Guardians of the Galactic Sentinel 1: The Deimos Artifact (25 page)

The explorers now had a slender, carbon-nanotube cable that they could use to pull themselves over to the opening. The cable provided an additional level of safety because the explorers could each clip their tether to it using a carabiner. While Zack had been working with the cable system, the Professor had been holding one of the
Capri's
pulse rifles for him. With the cable secure, Zack took the rifle from the Professor who surrendered it almost eagerly.

Feeling a little foolish to be carrying the powerful weapon on what appeared to be a sterile moon, Zack clipped the rifle into the dedicated rack on the back of his armor to leave himself with both hands free. Accompanied by his two companions, Zack then made his way towards the mysterious opening. The explorers quickly found that the most efficient way to travel was to simply pull themselves along using the cable, keeping their bodies parallel to the cable and avoiding any contact with the crater floor at all. Once they had puzzled out the most efficient method of locomotion, their progress to the crater wall went rapidly. The three landing party members pulled up about two meters short of the opening. The makeshift cable handrail had served them well.

"Ariane?" radioed Zack.

"What can I do for you, Zack?"

"Could you shut off the landing lights? They're actually way too bright. I think my suit lights will probably work better if we decide we need more light."

"Sure enough."
Seconds later, the harsh glare of the landing lights ceased.

"Thanks," said Zack.

"Looks like as good a place as any for us to work from," said Arnold. "I have the output of the drone set to display on the viewscreens in our helmets but both ships will be able to pick up the feed as well." He clipped the drone's carrying case to the cable, opened the lid and withdrew the drone. The drone's tether, a slender cable some two millimeters in diameter, was coiled neatly inside the case. The cable was fifty meters long and coated with a tough material that was so slippery as to be almost frictionless. He pointed the drone towards the opening and flipped a switch on the back of the little device.

Immediately, Ariane and Gertrude, back in the
Capri
as well as Holger and Erik onboard the nearby Viking shuttle, began receiving video from the small exploration device. They could see the opening in the crater wall from the vantage point of the drone, which was currently being held by Arnold and was positioned about a meter above the floor of the crater. The drone was equipped with a six-wheel undercarriage but, because of the extremely low gravity, Arnold was actually going to have to "fly" the little device using a low-powered thruster system. He released the drone and began to work the controls. The view on Ariane's screen grew dark as the drone went into the pitch black shadow of the opening and then lightened back up as Arnold switched on the little platform's lights.

The drone, slowly pulling its tether behind it, negotiated a tunnel that had the same dimensions as the outside opening and ran slightly downward for a distance of four or five meters. Then the tunnel took a ninety-degree turn to the left and ran another two meters before opening out into what appeared to be a larger space. As the drone went through the entrance and into the dark void, the lights from the little craft showed a flat and level floor. Arnold raised the drone up to about two meters above the floor to reveal a domed, perfectly hemispherical space that looked to be some ten meters high and maybe twice that distance across.

As Arnold used the camera on the drone to observe the floor and walls, it was immediately obvious that the opening, the tunnel and the larger room they led to were not naturally occurring formations. The walls themselves were smooth and featureless. It was as though the material of the crater wall and floor had been polished during or after the process that had excavated the rock. The drone's camera scanned to the very center of the hemispherical space and everyone could see a structure that came up out of the floor in the very center of the chamber, a structure that was about chest high. Arnold left the drone in place and zoomed the camera in on this central construct.

To Zack's eyes, the central structure looked to be another tetrahedron, just like their artifact, only considerably larger. It even appeared to be made of similar material. The tetrahedron in the cavern was aligned so that one of its sharp edges pointed at the entryway that the drone had just entered through. This alignment meant that one of the flat facets of the pyramid faced the far end of the chamber, on the opposite side of the cavern from where the drone was.

As Arnold lifted the drone up another meter or so, it became evident that the apex of the structure had been sliced off abruptly, leaving a perfectly smooth and flat area on top. In fact, Zack realized, if they were to place their artifact on that flat surface, it would complete the structure, making it into a perfect tetrahedron. It was difficult not to conclude that their artifact was the missing apex to the incomplete tetrahedron in the cavern! Zack felt the hair rise up on the back of his neck.

Arnold zoomed in closer on one of the flat surfaces of the pyramid and found that it was embossed with lines and squiggles that looked very similar to the markings that had briefly appeared on the artifact. Unlike those on the artifact, these etchings were not lit up in any way and were as dark as the rest of the construct.

"Can we get a better look at the top of that pyramid, Arnold?" asked MacPherson. He sounded a lot calmer than Zack felt.

"Certainly."

Using the probe's thrusters, Arnold raised the drone up to about four meters above the floor of the chamber and tilted it slightly forward. The top of the truncated pyramid came into sharp focus.

"That spot almost looks like it was intended for our artifact," said MacPherson, echoing Zack's thoughts. "It appears innocent enough in there. I'm willing to risk going inside. What do you think, Zack?"

Zack considered the suggestion for a moment before responding, "I agree, it looks innocent enough," he replied, "I don't think we should touch anything though."

"What do you think, Holger?" asked MacPherson.

"It's your funeral, Professor,"
came the reply,
"Just leave the drone's recorders on so we can see what happens to you."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Holger."

"I'm just here to observe, remember?"
replied the big Viking.

"Who's going in?"
asked Ariane.

"Zack, Arnold and myself," replied MacPherson.

"Caves can be tricky as hell,"
said Holger,
"Your suit radios probably won't work once you're inside."

"I'll keep communicating as we go in and after we get inside," said the Professor, "I'm assuming we'll know right away about the radios because we should lose contact with you as well if communications become blocked."

"I'll set the drone up to monitor us when we get inside," said Arnold, "It'll be video only though, the drone isn't equipped for audio." He worked the controls of the device and the drone retreated to a spot up on the curved wall of the cavern, extended a short strut with an adhesive pad at the end to hold it against the wall and swung around to a view that included the entrance.

"Okay, guys," said Zack, "Slow and steady. I've got the weapon, I'll go first." He unclipped the pulse rifle.

Ariane spoke up from the bridge of the
Capri
where she had been nervously monitoring the expedition the whole time,
"Just be damned careful in there! This whole setup has a 'too-good-to-be-true' look to it if you ask me. I agree with Zack, don't touch anything!"

"Aye, Captain," replied the Professor.

Feeling a little foolish about entering the apparently unoccupied space with such a powerful weapon, Zack turned his suit lights on but held the pulse rifle at the ready as he eased into the opening. To his surprise, he found that the tunnel walls had subtle handholds cut into them at about one meter intervals. The handholds made maneuvering through the tunnel much easier than it would have been without them. Once inside, he noted that the walls of the hemispherical cavern were equipped with a row of similar handholds, about a meter and a half above the floor, running around the entire perimeter of the space.

"Use these handholds," he told his two companions, "It's almost as though someone were expecting us.

"That's reassuring,"
said Ariane.

The Professor and his post-doc followed closely and carefully behind.

Chapter 29.
The Chamber.

Voltaire Crater, Deimos, July 14, 2676.

Zack and his two companions eased out into the cavern. Zack used a couple more of the built-in handholds to pull himself out into the main chamber and away from the opening to make room for the others. Over his suit radio, he could hear MacPherson attempting to provide the camera recorder of his suit as well as those outside the cavern with a running commentary on what the three of them were observing.

"Entering now," said the Professor.,"Looks like the walls of this entryway have been polished smooth. There are handholds at about one meter intervals." He made a point of looking directly at one of the handholds for several seconds so that the video camera in his helmet could share the view with Ariane and Holger and the others who had remained onboard the two spacecraft outside. The handhold was a recess cut into the rock that was some twenty centimeters wide, ten centimeters tall and ten centimeters deep. The rock had been sculpted out in such a way that a perfectly rectangular ridge, about three centimeters wide and three centimeters tall, suitable for gripping with a human hand, remained on the outside edge of the bottom of the recess.

"This is obviously not a natural formation," said the Professor, "Heading for the chamber now."

As the Professor negotiated the entryway, Zack had been scanning the dark chamber with his suit lights. Over against the curved wall at the far end of the chamber, he could see their drone looking back at him.

MacPherson continued to broadcast, "Chamber appears to be about twenty meters across and about ten meters high. In fact it looks to be perfectly hemispherical in shape. The flat-topped pyramid occupies the exact center of the chamber."

"We are still receiving your audio,"
said Ariane,
"but your signal is getting weaker."

"I'm still right in line with the entry," said the Professor, "I'll move to one side."

"Sounds like a good..."

Ariane's transmission stopped as soon as the Professor moved away from his alignment with the door and the short entryway that turned the corner and led into the chamber. He moved back in front of the entry tunnel.

"Can you hear me now?"

Ariane's voice sounded relieved as she replied,
"Yes, I can hear you again."

"I'll just stay in this position for now, then," said MacPherson, "That way everyone can relay their communications through my suit. Arnold? You and Zack continue to have a look around. I need to remain here."

Arnold went immediately over to examine the central pyramid while Zack continued his examination of the curved walls of the cavern. Arnold let go of his handhold in the outside wall, intending to approach and examine the central pyramid more closely. As he attempted to shuffle across the floor of the chamber, he lost his balance in the unfamiliar gravity. To his horror, he found himself caught in an almost graceful, slow motion fall. In an effort to regain his equilibrium, he instinctively reached out and touched the only substantial thing available: the pyramid itself.

"Damn it!" Arnold cursed, "I slipped and touched the pyramid!"

The three explorers held their breath, waiting for some kind of a reaction like the one they had experienced with the smaller artifact. Or something worse.

To their immense relief, nothing happened.

"Interesting," observed MacPherson, "Nothing happened. Our artifact could well be a key of some kind. Unless we place our smaller artifact in its proper position to complete the pyramid, this larger artifact remains dormant? I'm speculating, of course."

A mortified Arnold was apologetic, "My God that was stupid! I am so sorry!"

"It's okay," said MacPherson, "This extremely low gravity is tricky. We must all try to be more careful."

"I've got something over here," said Zack. He had worked his way to the part of the chamber that was directly opposite the entrance into the cavern and was standing with his back to the rear-facing facet of the central tetrahedron.

"What is it," asked MacPherson.

"There might be another doorway over here," said Zack, "It looks like there's a hallway that leads to..."

"Leads to what?" asked the Professor from across the cavern.

"I don't know," said Zack, "It's dark and the tunnel looks to be curving downward, deeper into the moon."

"This just keeps getting worse,"
said Ariane,
"Whatever you do, don't go down there."

"I'm just going to have a quick look," replied Zack, "I won't attempt to turn the corner."

"Alright,"
said Ariane,
"To the bend in the tunnel and no further."

Zack used another set of the seemingly ubiquitous handholds to pull himself down the short tunnel to where it took a sharp bend to the left.

"It's blocked," he said, "Could be access to another section or something.

"Is there any way to open it?" asked the Professor.

"Don't you dare!"
said Ariane.

"Easy, Ariane," said Zack, "There's no sign of any kind of door. The tunnel ends in a featureless slab. If this is a doorway, I don't see any obvious way to open it."

Zack came back out into the main chamber and Arnold traded places with MacPherson so the Professor could also have a firsthand look at the cavern and its contents. He and Zack poked around in the space for perhaps another ten minutes.

"I don't know about anyone else," said Zack, "but I don't feel comfortable about going much further with this investigation without more information."

"I concur," said MacPherson.

"What do you want to do?" asked Zack.

"Let's get video of everything," replied the Professor, "Kathryn is our symbologist, we can have her take a closer look at the markings on this pyramid when we get back to the ship. Maybe we can get some more clues from them."

"And then what?" asked Zack.

"I don't really know. With all this new information, perhaps we can get some kind of hint as to what our next course of action should be."

With the Professor back at his position aligned with the exit, Arnold and Zack carefully used their spacesuit cameras to take video of the markings on the three flat surfaces of the central pyramid and the short hallway that ended in what appeared to be a blank wall. Outside of that possible new doorway, the walls themselves didn't appear to have much to offer them. With the exception of the conveniently located handholds, the curved, highly polished surfaces of the chamber were featureless. Finally satisfied that they had all the information they could get for the time being, the three of them left the cavern and headed back to the
Capri
.

***

Upon returning to the ship, Zack, Arnold and the Professor transferred all of the information on their suit recorders to their personal tablets and then transferred the information to everyone else's tablets. Ariane and Kathryn joined them in the meeting room where the men projected images of all three of the flat surfaces of the pyramid onto the viewscreen. Kathryn immediately began examining the symbols with intense interest.

"I wonder what this whole elaborate affair is about?" asked the Professor,

"What do you mean?" asked Ariane.

"Assuming they're related, why do you suppose that whoever put the artifact on Earth and this pyramid here on Deimos put them there in the first place?" asked the Professor, "and why cover them with symbols unless we're meant to decipher them?"

"And," said Arnold, "assuming they're connected, why all the mass visions?"

"If the visions actually are connected, then it follows that this mystery may have serious implications for the future of Mankind," speculated the Professor.

"You mean like this is all some kind of puzzle or something?" ventured Zack.

"Or a test, maybe," said the Professor.

In the meantime, Kathryn had completed her preliminary examination of the new information, "The markings on the central pyramid are the same style as those on the wall depicted in our hologram," she announced.

"I think the time has come for us to take a good hard look at that artifact," said the Professor.

The statement was met with a roomful of bleary nods.

Zack took a look around the boardroom and it was obvious to him that even though the scientists seemed eager to keep on going, every one of them was dead tired. The excitement of discovery had carried them this far but by now none of them were in any condition to deliver their best performance. This convenient break in the action seemed like a good time to end what had been a very long and very productive day.

"How about we do that first thing in the morning?" said Zack.

No one had any objections.