There was no further discussion as Jaysn and the others made their way along the silent streets for another two hours. Novik was perpetually deep in thought. After accusing Jaysn of improper behavior toward Solvig, Tamana remained steadfastly withdrawn, neither smiling nor offering any suggestions to the group. Solvig walked beside Tamana as if nothing had happened, or as if she’d decided there would be no further discussion. More than any of them, she was scrutinizing the arrangement of the building-like structures they passed. Jaysn, for his part, looked for anything interesting to point out to the others, if nothing else, to break the unpleasant quiet.
As they approached the edge of the next “city block,” marking what he believed to be the 75th such identical intersection they had encountered, Novik motioned for them to stop, then cocked his head, listening to something too faint for the others to hear.
“What is it?” Jaysn asked?
“I’d rather not say until I’m certain,” Novik said, gesturing for the others to hold their positions while he proceeded perpendicular to their path, toward the canal a block away. Pausing on the banks and looking upriver, he motioned for the others to join him. “This would appear to be what we’ve been looking for.”
Jaysn jogged to his side and peered up the canal. A kilometer or so upstream, the water emanated from, or at least passed through, a wide set of floodgates at the base of a wide cylindrical building, angled approximately 60 degrees. From its top, a smaller structure that at first glance appeared to Jaysn as an intense beam of orange light, but upon closer examination, he realized was actually a lattice-like structure of intensely glowing lines. The structure extended skyward, disappearing into one of the oddly shaped, perfectly rectangular floating structures that, until now, they had named “clouds.” The only thing he had seen comparable to such a structure was the space elevator towers on Earth that ran from the oceans to geosynchronous orbit, nearly 100,000 kilometers above. The only difference was that the space elevators were vertical, didn’t glow with intense orange light, and he had never actually been this close to one. The sight nearly took his breath away. “That is, frankly, amazing.” He gasped.
“Compared to everything else? I expected nothing less.” Solvig beamed.
From a large opening at the base, they could make out several of the wisp creatures hovering just above the floodgates, boarding the rectangular barges as they emerged, and following the current downstream towards the cathedral they had encountered earlier.
“Well, we can keep staring at it, or we can try to get into it,” Tamana snorted. Jaysn wondered what her sudden urgency must be. Either the question of their missing teammates weighed more heavily as time passed, or perhaps she was feeling even more uncomfortable about the current dynamic and emotional tension. He thought for a moment about cracking a joke to convey that there were no hard feelings, but decided to let her live with the discomfort a bit longer.
The four returned to the intersection and continued on their original course, parallel to the canal, for another half hour, when they finally saw the megastructure on their right. The entire ground floor, nearly an entire city block in diameter, was open, with a fifteen-meter-high ceiling, supported by five circular columns approximately three meters in diameter. In the center was a half-height wall that curved to form an oval-shaped room, its walls angled at 60 degrees, presumably matching the light tower that extended from the top of the building.
Wisp creatures exited through the room and headed straight for the floodgates at a steady rate. They silently approached the nearest gap and peered inside. The center of the room contained a raised platform, illuminated in gold, with a hexagonal console at its center and a semicircular ring, or railing, supported by three glowing columns of light. Novik and Solvig both immediately went for the platform while Jaysn and Tamana walked the perimeter of the room.
“Jaysn, I think your theory about this being a space elevator may not be too far off the mark,” Novik said, gesturing to an opening in the ceiling above the platform. Jaysn circled behind him for a better look. Sure enough, four distinct beams of light twisted around each other in a helix-like formation to form the outer walls of a tunnel-like structure that angled upward and outward from the control platform.
“Amazing,” Jaysn said. “I wonder if that’s the car you’re standing on?”
“Difficult to say,” Novik countered, “As near as I can tell, the structure is part of the building. At least I don’t detect any seams. Though admittedly, I don’t understand how any of the architecture in this place works.”
“Of course, ‘road,’ ‘city,’ ‘space elevator,’ and every other guess we’ve made may be wrong as well, for that matter. It’s difficult to divine the purpose of any of this without a common frame of reference.”
Novik nodded. “Agreed, though I’m inclined to go with those monikers until we know for sure we’ve misjudged everything. It’s a convenient nomenclature if nothing else.”
“So, if this is a city, and that is an elevator, I wonder what the penthouse looks like?” Jaysn smiled mischievously.
Solvig quickly lost interest in staring down the tunnel and was intently studying the hexagonal control panel. “Still no markings or control surfaces of any sort,” she muttered. “It’s almost like this entire world is a museum of incomplete paintings and sculptures: all the form, but none of the detail.
This caught Tamana’s attention. “Perhaps the inhabitants have a means to apply their own individual layouts or subjective contexts to everything.”
“Where are they then?” Solvig shrugged. “I’d love to see that in action.” She stepped over to the controls and slowly ran her hand over the surface.
“I’d be careful, Dr. Solvig,” Tamana warned.
Solvig nodded. “It appears completely inert. No warmth, no noise, no illumination of any kind.”
“It’s almost like the way light and shadow work. It’s as if everything is attention-based.”
“That’s it.” Solvig looked at Jaysn and smiled, raising one eyebrow, then turned back to the machine. There was the faintest glow from the podium in front of her. Eight tendrils made up of tiny points of light emerged, extended outward, and began circling Solvig, sizing her up like predators.
Tamana gasped. “Dr. Solvig!”
Solvig didn’t move but held one hand up to silence the others. One of the tendrils instantly coiled around it. The others moved closer to her, eventually snapping into place along her spine and the base of her skull. Her eyes snapped wide open, pupils dilated, and she went rigid.
Novik and Jaysn moved to either side of her. They stared at each other, perplexed. “Do we move her?” Jaysn asked.
Novik shook his head. “Or would that damage her?”
“Don’t do anything!” Tamana shouted. Just keep an eye on her.
“Anita?” Jaysn said softly, immediately attempting to rush to her side, and was immediately stopped by Novik. “Are you okay?”
Solvig waved her hand to indicate she was fine and no one should interfere. More tendrils extended from the console, immediately moving to her temples and chest. Jaysn estimated there to be a dozen now. She jerked a couple of times involuntarily, and then slowly lowered her arm and placed both hands on the console in front of her, steadying herself. Her eyes stared unblinking up through the light tunnel. Her face conveyed an intensity that was either pain or deep concentration.
Tamana, appearing furious at her deception, walked around the platform, stopping in front of Solvig, while Jaysn and Novik walked around to the front, studying her expression intently.
“Anita, what’s happening?” Jaysn pleaded with her still form.
“It’s so … bright!” She winced.
“What is?”
She gasped, suddenly startled. “Hello,” she said, her voice instantly becoming calm again. Her head turned to one side in an expression of curiosity.
Novik’s face grew concerned. “Are you talking to someone, Dr. Solvig?”
“No, you’re too loud! It’s hurting me. It’s too much!” she winced. It became obvious she wasn’t talking to Tamana.
“I’m Dr. Anita Solvig, I’m an archaeologist,” Solvig said, ignoring them both now. “My team and I found your disk. It brought us here.”
Novik grimaced. “Dr. Solvig, can you hear us. Can you give us some idea of who you’re speaking to? Is it one person or many?”
“No, we aren’t. We’re scientists. We were dying,” she said, desperation creeping into her voice. “You saved us.” She winced again. “Stop. It’s too much.”
“I don’t think someone got the memo about us,” Jaysn said. “I’m not sure I like the sound of this side of the conversation.”
Tamana glared at him.
Solvig began to sway unsteadily. “No, we have no interest in … we were studying it. Trying to learn …” She paused. Her expression changed to concern. “Yes, those three are our friends. We’re trying to find them–” her expression went emotionless.
“Dr. Solvig, if you can’t respond to us, I’m going to have to pull you out of there,” Tamana urged.
“No, you brought us here. We only wish to learn–.”
The floor lit up in amber. A low musical chord sounded. Four beams of light emerged from the cardinal points on the disk and aligned with the base of the light tunnel above.
Novik was the first to react. “I think someone called your elevator, Jaysn.”
“No, please, we didn’t mean to trespass, If you would just stop and…”
“This isn’t going well, Lev,” Jaysn said.
The beams of light began to connect with the tunnel. Jaysn felt the disk begin to slide up from the floor. “Under the circumstances, I think I’ll wait for another car.”
“I think you’re right,” Novik nodded, and the two of them pulled Solvig away from the central podium. The vines of light surrounding her body immediately disconnected and retracted. She collapsed, unconscious, into Novik’s arms. “I’ve got her, go!”
Jaysn leaped off the rising platform and, remembering the heavier gravity, went into a roll as soon as he hit the ground. Novik, carrying Solvig, took a running leap and landed beside Jaysn a half-second later. The disk, unaware of the absence of its intended passengers, continued through the ceiling and up the light tunnel, picking up speed as it departed.
Jaysn picked himself off the floor and regarded Novik, still carrying the unconscious Solvig. “Pretty spry for an old man,” he said. “That must have been an almost two-meter drop.”
Tamana, unamused, made a cursory examination of Solvig. “She’s breathing, or at least her body is doing the reflexive thing all of ours are.” She placed two fingers on Solvig’s neck. “Her pulse is steady at least.”
Jaysn frantically felt her forehead. It was cold and clammy. “She made contact with someone. It sounded like one of those in charge.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.” Tamana’s tone was grim. “Honestly, I would have expected something like this from you, not from her.”
Jaysn turned. “Wait a minute, I wasn’t the one who started playing with alien tech this time.”
“You were the one who suggested it was powered by intent, like the way light works here.”
“Why are you blaming her poor judgment on me? You spent a week with her on the charter. Surely you noticed she’s completely obsessed with accumulating arcane knowledge, particularly knowledge that only she has. I saw this coming a mile away. Why didn’t you?”
“You saw it?” Tamana’s voice contained outrage. “Yet, you did nothing?!”
“I’m not her babysitter any more than you are mine! Maybe if you respected our personal areas of expertise and tolerance for risk, then we’d be a bit further along–”
“I have fifty more years of expertise than any of you, yet none of you have the discipline–”
“Fifty more years of wandering around high-tech alien worlds? I think we’re all trying to muddle through the best we can.”
“Three of our team are missing, possibly dead. Dr. Solvig could easily have gotten herself killed messing with technology she doesn’t understand–”
“Yet, I’m the one you seem to have a problem with. Why is that, Dr. Tamana?”
Tamana looked at him for a long moment but said nothing.
“Ooh, there it is,” Jaysn said. “That secret you desperately want to tell me but can’t. I thought I caught it back at base when I asked for the briefing package, but I didn’t want to believe it.”
“Jaysn, let it go,” Tamana pleaded.
Jaysn threw up his hands and stepped backward. “Fine. We’ll let it go for now. Hell, from what I just heard, the people running this place think we’re trespassers. It’s probably only a matter of time before we get arrested or whatever the equivalent is around here.”
Solvig stirred momentarily. “Trespassers,” she moaned. “Noisy. Chaotic.”
Novik, Tamana, and Jaysn exchanged concerned glances. Tamana broke the silence. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
“No,” Jaysn agreed. “We should probably get back to the original plan and keep moving.”
“The wisps enter this chamber through that opening,” Novik said, pointing to the side of the tower to the right of the “elevator shaft.” “Dr. Solvig, are you able to travel a little further until we know we’re safe?”
Solvig barely acknowledged him. “Trespassers. Disruptors.”
“Yeah,” Jaysn said slowly. “I definitely don’t think we want to be here when that car comes back down.”
“We need to find the others,” Tamana agreed. “They may have learned something we haven’t. At the very least, it sounds like the people in charge are aware of them too.”
Novik carried Solvig out the right side of the building, Jaysn and Tamana followed suit. The terrain sloped immediately downward between two large conical towers, through an archway, and into a large oval chamber. At the center of the room as was conical obelisk made from a non-reflecting black material of some sort. Around the perimeter of the room were thirty-two identical recessed archways, each bearing a slightly different pattern of curving light adorning its edges. Occasionally, though through no logical pattern that they could determine, a wisp creature entered the room through one of the archways, then proceeded straight out of the room, through the elevator chamber, and out to the floodgates to board a barge.
Jaysn walked to the center of the room. Tamana circled, careful not to disturb any of the wisps, but always seeming to keep them in the corner of her vision. “Each of these archways contains a projected image of some sort and an image of a place. Most appear to be locations within the city, but some would seem to be a wilderness location,” she noted aloud for the others, who had taken position in the corner of the room in front of one of the unused archways. “The wisps only seem to be using the wilderness archways. Dr. Novik, what can you deduce about the patterns on the edges of the archways?”
Novik sat Solvig on the floor in one corner of the room in front of a completely dark archway and regarded the light patterns for a moment. “The patterns are fractal in nature. I can deduce the trinomial equations that underlie each one, but I don’t see any significance to them.”
“It’s interesting that this is the only indication of higher math or non-basic geometry we’ve seen so far. There has been nothing in the way of ornamentation or aesthetic taste. It would seem these are complex enough to require some instruction or explanation,” Tamana noted.
“The algorithms are related, but not sequential. If these represent other locations on the planet, they may be a coordinate system of some sort, possibly linked to stellar constellations.”
Jaysn and Tamana walked over to the first archway, studying the pattern and waiting for Novik’s detailed explanation. Solvig remained seated in the corner of the room next to Novik.
“I’ve been studying these archways. The wisps are all coming from one of the three to your left.” Novik motioned toward the nearest one.
Jaysn stepped in front of the platform and looked at the scene depicted on the screen behind it. It showed a clearing in a jungle-like environment with a hexagonal dais, similar to the control panel in the elevator room. Standing around the platform were four humanoid creatures. They were taller than a man and stood slightly crouched. From their limited movement, he guessed they were bipedal, with elongated arms that nearly dragged the ground, which doubled as optional extra limbs when additional speed, power, and balance were required. The face, however, was what drew his attention. It was the same face he’d seen on the wisp creatures, only this time fully formed and solid.
“I don’t get it,” Jaysn said.
“Keep watching,” Novik said. Tamana stepped over to watch.
After a few minutes, one of the humanoid creatures left the altar and walked toward the screen. Instinctively, Jaysn stepped back just as the creature walked right up to the screen and disintegrated into a cloud of dust. A split second later, another cloud of dust formed itself into a wisp creature on the platform in front of Jaysn.
“These aren’t projections or pictures. They’re gateways, similar to our q-gates. Those creatures are wisps. How? Why don’t they have a similar form here?”
“I would guess, for the same reasons, I have a human-looking body, Dr. Tamana appears significantly younger, and we all have a slightly different appearance. Perhaps the creatures are only marginally self-aware, and the systems that control the adaptive transformation cannot base a physical form on their self-perception the way it can with us.”
“Or,” Tamana chimed in, standing up and regarding the pair, “perhaps that is how they view themselves: as non-corporeal entities. Perhaps they believe those physical bodies are merely husks that their souls inhabit.”
“An equally plausible hypothesis, I suppose.”
The wisp floated through the room, stopping at the obelisk for a moment, which emitted another strange, semi-musical chord at its presence. After a few seconds, the wisp continued its journey out to the edge of the room to board a barge.
“So that’s their interface into the city? Does it work both ways? Do you think it’s our way out?”
Novik regarded the alcove for a moment. “We didn’t see anything like that in the cave with the disk, and I don’t see a disk there. We really can’t be certain what that is. Most of the other archways seem to contain scenes that look like locations within the city, or possibly to cities very much like this one on distant worlds. Only these three seem to lead to an outdoor setting.”
“Disha?” Jaysn regarded Tamana expectantly. “We wanted to find the source of the wisp creatures. I would say we’ve found it.
Tamana pursed her lips. “Are you suggesting we just walk through that portal, not knowing what will happen to us?”
“I will volunteer, but I defer to you, as leader of the expedition, for the ultimate decision.”
“You picked a fine time to start, Dr. Katsaros.”
Jaysn rolled his eyes, deciding it was the strongest display of his frustration with the conversation he could show without provoking another argument. “Anita may need medical attention. There doesn’t appear to be anything like that in our current location.” He pointed to the archway. “That may be our best chance.”
Tamana thought for a moment, then nodded her agreement. “How are we going to get her through that, though? We’ve only seen the wisps go through one at a time. What if it can’t handle or distinguish two beings at once?”
“She does have a point, Jaysn,” Novik said.
Novik gently padded Solvig’s face. “Doctor Solvig? Can you hear us?”
Jaysn thought he saw Solvig flinch slightly.
“Dr. Solvig, we need to keep moving,” Jaysn said in a taunting tone. “There’s so much left to learn. Don’t you want to be the first to meet a new life form and see what’s on the other side of the gate?”
The woman lolled her head to one side, moaning softly. Her eyes became slits as she forced herself awake. Tamana shot Jaysn a strange look. “That’s very manipulative of you, Dr. Katsaros.”
Solvig’s eyes opened wider, but she didn’t show any awareness of her surroundings.
“It’s simply a matter of finding the right motivation.” Jaysn smiled and knelt next to Novik and Solvig. “Hey there, feel like getting out of here?”
Solvig said nothing but struggled to sit up. Jaysn and Tamana held her steady for a few moments, then got her to her feet and steadied her as she walked cautiously around the room. Her face was completely expressionless, and the set of her eyes made Jaysn think of sleepwalking.
“I don’t think she’s exactly with us,” Tamana said, holding her under her right arm and leading her toward the archway from which the wisps were emerging.
“Yes, but where is she, do you think?”
“How do we go about this?” Novik asked, not taking his eyes off the portal. “There are at least a half-dozen of those humanoid/wisps standing around their side of the alcove. Can we assume they won’t be more aggressive when in a corporeal form? What if they see us as trespassers?”
“Their physical makeup still suggests to me that they are not a hunting species, Dr. Novik. Still, you’re right. They may be territorial when confronted by strangers.”
“I’ll go first,” Jaysn said. “We don’t even know if this thing will work, much less what it will do to us. If all seems well, I’ll signal for you to send Dr. Solvig next. If it doesn’t, well then…”
Tamana gave Jaysn a concerned look. “You’re sure about this, Dr. Katsaros?”
Jaysn smiled. “No risk without reward, as they say.” Then taking a deep breath and rubbing his hands together, he took two long strides, stopping in the middle of the pad in the middle of the alcove.
He felt nothing, yet suddenly he was standing in the middle of a nearly identical pad in a jungle-like environment. The air was considerably cooler and more humid than the city had been, and the gusty breeze felt foreign on his skin after the city’s complete sterility. There was a strong, yet not unpleasant, smell of decaying vegetation in the air.
He saw now, like the room he had just left, a hexagonal control platform in front of a singular archway. Six humanoids in the middle of the formation immediately leaped backward, regarding Jaysn with a mixture of curiosity and fear. He quickly placed two open hands in front of him, remembering everything Dr. Clarc had done back in the alley. “Hi, guys,” he said in slow, soothing tones. “Or, girls, I suppose. Difficult to say. Sorry if I offend. I assure you I’m completely harmless.” He took three small steps to his right, hoping this conveyed relaxation without approaching any of them directly.
To his surprise, three of the six creatures raised their hands in a similar gesture and also took three small steps to their right. Jaysn stifled a laugh, regarding the other three, who still appeared more startled than aggressive. “Hey, great, we’re all fast friends now.” He grinned warmly, not opening his mouth or showing any teeth. All six exchanged looks for a few seconds, then also smiled, or at least made faces that approximated a smile. Jaysn gestured at the alcove through which he had entered. He could see the others standing in the room back in the city, watching the proceedings intently. “Do you mind if my friends join us? I assure you they’re friendly, and at any rate, you’ll still have us outnumbered, so you should feel safe.” He made a motion with his arms, then mimicked, as best he could, someone coming through the doorway. The humanoids continued to smile but did not indicate that they understood what he was attempting to convey. Finally, he slowly turned his back to the humanoids and made a gesture with his hands for the others to join him.
On the other side of the archway, he saw Tamana and Novik slowly guide Dr. Solvig into the alcove and set her free. There was a puff of dust, followed by a second emerging cloud of motes, and Anita Solvig formed in front of him, her eyes conveying much more awareness than he had seen a few moments earlier, and her physical form had reverted to the more mundane version he remembered from the caves of LT-9. He chose not to acknowledge either at the moment, dismissing the city and the events of that time as mere bad dreams.
“Hello, Dr. Solvig,” was all he managed, quickly moving to catch her disoriented form as she stumbled off the platform.
Solvig said nothing, entranced by their current, jungle-like surroundings.
The moment they cleared the platform, Tamana stepped through and materialized behind them, back in her original, aged form. Jaysn nearly felt sorry for her, having lost nearly fifty years of physical appearance and fitness in an instant, no doubt before she had gotten the chance to become accustomed to them.
Next came Lev Novik, materializing in the form of a class five drone, though in much more pristine assembly than the one Jaysn remembered from the cave the day before. This struck Jaysn as the most tragic transformation of the four of them, and his outward disappearance was not lost on Novik as he stepped off the platform on four mechanical legs and walked over to where his comrades stood.
“Lev, I’m so sorry,” Jaysn began, his eyes showing genuine remorse for the fate of his friend.
“I’m fine, Jaysn. To be honest, I expected this. At least I have lost no operational efficiencies with this latest transformation and may have gained a few advantages as far as terrain and navigation go.”
Tamana, of the three newcomers, was the only one to purposefully repeat Jaysn’s open-handed gesture to the six humanoid forms that surrounded them and regarded them with something between curiosity and amusement. “They learn quickly,” she remarked. “I can’t imagine another species being so cavalier about three aliens and a mechanoid suddenly appearing in their sacred grove.”
“Yes, makes you wonder if we’re the first,” Jaysn remarked, making a gesture to the control panel/altar in the middle of the grove to indicate it was once again theirs to use. The six responded by dutifully stepping, one at a time, in front of the railing, then proceeding into the gateway from which the newcomers came. Within five minutes, the four expedition members were alone in the strange meadow.
Clarc was less concerned about her comrades as she stood in front of an alcove in the middle of a dense, jungle area, desperately trying to convey her otherwise friendly nature to a group of what she could only describe as proto-humanoids. Relying more on the assumption that basic non-threatening postures and behaviors worked on intelligent life as well as wildlife, she immediately assumed a submissive stance, or what she assumed would be submissive, given their slightly top-heavy form, and showed two empty hands in front of her.
The aliens seemed less than impressed and barely acknowledged Dr. Amin and Major Wolff materializing behind her, despite her best attempts to keep their attention in her direction. After just a few seconds regarding the newcomers, the three wisp creatures, now suddenly transformed into pseudo-upright humaniforms, proceeded off into what she estimated was the densest part of the foliage surrounding them.
“Where are we now, do you think?” Wolff asked.
“Someplace far more interesting than that sterile city, at least,” Clarc smirked.
Amin, still completely overwhelmed by everything happening around him, stood motionless at the base of the portal. Clarc thought for a moment that he might be going into shock, but realized his personal comfort was far less important than the implications of what they had found to this point and was likely to find over the course of the next few hours.
“Dr. Amin, we need you to stay with us here. Now more than ever, we could really use your professional expertise.”
Amin nodded in agreement, not taking his eyes off the fixed point on the horizon he was staring at. Meanwhile, Clarc had already stripped off her jacket, revealing a newly restored cybernetic arm, and tied it around her waist. “Come on,” she said with a sly grin, “we need to keep up with those guys if we’re going to get to the bottom of all of this.”
Wolff merely smiled and nodded in confusion, while Amin barely acknowledged he had any awareness of his current surroundings. All four trotted off into the forest at a pace considerably slower than the creatures they were pursuing. There was a thinly blazed trail, really nothing more than matted foliage and a slightly less menacing tangle of vines. They proceeded onward for two kilometers before the trail widened and the jungle abruptly cleared. They found themselves atop a bluff, staring down a sheer drop to a mist-filled canyon valley hundreds of meters below. At the far side of the valley was obscured by haze, but the bluffs extended in both directions as far as they could see.
“Now that’s interesting,” Clarc muttered.
“What is?” Wolff asked.
“Dr. Amin, what is the nature of this rock formation, in your expert opinion?”
Amin instantly perked up and became aware of his surroundings. “It’s not volcanic. The terrain is too level. It’s strangely uniform, so probably not water erosion, though the presence of vegetation would indicate a riverbed. If I had to guess, this is an impact crater. Ancient one too, assuming vegetation grows at a rate comparable to vegetation on Earth. If I had to guess, it was a good four- or five-kilometer asteroid or comet that came in at a slight angle, judging by the size and shape.”
“An advanced society capable of building that city had no warning system or defense against an asteroid strike? I find that unlikely.” Clarc asked incredulously.
“This strike would have been at least a hundred million years ago,” Amin noted. “Who knows what their technological level was back then, if they were even here yet.”
Clarc shook her head. “Oh, maybe they were here when it hit.”
“The humanoids.”
“I don’t understand,” Wolff said. “The humanoids built the city?”
“No, of course not. They’re far too primitive. Even an extinction-level asteroid impact wouldn’t revert technology that far. No, they’re new since the asteroid, which really raises some interesting questions about the age and nature of the city.”
“So, the asteroid wiped out the population of the city, and that’s why we can’t find them now?”
“No,” Amin offered, “that doesn’t jibe. A strike like that would pretty much obliterate everything in a fifty-kilometer radius, but the blast effects taper off reasonably quickly after that. Based on what I remember of the size of the green zone in the polar region, I would guess it not a chunk out of the city, but that’s as far as the environmental damage went.”
There was a sudden shriek, unlike anything they had ever heard. It echoed through the otherwise silent valley like a clap of thunder.
“What the hell was that?”
“We probably shouldn’t be standing around in the open waiting to find out,” Clarc suggested, motioning them back into the relative cover of the woods.
They stopped at the base of a wide tree several meters around as a large shadow passed silently over them. There was no mistaking its form. “That is one big bird,” Wolff said.
“I think when they get that big, you’re supposed to call them dragons?” Amin said nervously.
Clarc ran back out to the cliff’s edge and caught sight of it diving toward the valley floor. At the last minute, it unfurled its wings to their full span and soared back upward. It carried a four-legged creature the size of a dog, or possibly a small deer, in its clawed talons. She made her way back to Wolff and Amin, who stared at her expectantly. “Mammal of some sort. Fur-covered, leathery wings. At least a four-meter wingspan.” She took a deep breath. “And it eats meat. Fortunately for us, it just found dinner, but there may be more of them.”
There was a rustling in the forest behind them. Amin instantly squeaked in fear while Clarc and Wolff took cover in a thicket of weeds, pulling Amin in behind them. Seconds later, a group of six humanoids scurried down the trail toward the bluff. One stopped and stared directly at them, motioning with his head for them to follow. Slowly, the three got up and returned to the cliff edge, where, to their surprise, the humanoids began dexterously climbing down, disappearing after a few meters into a cave at the side of the mountain.
“That’s insane,” Amin protested. “We can’t make that climb. At least I can’t. I don’t have the upper body strength those creatures do.”
Clarc thought for a moment. “He’s right. I might be able to pull it off on Earth, but the gravity is a bit higher here. I can’t judge how far down I could climb before I tired out.”
“So, what do we do?” Wolff asked.
Another group of five humanoids emerged from the woods. Regarding the humans for a few moments, the lead figure nodded toward Clarc and slapped his back with oversized arms.
“What the hell?” Clarc marveled.
Amin’s jaw dropped. “Did he just offer—”
Clarc nodded slowly. “I think so.” She then repeated the creature’s gesture, making a hugging motion to be sure she understood the intent. The creature made a fist and beat its chest once, then turned its back to her and knelt on one knee.
There was another loud shriek from behind them above the forest. Clarc wasted no time climbing on the humanoid’s back and grabbing tightly around its neck.
Wolff started to protest. “Wait, Dr. Clarc—” The two of them were over the side of the cliff before he could finish the sentence. The other humanoids regarded the two remaining humans, making the same back-slapping gesture as the first had.
“I’m not sure I like this better than trying to climb down myself,” Amin said.
“It’s better than being the worm for that giant flying thing.”
Gingerly, Amin climbed on the back of one of the humanoids. He let out the slightest startled yelp as his mount grabbed a rock and swung over the ledge with much more confidence than he would have expected. He continued the rest of the descent with his eyes firmly shut, breathing frantically the entire time.
Clarc’s mount steadily climbed down the cliff approximately 20 meters before swinging into a wide, low-ceilinged cave. He carefully knelt again, allowing her to slip off his back onto the slippery moss-covered surface. She clasped her hands together and bowed slightly, eyes closed – assuming this to be a universal gesture of gratitude and appreciation, before realizing she should definitely not be making assumptions across different species like this.
Within seconds, five more of the humanoids entered the cave, two of them carrying a wide-grinning Major Wolff and Amin, who, despite being on firm ground in the relative safety of the cave, was still clinging tightly to the neck of his mount.
“Dr. Amin, maybe you should let go now,” Clarc offered, walking over to steady him on his feet.
Amin was still on the verge of hyperventilating as he stepped off onto the cave floor and immediately made his way to the wall. “I thought I was going to die.”
“It’s very unlikely they would have offered to carry us if they didn’t think they could make the climb with the extra weight.” Wolff offered.
Clarc walked over to the cave entrance and looked down. They were still two-thirds of the way up the face of the cliff. “This canyon must be more than two kilometers deep.”
Amin nodded, “Likely it was much deeper but has gradually filled back in over the last several million years. This cave is much more intriguing, however.”
“How do you mean?”
“Well, normally I would say that it’s a limestone fissure left behind by a receding river system, but this isn’t limestone, and the seams in the rock are all wrong for erosion. If I had to guess, I’d say most of this was hand-carved over centuries, if not longer.”
“Dr. Clarc,” Wolff said from the back of the cave. Clarc and Amin walked over. The rear wall featured an unusual rock outcropping that concealed an exit. Through the ambient light of the entrance, they could barely make out hand-carved steps. Clarc immediately noticed that five of their seven humanoid companions had disappeared while she was examining the canyon.
“Did they go down there?”
Wolff nodded. “I gotta say, I was okay with the cliff, but I don’t have giant eyes that see in the dark. Navigating that is going to be a chore.”
Amin grinned. “Cave? Darkness? I’ll take that over free climbing any day,” he smiled and disappeared into the cavern.
