The Ruins of Mars (The Ruins of Mars Trilogy Book 1) (29 page)

      “
These lines are mathematically precise,” stated Braun in his ears.

     
Looking at the images inside his helmet, Harrison studied the readouts with fascination. The walls on either side of the tunnel were the same height and dimension, each gently curving slope an exact reversal of the opposite side. Even in places where the tunnel looked to narrow, the measurements matched one another with mathematical precision.

      “
Very odd,” Harrison murmured, cocking his head to the side.

      “
This kind of symmetry does not occur in nature, Harrison,” Braun warned with an air of apprehension.

      “
No,” he agreed. “I suppose not. I guess these caves were shaped after their discovery, perhaps in the same way that the largest dome seems to have been carved out of an existing cave chamber.”

      “
I was thinking along a similar line,” acknowledged the AI.

      “
Hey!” called Marshall, waving from the mouth of the cave. “Come give us a hand with the lift scaffolding, will you?”

     
Prying himself away from the promises of ancient mysteries, Harrison turned his back on the strange tunnel and returned to his fellow explorers. The large duffel sack, which William had worn strapped to his back, lay open on the ground. Inside, glinting bundles of titanium piping rested next to panels of translucent Alon and spools of cable. The lift base was actually part of a mining elevator that Udo had modified so that it could be attached to a cliff face like a shelf, rather than being bolted directly to the ground as would be a traditional elevator cable system.

     
Crouching beside the bag, Harrison changed his Augmented Vision to an animation that demonstrated how the various parts attached to one another. In less than twenty minutes, the three men had a spindly balcony of silver rods and milky Alon solidly bolted into the rim of the cave’s mouth.

      “
Liu,” grunted Marshall into his helmet mic.

      “
Yes?” she answered sweetly.

      “
Send down the lift cables. We’ve got the base secured down here.”

     
A few minutes later, thick powerful cables wound down along the three climbing lines, coiling up like metal snakes on the floor of the cave near the anchored bolt. Marked on their Augmented Vision, each of the three cables clipped into receivers on the lift platform until they hung limply, swaying from side to side.

      “
Cables connected,” announced Marshall.

     
Slowly, the slack in each thickly wound coil began picking up as they were reeled in from above. Tightening, the lines twanged and popped, sending muffled reverberations off of the cave walls. With a flinch, Harrison watched the lift base flex visibly as each receding cable tuned itself taught like a piano string.

      “
Okay,” chirped Liu, making him jump a little. “The tension is good. I’ll start putting the cart and the rim-side port together now. It will be ready by the time you’re ready to come back up.”

      “
Got it,” radioed Marshall. “Thanks.”

     
There was a brief pause, then Liu spoke again.

      “
You boys be careful. I don’t want my man coming back to me with a ruptured pressure suit. I don’t like popsicles.”

     
Clearing the tint from his visor, Marshall arched his eyebrows at Harrison and flashed him a devilish grin.

      “
You lead, boss man.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Footfalls

     
Drifting, Remus marveled at the way the sunlight played through the open spaces between the rows of freshly finished monoliths. Yellow beams of fire cut straight lines that splashed a warming glow upon the animated carvings adorning the exposed pillars.

     
The sounds of an approaching party drew him out of his reverent detachment and brought him back to the moment. Walking to stand beside his brother, Remus watched a huge procession make its way across the well-beaten grasslands that separated the city from the temple. Flags of blue and brown fluttered lightly in the breeze, and the beating of drums punctuated the footfalls of the marching group. At the head of the party, Remus spied Olo, held up on either side by Teo and her eldest son, Ze. The ancient wise man’s purple skin looked pale and dry, and his eyes were milky and wandering. As the party neared the edge of the temple, Romulus stirred from his meditation and came down to stand next to Remus.

      “
Is it time?” he asked.

      “
I think so, yes,” replied Remus.

Caves—
Sol 26

     
With the blue glow of their Augmented Vision lighting the insides of their helmets, Harrison, Marshall and William walked cautiously through the underground corridor. Leading, Harrison frequently snapped screen shots of the symmetrical walls and ceiling, logging their dimensions as they moved deeper into the cave system. Having taking several curves and bends, the three explorers were now cast into utter blackness. Shuddering at the memory of blind helplessness he had felt during the storm, Harrison religiously checked battery life on his suit CPU, not wanting to relive the experience.

      “
You guys feel that?” asked Marshall, stopping to rub his thighs. “Are we going up?”

      “
Yes,” replied Braun matter-of-factly. “The incline of the floor has increased by four percent.”

      “
I thought I felt that too,” said William, leaning his back against the wall.

     
Taking another screenshot of the cave ceiling, Harrison pressed his gloved fingers to the wall and felt for the subtle signs of tool marks. Finding none, he searched his mind for possible ways these caves could have been formed so precisely. Dancing in the back of his subconscious was the cave network of the
Bayan Kara-Ula Mountains in China and their mysterious Dropa stones. Smiling, he made a mental note to run this similarity by his father the next time he sent a transmission home.

      “
Dropa stones,” he chuckled to himself, shaking his head.

     
Though he laughed, a quiet voice in his head chided him, melting his grin away with its words.

     
You’ve poked fun at your dad and his ancient astronaut belief for years, it said haughtily. And yet here
you
are, standing in a cave system that looks manmade. On Mars.

     
Trickling in, Braun’s even voice sounded in their helmet speakers.

      “
Based on your current oxygen consumption, I would suggest that you turn on your suits’ filtration systems to supplement your air supply. I would also advise that you continue forward.”

     
Sliding a finger across his wrist tablet, Harrison turned on the survival pack’s air scrubbers. A faint vibration shuddered up his back as the motor purred to life, pulling the usable gasses from the cave chamber around them. Reaching out again, he felt the walls with his gloved hands and wished dearly that he could play his naked fingers across their smooth surface.

     
Speak to me, he urged the silent rock. Speak.

     
Walking up to stand beside him, Marshall put an arm around his shoulder.

      “
Ready, Indy?”

      “
Indy?” Harrison repeated with a frown, pulling his hand from the wall.

      “
Yeah, like Indiana Jones. You know. Harrison Ford. Don’t tell me you’ve never seen those movies!”

     
Grinning, Harrison turned to face Marshall.

      “
On Earth, I’m Indy,” he said. “Up here, I’m Han Solo.”

     
Laughing, the three set out again, following the uphill curve of the tunnel as it led deeper into the ancient Martian earth.

CHAPTER TWENTY

The blessing

     
Stopping at the first row of pillars, the Martian procession ceased their drumming. Breaking away from the group, Teo and Ze helped Olo to his knees. Pressing his forehead to the ground, the wise man chanted in a voice that was little more than a whisper. Despite that morning's promise of sun, deep clouds had begun to form at the base of Atun. A cool wind licked across the open land, whistling through the monoliths and drowning out Olo’s shaking chants. Finishing his blessing, he was helped to his feet and taken to the next pillar. Stone by stone, he moved through the temple in a circular pattern. The rest of the procession followed behind with silent diligence as he knelt before each pillar, chanting his mystic prayers. Soon, the sky overhead filled with dark clouds, and a light rain began to patter down, creating spots on the dry soil between the standing monoliths. Working his way towards the center stone, Olo seemed to gain strength from the droplets of cool water. Twisting free of Teo’s helpful grasp, he spanned, on his own, the short distance from the last pillar to the triangular center stone. The smoldering remains of the burning herbs hissed in the clay pot as fat beads of rain splashed against the sides. With a flash, lightning split the sky, bringing with it the carnal roar of thunder. Worried voices drifted forwards from the ranks of the watching group. Turning, the wise man fixed them with his frosted eyes.

      “
Do not be afraid,” he called in a voice much louder and stronger than his hunched figure seemed capable of. “The Great Spirits are only testing our courage before they welcome us.”

Cave—
Sol 26

     
Trudging silently through still darkness of the cave, the steady in and out of his breathing lulled Harrison into a semi-lucid trance. Aware of his surroundings as presented through the blue glow of his Augmented Vision, he saw, too, the ancient light of a hundred torches, swaying gently as they lined the immaculate walls. Like golden sentries, they stood guard against an army of darkness, which threatened to invade and snuff out all hope of light and life. A voice, distant and echoing, drifted through the eons, coming as little more than a dry whisper. Turning his head so that his right ear faced into the darkness, Harrison followed the elusive source of the beckoning call.

      “
We’re almost there,” he stated.

      “
Okay?” said Marshall incredulously. “How do you know that?”

      “
Because,” said Harrison flatly. “I just know.”

     
Shrugging, Marshall extracted an x-ray beacon from his rucksack and placed it on the floor. Like the bullet shells of the deep-soil CT scanner, the small black orb pulsed pings of x-rays, which painted the walls with an invisible light that danced in their Augmented Vision.

      “
To mark our progress,” he explained with a grin. “So we don’t get lost.”

     
Moving on, it wasn’t long until the blue light from the little beacon had faded into the blackness beyond their vision range. As the tunnel took a sharp left, Harrison felt the ground under his boots grow steeper, as if they were ascending a long ramp. Checking the walls, he saw that the tunnel was beginning to widen on all sides, the perfectly even lines warping out before them. Snapping a screenshot with his helmet cam, he peered ahead intently.

      “
I think we’re nearing a larger chamber,” he radioed, ears prickling with the ancient call of secret spirits. “We’re almost there.”

The Great Spirits arrive

     
Another jet of electric blue streaked through the heavens, this time gutting the clouds like a butcher’s knife. Rain cascaded down in force, making streams between the pillars and turning the ground muddy. Kneeling at the center stone, Olo rocked back and forth, mouthing a silent prayer as the crackle of static charges built in the air.

     
From above, a low growl broke across the sky and echoed down, morphing slowly into a shrill whine. Heads turned their squinting eyes into the downpour as the strange noise repeated itself over and over, like the drum line of a timpani chorus. Shadows began to appear in the low clouds, growing larger as they descended from above the cover of the storm. With screams, the frightened group of Martian onlookers shrunk back, some shoving against one another in an attempt to dislodge themselves from the mass of bodies that surrounded the temple. In the sky, the falling shadows began to take shape as they parted the roiling curtain of the clouds. Silhouetted by forks of lightning that backlit the heavens in flickers of blue fire, huge black triangles lowered themselves through the heavy rain with the sizzle of electric heat.

      “
The Great Spirits are here!” cried Olo, his face alive with energy.

Caves—
Sol 26

     
As they pressed onwards, Harrison increased the ping range of his Augmented Vision to its fullest capacity. Six meters ahead, he could make out the walls and ceiling of the tunnel as they funneled out, growing wider to feed into a large chamber. Unable to enhance the ping distance any further, his screen showed straight, haunting blue walls, which parted quickly to give way to a black and gaping hole. The huge room swallowed the waves sent out by his suit’s Augmented Vision, returning nothing but a shadowy blanket of darkness.

      “
Looks like this room is too big for the range on my A-Vision,” complained Marshall. “All I can see is the floor and some of the near walls. I don’t want us walking in there blind.”

      “
Toss out some beacons,” offered William as he dug in his bag for a handful of the x-ray emitters.

      “
Good idea,” agreed Harrison, taking out a few of his own.

     
Turning the beacon on, he cocked his arm back and threw the pulsating sphere into the darkness. As it arced through the air, flashes of x-rays bounced off the walls and ceiling of the massive room, echoing back to the helmet screens of the three explorers. Landing silently, the beacon rolled a little, then came to a rest. Faint light undulated from the plastic sphere like the glow of a full Moon as it filtered through the shallow waters of a coral reef.

     
Instantly on alert, all three astronauts froze as the images from across the cave played inside their helmet visors. In the swaying light of the x-ray beacon, they could just make out that they were not alone in the chamber.

Ships

     
Awestruck, Remus and Romulus watched as dozens of massive black metal arrowheads skimmed through the violent skies with effortless ease. Falling like inky snow, they came in droves, and soon their numbers had grown to blot out the weakened light of the choking sun.

     
Bellowing with unbelieving wonder, Romulus gripped his brother's arm.

      “
Remus! Do you see what I see?”

      “
Ships!” cried Remus above the shouts of the crowd. “They’re ships.”

Caves—
Sol 26

      “
Holy shit,” whispered Marshall. “Don’t move.”

     
The beacon lay some six meters from where the three men stood, pulsing out a steady wash of x-rays that lapped into the darkness like the incoming tide. With each wave of illumination, the blue light of their Augmented Vision played across the distant cave floor and danced up the leg of an unmoving figure, still shrouded in darkness.

      “
No,” Harrison heard himself say. “It’s not what you think.”

     
Before the other two could stop him, he hauled back and hurled another armed beacon with all of his strength.