passed through a short tunnel and then wound our way deeper into the labyrinth of stone buildings. The dawn light cast deep shadows which made it tough to pick out passageways.
Every few minutes, Chiraine stopped to get her bearings, but several times we found ourselves at a dead end and had to backtrack.
I couldn’t tell how far we had traveled or even if we were making progress.
“We’re not lost, are we?” Narcissa asked.
“No,” Chiraine said. “At least I don’t think so. But these maps don’t seem completely accurate.”
“How can that be?” I asked. “They’re not that old.” If I remembered correctly, the topos came from missions in ’22 and ’29. That meant they were less than forty years old. According to Chiraine, these structures were built 2000 years ago. It didn’t make sense.
“Maybe the data got corrupted somehow,” Narcissa said. She brushed off some of the bird poo that had managed to get on her shoulder.
“We know it’s to the northwest,” Chiraine said. “Let’s keep going.”
We detoured around a full block of buildings that had all collapsed into a hill of rubble a dozen meters tall. I wanted to climb up on the rubble so we could get a better look at our surroundings, but Narcissa convinced me not to. Which was probably smart. Who knew how stable the rubble was?
On the other side of the hill of debris stood an enclosed courtyard, ringed on three sides by domed temple buildings. Thankfully, Chiraine was able to identify our location on the topo.
“Okay, this is promising,” she said. “The
