The Solarian Celebration: Book 3 of the Alliance Conflict (39 page)

The being returned to the ship a final time and exited pulling two large items on a hovercart.  He recognized the item immediately – it was a supersized version of the make-up kit that he had found on the
Buzzkill
.  The second item was an expandable chair.

The being stepped a safe distance from the transport and the transport left.  The being then carefully stacked the rest of the luggage on the hovercart and starting walking toward the tourist welcome center.

Lorano was bemused by the activity.  Although this was considered a tourist area, he figured it must be off-season because he had been at the pyramid ruin for 12 days and this was the first other person that he had seen.

Lorano continued watching as the figure, no he had concluded that it was definitely an Altian female, bypassed the welcome center and walked to his corvette, the
Buzzkill
.  A moment later the hatch opened and the female pulled her cart inside. 

Lorano jumped up in sudden fear.  Someone was robbing his ship.  He thought for a brief moment.  There was only one female Altian that knew the code to open the access tube.  He said, “Clowy’s here.” 

He sighed.  He hadn’t seen another being in nearly two weeks and now the first one that he saw was her.  Lorano had honestly thought, no hoped is a better word, that he had seen the last of her when he dropped on Altian-2.  However, that was clearly a falsehood.

A few minutes later Clowy exited the corvette without her luggage and wearing a hiking outfit.  She ducked back inside, grabbed a portable chair, and carried it down to the landing area.  She sat in the chair and propped her legs up on the access way ramp.  It was clear to Lorano that she had just made herself at home.

There was realistically nothing that he could do to stop her from moving in.  The corvette
Buzzkill
wasn’t his.  It was technically on loan from the Altian military.  Eventually, when he got reassigned to a new project, the Navy would repossess it.  If he complained about Clowy’s presence, he imagined that the government would reclaim it immediately.  So, he was stuck with her– for now anyway.

Lorano carefully climbed down from his perch on the pyramid and walked back to the corvette.  He thought about Lexxi for a moment; specifically when she told him what the name of the ship meant.  He said, “It appears the corvette
Buzzkill
was appropriately named.”

Clowy saw Lorano walking toward her and started walking toward him.  They met at the bottom of the pyramid. Lorano spoke first, “Hello, Clowy, what brings you here?”

Clowy replied, “I’m bored.”

Lorano asked, “Why, what happened?  I thought you had settled into a new life on Altian-2, building NW244.”

Clowy responded, “I don’t know.  I got tired of going up and down the electro lift.  I couldn’t stand it.”

Lorano said, “Still, moving out is a drastic step.  Why didn’t you try just going outside and playing in the grass?”

Clowy: “I did.  They said I was crazy and sent a psychologist to check on me.”

Lorano said, “Crazy huh?”  That wouldn’t have been the description that he would have used.  He continued, “What did the psychologist say?”

Clowy: “He said that I have wanderlust.”

Lorano replied, “Hmmm.  Did he happen to mention what the cure is?”

Clowy: “He said I need to wander around and relax.”  She pointed to chair and said, “So, that is what I am going to do.  How about you?”

Lorano laughed and replied, “I suppose I may have wanderlust as well.”

Clowy said, “What?”

Lorano paused for a moment.  He bent down, grabbed a small rock and threw it as far as he could.  It didn’t travel very far.  Lorano grabbed another and threw it even less far than the first.  However, the throw seemed to impress Clowy as she smiled brightly.

She said, “Wanderlust?  Is that why you are out here in the middle of nowhere?”

Lorano: “Yes.  I suppose so.  After I dropped you at home, I returned to the Academy of Sciences.  Due to some administrative error, I wasn’t assigned a new project even though I completed the old one.”

Clowy: “Maybe you didn’t complete it.  Perhaps you are still supposed to be looking for lost planets?”

Lorano couldn’t believe how close Clowy’s comment was to the actual truth.  He had found one, but was far too scared to tell anyone.

Lorano: “You may be right.  I filed the appropriate forms for project completion, but I never received confirmation from the Academy.  I tried to help several of my colleagues on their projects, but without the correct authorization, I was informed that I was technically unable to assist them.”

Clowy: “That was nice of your fellow scientists to point that out to you.  I’m sure they didn’t want you to get into trouble by working on an unauthorized project.”

He sighed audibly and replied, “I suppose you are correct.”

Lorano picked up another rock and threw it.  This one took a fortuitous bounce and easily bested the first two.  Embolden with his success, Lorano threw another.  This attempt was fairly unimpressive and landed about where the second one did.

Lorano continued his story.  He said, “I stayed there about a month and a half and worked on my own research.  Like you, I became restless…”

“With wanderlust,” Clowy interrupted.

Lorano: “Yes, I suppose with wanderlust.  Anyway, I decided to explore our culture’s ancient history.  I flew the
Buzzkill
to this ruin and started investigating the pyramids.”  He paused for a moment and continued, “They are really amazing.”

Clowy asked, “What are?”

Lorano looked at her strangely.  He said, “The pyramids.  The pyramids are really amazing.”

He grabbed another rock and threw it.  This one took a really strange bounce and made a large clang sound when it landed.  Lorano perked up immediately.  The rock should not have made that sound when it landed.  Something was amiss.

They walked over and investigated the area where the rock landed.  Lorano looked down and saw something shiny, but it was buried under some light rubble.

Lorano returned to the
Buzzkill
and returned with an electro vacuum.  He switched the apparatus from suck to blow and moved the apparatus over the area.  He waved Clowy to take a few steps back.  Because they were still standing at the base of the pyramid, Lorano had to angle the exhaust toward the clearing.  He activated the machine and blew the rocks and rubble away from the area.  Lorano deactivated the machine and set it aside.

They inspected the shiny object.  It was a gold colored plate, roughly 1 meter square (39 inches), and perfectly sealed to the ground.  Lorano bent down and walked around it a couple of times; looking for cracks or crevices.  There were none. 

Further, there was no functional purpose that Lorano could ascertain.  Lorano hesitantly placed one foot on the plate.  Nothing happened.  He removed his foot.  He started to step onto the plate and stopped.  Instead, he asked Clowy to stand in the middle of the plate.  Again, nothing happened.

Lorano scanned the area around the plate with his Model 885.36.74 handheld scanner.  The results were negative.  There was nothing underneath the plate; no secret passageways.  The plate didn’t conceal anything.

Lorano was confused.  The plate wasn’t aligned to the entryway of the pyramid or to any particular constellation.  There was no reason for anyone to put a gold colored plate at this particular location at the base of this particular pyramid.

Clowy pointed to the pyramid block directly in front of her and said, “Maybe you are supposed to stand here and read that word.”

Lorano spun around and looked at where Clowy was pointing.  He couldn’t believe it.  He must have walked by this particular spot three dozen times and never saw it.  Lorano stepped onto the plate next to Clowy and looked at the word carved into the side of the pyramid.

He replied, “Clowy, you’re a genius.”

The word had been tastefully lettered and professionally inscribed.  The edges were smooth and clean.  Clearly, someone had spent a lot of time and effort to carve that word in that stone.  The word was written in an ancient Altian script.

Lorano scanned the nearby area.  There were no other decorations or words anywhere else.  Lorano held his communication pad to the word and took a picture of it.  He said, “Computer, scan the historical archives.  Is there any mention of it?”

…Scanning.  This may take a quite a while.  Perhaps you should get a cool refreshment and relax while you wait…

Lorano said, “Computer, limit the search window from the time the pyramid was built to the time that it was no longer used to produce electricity.”

…Scanning.  This will not take nearly as long.  There are only 20 million relevant documents…

Twenty million, Lorano mentally repeated.  He said, “Computer, there should be several billion, perhaps even a trillion documents from that time period.  Why are there so few?”

…The Altian record retention policy states that all but the most critical documents must be destroyed after 1,200 years have passed.  These 20 million are all that remain…

They sat on the first step of the pyramid and impatiently waited for the computer to finish the query.  Clowy told him about her new hair implants.  Lorano pretended to care.

She completed the story, finishing with a head twirl.  Clowy said, “Switching subjects, why are you out here?  What are you trying to accomplish?”

Lorano said, “I honestly believe what I said to Ella.  I think that there is a link between the Humans and the Solarians.”

Clowy replied, “What link?”

Lorano said, “I searched the Solarian archives extensively while we were on the planet.”

Clowy interrupted, “What planet?”

Lorano continued unabated, “Solaria.  There are no records that the Solarian civilization of 4,000 years ago possessed the technology to build a hyper drive unit, or even a spaceship for that matter.”

Clowy: “That can’t be correct.  We saw Settler’s Monument.  Clearly, the Solarians left Old Solaria and traveled to Solaria in a hyper capable spaceship.”

Lorano asked rhetorically, “How did the Solarians travel through hyperspace without a hyper capable ship?”

Clowy responded, “Maybe our ancestors gave them a ride.”  She smiled sweetly.

“That’s it!” Lorano exclaimed. “That is the missing link.  Our ancestors transported the Solarians to Solaria.  Then they built the pyramids to provide energy for the settlers.”

Clowy replied, “That was very nice of them.”

…There may be something relevant in the historical archive.  There are three documents that reference a name change for the entire race…

Lorano said, “Continue.”

…The documents state that after making initial contact with the Advranki, the Altian government officially changed the name of the race to Altian…

Lorano asked, “Does it say why?”

…It does.  The name of the Altian race was originally longer than the Advranki.  The Altian populace felt that it projected superiority and shortened it…

Clowy asked, “Does it say what it used to be?”

…It is not mentioned.  After the decision was approved, all electronic documents were updated.  The old name was cut out and the new name was pasted in its place…

They got off of the rock, stood back on the plate, and looked at the word.  Lorano said, “That has to be the old name of our race.  Someone must have realized that the name was deleted from every record and wanted to maintain it for history.”

Clowy continued, “So he chiseled it into rock.”  She paused for a breath and said, “The word is written in ancient Altian script that I don’t recognize.  How do you pronounce it?”

Lorano looked at her strangely.  Yes, the word was written in cursive, but the Altian language hadn’t changed much in 4,000 years.  It was pronounced then just as it would be pronounced today.”

Lorano cleared his throat and said, “Fortunately, I can read it.”  He paused for effect and said, “Our race used to be called Atlantean.”

“Atlantean,” Clowy repeated.  “Does the name mean anything to you?”

“Not yet,” Lorano replied.