“Any sign of activity from pyramid?” Arun asked as the airlock door opened.
“None” Kerrson replied over the radio.
“Okay, I’m stepping out now”. Arun emerged on to the lift plat form.
“Still nothing”.
“Seems safe then”. Arun looked out over the complex. It was morning local time and the sounds of the forest trees was dying away as the weak star light fell on the leaves. The pyramid still glowed from within it’s glass peak. The light this cast enabled Arun to see that the water tanks where still there untouched.
The others joined him on the lift. Only Annalaver and Adams stayed behind this time. They where going to need all of the help they could get to move the full water tanks to the ship. The only way to get the tanks there was to physically move the tanks or to pump the water between tanks and move the tanks empty, as they had done in the pyramid. Both would be long jobs, but pumping between tanks seemed to be the best option right now. The fully loaded tanks could only be moved by 4 people and only for short distances.
The plan was for Sung and Seaton to work inside the the pyramid while the others moved the tanks and pumped the water. Luca had worked out it would take 3 days to move all of the water they had collected to the tanks in the ship. 3 days of pumping and moving tanks. Arun was looking forward to it.
By the end of the first day most of the water had been pumped to a collection of tanks some distance from the pyramid. The work had been long and hard, but so far nothing had gone wrong. And the work had been enough to keep Raven quiet.
Arun still didn’t trust the man, but he was reasonably sure that he couldn’t do anything at the moment that wouldn’t put his own life at risk and that Kerrson trusted him even less. Kerrson was paranoid about Raven and kept his eyes on the man all the time he could. If anything was being planed by Raven, Arun was sure that Kerrson would let him know. So Arun felt that he could safely leave him and see how things where going in the pyramid.
He wanted to know what progress had been made of course, the work that was going on inside the glass structure was critical to them getting home. However that wasn’t the only reason, despite all of his efforts, Arun could not stop thinking about Sung and he wanted to see and talk to her again.
Sung and Seaton where working on the gallery which had unknown controls on it.
“How are things going?” Arun asked. Sung and Seaton had been deep in a discussion over something and hadn’t noticed Arun’s arrival. They both jumped when he spoke.
“Sorry, to interrupt”.
“It’s okay” Sung said with a smile. “We have made some progress and some really interesting discoveries. It seems this place probably dates back to before the age of diamond dreams. You see…”
Seaton stopped her, with a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I think the captain here is more interested in the work to get us home”. His voice was soft and almost musical.
“Yes, mainly, but I’m not uninterested in what else you’ve discovered”.
Seaton nodded. “Very well. So far we have discovered that the controls here do indeed control the gate around the star. We believe it should be possible to trigger the gate, but things may not be so simple”. Seatons voice was very calming and even hearing this potently bad news, Arun wasn’t that worried.
“It never is. What’s the problem?”
“Well it seems that the gate wasn’t really designed for ships. This probably explains why is it so large. There is no practical need for ships of that size that we can see. This in it’s self is no a problem. In fact the larger the gate to jump space, the less turbulence the ship will experience, I believe.” Arun nodded. This was why jump gates where the preferred option for passenger services. “The problem is that it seems the gate was designed to actually syphon some of the mass of the star in to jump space. We haven’t been able to figure out why this should be, yet, but it does appear that once the gate is opened the syphoning of plasma from the star starts automatically”.
“That is a problem”. It had seemed to good to be true that the way out from this place was so obvious, Arun though. He’d found that if things looked easy, you where probably looking at the wrong answer and if things looked hard, they where harder than they looked and probably the only workable answer.
“Do you think this automatic process could be interrupted?” Arun asked.
“We don’t know yet”. Sung said with a shrug. “It is very early days looking at these controls. The Regan language is very difficult to interpret normally and this appears to be an early version of it”. Sung looked very tired. “However…” Her face brightened again. “…we are sure that this version of the language was common to the five races and we are sure that the Fabians where one of the five”. Seaton smiled and put his hand on Sung’s shoulder. Arun could see that the two where very much in love, and he was becoming increasingly sure that he was in love Sung too.
He shook his head slightly. He need to stop such thoughts. “So do you need any help here tomorrow?”
“Yes, we think that either Luca or your jump space pilot might be of great help to us”. Seaton said.
“Well I’m not sure we can spare, Luca but Kerrson it pretty knowledgeable in a lot of area’s and yes Annalaver is still resting so she can help here”.
“Good” Sung said with a smile. “We have one more request, however…” Arun didn’t like the sound of this. He got the feeling that whatever she asked, he would end up giving her whatever he thought about the idea. “…we would like to stay here overnight. We can get more done that way”.
Of course Sung got her way. All she needed to do was ask and look and Arun in that way and he knew he would give in to her request. The power source in the top of the pyramid warmed central chamber noticeably. It was still cool, but at least the chill was taken off.
Arun wasn’t going to let them sleep here unprotected, so he considered for a few moments getting either Kargh or Khan to watch over them, but they where not good in cold and so he decided to take this duty him self. At least Arun told him self that was why he decided to do this, but he knew that he just wanted to be near Sung.
Arun had never needed much sleep so he watched over the sleeping Sung and Seaton as he followed his kinds tradition of meditating rather than sleeping. Begin half human he would need sleep was well, but probably not much of it.
Arun sat opposite Sung and Seaton. Sung lay curled up in a survival bag, looking snug, warm and contented. Her short, jet black hair was matted and unkept, but still looked great to Arun. It was in stark contrast to her pale skin. These wonderful, deep brown eyes were flicking back and forth behind her eyelids as she dreamed. What would she be dreaming about? Arun wondered.
Seaton moved. The soft russell of his clothing suddenly bringing Arun’s attention back to here and now. Arun blinked and checked his watch. He hadn’t been asleep he was sure of that, but 2 hours had passed. Arun hoped Seaton hadn’t noticed.
Seaton, moving very carefully stood up and stretched. He had been mediating till now. He moved over to Arun.
“Problems sleeping?” He asked in a whisper. Even at this low volume his voice managed to sound musical and somehow soothing.
“Not really. I’ve never needed that much sleep. Just keeping watch”.
Seaton nodded, but said nothing. Arun suddenly felt that he had to talk to Seaton about his partner. The Fabian’s where known for there calmness so he hoped he would take offence.
“Yes, sorry I was watching, no staring at your partner. She is…” Arun didn’t no what to say.
“A truly amazing lady?” Seaton suggested. Arun nodded. “Yes. Yes she is. You have found a real treasure there”.
Seaton nodded again. “Thank you. Yes I have. And don’t worry I am used to other men coveting her. I don’t feel threatened at all. But what is a refreshing change is to find a man who is so open and honest about it and who is so reasonable in expressing it”.
Arun should have expected that such a lady would have and equally civilised and reasonable partner as well.
They sat in silence for a short while.
“You have never found a partner that you’ve wanted to share you life with?” Seaton asked.
Arun shook his head. “I’ve spent so long partnered with duty and service that I’d never really had that sort of relationship with a woman”.
“Partnered with duty” Seaton smiled. “That is an odd way to put it”.
“But it is like that. You give your life, your days and nights, pretty much your every through to the organisation, be that the Association or…other bodies like it and in return you get the comfort of knowing where you stand in the hireachry and a measure of concern for your well being”.
Seaton shook his head. “That doesn’t sound a very good partnership. It seems very one sided”.
Arun nodded now. “Oh yes, your right there. It isn’t a fair exchange for sure. Which is why I’ve ended up here”.
“And you don’t think you are in a good place now?” Seaton asked.
“Well I would choose a better place to have this discussion”. Arun looked around at the cold, hard, glass walls
“I mean in general. It seems to me that you have a lot of freedom and the respect and friendship of your crew”.
“Most of them anyway, yes”. Arun agreed. “And I have freedom, yes, but that comes at a price”.
“Anything worth having always does. I think we both need to sleep now”.
The work moving the tanks continued the next day. Kerrson and Annalaver had been in to the pyramid in the morning to help put with the technical details. Things where going smoothly for a change and towards the end of the day water was starting to get pumped in to the Annic Nova’s tanks. At that point not everyone was needed to help, so Arun agreed that if people wanted they could take a look around the complex. Provided they didn’t go alone.
Oddly Adams took up this offer and he left with Micheals. What’s he planning, Arun wondered. Then catching that thought, he realised that he was starting to get paranoid, like Kerrson.
At the end of the day Arun headed back to the pyramid to get another progress report on the translation of the controls and of course to see Sung again. This time Raven came along. Arun had been expecting this and in fact was surprised (and pleased) that he hadn’t come along last time.
Sung and Seaton where in deep discussion over some point on the main floor of the chamber, when Arun arrived. To his surprise Adams and Micheals where still there was well. He had forgotten that they had been exploring.
“What progress have you made?” Raven asked before Arun could talk. Arun was going to cut him off, but he thought, why bother, let him have his moment of seeming like he was in control.
“We believe we have identified the main gate controls fully and now know the correct sequence to activate it”. Seaton told Raven in his normal clam voice. “We have also worked out most of the power plan controls. This is important since it seems that activating the gate from here needs a lot of power and we don’t think the power plant will ramp it’s out put up automatically”. Sung spoke directly to Arun, ignoring Raven.
“And the weapon?” Raven asked.
“Err…still working on that. There are a lot of controls and only two of us” Sung replied, glancing at Raven.
“How long will it take”. Raven asked.
“It is difficult to say…” Seaton said, but was then cut off by Sung. “You can’t put a schedule on discovery. It doesn’t work like that!”
Raven nodded then walked over to Adams and Micheals. Again Arun worried that something was being planed, but then he knew that was going to happen at some time and at the moment they could plan all they like, he held of the cards in this game. Things would change when they get back to normal space and he knew he should be ready for what ever they had planned.
“So have you been able to make any more discoveries about the 5 races and your own people?” Arun asked Seaton.
“Beyond knowing the Fabians where one of the 5 and that humanity was probably one one of them as well, not really”. Arun considered his answer. He didn’t see him self as a Fabian, this was probably normal since he would have been treated as a mongrel, barely deserving of any rights in a Fabian colony. Not surprising then he saw him self as a human, the race that had taken him in and treated him as something special because of his mixed linage.
Arun nodded. “I’m sure the human supremacists in the Church would love to know that”.
“Yes, but we don’t really have any solid proof of that yet. I could take years to get everything from this place”. Sung looked around the chamber longingly.
“We won’t get that I’m afraid. And the chances finding a way back here…well it’s not likely to happen”.
“Oh I don’t know. With your ship, it’s drives and your pilot it might be possible”. Seaton said, he couldn’t help but smile. Sung was grinning widely too.
“Annalaver mentioned this didn’t she?”
Sung nodded. “She said she could probably do it again and she wanted to try”.
Arun shook his head. “You know what jump space pilots are like…or maybe you don’t. It’s a drug to them, piloting in jump space. They love it, but just like a drug it will kill them in the end, or at least drive them crazy enough to try a stunt like this again. Yes Annalaver is the best, but it nearly killed her getting here. It killed Ravens jump space crew. We got here in once piece because we where lucky. I’m not going to try my luck like that again your’s or anyone else’s lives”. Arun realised his voice had become an angry half shout by the end of his rant. He also noticed he had been addressing Sung directly. He snapped his gaze to Seaton and hoped Sung hadn’t noticed.
“Sorry”. Arun said in a clam normal voice. Seaton nodded ever so slightly.
“Is everything okay?” Raven asked from behind Arun.
Arun turned around to face him, how long had he been there?
“Just wanted to make sure my crew where staying line”. Raven stressed the word my.
“We are not your crew, we are civilian contractors…”
“Yes, yes…”. Raven waved his hand at Sung. “…and contractors that have broken a number of secrecy clauses in there contract’s at this point. This will be effect your final payment”.
Sung looked like she was about to explode at Raven, but Seaton’s hand on her shoulder seemed to defuse the anger.
Raven wanted to be shown some of the work that Sung and Seaton had been doing, so they took him up to the gallery. Adam’s and Micheals came along as well, so Arun followed them all up.
Seaton started taking them through the process which they had used to figure out the Regan script. It was long tortuous and quite frankly boring to Arun. Even Seatons, calming voice didn’t make it interesting. Arun was about to sneak away from the group, when he felt a gentle tug on his arm. It was Sung. She nodded towards the other end of the gallery. She smiled a mischievous and mysterious grin.
Arun followed her quiet move away from the rest of the group. He wondered what this was about and for a brief moment he allowed him self to think that maybe she did feel the same way about him as he felt for her. That was stupid he told him self, she and Seaton where perfectly happy. But all the same Arun felt his heart beating faster and his cheeks flushing as they headed away from the group.
“Okay, two things I’ve got to tell you and neither I want Raven to hear”. Sung said in a low voice. Arun nodded. “We have found the controls for the weapon that shot at us, here”. She pointed a group of the symbols. They mean’t nothing to Arun. She then operated what must have been some controls. Above where her hands where working a section of the clear glass became milky. From the milky whiteness faded an image of part of the complex with the Annic Nova behind it. Laid over this image was clearly a target symbol. Sung moved her hands across the console and the view shifted left and then right. Arun flinched, hoping she knew which control fired the weapon.
“Don’t worry. It’s not going to fire”. She said with a grin. “I didn’t want to let Raven know this. He would want to control this weapon for sure but I’m not sure I’d trust him with it”.
“Well thank you for trusting me with this information”. He felt his face flush again. Arun felt like he was a teenager again in the midst of his first crush. Sung smiled. “Well you seem a lot more trustworthy than Raven, despite what we have been told about you”.
“Thank you, they are all lies…probably. So you have found the controls for this, have you been able to disable the automatics on it?”
Sung nodded. “Already done. And that brings me on two the second thing”. Sung paused, probably for effect.
“I’d like to ask you if we can came with you if…sorry when we get out of here”. Arun ran that back in his head. Had she said we or me? It was we. Sung and Seaton. Arun was almost relieved.
“Well?” She prompted.
“Oh yes, of course. Assuming we don’t get hauled of to some Association prison cell you are very welcome to come with us, but you will forever be tarred by your association with my ship if you do. Are sure you want that?”
“You heard Raven, we are all ready in trouble with them. I didn’t really have any feelings on the Association until I had to deal with them but now I can see what a hideous mess it is. I don’t want to have any more dealings with them, we are both agreed on this, me and Seaton”.
“Okay, so what will you do afterwards, the Association have licenses to explore most of the known Regan sites, they control most of the trade in Regan artefacts and libraries…”
Sung grinned again. “Your not trying to talk me out of this are you?” Her voice was a low whisper, which made it seem incredibly sexy to Arun. Right at that moment, Arun could have quite happily taken this lady and run off with her and not have any second thoughts.
“Err…no. I just wanted to make sure that you know doing this might cut you off from the work which you so obviously love and are so good at”.
“Thanks, but as you say, the Association control most of the Regan sites and only the ones they know about. I’ve got some contacts with the Regans them selves, how do you think I leant Regan script?”
“Wow”. Arun was impressed. Regan’s for most humans, where this distant thing, to many they weren’t even real, just a legend. A story to scare or inspire children with, but they where real to Arun, but even still he had never actually met a Regan, but Sung had.
“They will be more than interested in this place and your ships drives. I’m sure we can negotiate something with them having these two strong cards in our hands”.
Arun nodded. She was right of course, Regans where as interested in discovering about there past glories as humans and indeed Fabains. She was also once again showing just how smart and sneaky she was. She is just the perfect lady for me, Arun thought.
“So how did you get to know a Regan?” He asked, unable to contain his curiosity.
Sung smiled. “You have your secrets and I have mine”.
“Secrets”. Ravens voice surprised Arun from behind for the second time today. “I’m not sure that any one should be keeping secrets at this point”.
“Don’t worry this is nothing you need to know, just personal stuff”. Sung told him as she walked away.
The next day, loading of the water continued. The now had plenty of water and air, but food would start to become a problem if they didn’t find there way back to a colonised world quickly on their escape from the nebula. Arun started to think it was time to start rationing the supplies.
Luca had rigged up a system of purifying the water using UV light, so at last Arun knew the water would be safe.
With the loading of the water completed, Arun had another problem, all of the Association crew would have free time on there hands and than mean’t Raven could start plotting. Arun knew that he would be, even though Arun was fairly sure that while still in the nebula, Raven didn’t have any real chance.
Then there was Sung. Arun couldn’t help thinking about her. He knew it was wrong and that she was happy with Seaton. Her request to stay with the ship after it’s escape had complicated things again. Had she left with Raven on their return, that would be it. It was a big universe and the chances of running across her again where slim to nil, Arun might have thought about her for a bit, but memories fade, they aways do and that would be it. But now that she could be staying on board the Annic Nova for longer, Arun would have more time to talk to her, more time to confirm what he already knew, that she was the perfect woman for him, and more time in which something could happen between them. Arun both wanted and didn’t want that to happen.
With the loading of the water complete, Arun headed back to the pyramid.
Raven was there hanging over Sung and Seaton, watching them as they worked. Annalaver was helping as well. She wanted to fly again, Arun could tell, she had the telltale signs of withdrawal from her addiction. She looked nervous, jumpy and her pale skin looked somehow grey and waxy.
Adams was there too, that worried Arun. He and Raven where going to be the source of the trouble, Arun as sure. Raven’s troopers would also be trouble, but Arun didn’t blame them for that, Pavarians really could use the excuse that they where just following orders.
Arun headed up to the gallery where Sung and Seaton worked. He could help but smile when he saw Sung close up again. She also seemed happy so see him again. Arun told him self this was nothing to do with him and that she was just glad of a break from Raven.
Before Arun could say anything Raven spoke. “We have made good progress and have disarmed the beam weapon and are now sure we know how to open the gate and believe we can find a quick route back to Kason…” Arun’s gaze flicked for a moment to Sung, to see if there was any reaction to this, but there was none. “…the timing will be critical, it seems that the will only be few minutes between the gate opening and the start of it’s plasma collection. We…”
“How is this going to work then?” Arun asked Sung directly. “We are more than a few minutes from the star. It will about an hours flight time”.
“Not at problem”. Sung said with a little grin. “A gate of this size takes time to get up to power and charge before activation. We think that time is measured in hours and again we think that once triggered from here the start up is automatic. So we trigger it here, make our way to the star and wait”.
Annalaver bounced on her feet like and excited child, her eyes lit up with anticipation.
“Sounds good. Any worries?” Arun asked.
Seaton nodded. “Sadly yes, it might not be that simple. The gate is old, very old and has been bathed in hard radiation from the star for hundreds of the thousands of years at minimum. It might not work at all by this time and even if it does, it could be that the strain of creating the gate could be enough to cause it to fail. If we where making the transition at that point, there would be nothing we could do. And we can’t risk doing a test for the same reasons”.
Annalaver suddenly held Arun’s arm and put her head on his shoulder. Her skin was clammy and cold, but she was shaking, with excitement? “We’ll be okay”. She said. “We have to try it, I can get us back, I know”. He voice was once again filled with excitement. Arun knew that if was physically possible Annalaver was the pilot that could do this, but If the gate collapsed when they where in transition…well at least they would know nothing about it.
“It is a risk, but we have to take it. It is the only way out and since there are legends about this place which do describe it well, someone must have done this before”. Sung sounded confident and optimistic.
“Yes, your right whatever the risks we have to do this. When do you think you’ll be ready to do it?” Arun asked.
“Now, now. I’m ready now”. Annalaver said from Arun’s side, once again jumping with excitement.
“To be really ready, years”. Sung said with a little smile. “But give us a few more hours”.
Arun left the pyramid, alone. Something which he knew he shouldn’t do, but things where getting tense inside. Sung and Seaton where working very intensely at the problem of working out the controls. Raven watched them all the time and kept on asking stupid questions, like how long it was going to take and what the chances of the success where. Stupid questions, because they couldn’t really have any real idea.
Adams was also hanging around a lot. That worried Arun, but there was nothing he could do about it.
They didn’t need another pair of useless eyes on them, so Arun left the pyramid and walked around the complex. He needed time to think, what Raven might try and do when they escaped from this place. Raven probably didn’t trust what Sung, Seaton and Annalaver told him about returning close to Kason, with good reason, they where lying, or at least he hoped they where. Annalaver might agree to something if it got her back in to the jump space seat on the Annic Nova, but what could Raven offer that she didn’t already get?
Arun shook his head. He was becoming as paranoid as Kerrson was and Arun didn’t want to live like that. He trusted his crew. He trusted Sung and hence Seaton. He had no reason to trust Sung, beyond the burning desire he felt for her, but he did. Arun knew she could easily exploit his feelings for her, but she might not even know the way he felt about her. Unlikely Arun thought, with a blush, the way I’ve been acting around her, like a kid in the midst of his crush.
The air was still cold and it was barely lighter twilight, but it was about local midday.
Ahead of him, Arun saw two lights moving by one of the secondary glass buildings which surrounded the pyramid. “Who’s this?” Arun whispered under he breath. He stopped and watched the lights for a few moments. They where being carried by figures, he could see that much, so it wasn’t native life to this world…unless there was something else they hadn’t seen yet.
Raven’s troopers, up to something? No, Arun realised if they where doing something sneaky they would be using infrared lights. One of the figures was much lager than the other.
It was Luca and Savanna. Arun smiled. He wasn’t going to disturb them, whatever they where doing might be ill advised, but he wasn’t going to interrupt two lovers on such a starlit…day as this.
Arun looked up at the crystal clear, deep black sky. Just one star shining down from above. It was a very boring sky, but the planet more than made up for that, with it’s musical trees and glowing wildlife.
“What was this place? Why?” He asked him self quietly.
Suddenly a huge sound hit Arun. It was low and loud, but it was a sharp sound which passed in moments. It wasn’t the sound from one of the odd plant things they had seen. The ground had shook.
Arun looked around, what had just happened.
He knew the radio would be useless through the glass of the pyramid. The two lights of held by Luca and Savanna where now bobbing up and down, they where running towards the pyramid. Arun flashed his torch and ran towards them. Luca now seeing him ran towards Arun.
“What just happened?” Luca asked as they met up.
“No idea they weren’t supposed to be starting anything”. Arun said as all three of them started to run for the pyramid.
“I told you, it felt like an groundquake!” Savanna told them. “I should know, remember I was bought up on Horizon”. She was pulling her leather tunic on as she ran.
Again the another wave of sound hit them. It seemed louder or closer this time.
“It is a groundquake”. Savanna shouted.
“What’s going on out there. Is any one listening”. Kerrson’s voice came over the radio.
“Arun here. No idea. Nothing was going to happen in the pyramid for a while. We are on our way there now. Get the ship ready leave”.
“I’ll go the the ship” Luca told Arun. “He could use my help”. The big man pulled away from Arun and Savanna.
“I’m going in to the pyramid”. Savanna told Luca. Her voice made it clear this was going to happen, no matter what he said.
“But…” Luca called back.
“Look you two. Sort it out. I’m going to the pyramid and I…” Arun shouted.
“I’m coming with you”. Savanna told him.
Was there some sort of lovers tiff going on between Luca and Savanna? Arun worried. Savanna had been through so much already in her young life, she needed a good solid, dependable man like Luca.
The ground shook again, which brought Arun’s focus straight back to the here and now. This time there was a strange sound metallic sound over laid on top. It continued for several seconds after.
“What was that!?” Arun shouted. The had reached the side of the pyramid now and started heading towards the back wall of it. Savanna’s people, evolved as they had from feline predators could run and run. Watching her quickly over take him, Arun saw the elegant, effortless ease with which she ran. It wasn’t at all like a human run, it was fluid, beautiful.
No point in calling her to slow down, Arun knew, the primitive part of her brain was on control now.
Suddenly Arun realised what the other sound was, glass cracking! His mind was suddenly filled with images of what might happen inside the pyramid if the glass in there gave way. They where not pretty thoughts.
Arun’s tiering legs found new speed.
Arun had almost caught up with Savanna by the time she had reached the entrance. The difference was Arun could barely speak, where as Savanna was just out of breath. Two more quakes had hit when they had been running. Again the sounds of glass slowly cracking where heard over and after the quake. Arun didn’t see any cracks in the pyramid.
“Come….on…slowly…now”. Was all Arun could manage to say. He pulled out his radio and handed it to Savanna.
“Let them…know…”. Arun didn’t need to finish, Savanna contacted Kerrson and let him know they where heading in.
Arun desperately tried to get some air in to his lungs for a few moments. He then gestured for Savanna to follow him and they headed down the long glass corridor.
Another quake hit as they headed down the corridor. “They are too regular”. Savanna told Arun. “Quake’s don’t happen like this”.
At least inside the pyramid they couldn’t hear the sound of glass cracking and shifting on other glass. Arun nodded, the shocks did seem to be coming at oddly regular intervals.
Suddenly Arun’s radio started to get a signal. He couldn’t make it out, but there was a faint signal coming through. Arun stopped and held it to his ear. He couldn’t hear anything over the sounds of his own deep, laboured breaths.
“I am receiving you…but you are not…readable…say again”.
He handed the radio to Savanna. “Can you make…anything out”. She listened carefully.
Another quake hit. Along with the normal deep, sharp thud sound came a new sound, like the sound of the glass before, but this was different.
“I can’t read you”. Savanna shouted to the radio.
The new sound was regular, rhythmic. “Come on”. Arun continued forward.
“It’s no good, I can’t make anything out”.
“Keep listening. Something bad is going on and we are out of contact with both the ship and Raven and the others”.
Arun could see the wide horizontal corridor ahead now.
“Is it…” Savanna started to ask.
“Yes, it is getting brighter in here”. Arun looked up towards the light in the top of the pyramid. Even thought meters of solid glass, the light was clearly getting brighter.
“Not good at all. They must have triggered something, maybe the gate”. Arun, his breath more normal now, picked up his pace to a jog. Savanna followed suit. Then she stopped, they where just short of the entrance to the wide corridor.
“I’ve got something”. She shouted to Arun. “Say again. I read you, but only just”. Arun turned back and listened with Savanna to the radio.
“…do not…..active….gate…heading…get clear…”.
“Not good at all”. Arun looked up. Another quake hit. The regular squeaking sound, was getting closer and it was now clearly metal moving against metal. In odd light cast by the increasingly bright light from the pyramid’s peak, Arun could make out an odd shape moving. Savanna saw it to.
“What is that!”
In answer to her question the thing casting the shadow emerged from around the corner. It was large, metallic and stood on 4 legs. It’s elongated, eyeless head looked at Arun and Savanna. And second strange and horrific figure, just like the first one emerged from around the corner.
Arun, suddenly realised he had seen these before, they where the statues from the main chamber. They where clearly not just statues.
As Savanna grabbed Arun’s arm and turned to run, the first of the monsters tensed. Arun started to turn, but his eyes where locked on the metallic horror which was leaping in to it’s run towards them. Savanna was almost dragging Arun along. There was no way he could match her speed. He hoped that they couldn’t match it either and in that moment, Arun decided, that he would delay them to give Savanna a chance to flee. But Savanna was not letting go, the dewclaws in in normally human looking hands where fully extended, a primitive survival insintic. She was not running as fast as she could, Arun knew.
Behind him he could hear the slow regular squeak of the things moving. It was getting closer and closer. Under that the slow beat of his own heart and the glacially slow rasp of his own breath.
The exit to the pyramid loomed up ahead of them. It was closing way to slowly to Arun’s senses. He could almost feel the things at his back. His skin and muscles tensed, expecting at any moment to sliced open by cold, hard, alien steel.
Another quake hit just as the burst out of the pyramid’s exit. Savanna darted left with incredible speed and grace. She hulaed Arun’s mass around with her. But she did not stop running. Arun stumbled, but knew he couldn’t fall. He might distract one of them, but now they where clear of the corridor, the other would be free to chase down Savanna. Arun wasn’t going to let that happen.
They ran across the stony ground of the complex. Behind them Arun heard the things leave the pyramid. Bigger and much heavier, but moving just as fast they couldn’t be able to manoeuvre like Savanna.
Arun dared a look over his shoulder. It seemed they must have come to a complete halt on exiting the pyramid, only now where the once again leaping in to run towards them.
“The ship!” Shouted Arun.
“Get the lift down now”. Savanna shouted in the radio, still clasped in her other hand. “Now!”
Savanna was leading Arun towards one the blocky glass buildings, or straight towards one of it’s solid glass walls. She dodged around the razor sharp edge of it’s corner and continued running along alongside it’s wall, at the next corner she did the same. Arun realised they now moving away from the ship, but this was no random, panicked run from Savanna. Her people where not the apex predators her world. They where prayed on by others, she was now acting in instincts ages old which had ensured the dominance of her kind over there world.
Arun and Savanna turned at the edge of the building again. They where no almost back where they had started. The metal things where still behind them, Arun could hear them moving over the crushed stone of the complex.
Another quake hit.
Savanna looked quickly around the corner of the building and then she started running again, with Arun still in tow behind her. The things had gone around the building and where now out of sight. That had to be good, they couldn’t be chasing us if they can’t see us, Arun reasoned.
They ran for the ship. Arun couldn’t see the loading bay or lift from here, so he had no idea if they where up or down. If they where up, it would take to long to lower them. Even if they where down, would they have enough time to get above the reach of these things before they found them again?
Suddenly Arun heard the sound of something pounding it’s way through the crushed stone. They had found them again!
He couldn’t see where they where and he didn’t want to know. Arun’s burning legs got a another burst of energy, but Arun knew he was slowing Savanna down.
They rounded the corner of another building and the Annic Nova was now directly in front of them, less than 100 metres away.
The lift was not down! It was only now starting to descend. Arun’s legs wanted to stop and to die here, but his body had other plans. They ran for where the lift was going to be.
Arun knew they couldn’t make it. The metal things where close behind them, he could hear there pounding foot falls. They where probably less than 10 meters away. He ran anyway, the primitive part of his mind telling him to just run.
Suddenly something hit him from behind and Arun was knocked forward by the powerful blow. He knew that was it. The thing’s claws would have shredded his back muscles and probably cut his spinal column. Is that why I don’t feel any pain? He wondered as he hit the ground hard.
The impact hurt, it hurt a lot. The sharp stones tore at his fresh. But oddly he didn’t feel anything from his back.
Why hasn’t it finished me? Arun wondered. It must have reached me now.
Suddenly things started to fall from above him, small hard and hot things. Arun scrambled to his feet and took in the world around him. There where no metal things behind them. Off to his left, also getting up was Savanna, she was alright!
The ship was in front of them, the lift now almost at ground level.
Behind them, there was a large smoking crater. Behind that a spot of light was fading on the surface of the pyramid. They had used the weapon in the pyramid to destroy whatever they where. The metal leg of one of the things fell to the ground, it’s detached end still glowing red hot.
“Are you okay?” Savanna asked him.
“Yes, they did it from with the pyramid. They saved us!”. Arun said with a huge grin.
The grin quickly faded. He turned and looked at the pyramid. Then he ran to the lift.
“What’s the matter?” Savanna called after him.
“There where 4 of those things”.
There wasn’t time to use the lift. Arun got Kerrson to throw the weapons down from the air lock. The trooper on the ship would come down in the lift, but Arun couldn’t wait for that. He and Savanna, now armed with pistols headed back to the pyramid.
Arun still hadn’t recovered from his two sprints and could barely jog at the moment. Savanna had wanted to go on ahead, but Arun wasn’t going to let her go in to this alone. Her instincts and reflexes where good, but she didn’t have the experience that Arun had in battle. Arun had faced lots of strange things in combat before, but these where new to him as well, so he wasn’t sure his experience counted for anything here. But only the trooper in the pyramid had any combat skills, they would need all the help they could get inside.
Arun worried about Sung, but at least, she and Seaton must have still been alive, only they would have known how to use the weapon.
It seemed to take far to long for Arun to reach the entrance to the pyramid. The quakes where still coming regularly, but they didn’t seem to be quite as strong now. Arun and Savanna listened at the entrance.
There was no sound of metal moving on metal. Arun didn’t know if this was good or bad, but whatever it was Arun drew his pistol and stepped forward in the corridor. Savanna was right behind him with her pistol drawn.
The light from the top of the pyramid was bright enough that the whole corridor was lit at least as brightly as those on the ship.
As they approached the junction with the large horizontal corridor Arun stopped and put his fingers to his lips. They both listened intently.
In the distance, the faint sound of metal on metal could be heard. As the listened the sharp crack of a shot rang out.
“Not good”, Arun said as he broke in to a trot. He ran out in the large horizontal corridor and with out really thinking, headed straight for small corridor at the far end. The sounds of battle started to ring in his ears now. Arun wasn’t thinking any more, he was reacting. The years of training and conditioning where cutting in again.
As Arun burst out in the main chamber he took in the scene. One of the troopers was on the opposite side of the central hole to Arun, he was keeping a steady stream of shots aimed at one of the things. It was slowly advancing on the trooper, the well placed shots having no apparent effect on the metal skinned monster.
Where was the other one? Arun asked as he took aim.
From above Arun more shots rang out. The second trooper was up on one of the galleries, with everyone else, and was shooting down the corridor to the gallery. Arun saw Sung, working furiously at the controls. She was alright and coping with the situation the way Arun knew she would be.
Arun fired at the monster. He was trying to aim between the metal sections of the armour on the things back. He didn’t know what was below that, but if it needed armour it must be soft. He didn’t know if the shots where finding there mark, until the forth one.
The monsters eyeless chrome head turned to face Arun, it’s smooth surface only marked by burns from the troopers rifle. It turned and started running for him. Arun ran to, there was no point in shooting now. The troopers gun fired again and again, the thing stopped running and turned again. It was vurnable from behind!
Arun ran around to try and get a shot at the thing from the side again. The troopers helmeted head turned to glance at Arun.
Arun took his aim.
The creature was now clearly getting wise to this and turned to face Arun.
The trooper took a single well aimed shot. The creature turned and leapt for black clad Paravain, it’s thick forelegs out stretched and claws extended. The trooper dropped his rifle and grabbed the leg.
Arun suddenly realised he was standing right on the edge of the central hole. As soon as he realised this, Arun knew what the trooper was doing. Using the creatures own weight he acted as pivot to spin the it’s body towards the edge of the hole. There was no way the trooper was going to be able to avoid going down with the creature. He must have known that.
The creature realised what was happening, but by then two of it’s legs where already in scrambling through thin air. The trooper was fall too.
The pair fell in silence only the sounds of the falling water the the shots from above filled the air.
Arun looked down in to the darkness of the hole for a moment, marking the passing of his ally. He didn’t even know if it was Kargh or Khan. But there was one more still active.
Arun glanced around the chamber. There was no sign of Savanna.
Shouts came from above and the shots stopped.
“Oh no!” Arun said as he ran from the chamber. She was going to do something very stupid.
As Arun rushed in to the horizontal corridor, the other trooper also entered by the neighbouring corridor. Arun barged past him and ran up the slope.
“Use the pyramid. Shoot it with the pyramid”. He shouted as he ran.
Bursting out on to the gallery, he saw Sung was already at the controls. Raven was standing by her. Arun yanked him out of the way. He was the last thing Sung needed standing over her right now.
From where Arun stood, he could just about see the panel, the view zoomed around the complex as Sung searched for the creature. Then it zeroed in on tiny figure of Savanna running and large bulk of the creature behind her. It was to close to her now, but she was using her smaller size to dodge around the buildings, she was heading for the crater that marked the end of the first two creatures.
“Good girl”. Arun whispered. Sung suddenly hit a section of the panel and the display whited out for a few moments.
The quiet, which seemed to last for minutes, was only kept from silence by the steady hiss of the falling water below them.
The view faded back on the panel. There was another large, smoking crater just short of the first one. Sung quickly zoomed the view out, searching, desperately for Savanna.
The view locked on to another figure, much larger. It was Luca, he must have seen Savanna. The view zoomed out and then in again as Luca stopped. Savanna was on ground.
Anxious seconds passed, but then Savanna moved. Luca helped her up. She wasn’t able to walk unaided, but she was alive and moving.
Arun let the breath go, that he hadn’t been aware he was holding.
Sung stood up from the console, her shoulders dropping as the stress seemed to drain from here.
“Thank you, from both of us”. Arun couldn’t help but hug her. “Oh…” Sung had not expecting the embrace. She said nothing.
It did feel good having here close to his body… The thought crossed Arun’s mind.
As if to show all was still not well, the next quake hit at the moment.
Arun suddenly released his arms from around Sung. “Err…Sorry”. He said very quietly. The quake died away.
“So…er…whats causing the quakes?” Arun asked. He hopped no one noticed his flushed face. “You’ve not started anything?”
Sung shook here head. “Not that I’m aware of. All that we have done was deactivate the automatic weapon system and of course to use it on manual twice”.
“The quakes are not natural”. Seaton said flatly.
“No, too regular”. Arun Agreed.
“Every 1.2 minutes”. Seaton told the group. “The strength seems to vary however. I’ve got prof of that, but it feels like it”.
“Something moving up from below?” Raven suggested looking down at the hole in the floor. Arun was surprised, that seemed like original thinking, the Association hadn’t knocked it from him completely.
“Could be, but if that was the case the strength of the shocks should increase steadily. I don’t think that is happening here, but I couldn’t sure with out measurements”.
The pit! Arun remembered they had not come through the battle without loss. He turned to the remaining trooper, the name plate on his armour identified him as Khan. Kargh had given his life in the battle.
Arun struggled to remember what the Pavarains did to morn the passing of a life in battle.
“Kargh died saving us all. He will be remembered”. Khan nodded and removed his helmet. Arun and Khan grasped opposing hands and in silence touched there foreheads together for a moment.
The Pavarains came from a chaotic world, violent deaths where common, so there was little ceremony involved in marking the passing of a clanmate. Arun had no idea if Khan and Kargh where related, but that didn’t seem to matter right now. This was the right thing to do.
Another quake hit.
“So” Arun turned around to face the others. “Did we trigger these quakes and are they a risk?” He asked.
“What is more important to ask is, are we ready to leave?” Raven added.
Sung and Seaton glanced at each other. “Yes”. Sung said without much confidence. “And yes we could have triggered the quakes, remember the whole pyramid did power up when we entered, maybe that was just the first phase and this is the second”.
“Dose that matter?” Raven asked. “We can leave, we should be doing just that”.
“The quakes don’t seem to be having any effect on the pyramid…” Seaton said and he was then cut off by Arun. “The smaller buildings sound like they are taking damage…”
“So we should leave now!” Raven cut Arun off.
“…but no sign of that here and as you say, Seaton, the shocks do seem to be getting less intense. Will it help you to stay here longer…” Arun started to ask Sung and Seaton.
“Yes, always”. Sung answered, before he could finish.
“Yes, I’d guess you’d say that. But…”. Another quake hit. “…will anything you gain help us get out of here?”
“I don’t know, I can’t know”. Sung said with an irritated tone to her voice. “How can I know what I don’t yet know?”
Arun nodded. “So how long will it take to get ready to open the gate”.
“We are there now” Sung told him. “The power output of the pyramid is already way higher than we think we need to trigger the gate”. Seaton added.
Arun frowned. “Yes that’s what we thought too” Sung said with a little smile.
“Why the extra power? What is it used for?” Arun asked the world in general.
“Exactly! You see why we don’t want to leave just yet. There is still so much to learn here”. Sung was using her pleading voice on him now. She must know that she can get what she wants from men like this, Arun thought, but this time it was possibly all of there lives on the line. Arun knew it made the most sense to leave now, everything was ready.
“How long will we have before the gate opens and how long do you need to be here for?” Arun asked.
Seaton sighed. “The gate opening part is just a guess here, but from cold and given the size of the gate here, we think it is likely to be at least 3 hours”.
“Good the Nova could make it there in just under an hour. So how long after the gate opens before the plasma collection begins?”
“Again this is guess, work, probably not even educated. But we will probably have at least minutes, but it could be hours”. Sung said.
“Transition through the gate takes only moments…We would be need to be clear of the vortex when it opens…centre of the gate for minimum transition turbulence…but it’s a big gate”. Arun was talking to him self. “Yes minutes is doable, it will be tight, but doable. How long do you need to be here to after you start everything?”
“The sequence is simple know we know it, once it started, it would appear to automatic. We believe the station it’s self will handle it from there”. Seaton said confidently.
“So you don’t need to be here”.
Sung sighed. “Sadly not”.
“Okay, Sung and Seaton, you have until the ship is ready and everyone else is back on board to do your final studies and…”
“Wait” Seaton cut Arun off.
“What now!” Raven said with irritation.
“No quake. It’s 20 seconds overdue at this point”. Seaton was looking at his watch.
No one said anything for a few moments. Everybody was listening, waiting for the next quake to hit.
“But that means nothing…” Raven started to say.
“No, it means something. Every quake since the first few I have been timing, they have never varied by more than a second or two. This one is now over half a minute late”.
Arun couldn’t decide if this was bad or good.
“Any sign of activity from pyramid?” Arun asked as the airlock door opened.
“None” Kerrson replied over the radio.
“Okay, I’m stepping out now”. Arun emerged on to the lift plat form.
“Still nothing”.
“Seems safe then”. Arun looked out over the complex. It was morning local time and the sounds of the forest trees was dying away as the weak star light fell on the leaves. The pyramid still glowed from within it’s glass peak. The light this cast enabled Arun to see that the water tanks where still there untouched.
The others joined him on the lift. Only Annalaver and Adams stayed behind this time. They where going to need all of the help they could get to move the full water tanks to the ship. The only way to get the tanks there was to physically move the tanks or to pump the water between tanks and move the tanks empty, as they had done in the pyramid. Both would be long jobs, but pumping between tanks seemed to be the best option right now. The fully loaded tanks could only be moved by 4 people and only for short distances.
The plan was for Sung and Seaton to work inside the the pyramid while the others moved the tanks and pumped the water. Luca had worked out it would take 3 days to move all of the water they had collected to the tanks in the ship. 3 days of pumping and moving tanks. Arun was looking forward to it.
By the end of the first day most of the water had been pumped to a collection of tanks some distance from the pyramid. The work had been long and hard, but so far nothing had gone wrong. And the work had been enough to keep Raven quiet.
Arun still didn’t trust the man, but he was reasonably sure that he couldn’t do anything at the moment that wouldn’t put his own life at risk and that Kerrson trusted him even less. Kerrson was paranoid about Raven and kept his eyes on the man all the time he could. If anything was being planed by Raven, Arun was sure that Kerrson would let him know. So Arun felt that he could safely leave him and see how things where going in the pyramid.
He wanted to know what progress had been made of course, the work that was going on inside the glass structure was critical to them getting home. However that wasn’t the only reason, despite all of his efforts, Arun could not stop thinking about Sung and he wanted to see and talk to her again.
Sung and Seaton where working on the gallery which had unknown controls on it.
“How are things going?” Arun asked. Sung and Seaton had been deep in a discussion over something and hadn’t noticed Arun’s arrival. They both jumped when he spoke.
“Sorry, to interrupt”.
“It’s okay” Sung said with a smile. “We have made some progress and some really interesting discoveries. It seems this place probably dates back to before the age of diamond dreams. You see…”
Seaton stopped her, with a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I think the captain here is more interested in the work to get us home”. His voice was soft and almost musical.
“Yes, mainly, but I’m not uninterested in what else you’ve discovered”.
Seaton nodded. “Very well. So far we have discovered that the controls here do indeed control the gate around the star. We believe it should be possible to trigger the gate, but things may not be so simple”. Seatons voice was very calming and even hearing this potently bad news, Arun wasn’t that worried.
“It never is. What’s the problem?”
“Well it seems that the gate wasn’t really designed for ships. This probably explains why is it so large. There is no practical need for ships of that size that we can see. This in it’s self is no a problem. In fact the larger the gate to jump space, the less turbulence the ship will experience, I believe.” Arun nodded. This was why jump gates where the preferred option for passenger services. “The problem is that it seems the gate was designed to actually syphon some of the mass of the star in to jump space. We haven’t been able to figure out why this should be, yet, but it does appear that once the gate is opened the syphoning of plasma from the star starts automatically”.
“That is a problem”. It had seemed to good to be true that the way out from this place was so obvious, Arun though. He’d found that if things looked easy, you where probably looking at the wrong answer and if things looked hard, they where harder than they looked and probably the only workable answer.
“Do you think this automatic process could be interrupted?” Arun asked.
“We don’t know yet”. Sung said with a shrug. “It is very early days looking at these controls. The Regan language is very difficult to interpret normally and this appears to be an early version of it”. Sung looked very tired. “However…” Her face brightened again. “…we are sure that this version of the language was common to the five races and we are sure that the Fabians where one of the five”. Seaton smiled and put his hand on Sung’s shoulder. Arun could see that the two where very much in love, and he was becoming increasingly sure that he was in love Sung too.
He shook his head slightly. He need to stop such thoughts. “So do you need any help here tomorrow?”
“Yes, we think that either Luca or your jump space pilot might be of great help to us”. Seaton said.
“Well I’m not sure we can spare, Luca but Kerrson it pretty knowledgeable in a lot of area’s and yes Annalaver is still resting so she can help here”.
“Good” Sung said with a smile. “We have one more request, however…” Arun didn’t like the sound of this. He got the feeling that whatever she asked, he would end up giving her whatever he thought about the idea. “…we would like to stay here overnight. We can get more done that way”.
Of course Sung got her way. All she needed to do was ask and look and Arun in that way and he knew he would give in to her request. The power source in the top of the pyramid warmed central chamber noticeably. It was still cool, but at least the chill was taken off.
Arun wasn’t going to let them sleep here unprotected, so he considered for a few moments getting either Kargh or Khan to watch over them, but they where not good in cold and so he decided to take this duty him self. At least Arun told him self that was why he decided to do this, but he knew that he just wanted to be near Sung.
Arun had never needed much sleep so he watched over the sleeping Sung and Seaton as he followed his kinds tradition of meditating rather than sleeping. Begin half human he would need sleep was well, but probably not much of it.
Arun sat opposite Sung and Seaton. Sung lay curled up in a survival bag, looking snug, warm and contented. Her short, jet black hair was matted and unkept, but still looked great to Arun. It was in stark contrast to her pale skin. These wonderful, deep brown eyes were flicking back and forth behind her eyelids as she dreamed. What would she be dreaming about? Arun wondered.
Seaton moved. The soft russell of his clothing suddenly bringing Arun’s attention back to here and now. Arun blinked and checked his watch. He hadn’t been asleep he was sure of that, but 2 hours had passed. Arun hoped Seaton hadn’t noticed.
Seaton, moving very carefully stood up and stretched. He had been mediating till now. He moved over to Arun.
“Problems sleeping?” He asked in a whisper. Even at this low volume his voice managed to sound musical and somehow soothing.
“Not really. I’ve never needed that much sleep. Just keeping watch”.
Seaton nodded, but said nothing. Arun suddenly felt that he had to talk to Seaton about his partner. The Fabian’s where known for there calmness so he hoped he would take offence.
“Yes, sorry I was watching, no staring at your partner. She is…” Arun didn’t no what to say.
“A truly amazing lady?” Seaton suggested. Arun nodded. “Yes. Yes she is. You have found a real treasure there”.
Seaton nodded again. “Thank you. Yes I have. And don’t worry I am used to other men coveting her. I don’t feel threatened at all. But what is a refreshing change is to find a man who is so open and honest about it and who is so reasonable in expressing it”.
Arun should have expected that such a lady would have and equally civilised and reasonable partner as well.
They sat in silence for a short while.
“You have never found a partner that you’ve wanted to share you life with?” Seaton asked.
Arun shook his head. “I’ve spent so long partnered with duty and service that I’d never really had that sort of relationship with a woman”.
“Partnered with duty” Seaton smiled. “That is an odd way to put it”.
“But it is like that. You give your life, your days and nights, pretty much your every through to the organisation, be that the Association or…other bodies like it and in return you get the comfort of knowing where you stand in the hireachry and a measure of concern for your well being”.
Seaton shook his head. “That doesn’t sound a very good partnership. It seems very one sided”.
Arun nodded now. “Oh yes, your right there. It isn’t a fair exchange for sure. Which is why I’ve ended up here”.
“And you don’t think you are in a good place now?” Seaton asked.
“Well I would choose a better place to have this discussion”. Arun looked around at the cold, hard, glass walls
“I mean in general. It seems to me that you have a lot of freedom and the respect and friendship of your crew”.
“Most of them anyway, yes”. Arun agreed. “And I have freedom, yes, but that comes at a price”.
“Anything worth having always does. I think we both need to sleep now”.
The work moving the tanks continued the next day. Kerrson and Annalaver had been in to the pyramid in the morning to help put with the technical details. Things where going smoothly for a change and towards the end of the day water was starting to get pumped in to the Annic Nova’s tanks. At that point not everyone was needed to help, so Arun agreed that if people wanted they could take a look around the complex. Provided they didn’t go alone.
Oddly Adams took up this offer and he left with Micheals. What’s he planning, Arun wondered. Then catching that thought, he realised that he was starting to get paranoid, like Kerrson.
At the end of the day Arun headed back to the pyramid to get another progress report on the translation of the controls and of course to see Sung again. This time Raven came along. Arun had been expecting this and in fact was surprised (and pleased) that he hadn’t come along last time.
Sung and Seaton where in deep discussion over some point on the main floor of the chamber, when Arun arrived. To his surprise Adams and Micheals where still there was well. He had forgotten that they had been exploring.
“What progress have you made?” Raven asked before Arun could talk. Arun was going to cut him off, but he thought, why bother, let him have his moment of seeming like he was in control.
“We believe we have identified the main gate controls fully and now know the correct sequence to activate it”. Seaton told Raven in his normal clam voice. “We have also worked out most of the power plan controls. This is important since it seems that activating the gate from here needs a lot of power and we don’t think the power plant will ramp it’s out put up automatically”. Sung spoke directly to Arun, ignoring Raven.
“And the weapon?” Raven asked.
“Err…still working on that. There are a lot of controls and only two of us” Sung replied, glancing at Raven.
“How long will it take”. Raven asked.
“It is difficult to say…” Seaton said, but was then cut off by Sung. “You can’t put a schedule on discovery. It doesn’t work like that!”
Raven nodded then walked over to Adams and Micheals. Again Arun worried that something was being planed, but then he knew that was going to happen at some time and at the moment they could plan all they like, he held of the cards in this game. Things would change when they get back to normal space and he knew he should be ready for what ever they had planned.
“So have you been able to make any more discoveries about the 5 races and your own people?” Arun asked Seaton.
“Beyond knowing the Fabians where one of the 5 and that humanity was probably one one of them as well, not really”. Arun considered his answer. He didn’t see him self as a Fabian, this was probably normal since he would have been treated as a mongrel, barely deserving of any rights in a Fabian colony. Not surprising then he saw him self as a human, the race that had taken him in and treated him as something special because of his mixed linage.
Arun nodded. “I’m sure the human supremacists in the Church would love to know that”.
“Yes, but we don’t really have any solid proof of that yet. I could take years to get everything from this place”. Sung looked around the chamber longingly.
“We won’t get that I’m afraid. And the chances finding a way back here…well it’s not likely to happen”.
“Oh I don’t know. With your ship, it’s drives and your pilot it might be possible”. Seaton said, he couldn’t help but smile. Sung was grinning widely too.
“Annalaver mentioned this didn’t she?”
Sung nodded. “She said she could probably do it again and she wanted to try”.
Arun shook his head. “You know what jump space pilots are like…or maybe you don’t. It’s a drug to them, piloting in jump space. They love it, but just like a drug it will kill them in the end, or at least drive them crazy enough to try a stunt like this again. Yes Annalaver is the best, but it nearly killed her getting here. It killed Ravens jump space crew. We got here in once piece because we where lucky. I’m not going to try my luck like that again your’s or anyone else’s lives”. Arun realised his voice had become an angry half shout by the end of his rant. He also noticed he had been addressing Sung directly. He snapped his gaze to Seaton and hoped Sung hadn’t noticed.
“Sorry”. Arun said in a clam normal voice. Seaton nodded ever so slightly.
“Is everything okay?” Raven asked from behind Arun.
Arun turned around to face him, how long had he been there?
“Just wanted to make sure my crew where staying line”. Raven stressed the word my.
“We are not your crew, we are civilian contractors…”
“Yes, yes…”. Raven waved his hand at Sung. “…and contractors that have broken a number of secrecy clauses in there contract’s at this point. This will be effect your final payment”.
Sung looked like she was about to explode at Raven, but Seaton’s hand on her shoulder seemed to defuse the anger.
Raven wanted to be shown some of the work that Sung and Seaton had been doing, so they took him up to the gallery. Adam’s and Micheals came along as well, so Arun followed them all up.
Seaton started taking them through the process which they had used to figure out the Regan script. It was long tortuous and quite frankly boring to Arun. Even Seatons, calming voice didn’t make it interesting. Arun was about to sneak away from the group, when he felt a gentle tug on his arm. It was Sung. She nodded towards the other end of the gallery. She smiled a mischievous and mysterious grin.
Arun followed her quiet move away from the rest of the group. He wondered what this was about and for a brief moment he allowed him self to think that maybe she did feel the same way about him as he felt for her. That was stupid he told him self, she and Seaton where perfectly happy. But all the same Arun felt his heart beating faster and his cheeks flushing as they headed away from the group.
“Okay, two things I’ve got to tell you and neither I want Raven to hear”. Sung said in a low voice. Arun nodded. “We have found the controls for the weapon that shot at us, here”. She pointed a group of the symbols. They mean’t nothing to Arun. She then operated what must have been some controls. Above where her hands where working a section of the clear glass became milky. From the milky whiteness faded an image of part of the complex with the Annic Nova behind it. Laid over this image was clearly a target symbol. Sung moved her hands across the console and the view shifted left and then right. Arun flinched, hoping she knew which control fired the weapon.
“Don’t worry. It’s not going to fire”. She said with a grin. “I didn’t want to let Raven know this. He would want to control this weapon for sure but I’m not sure I’d trust him with it”.
“Well thank you for trusting me with this information”. He felt his face flush again. Arun felt like he was a teenager again in the midst of his first crush. Sung smiled. “Well you seem a lot more trustworthy than Raven, despite what we have been told about you”.
“Thank you, they are all lies…probably. So you have found the controls for this, have you been able to disable the automatics on it?”
Sung nodded. “Already done. And that brings me on two the second thing”. Sung paused, probably for effect.
“I’d like to ask you if we can came with you if…sorry when we get out of here”. Arun ran that back in his head. Had she said we or me? It was we. Sung and Seaton. Arun was almost relieved.
“Well?” She prompted.
“Oh yes, of course. Assuming we don’t get hauled of to some Association prison cell you are very welcome to come with us, but you will forever be tarred by your association with my ship if you do. Are sure you want that?”
“You heard Raven, we are all ready in trouble with them. I didn’t really have any feelings on the Association until I had to deal with them but now I can see what a hideous mess it is. I don’t want to have any more dealings with them, we are both agreed on this, me and Seaton”.
“Okay, so what will you do afterwards, the Association have licenses to explore most of the known Regan sites, they control most of the trade in Regan artefacts and libraries…”
Sung grinned again. “Your not trying to talk me out of this are you?” Her voice was a low whisper, which made it seem incredibly sexy to Arun. Right at that moment, Arun could have quite happily taken this lady and run off with her and not have any second thoughts.
“Err…no. I just wanted to make sure that you know doing this might cut you off from the work which you so obviously love and are so good at”.
“Thanks, but as you say, the Association control most of the Regan sites and only the ones they know about. I’ve got some contacts with the Regans them selves, how do you think I leant Regan script?”
“Wow”. Arun was impressed. Regan’s for most humans, where this distant thing, to many they weren’t even real, just a legend. A story to scare or inspire children with, but they where real to Arun, but even still he had never actually met a Regan, but Sung had.
“They will be more than interested in this place and your ships drives. I’m sure we can negotiate something with them having these two strong cards in our hands”.
Arun nodded. She was right of course, Regans where as interested in discovering about there past glories as humans and indeed Fabains. She was also once again showing just how smart and sneaky she was. She is just the perfect lady for me, Arun thought.
“So how did you get to know a Regan?” He asked, unable to contain his curiosity.
Sung smiled. “You have your secrets and I have mine”.
“Secrets”. Ravens voice surprised Arun from behind for the second time today. “I’m not sure that any one should be keeping secrets at this point”.
“Don’t worry this is nothing you need to know, just personal stuff”. Sung told him as she walked away.
The next day, loading of the water continued. The now had plenty of water and air, but food would start to become a problem if they didn’t find there way back to a colonised world quickly on their escape from the nebula. Arun started to think it was time to start rationing the supplies.
Luca had rigged up a system of purifying the water using UV light, so at last Arun knew the water would be safe.
With the loading of the water completed, Arun had another problem, all of the Association crew would have free time on there hands and than mean’t Raven could start plotting. Arun knew that he would be, even though Arun was fairly sure that while still in the nebula, Raven didn’t have any real chance.
Then there was Sung. Arun couldn’t help thinking about her. He knew it was wrong and that she was happy with Seaton. Her request to stay with the ship after it’s escape had complicated things again. Had she left with Raven on their return, that would be it. It was a big universe and the chances of running across her again where slim to nil, Arun might have thought about her for a bit, but memories fade, they aways do and that would be it. But now that she could be staying on board the Annic Nova for longer, Arun would have more time to talk to her, more time to confirm what he already knew, that she was the perfect woman for him, and more time in which something could happen between them. Arun both wanted and didn’t want that to happen.
With the loading of the water complete, Arun headed back to the pyramid.
Raven was there hanging over Sung and Seaton, watching them as they worked. Annalaver was helping as well. She wanted to fly again, Arun could tell, she had the telltale signs of withdrawal from her addiction. She looked nervous, jumpy and her pale skin looked somehow grey and waxy.
Adams was there too, that worried Arun. He and Raven where going to be the source of the trouble, Arun as sure. Raven’s troopers would also be trouble, but Arun didn’t blame them for that, Pavarians really could use the excuse that they where just following orders.
Arun headed up to the gallery where Sung and Seaton worked. He could help but smile when he saw Sung close up again. She also seemed happy so see him again. Arun told him self this was nothing to do with him and that she was just glad of a break from Raven.
Before Arun could say anything Raven spoke. “We have made good progress and have disarmed the beam weapon and are now sure we know how to open the gate and believe we can find a quick route back to Kason…” Arun’s gaze flicked for a moment to Sung, to see if there was any reaction to this, but there was none. “…the timing will be critical, it seems that the will only be few minutes between the gate opening and the start of it’s plasma collection. We…”
“How is this going to work then?” Arun asked Sung directly. “We are more than a few minutes from the star. It will about an hours flight time”.
“Not at problem”. Sung said with a little grin. “A gate of this size takes time to get up to power and charge before activation. We think that time is measured in hours and again we think that once triggered from here the start up is automatic. So we trigger it here, make our way to the star and wait”.
Annalaver bounced on her feet like and excited child, her eyes lit up with anticipation.
“Sounds good. Any worries?” Arun asked.
Seaton nodded. “Sadly yes, it might not be that simple. The gate is old, very old and has been bathed in hard radiation from the star for hundreds of the thousands of years at minimum. It might not work at all by this time and even if it does, it could be that the strain of creating the gate could be enough to cause it to fail. If we where making the transition at that point, there would be nothing we could do. And we can’t risk doing a test for the same reasons”.
Annalaver suddenly held Arun’s arm and put her head on his shoulder. Her skin was clammy and cold, but she was shaking, with excitement? “We’ll be okay”. She said. “We have to try it, I can get us back, I know”. He voice was once again filled with excitement. Arun knew that if was physically possible Annalaver was the pilot that could do this, but If the gate collapsed when they where in transition…well at least they would know nothing about it.
“It is a risk, but we have to take it. It is the only way out and since there are legends about this place which do describe it well, someone must have done this before”. Sung sounded confident and optimistic.
“Yes, your right whatever the risks we have to do this. When do you think you’ll be ready to do it?” Arun asked.
“Now, now. I’m ready now”. Annalaver said from Arun’s side, once again jumping with excitement.
“To be really ready, years”. Sung said with a little smile. “But give us a few more hours”.
Arun left the pyramid, alone. Something which he knew he shouldn’t do, but things where getting tense inside. Sung and Seaton where working very intensely at the problem of working out the controls. Raven watched them all the time and kept on asking stupid questions, like how long it was going to take and what the chances of the success where. Stupid questions, because they couldn’t really have any real idea.
Adams was also hanging around a lot. That worried Arun, but there was nothing he could do about it.
They didn’t need another pair of useless eyes on them, so Arun left the pyramid and walked around the complex. He needed time to think, what Raven might try and do when they escaped from this place. Raven probably didn’t trust what Sung, Seaton and Annalaver told him about returning close to Kason, with good reason, they where lying, or at least he hoped they where. Annalaver might agree to something if it got her back in to the jump space seat on the Annic Nova, but what could Raven offer that she didn’t already get?
Arun shook his head. He was becoming as paranoid as Kerrson was and Arun didn’t want to live like that. He trusted his crew. He trusted Sung and hence Seaton. He had no reason to trust Sung, beyond the burning desire he felt for her, but he did. Arun knew she could easily exploit his feelings for her, but she might not even know the way he felt about her. Unlikely Arun thought, with a blush, the way I’ve been acting around her, like a kid in the midst of his crush.
The air was still cold and it was barely lighter twilight, but it was about local midday.
Ahead of him, Arun saw two lights moving by one of the secondary glass buildings which surrounded the pyramid. “Who’s this?” Arun whispered under he breath. He stopped and watched the lights for a few moments. They where being carried by figures, he could see that much, so it wasn’t native life to this world…unless there was something else they hadn’t seen yet.
Raven’s troopers, up to something? No, Arun realised if they where doing something sneaky they would be using infrared lights. One of the figures was much lager than the other.
It was Luca and Savanna. Arun smiled. He wasn’t going to disturb them, whatever they where doing might be ill advised, but he wasn’t going to interrupt two lovers on such a starlit…day as this.
Arun looked up at the crystal clear, deep black sky. Just one star shining down from above. It was a very boring sky, but the planet more than made up for that, with it’s musical trees and glowing wildlife.
“What was this place? Why?” He asked him self quietly.
Suddenly a huge sound hit Arun. It was low and loud, but it was a sharp sound which passed in moments. It wasn’t the sound from one of the odd plant things they had seen. The ground had shook.
Arun looked around, what had just happened.
He knew the radio would be useless through the glass of the pyramid. The two lights of held by Luca and Savanna where now bobbing up and down, they where running towards the pyramid. Arun flashed his torch and ran towards them. Luca now seeing him ran towards Arun.
“What just happened?” Luca asked as they met up.
“No idea they weren’t supposed to be starting anything”. Arun said as all three of them started to run for the pyramid.
“I told you, it felt like an groundquake!” Savanna told them. “I should know, remember I was bought up on Horizon”. She was pulling her leather tunic on as she ran.
Again the another wave of sound hit them. It seemed louder or closer this time.
“It is a groundquake”. Savanna shouted.
“What’s going on out there. Is any one listening”. Kerrson’s voice came over the radio.
“Arun here. No idea. Nothing was going to happen in the pyramid for a while. We are on our way there now. Get the ship ready leave”.
“I’ll go the the ship” Luca told Arun. “He could use my help”. The big man pulled away from Arun and Savanna.
“I’m going in to the pyramid”. Savanna told Luca. Her voice made it clear this was going to happen, no matter what he said.
“But…” Luca called back.
“Look you two. Sort it out. I’m going to the pyramid and I…” Arun shouted.
“I’m coming with you”. Savanna told him.
Was there some sort of lovers tiff going on between Luca and Savanna? Arun worried. Savanna had been through so much already in her young life, she needed a good solid, dependable man like Luca.
The ground shook again, which brought Arun’s focus straight back to the here and now. This time there was a strange sound metallic sound over laid on top. It continued for several seconds after.
“What was that!?” Arun shouted. The had reached the side of the pyramid now and started heading towards the back wall of it. Savanna’s people, evolved as they had from feline predators could run and run. Watching her quickly over take him, Arun saw the elegant, effortless ease with which she ran. It wasn’t at all like a human run, it was fluid, beautiful.
No point in calling her to slow down, Arun knew, the primitive part of her brain was on control now.
Suddenly Arun realised what the other sound was, glass cracking! His mind was suddenly filled with images of what might happen inside the pyramid if the glass in there gave way. They where not pretty thoughts.
Arun’s tiering legs found new speed.
Arun had almost caught up with Savanna by the time she had reached the entrance. The difference was Arun could barely speak, where as Savanna was just out of breath. Two more quakes had hit when they had been running. Again the sounds of glass slowly cracking where heard over and after the quake. Arun didn’t see any cracks in the pyramid.
“Come….on…slowly…now”. Was all Arun could manage to say. He pulled out his radio and handed it to Savanna.
“Let them…know…”. Arun didn’t need to finish, Savanna contacted Kerrson and let him know they where heading in.
Arun desperately tried to get some air in to his lungs for a few moments. He then gestured for Savanna to follow him and they headed down the long glass corridor.
Another quake hit as they headed down the corridor. “They are too regular”. Savanna told Arun. “Quake’s don’t happen like this”.
At least inside the pyramid they couldn’t hear the sound of glass cracking and shifting on other glass. Arun nodded, the shocks did seem to be coming at oddly regular intervals.
Suddenly Arun’s radio started to get a signal. He couldn’t make it out, but there was a faint signal coming through. Arun stopped and held it to his ear. He couldn’t hear anything over the sounds of his own deep, laboured breaths.
“I am receiving you…but you are not…readable…say again”.
He handed the radio to Savanna. “Can you make…anything out”. She listened carefully.
Another quake hit. Along with the normal deep, sharp thud sound came a new sound, like the sound of the glass before, but this was different.
“I can’t read you”. Savanna shouted to the radio.
The new sound was regular, rhythmic. “Come on”. Arun continued forward.
“It’s no good, I can’t make anything out”.
“Keep listening. Something bad is going on and we are out of contact with both the ship and Raven and the others”.
Arun could see the wide horizontal corridor ahead now.
“Is it…” Savanna started to ask.
“Yes, it is getting brighter in here”. Arun looked up towards the light in the top of the pyramid. Even thought meters of solid glass, the light was clearly getting brighter.
“Not good at all. They must have triggered something, maybe the gate”. Arun, his breath more normal now, picked up his pace to a jog. Savanna followed suit. Then she stopped, they where just short of the entrance to the wide corridor.
“I’ve got something”. She shouted to Arun. “Say again. I read you, but only just”. Arun turned back and listened with Savanna to the radio.
“…do not…..active….gate…heading…get clear…”.
“Not good at all”. Arun looked up. Another quake hit. The regular squeaking sound, was getting closer and it was now clearly metal moving against metal. In odd light cast by the increasingly bright light from the pyramid’s peak, Arun could make out an odd shape moving. Savanna saw it to.
“What is that!”
In answer to her question the thing casting the shadow emerged from around the corner. It was large, metallic and stood on 4 legs. It’s elongated, eyeless head looked at Arun and Savanna. And second strange and horrific figure, just like the first one emerged from around the corner.
Arun, suddenly realised he had seen these before, they where the statues from the main chamber. They where clearly not just statues.
As Savanna grabbed Arun’s arm and turned to run, the first of the monsters tensed. Arun started to turn, but his eyes where locked on the metallic horror which was leaping in to it’s run towards them. Savanna was almost dragging Arun along. There was no way he could match her speed. He hoped that they couldn’t match it either and in that moment, Arun decided, that he would delay them to give Savanna a chance to flee. But Savanna was not letting go, the dewclaws in in normally human looking hands where fully extended, a primitive survival insintic. She was not running as fast as she could, Arun knew.
Behind him he could hear the slow regular squeak of the things moving. It was getting closer and closer. Under that the slow beat of his own heart and the glacially slow rasp of his own breath.
The exit to the pyramid loomed up ahead of them. It was closing way to slowly to Arun’s senses. He could almost feel the things at his back. His skin and muscles tensed, expecting at any moment to sliced open by cold, hard, alien steel.
Another quake hit just as the burst out of the pyramid’s exit. Savanna darted left with incredible speed and grace. She hulaed Arun’s mass around with her. But she did not stop running. Arun stumbled, but knew he couldn’t fall. He might distract one of them, but now they where clear of the corridor, the other would be free to chase down Savanna. Arun wasn’t going to let that happen.
They ran across the stony ground of the complex. Behind them Arun heard the things leave the pyramid. Bigger and much heavier, but moving just as fast they couldn’t be able to manoeuvre like Savanna.
Arun dared a look over his shoulder. It seemed they must have come to a complete halt on exiting the pyramid, only now where the once again leaping in to run towards them.
“The ship!” Shouted Arun.
“Get the lift down now”. Savanna shouted in the radio, still clasped in her other hand. “Now!”
Savanna was leading Arun towards one the blocky glass buildings, or straight towards one of it’s solid glass walls. She dodged around the razor sharp edge of it’s corner and continued running along alongside it’s wall, at the next corner she did the same. Arun realised they now moving away from the ship, but this was no random, panicked run from Savanna. Her people where not the apex predators her world. They where prayed on by others, she was now acting in instincts ages old which had ensured the dominance of her kind over there world.
Arun and Savanna turned at the edge of the building again. They where no almost back where they had started. The metal things where still behind them, Arun could hear them moving over the crushed stone of the complex.
Another quake hit.
Savanna looked quickly around the corner of the building and then she started running again, with Arun still in tow behind her. The things had gone around the building and where now out of sight. That had to be good, they couldn’t be chasing us if they can’t see us, Arun reasoned.
They ran for the ship. Arun couldn’t see the loading bay or lift from here, so he had no idea if they where up or down. If they where up, it would take to long to lower them. Even if they where down, would they have enough time to get above the reach of these things before they found them again?
Suddenly Arun heard the sound of something pounding it’s way through the crushed stone. They had found them again!
He couldn’t see where they where and he didn’t want to know. Arun’s burning legs got a another burst of energy, but Arun knew he was slowing Savanna down.
They rounded the corner of another building and the Annic Nova was now directly in front of them, less than 100 metres away.
The lift was not down! It was only now starting to descend. Arun’s legs wanted to stop and to die here, but his body had other plans. They ran for where the lift was going to be.
Arun knew they couldn’t make it. The metal things where close behind them, he could hear there pounding foot falls. They where probably less than 10 meters away. He ran anyway, the primitive part of his mind telling him to just run.
Suddenly something hit him from behind and Arun was knocked forward by the powerful blow. He knew that was it. The thing’s claws would have shredded his back muscles and probably cut his spinal column. Is that why I don’t feel any pain? He wondered as he hit the ground hard.
The impact hurt, it hurt a lot. The sharp stones tore at his fresh. But oddly he didn’t feel anything from his back.
Why hasn’t it finished me? Arun wondered. It must have reached me now.
Suddenly things started to fall from above him, small hard and hot things. Arun scrambled to his feet and took in the world around him. There where no metal things behind them. Off to his left, also getting up was Savanna, she was alright!
The ship was in front of them, the lift now almost at ground level.
Behind them, there was a large smoking crater. Behind that a spot of light was fading on the surface of the pyramid. They had used the weapon in the pyramid to destroy whatever they where. The metal leg of one of the things fell to the ground, it’s detached end still glowing red hot.
“Are you okay?” Savanna asked him.
“Yes, they did it from with the pyramid. They saved us!”. Arun said with a huge grin.
The grin quickly faded. He turned and looked at the pyramid. Then he ran to the lift.
“What’s the matter?” Savanna called after him.
“There where 4 of those things”.
There wasn’t time to use the lift. Arun got Kerrson to throw the weapons down from the air lock. The trooper on the ship would come down in the lift, but Arun couldn’t wait for that. He and Savanna, now armed with pistols headed back to the pyramid.
Arun still hadn’t recovered from his two sprints and could barely jog at the moment. Savanna had wanted to go on ahead, but Arun wasn’t going to let her go in to this alone. Her instincts and reflexes where good, but she didn’t have the experience that Arun had in battle. Arun had faced lots of strange things in combat before, but these where new to him as well, so he wasn’t sure his experience counted for anything here. But only the trooper in the pyramid had any combat skills, they would need all the help they could get inside.
Arun worried about Sung, but at least, she and Seaton must have still been alive, only they would have known how to use the weapon.
It seemed to take far to long for Arun to reach the entrance to the pyramid. The quakes where still coming regularly, but they didn’t seem to be quite as strong now. Arun and Savanna listened at the entrance.
There was no sound of metal moving on metal. Arun didn’t know if this was good or bad, but whatever it was Arun drew his pistol and stepped forward in the corridor. Savanna was right behind him with her pistol drawn.
The light from the top of the pyramid was bright enough that the whole corridor was lit at least as brightly as those on the ship.
As they approached the junction with the large horizontal corridor Arun stopped and put his fingers to his lips. They both listened intently.
In the distance, the faint sound of metal on metal could be heard. As the listened the sharp crack of a shot rang out.
“Not good”, Arun said as he broke in to a trot. He ran out in the large horizontal corridor and with out really thinking, headed straight for small corridor at the far end. The sounds of battle started to ring in his ears now. Arun wasn’t thinking any more, he was reacting. The years of training and conditioning where cutting in again.
As Arun burst out in the main chamber he took in the scene. One of the troopers was on the opposite side of the central hole to Arun, he was keeping a steady stream of shots aimed at one of the things. It was slowly advancing on the trooper, the well placed shots having no apparent effect on the metal skinned monster.
Where was the other one? Arun asked as he took aim.
From above Arun more shots rang out. The second trooper was up on one of the galleries, with everyone else, and was shooting down the corridor to the gallery. Arun saw Sung, working furiously at the controls. She was alright and coping with the situation the way Arun knew she would be.
Arun fired at the monster. He was trying to aim between the metal sections of the armour on the things back. He didn’t know what was below that, but if it needed armour it must be soft. He didn’t know if the shots where finding there mark, until the forth one.
The monsters eyeless chrome head turned to face Arun, it’s smooth surface only marked by burns from the troopers rifle. It turned and started running for him. Arun ran to, there was no point in shooting now. The troopers gun fired again and again, the thing stopped running and turned again. It was vurnable from behind!
Arun ran around to try and get a shot at the thing from the side again. The troopers helmeted head turned to glance at Arun.
Arun took his aim.
The creature was now clearly getting wise to this and turned to face Arun.
The trooper took a single well aimed shot. The creature turned and leapt for black clad Paravain, it’s thick forelegs out stretched and claws extended. The trooper dropped his rifle and grabbed the leg.
Arun suddenly realised he was standing right on the edge of the central hole. As soon as he realised this, Arun knew what the trooper was doing. Using the creatures own weight he acted as pivot to spin the it’s body towards the edge of the hole. There was no way the trooper was going to be able to avoid going down with the creature. He must have known that.
The creature realised what was happening, but by then two of it’s legs where already in scrambling through thin air. The trooper was fall too.
The pair fell in silence only the sounds of the falling water the the shots from above filled the air.
Arun looked down in to the darkness of the hole for a moment, marking the passing of his ally. He didn’t even know if it was Kargh or Khan. But there was one more still active.
Arun glanced around the chamber. There was no sign of Savanna.
Shouts came from above and the shots stopped.
“Oh no!” Arun said as he ran from the chamber. She was going to do something very stupid.
As Arun rushed in to the horizontal corridor, the other trooper also entered by the neighbouring corridor. Arun barged past him and ran up the slope.
“Use the pyramid. Shoot it with the pyramid”. He shouted as he ran.
Bursting out on to the gallery, he saw Sung was already at the controls. Raven was standing by her. Arun yanked him out of the way. He was the last thing Sung needed standing over her right now.
From where Arun stood, he could just about see the panel, the view zoomed around the complex as Sung searched for the creature. Then it zeroed in on tiny figure of Savanna running and large bulk of the creature behind her. It was to close to her now, but she was using her smaller size to dodge around the buildings, she was heading for the crater that marked the end of the first two creatures.
“Good girl”. Arun whispered. Sung suddenly hit a section of the panel and the display whited out for a few moments.
The quiet, which seemed to last for minutes, was only kept from silence by the steady hiss of the falling water below them.
The view faded back on the panel. There was another large, smoking crater just short of the first one. Sung quickly zoomed the view out, searching, desperately for Savanna.
The view locked on to another figure, much larger. It was Luca, he must have seen Savanna. The view zoomed out and then in again as Luca stopped. Savanna was on ground.
Anxious seconds passed, but then Savanna moved. Luca helped her up. She wasn’t able to walk unaided, but she was alive and moving.
Arun let the breath go, that he hadn’t been aware he was holding.
Sung stood up from the console, her shoulders dropping as the stress seemed to drain from here.
“Thank you, from both of us”. Arun couldn’t help but hug her. “Oh…” Sung had not expecting the embrace. She said nothing.
It did feel good having here close to his body… The thought crossed Arun’s mind.
As if to show all was still not well, the next quake hit at the moment.
Arun suddenly released his arms from around Sung. “Err…Sorry”. He said very quietly. The quake died away.
“So…er…whats causing the quakes?” Arun asked. He hopped no one noticed his flushed face. “You’ve not started anything?”
Sung shook here head. “Not that I’m aware of. All that we have done was deactivate the automatic weapon system and of course to use it on manual twice”.
“The quakes are not natural”. Seaton said flatly.
“No, too regular”. Arun Agreed.
“Every 1.2 minutes”. Seaton told the group. “The strength seems to vary however. I’ve got prof of that, but it feels like it”.
“Something moving up from below?” Raven suggested looking down at the hole in the floor. Arun was surprised, that seemed like original thinking, the Association hadn’t knocked it from him completely.
“Could be, but if that was the case the strength of the shocks should increase steadily. I don’t think that is happening here, but I couldn’t sure with out measurements”.
The pit! Arun remembered they had not come through the battle without loss. He turned to the remaining trooper, the name plate on his armour identified him as Khan. Kargh had given his life in the battle.
Arun struggled to remember what the Pavarains did to morn the passing of a life in battle.
“Kargh died saving us all. He will be remembered”. Khan nodded and removed his helmet. Arun and Khan grasped opposing hands and in silence touched there foreheads together for a moment.
The Pavarains came from a chaotic world, violent deaths where common, so there was little ceremony involved in marking the passing of a clanmate. Arun had no idea if Khan and Kargh where related, but that didn’t seem to matter right now. This was the right thing to do.
Another quake hit.
“So” Arun turned around to face the others. “Did we trigger these quakes and are they a risk?” He asked.
“What is more important to ask is, are we ready to leave?” Raven added.
Sung and Seaton glanced at each other. “Yes”. Sung said without much confidence. “And yes we could have triggered the quakes, remember the whole pyramid did power up when we entered, maybe that was just the first phase and this is the second”.
“Dose that matter?” Raven asked. “We can leave, we should be doing just that”.
“The quakes don’t seem to be having any effect on the pyramid…” Seaton said and he was then cut off by Arun. “The smaller buildings sound like they are taking damage…”
“So we should leave now!” Raven cut Arun off.
“…but no sign of that here and as you say, Seaton, the shocks do seem to be getting less intense. Will it help you to stay here longer…” Arun started to ask Sung and Seaton.
“Yes, always”. Sung answered, before he could finish.
“Yes, I’d guess you’d say that. But…”. Another quake hit. “…will anything you gain help us get out of here?”
“I don’t know, I can’t know”. Sung said with an irritated tone to her voice. “How can I know what I don’t yet know?”
Arun nodded. “So how long will it take to get ready to open the gate”.
“We are there now” Sung told him. “The power output of the pyramid is already way higher than we think we need to trigger the gate”. Seaton added.
Arun frowned. “Yes that’s what we thought too” Sung said with a little smile.
“Why the extra power? What is it used for?” Arun asked the world in general.
“Exactly! You see why we don’t want to leave just yet. There is still so much to learn here”. Sung was using her pleading voice on him now. She must know that she can get what she wants from men like this, Arun thought, but this time it was possibly all of there lives on the line. Arun knew it made the most sense to leave now, everything was ready.
“How long will we have before the gate opens and how long do you need to be here for?” Arun asked.
Seaton sighed. “The gate opening part is just a guess here, but from cold and given the size of the gate here, we think it is likely to be at least 3 hours”.
“Good the Nova could make it there in just under an hour. So how long after the gate opens before the plasma collection begins?”
“Again this is guess, work, probably not even educated. But we will probably have at least minutes, but it could be hours”. Sung said.
“Transition through the gate takes only moments…We would be need to be clear of the vortex when it opens…centre of the gate for minimum transition turbulence…but it’s a big gate”. Arun was talking to him self. “Yes minutes is doable, it will be tight, but doable. How long do you need to be here to after you start everything?”
“The sequence is simple know we know it, once it started, it would appear to automatic. We believe the station it’s self will handle it from there”. Seaton said confidently.
“So you don’t need to be here”.
Sung sighed. “Sadly not”.
“Okay, Sung and Seaton, you have until the ship is ready and everyone else is back on board to do your final studies and…”
“Wait” Seaton cut Arun off.
“What now!” Raven said with irritation.
“No quake. It’s 20 seconds overdue at this point”. Seaton was looking at his watch.
No one said anything for a few moments. Everybody was listening, waiting for the next quake to hit.
“But that means nothing…” Raven started to say.
“No, it means something. Every quake since the first few I have been timing, they have never varied by more than a second or two. This one is now over half a minute late”.
Arun couldn’t decide if this was bad or good.