Guardians of the Galactic Sentinel 1: The Deimos Artifact (18 page)

Zack and Ariane each grabbed an end of one of the cases and carried it over to a work table that ran for several meters along one wall of the bay. They broke the official military seal and removed the top cover. Carefully and compactly packed inside was a small but formidable arsenal. There were no fewer than four standard-issue pulse beam rifles and an equal number of pulse pistols. There were also two flat carrying cases, each of which contained a dozen assorted grenades that were designed to work with the launch tubes slung under the projector portion of the pulse rifles. Zack was immediately familiar with everything in the case. They were brand spanking new examples of the very weapons he had been using on a daily basis for the last three and a half years.

"These will do, nicely" he said, "but why so many?"

"My father insisted on it."

The two of them repeated the process with the remaining four cases and found each to have identical contents.

"It looks like everything that's supposed to be in these is here," said Ariane.

Zack did a quick but thorough inspection of the spacesuits and the two sets of armor and found everything to be in order, "These look just fine as well," he announced.

Ariane signed the dockworker's tablet and returned it to him. The man gave them a nod and departed.

Zack looked around the hold at the variety of new commodities that the
Capri
was now crammed with. All of the shelves were filled to bursting and a few of the larger crates that wouldn't fit anywhere else had simply been strapped securely to cleats in the flooring of the hold.

"Were you able to get replacement hyper-diodes for our pulse beam system, Cliff?" asked Zack.

Cliff pointed to four boxes stacked up on one of the shelves behind a mesh door, "I got two replacements and two spares," he replied, "We'll have to put them in sometime in transit."

"I can give you a hand with that," said Zack, "Just let me know when you have time to do it."

"Will do," said Cliff

"Later," said Zack as he and the pilot left the cargo hold.

Except for a little bit more work to get the hand weapons, suits and armor properly stowed and secured, the cargo loading was complete. All that was needed now was to top off the reaction fluid reservoirs and the
Capri
would be ready for departure.

Zack was back on the bridge and seated at the first officer's command console, next to Ariane as she went over more readouts on her console, when it finally struck home that he had somehow become part of a group that was about to embark into the unknown on what could well be a very dangerous expedition. He was no stranger to danger but he couldn't help but wonder just what he had gotten himself into...

Chapter 21
. Departure.

Nova York Orbital Station, July 8, 2676.

While the
Capri's
crew waited for the station workers to finish refueling their ship, Ariane called everyone together in the boardroom, the same compartment where she and Zack had been examining the memory chip just the night before. When all of the expedition members were present, she began an informal meeting.

"Okay, everybody," she said, "We're all but ready to go. Everything is loaded and secured and our reaction fluid reservoirs should be filled within the next half hour or so. Now someone needs to tell me where it is that we're going."

Professor MacPherson spoke up next, "We need to get to the Sol System but I don't know that we should broadcast our intentions by taking the most direct route. I suggest we take the jump zone that leads to Deneb IV and then jump to Alpha Centauri. From there, it's just a single jump directly to Sol."

"You expect us to be followed?" asked Zack.

"I think it very likely that there will be an attempt," said MacPherson, "The opposition has shown itself to be both resourceful and tenacious. I also believe that we should be departing as soon as possible. There is a Soviet craft in one of the repair docks right now, getting a damaged reaction module replaced. It also has a scorch mark on the port bow that looks a lot like a pulse beam strike. I suspect that this is the same ship that was following you on the way from Haven. That ship won't be able to follow us until that damage is repaired. If we leave as soon as possible and use one of the jump zones that doesn't lead directly to Sol, maybe we can throw them off."

"So we're are definitely going to Sol, then?" asked Zack.

"Yes, based on our current knowledge, I think the answers we are seeking will be found there," said MacPherson.

"We have a pulse beam weapons system on the ship and a small arsenal of hand weapons," said Zack, "Nothing to sneeze at, but do you really think that'll be enough for us to defend ourselves? It's no secret that Sol is a pretty rough place."

"It is a
very
rough place," replied MacPherson, "but our weapons should be adequate. I've been to the system a number of times and I believe there are some allies there who we can count on to give us a hand. I was hoping to use some of the hand weapons as bribes or gifts."

"Is that legal?" asked Zack.

The Professor shrugged, "In the Sol System? It's the easiest way to get things done!"

"I hope you know what you're doing, Professor."

"As do I," replied MacPherson.

"Just what is this artifact anyway?" asked Zack.

"The honest truth is that we aren't exactly sure," replied the Professor, "That is a part of what we are hoping to determine. For now, I think we should get out of this system and on our way. We have a long way to go and there will be plenty of time for further discussion in transit. I suggest that we study the artifact and any information we have as much as we can while we're on the way."

The Professor's continued reluctance to discuss the artifact, even a little, was becoming somewhat bothersome to Zack; but he couldn't argue with the wisdom that they needed to get out of the Central System, especially if the ship that had been chasing them was out of commission for a few days and therefore unable to follow right behind them.

"Let's get a move on, then," said Ariane, "Come on, Zack, I could use your help up on the bridge." The rest of the crewmembers dispersed to perform various preflight preparations of their own.

Half an hour later, the refueling rig had just disconnected from the
Capri
after transferring enough reaction fluid to completely fill the ship's reservoirs. Zack had been relieved to place the charge on MacPherson's University account after recovering from the shock of seeing how high the cost was. Reaction fluid, it seemed, was even more expensive in the Central System than it was out at Haven.

Zack and Ariane were seated at their control consoles on the bridge of the
Capri
. After a short exchange of formalities with the pilot of the refueling rig, Ariane finished running down her list of preflight checks. A duplicate list was being displayed on Zack's monitor and he double-checked each item as she ran down the list, a process that took about ten minutes. Zack was surprised to discover that the preflight checks were making a lot more sense to him this time around. Once again, he found that his hovercraft experience had prepared him well. Similar procedures were performed on a hovercraft before initiating operations.

Satisfied that everything was in order, the pilot made an announcement over the ship's intercom, "I will be initiating undocking procedures in two minutes. All hands are advised to prepare for maneuvers. Repeat, all hands are advised to prepare for maneuvers."

After one last check of the readings on her command console, Ariane contacted the Orbital Station authorities.

"You are cleared for undocking, Capri,"
came the reply.
"There is very little traffic in the Government section right now but be advised that you must follow Space Traffic Control instructions when you merge into the main flow of traffic."

"Acknowledged, Control," replied Ariane, "I am releasing the docking clamps now."

"Very good,
Capri
. Once you get undocked you have clearance to use Commercial Corridor A. Do you copy?"

"Copy, Control, Commercial Corridor A."

"Safe journey, Capri, and good luck on your travels."

"Thanks," she said. After she had signed off she added, "We'll need it!"

"Amen," added Zack.

Ariane expertly backed the
Capri
out of her docking berth, negotiated her way out through the government section and proceeded to Commercial Corridor A, a zone of one-way ship traffic, all of which was heading away from the docking facilities. After another short consultation with Space Traffic Control, she was given permission and instructions regarding when to merge into the flow of traffic. The
Capri
was soon away from the congestion of the busy Central hub as the ships in the corridor began to fan out into the various lanes that had been established to maintain order and safety. Ariane set a course for Jump Zone Bravo, the one that led, after two more jumps, to Deneb IV. The ship and crew phased into sublight without incident a little over two hours after leaving Central.

Zack and Cliff took the relatively quiet time while they were in their first sublight transfer to replace the Takahashi hyper-diodes on the two malfunctioning capacitors in the turret. With Zack helping to hold the assemblies in their proper position, Cliff reconnected the cables and clamped the new components into their respective cradles. Finally, the engineer reconfigured the discharge switches on the two capacitors back to their "fire" position. The entire process took less than two hours. Zack took a spell in the pilot's seat for several hours while Ariane got some sleep before heading to his quarters and turning in himself.

Eight hours later
, Capri
jumped out of the Central system.

{...Hypertransit discontinuity...}

Deep Space, Star System 10883, July 9, 2676.

Zack wondered if he would ever get used to the unpleasant effects of hyperjump on his body and mind. Once again, Ariane seemed to recover more quickly than he did and he wondered what her secret was. Their first jump had taken them into a system that was little more than a transfer zone for ships coming and going to other, more populated systems. The tiny star system had but a single barely inhabitable planet that was home to a small, hardscrabble colony. While nowhere near as busy as the Central System, there were still a fair number of other ships in transit moving in both directions between the system's jump zones.

Ariane set course in normal space towards their next sublight insertion zone. While the ship was in normal space, Zack and Cliff took an hour or so to completely check over the pulse beam system and, finally, fire a few test pulses to make sure that the system was indeed operating the way it was supposed to. With Zack back in the deployed turret, they fired no less than three complete six-pulse volleys to ensure that all three of the capacitors in each bank were operating properly. Satisfied that their weapon was now fully functional, they retracted the turret.

An hour later, Ariane took the ship back into sublight space.

"We have a good twelve hours before we need to be on our toes again," she announced.

"If you don't mind my asking," said Zack, "couldn't we have gotten to the sublight zone a little sooner?"

"Yes, we could've," replied Ariane, "but I have no idea when we'll have a chance to get reaction fluid again, so I set the reaction engines to deliver only two-thirds thrust. It added a few hours to our normal-space transit time, but I saved us a whole lot of reaction fluid."

"Not a bad idea," replied Zack. Having learned enough about piloting by now that he could see that Ariane had engaged the autopilot, he added, "If we have some free time, let's go get your dad and the others. I'd like some more answers."

"I wouldn't mind talking to him myself," replied Ariane. She set the control console to ping her tablet with alarms or any other issues regarding the ship that might require her attention and then keyed up the ship's intercom.

"All hands, please report to the boardroom within the next five minutes."

Cliff responded immediately over the intercom, "I have a few more things I have to secure down here in engineering, Cap'n. I'll be at least a half hour, probably more."

"Understood, engineering. Don't worry about it. Come on up if you get free. I hope you don't mind if we start without you."

"No problem," Cliff replied.

Zack and Ariane headed to the boardroom and found the Professor already there, poring over some notes on his own personal tablet. His two colleagues were there as well. Zack concluded that the three of them had gathered in the boardroom before Ariane had even called the meeting.

"Sit down, you two," said the Professor, as Ariane and Zack arrived, "We have much to discuss."

"I'll say," said Zack, but he didn't elaborate further. He and Ariane took seats beside one another and across the table from the academics, again, without consciously thinking about the arrangement.

"So you definitely do have the artifact?" asked MacPherson, closing down his tablet. "Might we have a look at it?" He glanced over at his two companions, "None of us have ever actually seen it. We've been working from a photograph and a few scattered descriptions, some of which are contradictory. I presume that the two of you have actually examined it?"

"Yes," said Ariane, "Right after we discovered that Marv had hidden it on the ship, we unpacked it and had a look at it."

"You didn't touch it did you?" said Arnold.

"We took it out of the protective case it's in," said Zack, "Pretty hard to do that without touching it."

"I wish you hadn't done that," said MacPherson.

"Why not?" asked Zack, somewhat defensively.

"Because there are...cautions...warnings about touching it," said the Professor, "At least we think so."

Once again, Zack felt a mild surge of annoyance, "And just how were we supposed to know that, Dr. MacPherson? You seem to know a great deal more about this thing than you've been letting on and you've told us...absolutely nothing! I also think that you're...," Zack's mind flashed back to the conversation he'd had just yesterday with the Professor about friendship and cooperation. He had been about to say "lying" but deliberately toned down his language in an effort to keep what was likely to be a heated discussion from escalating into a full-blown argument, "...not being totally truthful when you say this thing came from some kind of archeological dig."

MacPherson was somewhat taken aback by Zack's sudden display of attitude but, professional that he was, managed to maintain his composure, "Okay, so what do
you
think it might be?" he asked.

"Let's see," said Zack, "It appears to be made of some kind of unknown material that warms up when you touch it. It's covered with lines and squiggles and curlicues that look to be some kind of mysterious writing and it doesn't appear to be nearly as old as you say it is."

"The artifact is covered with writings?" said the Professor, his eyes widening in surprise. His two colleagues perked up at the revelation as well. As far as Zack could tell, their surprise was genuine. Arnold had gone pale for some reason.

"Yes," said Zack, "It warmed up when we touched it and a bunch of inscriptions appeared. The writing faded out again as the artifact cooled back down."

Arnold, who had become extremely agitated, stammered out, "No...It can't be," though he seemed to be talking more to himself than to anyone else.

"What is it Arnold?" asked MacPherson.

"I...had another vision about the pyramid last night. It...It was covered in glowing letters!"

"Surely you don't put stock in the vagaries of dreams," said MacPherson.

"It wasn't just me, Professor. I checked the newscasts before we left Central and thousands of other sensitives had the same dream. Our artifact is the one in everyone's dreams, it almost has to be!"