The Path of Andromeda (RF IX), Chapter 14

Spoiler alert: This is the first draft of the ninth book in the Reckless Faith series, now with the working title of The Path of Andromeda. You can start with the prologue here: https://devonai.wordpress.com/2024/10/17/reckless-faith-ix-prologue/

Nap-of-the-earth is what pilots would call flying fast and low to the ground. Under the current circumstances, there was no reason for John to be doing so, other than his own amusement. For everyone else on the bridge of the Reckless Faith, they were either enjoying the spectacle, or battling nausea.

Currently flying over a glittering ocean, the rising sun to their backs, the crew watched as a mountain range to the west grew ever closer. Finding their intended destination had required a volunteer from the group that had been taken from Tartarus and deposited on Ibnal’saffar, so that their brain could be scanned and their memories analyzed.

Vecky, the one who had been paying the most attention to the stars overhead during their ad hoc vacation, seemed like the best choice for that task. Indeed, her recollection of the constellations overhead had allowed them to figure out the exact latitude and longitude of their last encampment. From there, they needed only follow the shoreline to the west, and find the mountain ravine outside the temple, an easy task once the rest of the refugees weighed in with their own memories.

In the ship, racing along the water’s edge, the original crew of the Faith was there, along with Evangeline, Aldebaran, Fuyue, and Faen. Though the rest of the crew of the Antares also wanted to go, they had to stay behind to properly man the ship in case of any trouble. With the departure of the Fox, they were the last line of defense for the ground mission. Malthus had transferred to the Antares, unwilling to yet depart the planet, but also not ready to return there.

It didn’t take long for the Faith to arrive at the foothills of the mountains, and John pulled back on the stick to take them further above the terrain. With Vecky’s departure, Richter was keeping a close eye on what they could see, while at the same time, Ari peered at her monitor to correlate the information the young captain had given them. Soon, they found a ravine that matched their intel, and John slowed down and settled into a leisurely circle above it.

“This should be it,” said Ari. “Topographic scans confirm the data we gleaned from Kitsune’s memories.”

John replied before trailing off. “It does look right, but…”

Ray pointed ahead. “The veranda outside the temple. It should be right there.”

“All of our data agrees with both of you,” said Ari.

“Care to let us in on the problem?” asked Dana.

“That mountainside,” began Kyrie, “that’s where the veranda was.”

Easily visible to everyone on the bridge was the side of a mountain, with no trace of any artificial modification. John pointed the bow of the ship toward the expected spot, and locked it into hover mode. Ari scratched her head.

“Either our data is wrong, or there’s some sort of cloaking device down there that’s deceiving our NDSS. If the latter is true, then it’s a technology we’ve never encountered before.”

Eva looked at Richter. “I think Chance would agree with me on the easiest way to find out for sure.”

John grinned. “Me, too.”

“There’s no need for brute force,” said Dana. “Use the flare function of the cannon.”

“That makes sense.” John’s fingers flew over his console. “Flare ready.”

“Send it,” said Ari.

John tapped the trigger on his flight stick. An incandescent sphere of blue plasma shot ahead, illuminating the sides of the ravine before quickly disappearing into the mountainside.

“It’s an illusion!” exclaimed Eva.

“I’m taking us in,” said John.

Nudging the throttle, John brought the ship forward at a crawl. The bow pierced the rock face without any resistance, and as soon as the bridge itself crossed that point, they could see both the veranda, and the sky above them.

“Those tricky bastards,” said Faen.

There was ample room on the veranda for John to set the ship down, so he did so, then powered down the engines.

“All right,” he said. “We all know what to do. Friday, you’re in charge. Tycho, you’re coming with us.”

“Sweet,” said Tycho.

Everyone but the cat got up and headed for the armory. There, they equipped themselves with their favored weapons and gear. They also grabbed four encased flood lights, ready to be set up. Ray and Dana used their PDAs to power-up and launch two Snoopy drones. Then, they exited to the cargo bay. John hit the switch to lower the ramp, and they walked out onto the veranda. They set the Snoopys down on the stone surface, and put them into standby mode.

The team took a moment to take in their surroundings. It had rained recently, but the sky was clear. Ahead, the edifice of the temple could be seen. John had compared it to Al-Khazneh in Jordan, an apt, if not entirely accurate, description. The squad-strength contingent arranged themselves into two teams, and headed toward the temple. Fuyue, who was in the first team, signaled that he wanted to look at the columns carved into the edifice. He scrutinized the pictograms on them for a few minutes.

“Anything ring a bell?” asked John.

 “They are curious,” he replied, “but nothing I’ve ever seen before. With my quantum brain, I could derive some sort of meaning from them, if I had enough time.”

“Richter took some pictures earlier,” said Ari. “We attempted to analyze them, and came up with nothing.”

“Something for the archaeologists, then.”

The group turned on their hand-held or weapon-mounted flashlights, moved inside, and spread out. Fuyue only had to look at the temple for a few seconds before gasping.

“What is it?” asked John.

“This is a Sortarii temple,” he said softly.

“A Sortarii temple? Are you sure?”

“Quite sure. I’ve been to one, on a planet called Pulchraest back in my neighborhood of the galaxy. It looked identical to this one, albeit not completely empty. Even the fountain at the center is the same, except that one most certainly did not have a statue of a Kira’To. However, there should be several rooms and passageways from here that are not present.”

“Fascinating. Okay, let’s fan out, take a look, and see if we can find something we missed the first time.”

The teams spread out until they had filled the space, then they set up the portable floodlights. Several members began scanning with their PDAs. Eva walked up to Fuyue.

“This place is making me feel very strange,” she said to him. “It’s hard to describe, almost like a combination of nostalgia and longing.”

“Did you look at your staff?” he asked.

It hadn’t occurred to Eva to look at the bokken she inherited from Graffias. She took off her rucksack and removed it from the side.

“Holy shit. There’s a pulse of light traveling down the side, from pommel to tip.”

“I wish I could see it. I have yet to figure out a way to regain all of my prior abilities in this android body.”

“Same here,” said Faen.

“All right, Miss Adeler. What I want you to do is hold out the staff and walk around. Let me know if anything changes.”

Eva raised an eyebrow. “Like a dowsing rod?”

“I don’t know.” Fuyue gestured ahead with his arm. “Like this.”

“All right then.”

Eva held the bokken out in front of her like she was challenging an unseen opponent to a duel. The slight pulses continued, barely brighter than a firefly. She headed toward the nearest wall, then began to walk the perimeter. She passed by Dana a moment later.

“Can no one else see this?” asked Dana.

“I wouldn’t expect any of you to be able to,” replied Fuyue. “Only those that have touched the skein of the universe would.”

John said, “Too bad Vecky and Miriam aren’t here.”

“I can handle this just fine,” said Eva.

“I meant that they’d be enrapt by it, that’s all.”

Eva walked all the way back to the entrance, and proceeded halfway down the opposite side before she slowed down. The pulses had increased in frequency. She moved in a tight circle, further narrowing down where she should go. Soon, a particular archway, directly across from the fountain, drew her in. The pulses flashed like a strobe, and she felt the hair on her arms stand up.

“This is it,” she said quietly.

The others approached, PDAs in hand. John, Ray, and Ari scrutinized the archway first.

“It looks like a solid wall,” said Ray.

Fuyue came over. “Adeler, can you see any patterns in the wall here?”

She shook her head. “It looks like the same bricks as the rest of the place.”

“Place your free hand on it.”

She did so. Immediately obvious to her was that the wall was warm to the touch; not hot, but definitely warmer than the ambient temperature of the rest of the temple. After a few seconds, she could feel a slight vibration under her palm.

“This is something,” she murmured.

“Imagine a door opening. First think of a horizontal aperture, and if that doesn’t work, a vertical one.”

Though Eva followed his instructions, nothing happened.

“Bupkis.”

“Close your eyes. Regulate your breathing. Listen to the sound of the fountain.”

John looked over his shoulder. “Let’s get some quiet for her, okay?”

Everyone else stopped what they were doing. Eva did as Fuyue suggested. An image appeared in her mind; at first it seemed to be a disorganized twisted lump of oblong shapes, then after a moment, the image seemed to zoom out. The twists resolved into long strands, they got progressively more complex, and she realized what she was seeing.

“I see the double-helix of DNA.”

“Damn,” began Fuyue, “a gen-lock. The door is hard-coded to open only for someone with a specific genetic profile. We’re probably screwed.”

“What about brute force?” asked John.

Eva opened her eyes. Richter had come over. He looked at the wall, then pounded his fist on it.

“The amount of explosives it would take to get through here would likely bring down the entire temple,” he said.

Ari said, “We’re within range of the matter transporter. Maybe we can try to beam the wall out.”

John nodded. “It’s worth a try. Friday, are you listening?”

“I’m here,” said Friday’s voice.

“Lock onto that wall and transport it out to the veranda.”

“I’ll try.”

Those near the wall stepped back, and readied their weapons and flashlights. A glittering cascade of green light appeared, then the bricks faded away. The team peered into the area beyond. At first, their flashlights revealed nothing. As they cautiously moved inside, they could make out more details, including the size of the room and any furniture or other obstacles. This was made more difficult by large black panels on each wall that seemed to absorb any light that shined on them. Once they cleared the area, they brought in two spotlights.

The room was a large hexagon, with one side dedicated to a row of what looked like work benches, and the other side with a recessed area in the floor. In the recess, which was two steps down, was a raised dais about three meters across. There were no chairs or obvious sources of light. By then, everyone but Aldebaran and Kyrie were in the room, with those two guarding the door.

“I’m not sure,” began Fuyue, “but I believe this is a Sortarii workshop. I’ve never been to one, but I’ve had one described to me. The benches would have been used to imbue weapons or other artifacts.”

“The walls are beautiful,” said Eva. “Such delicate circuitry and patterns.”

“You can see something there? Like on your staff?”

“Exactly like that. Fine etching, glinting gold as it catches the light.”

He sighed. “I’m sure it is beautiful.”

John asked, “Do you think there’s any chance that Eva or the rest of the crew of the Antares could ever figure out how to use this place?”

Fuyue leaned against one of the benches. “That depends on whether or not any of these runes are gen-locked like the door was, and their own particular aptitudes. Miss Adeler and the others have been able to access the functions of their staffs, but do so only by intuition, not direct intention. True understanding of Sortarii technology can take decades.”

“I thought you said that the crew had imbued their own weapons, though.”

“Yes, but under my instruction.”

“Look at it this way,” said Dana. “We haven’t been able to decipher anything from the staffs, but here, the sample size is much larger. What we could do is have Eva and the crew of the Antares get a long, hard look at each of these panels, then have them interface with an orb. Then, we can see what they see, and have the full computational power of the ship to try to make sense of it.”

“That would take a lot of staring,” replied Eva. “Nobody has a crystal-clear memory, at least, not among us meat-bags.”

Ari said, “Has anybody asked Malthus if he can see Sortarii patterns? He’s got an eidetic memory.”

Everyone looked at each other. No one knew.

Faen shrugged. “He expressed no interest in anything related to being a Sortarius. Lesath did ask him; he rebuffed her.”

“It probably has to do with his experiences during the combat actions on Tartarus,” said Richter. “The rest of us may be used to such high strangeness as the Sortarii, but it’s a lot to ask of a layman.”

“Been reading a thesaurus lately?” said Kyrie from the door.

“Fuck you, Devonai.”

John said, “Friday, open a channel to the Antares.”

“You’re live,” came the reply.

Lesath’s voice could be heard. “How goes the battle, Commander?”

“We’ve found a Sortarii workshop of sorts, according to Master Fuyue. It’s quite interesting and we’ll fill you in later. Right now, we have a question for Mister Brewer.”

“He’s right here, ask away.”

“Malthus, you’ve seen the Sortarii weapons. Do they look like simple wood implements to you, or are there shiny, inlaid patterns on the surface?”

“The latter,” he said.

John grinned. “Excellent. We’d like you down here, if you don’t mind. Your photographic memory could prove very useful to us.”

There was a pause before he replied. “I’d rather not get involved in this shit.”

“I understand. You’ll have to trust us that there’s nothing dangerous down here. Your particular skills could make a huge difference for us.”

“You owe us one, Brewer,” said Ari.

“For what? I’ve been pulled along with everything that’s happened since you’ve arrived like a ragdoll. If you mean I owe you my life; well, I had a life before, and it was a hell of a lot calmer than what you got me into since.”

John looked at Ari sideways. “We can only ask, Malthus.”

“Fine. Captain Lesath, how do you want to do this?”

“We’ll drop you off, then head back into orbit,” she said. “Though I have to say, Commander, that I think we’re being wasted sitting here waiting for trouble.”

“I still think the Antares is better off watching the skies,” said John. “I can only make suggestions, Captain, I can’t tell you what to do.”

“You’ve got a surplus of able hands down there, don’t you? Let’s swap out two or three to man my ship, then myself and the other acolytes can see this alleged Sortarii workshop for ourselves.”

Ari said, “I’ll go. Another Mark Nineteen is no challenge for me.”

“Fine by me,” said John. “Any other volunteers?”

“I can go back,” said Aldebaran. “As much as I’d like to contribute something other than a fast draw, this whole thing is well beyond my ken.”

“Faen?”

“I’m quite happy where I am,” she said.

“There you go, Captain, you’ve got two volunteers. Good enough?”

“I suppose so,” replied Lesath. “Stand by, then, we’ll be down there in five minutes.”

Eva approached one of the work benches, and put her bokken down on its surface.

“What are you doing?” asked Dana.

“Just a hunch,” said Eva.

As soon as the weapon left her grasp, she could see every pattern on its surface light up brighter than she’d ever seen before, and stay that way. She put her hand back on the handle, closed her eyes, and tried to clear her mind.

Fuyue approached her. “Diagnostics?”

“Exactly. Let’s see if this simple act can prompt something useful out of all this rigamarole.”

Eva closed her eyes. A moment later, she could see an image of herself back on Tartarus, surrounded by a vague, grayish sphere, during her fight with the Alnairian Marines. She opened her eyes, and looked at the bokken. A particular path down its length was illustrated by the circuitry, pulsing in short intervals. She picked up the weapon.

“Having fun over there?” asked Richter.

“Take a shot at me.”

“Who, me? What?”

“I mean it. Throw a forty-five slug at my face.”

“You know I’m not going to do that.”

“I think I understand what you’re getting at,” said Ari. “How’bout we start with something a little less lethal, like my Rakhar blade.”

“Send it,” said Eva.

Ari pulled the curved blade from the scabbard on her belt, and chucked it at Eva’s torso. Eva’s fingers moved quickly down the length of the bokken. The knife bounced off of an unseen surface, and clattered to the floor. Fuyue smiled at the scene, and clapped.

“Fantastic,” he said. “You’ve made an important step. That shield function will be a lot easier to call upon now that you know the manual override.”

“Is that what that was?” asked Eva.

“Sure. Like I said before, all of the functions of a Sortarii staff are available to you by intuition, but you can also access them manually. The latter is far more reliable, especially when you’re frightened, wounded, or otherwise unsteady.”

Eva put the bokken back on the bench. “Cool. Let’s see what else we can unlock, Sortarius.”