TheIR RETURN route back cut through the low hills that had intervened before. For a while they followed some game trails that paralleled the hills. The hills probably were ancient remnants of mountains, worn down from staggering ranges, most likely foothills of the taller mountains that rose to east and west of the glacial valley and river plain in between. There were other signs of old vulcanism, indicating that this area had had a violent youth.
Once away from the Tslek "installation," they moved quickly and surely, and off the game trails. Predators loved game trails for obvious reasons, and no one wanted a fight. There was no other reason to be more than normally cautious, and every reason to get off-planet as soon as possible, so they slogged fast. Ferret made good time and showed considerable skill at finding routes with fair footing and clear space to hike, while still keeping tall growth around them for concealment. He rarely caused them to backtrack around obstacles, though he did have them detour around another log that might contain a nest of the biting ant things. Tirdal watched and tried to deduce how Ferret did this. It was a skill he had no experience in.
The second night out, they came to a fairly deep and strong stream that had cut a chasm through the rocks ahead.
"We'll have to detour downstream until we find a place to ford," Ferret said. "Unless we're going to build a moly-rope bridge?"
"No," Shiva said. "Safer and likely faster to go around. Five minutes to rest and on we go."
The path downstream was a rubble and boulder-strewn igneous mass with trees growing at chaotic angles near the edge, straight and tall further back. The soil was rich and fragrant, made dark and fertile by minerals from the broken rocks and well-rotted foliage. It wasn't a hard route for trained troops, as it was downhill with lots of handholds. They swiftly covered three kilometers of steep, rocky bank as the bots led the way.
"Flat ground ahead," Gorilla advised.
Ten minutes later, the ground began to level. They were back out onto glacial plain. No sooner had they reached a stretch that looked promising for a crossing, Gorilla called, "Whoa! "Anomaly!" His voice was soft but urgent.
"What type?" Bell Toll asked as Shiva waved the troops into a perimeter.
"Not here," Gorilla answered with a shake of his head. "Forward and west. Energy reading of some kind. It's small and not moving."
"Isn't that just great?" Bell Toll asked facetiously. "Okay, keep the bots safely back but find out what you can. Everyone sit tight here. Tirdal, what've you got for me? Can you sense it?"
"Yes, I can now," he nodded. "It's very faint. It's not Tslek. There's something there, but it doesn't even seem alive. Just . . . there, present. And it has a psychic component. More than that I cannot say. But definitely not alive."
"Okay, Ferret will lead, you move up closer to him and keep alert. Remember that he has more experience at sneaking. Gorilla, get your bots out wide and move slowly; we don't want to spook whatever it is, but we've got to take a look ourselves. Shiva, plot us two escape routes—one slow and cautious, one go-to-hell. Everyone ping me acknowledgment . . . okay, let's do it."
Tirdal and Ferret dropped their rucks and crept forward. The relayed image from Gorilla's bots helped them keep to low ground and clear of the knotted webs of roots. The ground was soft and mushy again, and it soaked through their suits, the wetness permeating the air with the smell of damp and rotting life. The only animals they saw were the smallest scavengers and stem-eating types. While crawling, they were below the umbrellalike canopies of bushes. Their route through the looping roots of the trees took them past a local anthill analog, busily trafficked by beetle-creatures less than a centimeter long. Ferret shook off a few that tried to bite and sting, taking him for some dead source of protein.
"Ouch," he muttered. "Gonna have welts from that. They aren't as bad as those other little bastards, but watch them, Tirdal."
"I see them," Tirdal said. "Stand by." He pulled a scrap of uneaten ration from his smaller ruck and waved it past the nest, then dropped it a meter away. It was a sugary cookie and the eager little monsters swarmed it and ignored him.
"Let's see the bots-eye view," Ferret asked. Gorilla obliged and relayed a near-ground-level image in the visible spectrum. There was an almost-clearing ahead; one of those spots where the trees thinned enough for a dropship insertion or a small camp. The bots had stopped there. They'd been programmed to pause if they encountered anything with a pattern not on file as "natural," and what was here certainly wasn't.
"Is that what we're looking at?" Ferret asked.
"At and for," Gorilla replied. "I dunno what it is."
All that could be seen was a thin spot in the trees. Within were some lumps and mounds. They resembled burial cairns from some lost civilization, weathered and beaten for ages. There was a wrongness to the area that even the humans could feel.
"The source is in there somewhere," Gorilla said. "No threats show. I've got both bots watching it and the flyers perched on trees on the far side. Nothing except local life."
"Gorilla," Bell Toll said, "send a bot in slowly. One step at a time. Ferret and Tirdal can pull up to the edge. We'll stay back for support. Thor and Shiva, keep an eye on our asses." There were pings of acknowledgement and the team moved.
They'd shifted perhaps five meters when Gorilla said, "Stop." Everyone froze, fingers on triggers, until he said, "No threat, but I've IDed the source. Central mound, right there. Power emanations, but very low."
"Okay," Bell Toll acknowledged. "Let's move in. Ferret and Tirdal wait where you are. Gun Doll and I will take a supporting position on the left. Dagger and Shiva on the right. Gorilla will pull up and relieve Ferret, then Ferret advances."
Upon closer inspection, the area wasn't a clearing at all. It was tree covered, like the surrounding terrain, but in a radius around the central mound the trees were slightly stunted and there were stones poking up through the loam. It was the lack of animals and the stunted trees that gave it an odd feel.
"Radiation?" asked Bell Toll.
"Not much above background levels," Gorilla said after studying his sensors.
"There's a minor pulse to the emitted frequency," Dagger added. "It's steady. Nothing dangerous to us, but I suppose after enough years it builds up. There also might be chemicals in the soil, depending on what this device is. The surface here reads differently. And those stones are odd."
They were among the mounds, now. Ferret and Thor had their backs in, as did Gun Doll, her automatic cannon moving in slow sweeps as she studied the trees.
Tirdal brushed at one of the stones and examined the striations revealed beneath the clinging dirt. It was an extruded block, not carved native stone.
"Plascrete," he said softly.
The others shifted carefully over to him.
"What did you say?" Bell Toll asked.
"Plascrete," he repeated. "Look at the extrusion marks and the texture. It was produced on site with no concern for prettiness."
Gun Doll ran her fingers over the chipped corners of the revealed mass.
"How old does plascrete have to be to crack and crumble like that?"
"A long time, I would guess . . . and feel," Tirdal said.
Spreading out and examining other revealed rocks determined that the place was a ruin. It was some sort of very old building or fortification, hundreds, possibly thousands of years old. All that was left ware a few mounds of tumbled plascrete overgrown with misshapen, gene-damaged trees and tangled vines. In the cold drizzle and half-light, it was an eerie, disturbing scene.
Gorilla had the bot dig into the lump, carefully. It made quiet incursions by drill, split cracks between the holes with a pneumatic ram and gingerly pulled out sections. It then made another cut, slightly deeper. Ferret, Dagger and Shiva stayed in an outer perimeter, nerves naked wires, alert for any threatening movement, or any movement at all. The other half of the troop formed to contain anything that might erupt from within the dig.
"Energy source," Tirdal said.
"Yes?" prompted Bell Toll.
"I'm not sure. Just some source of energy. They all feel somewhat alike . . . heat, radio, UV . . . just a sense of intruding rays, not enough to be harmful."
"Got that, Gorilla?" Bell Toll asked.
"Got it," he nodded softly, adjusting the bot to dig wider before going deeper. "We're going to have to either hide these blocks the bot is cutting, or stick them back when done. A pile will be a giveaway."
"Yes," Bell Toll agreed. "But it can't be much deeper now, can it?"
In answer, Tirdal said, "There."
"Yeah, the bot sees it now," Gorilla agreed, looking at his screen. "I'm clearing around it. It's a root power source of some kind, encased in plasteel."
Bell Toll dialed up enhancement and resolution on his helmet and tried to get a glimpse into the hole, past the ludicrously hulking limbs of the small bot.
"Oh, shit," he said softly.
"What?" asked Gun Doll, being closest. She pulled up her own screen and said, " 'Oh, shit' is right."
Enough of the case was revealed for its architecture to become apparent. That combined with the energy readings made it familiar to anyone who studied history or matters military.
It was an Aldenata artifact. Apparently a functional one.
The Aldenata were extinct. It had been they who had bred the Posleen for war, and screwed it up so as to leave the Posleen a marauding threat. They'd created the Darhel, who could administrate but not fight to defend themselves. The Indowy, Tchpth and possibly the humans had been tampered with by them, also. Besides the damaged races of this part of the galaxy, they'd left a few installations and a very few artifacts. Whatever had done them in had been thorough. No one knew. Or at least, no humans. The other races didn't discuss it much.
The box wasn't that large, about a half meter on a side and vaguely oblong. There were two queerly formed handles on it that the bots used to drag it to the surface. A careful cleaning by Gorilla and Gun Doll revealed that it had controls on the surface and some inscribed characters.
"It could be anything or nothing," Gun Doll said, as she wiped away dirt to reveal the text and pulled out a ruled scale and camera. They couldn't decipher it here, but they could get images for file.
"Yes, but any industrial corporation would pay a cool billion credits for it," Bell Toll said. Even if it wasn't sold, the soldiers could expect enough of a bonus for it that they'd be able to live comfortably for the rest of their lives.
"So, ten percent of a billion, split eight ways . . ." muttered Dagger, sliding up alongside to peer into the hole. He was figuring the likely salvage percentage they'd get if the government did sell it.
"Dagger, get back out where you belong," Bell Toll snapped quietly. The sniper's eyes were needed where they could track incoming Blobs, not calculating profits.
"Yeah, sure," he agreed and slithered away again.
"Captain, should I get some images for our researchers?" Tirdal asked. "We do have more experience with Aldenata equipment than you."
"That's partly because you won't share the info you do have, but go ahead," Bell Toll said, some prejudice slipping past at last. Tirdal ignored it and took several views of the device.
They turned over a few more rocks and had the bots drill around the area, test bores to see if anything else registered. There was nothing else that stood out.
"I'm getting nothing else," concurred Tirdal. "All I feel is the power from this," he indicated the device, "and it feels as if it's idling, waiting."
There was nothing left but for a full archaeological expedition, which could be expected if the humans ever took the world.
"Well, let's clean up the area and move out," Bell Toll ordered. "We'll take the box with us and let the experts fiddle with it."
Gorilla got the bots to work replacing the chunks of plascrete, while the soldiers took turns scraping and digging at the bot tracks and drag marks of the rocks as only trained Special Operations troops can.
"I can easily determine the damage at this close range," Tirdal said when they were finished, "but it's likely not obvious to a routine observer at any distance."
"I can see it," Dagger challenged. "If I can, others can if they look hard enough. But there shouldn't be any real searches before we bug out."
"Nevertheless, let's try to cover our tracks in and out," Shiva suggested.
"I concur," Bell Toll said. The work resumed amid sighs.
The trick to a good concealment is not to do too much, or a site becomes a "garden," neat and obvious rather than rough and nondescript. In true Zen fashion, doing little is harder than doing much. But by dusk, rain starting, there was little evidence that anything untoward had happened. An organized search might show something, but no casual examination. If they'd done their jobs properly, rain would wash away any remaining signs in short order. Of course, any major flaws in the dig would show more clearly as rain eroded soft earth. It was best they move quickly, just in case.
Bell Toll took the bulky artifact and strapped it onto his pack under a chameleon cover. He grunted with the effort of lifting it—while not outrageously massive, it wasn't light by any means.
Slogging through mud is a military tradition from as far back as humans have been fighting, which is always. It's something every military organization has to get used to, but, despite jokes, no one ever gets used to. Mud slows the steps, sticks to the boots then oozes inside, cold, wet, gooey, gritty and sharp in spots. It splashes as high as one's head, no matter how high that might be, and is generally unpleasant. Every generation, the designers insist they've developed a "mud proof" boot, and every generation the troops laugh hysterically as mud squishes past seals, flush surfaces or joints.
The team was squelching along the nearby river, mud alternating with trickles and puddles of water, the dark, dank bank on one side with the tendrils of tree branches arching in ghostlike fingers over them to the water's edge. They should be well shielded from most sensors. Even thermal imaging wasn't likely to detect their chilled, clammy hides through the scattering foliage.
Ahead, they were seeking a ford. Some further distance from the Tslek facility was desired, and crossing the watercourse should decrease the likelihood of anything coming for them. While they could swim, even burdened as they were, there was no need to exert unnecessary energy.
The first ford they found wasn't as hospitable as Bell Toll had hoped. Certainly it was shallower than upstream, but it was on a moderate slope that gave the shallow water good velocity over rocks. It wasn't going to be that much easier to cross here.
"Keep low," Bell Toll advised in a whisper. Everyone nodded. Besides keeping their silhouettes concealed, it would keep them stable in the current. They were as wet as they could get already, anyway. "Ferret, out you go."
"Ferrets don't like swimming," the little point troop replied, but he said it as he moved out on the rocky shallows they'd been using, toward deeper water.
Ferret stepped down off the shelf, one hand on a protruding root near the bank, and began wading. The bubbling, ankle-deep stream near the edge turned to rippling and waving knee-deep currents within a couple of steps, then to a pounding torrent that ripped at him, seen as dark and light infrared and enhanced visible traces across his visor. He leaned forward and grabbed a rock that rose from the water, and worked his way around into the calm downstream of it. Kneeling and reaching, he caught another handhold and crossed the channel between the two, water shoving at his chest and splashing into his face. He worked his way across by keeping solid hold of the rocks as his feet slid on smooth, moss-slickened pebbles underneath and water raged past him. He was two thirds of the way over when he reached a deep, rushing current about two meters wide. It didn't take much observation to conclude that he wasn't going to cross it alone. And it would likely look worse in daylight.
Ferret studied the voracious swirl for long seconds. Then he began crawling backwards. Once he reached the previous slab of weathered limestone he called back on his transmitter, it being too loud to shout even if noise discipline allowed it. "It's too swift. Gorilla can likely get over; he's taller and heavier. We're going to need to belay," he said.
"Goddammit. Understood," Bell Toll replied.
Shortly, Gorilla began splashing and crawling from the bank. His larger mass was of benefit, and he made steady progress through the tugging current and was alongside in moments.
"Hold my ruck and tell me what you need," he said as he swung his albatross-long limbs free from the harness.
"Deep and swift," Ferret said, pointing. "If you can shove across we'll run the rope. Otherwise, that bastard is going to take someone for a ride."
"Got it," he nodded.
Gorilla had a tough time of it himself, and Ferret was glad he'd asked for aid. The two-meter tall troop splashed into the water and only kept his head above by maintaining a firm grip on Ferret's proffered hand. He reached across, angled by the strong current, scrabbling for purchase. The flow underneath was unbelievable, stretching him out starfishlike. After several minutes' of clutching, he retreated. Sitting under the rock, he shouted up to Ferret, "I think it would be easier to move further downstream. But let me try something."
He sought a chunk of rock about as wide and flat as his hand. He plunged his hand in and wrenched free one that seemed appropriate.
"Tie the rope around that," he demanded. "Toss it and I'll pull myself across."
It sounded reasonable, and Ferret gave the rock two loops and two half hitches. At a nod and a point from Gorilla, he tossed it over the depths and between the large boulder and a projecting knob just upstream. He pulled and it caught. Gorilla seized the cord and was across in seconds.
Then came the task of tying his ruck near the far end of the line, tossing the free length and drawing it across. Everyone and all their gear was going to get soaked from this. They'd only thought themselves wet so far.
Ferret was ignominiously hauled over, then made it the rest of the way in a combination hop, skip and plunge. There was no real cover on the far bank, so he settled back into the water downstream of another bit of rock.
"Secure," he reported. "Give me some company."
At a nod from Shiva, Tirdal trudged down and over. His dense form was of some help here, and he kept his position despite the flow. At the rope where Gorilla still waited, he planted his ruck and let Gorilla tow it across. That accomplished, he grasped the rope and slid over. He disappeared beneath the shifting surface, leaving only his hand as an indicator. That hand was joined by his other, and he made his way in fitful, sliding jerks across. As he bumped the far boulder, he extended a hand and clenched it twice, until Gorilla reached down and heaved him up, or tried to. It took both of them, Tirdal shoving with his feet, Gorilla heaving on the rope and straining back with his feet, before the Darhel's head surfaced. He could be audibly heard to gasp in a breath as his massive form rose up onto the rock.
"Holy Shit . . . Tirdal," Gorilla asked between gasps. "What do . . . you weigh?"
"I'm considerably denser in bone and muscle mass than a human," Tirdal said without answering him. He continued doggedly over and took Ferret's position, as the short human squirmed onto the bank proper.
The procedure repeated. Only Ferret had been light enough to swim with his gear. Gun Doll slung her cannon over, then her gear and then herself. She massed less than her rangy size indicated and swung in the current like a flag in a stiff breeze until Gorilla caught her hand. Once across, she leaned against the mud, covering the rest of the squad while Tirdal guarded her and Ferret acted as a sensor wire against anything from the front. Ferret had adapted to his social calling of mine-tripper, and had become philosophical about it. He did hope for promotion within a few missions, though.
Dagger went through contortions to pass his sniper rifle across to Gorilla without getting it into the water. It wasn't the wetness that worried him, but the risk of banging it out of alignment between the rocks. Truthfully, it was built much sturdier than that, and he was just obsessive, but Gorilla humored him and took it by the muzzle, even though the long extension of mass from his hand pulled muscles in his forearm. Dagger would spend a goodly time fussing over it and drying it later, he was sure.
Shiva, Bell Toll with the artifact and Thor followed, and they were all across. Soaked, slimed with mud and moss, bedecked with bits of weed, they blended in even better than they had before. It was bone-chillingly cold even with the warm air. The best way to slow the conduction of heat through the water was to dial down the permeability of the suits. That left them wrinkling like prunes inside squelching, water-tight shells. Once warmed, they'd turn the permeability up until they steamed dry.
"Gorilla, give us a good scan," Bell Toll ordered.
"Will do, but only one bot made it across. The other one took a soaking—must have a hole in the shell somewhere—and won't work until dry," he replied. "Want me to send flyers, too?"
Bell Toll thought for a few moments. It was likely they'd lose some more to predators, but the team was exfiltrating and the drones were intended for use. The risk of discovery was negligible, and the data they'd provide could be considerable.
"Please," he said. "As soon as they're out, we'll move. At least we've had our bath."
"Yeah, and it's only April," Ferret joked. He felt free to comment now. After all, he'd blazed the path across this giant roach hotel, its marshes, cliffs, plains, to the Tslek, the Aldenata box and that godawful river. There'd been two other planets before that, too.
"We're looking for somewhere to hole up for the day," Shiva said. "We want hard cover and concealment, just in case. Be sharp."
Once more they moved out, following Gorilla's technobugs.
No matter their training and experience, this was an arduous mission. All of them were dinged and nicked from the trip so far, all fatigued and near exhaustion from the odd day cycle, higher gravity, strange air and odd environment. All were strained mentally from the risks and possible threats, as well as the incredible aloneness of being the only humans on the planet, the only ones within thirty-five light-years, for all intents, the only ones in the universe, for nothing anyone else could do would help them in an emergency. Mundane annoyances like the boring rations and blisters were just teasing flirts to remind them of the rest.
Then there was Tirdal. The Darhel slogged along steadily, quietly, doing his part and doing it adequately well with no complaints at all. That just made empathizing with him that much harder. That, and he might peer into one's soul. Tirdal was still very much the outcast. No one could get a handle on him, but they weren't much trying, either. If he wound up staying with the team beyond this mission, perhaps that would change. It remained to be seen.
The introspective and tactical silence was broken by Ferret saying, "I think that might work . . . over there." He lit the area referenced and everyone looked over. It was a large outcropping, still within the trees, with a series of smaller projections lower down the slope.
"Stay cool," Shiva ordered. "What do you think, sir?"
Bell Toll waved Ferret forward and moved up to see for himself. "Ought to do fine, Sarge. Bed 'em down."
"Got it. Ferret and Gorilla, do a perimeter sweep. Gun Doll, cover them from right there," he indicated an outcropping. "Everyone else, dig in."
Gun Doll sighed in relief as she set her cannon down on its spiky monopod. The gyroscopic stabilizers would keep it steady and level, ready to swing at a touch. That done, she ripped off her helmet and gave her matted hair and the scalp underneath it a good scratch. "Going numb under here," she muttered, barely audibly, to no one. Days of the helmet's mass across the webbing, even with the foam padding she'd added, was a growing distraction. The dandruff didn't bother her, it was just part of the job, and would clean up once home. Besides, there was no one here but the guys.
Shortly, Gorilla had his sensors out, doubled to act as mines at his order. They were far more expendable now than they had been early on and the potential threats were greater. Equipment was expendable, people were not.
Shortly, they were in place, the flyer bot sensors atop the rocks, three small killer bots lurking downhill, and the sole surviving pill bug uphill and watching. Shiva directed the troops to individual spots where they'd be hidden but able to provide interlocking fire, and had them roll out their bags. The latrine was dead center for convenience and security. "Not going to be deep, Sarge," Dagger said. "Rocks less than a half meter down, of course."
"It'll do," he said by way of acknowledgement and dismissal.
While Shiva handled the housekeeping, Bell Toll examined the artifact. He ran his fingertips over the surface, seeking controls or seams. There were none apparent in this light. Shrugging inwardly, he reached into his gear and pulled out a tracer-transponder. It wasn't really necessary, and he was probably overreacting, but they'd all hate to lose such a prize. It couldn't hurt to mark it, so he did. He slapped it onto a corner and the molecularly thin film of it fused with the artifact's surface and became effectively part of it and invisible.
Dagger had slipped alongside him, undetected until the last moment. Bell Toll started slightly, but kept it from showing. Dammit, he hated when the sniper did that. He did it just because he could, and it only encouraged him if he thought he'd got one over on you.
"Yes, Dagger? Are you here to take advantage of the commander's open-door policy?" he asked.
"Nah, just wanted another gander at the box, sir. I didn't get a good look earlier," he said, moving in close. He was shoulder to shoulder now, and it made Bell Toll uncomfortable. Frankly, he'd rather have Tirdal that close than Dagger. One was unknown, the other a pain.
"Well, this is the artifact, Dagger. Artifact, meet Dagger," he said, trying to inject some levity into the situation.
"Charmed," Dagger joked. Hell, he wasn't that bad, Bell Toll thought. Just another kid with something to prove. Give him five years and he'd mellow. When he'd first arrived he'd been all attitude, now it was partly an act. He'd get over it, and if there were opportunities to let him act like a mature person, they should be encouraged.
Dagger was poring over the device in the growing light. His fingers traced the raised symbols that might be long dead controls, followed the contours and hefting it. "What is it and why is it here?" he asked, mostly to himself.
"We might never know," Bell Toll said. "Some can be opened inside a stasis field, though some are equipped to self-destruct. Others are unresponsive. The fact that this one still has latent power is a good sign."
"Any guess what it might be, sir?" Dagger asked, his sharp, perfect eyes still focused on the box, examining every line, every dirt-filled pit.
"No clue. A ship's control box, unlikely. A base computer, possible, though I'd think they'd have extracted it when the base was abandoned, or an enemy would have seized it. Anything else I couldn't say. I've had briefings, but I'm no expert." He shrugged.
Dagger shrugged also. "I see what are obviously seams, but I don't see a way to make them budge. We going to take turns humping this?"
"No, Dagger," Bell Toll replied, smiling. "In this case, the commander will assume the horrible burden of carting the cargo, thus to spare his troops a strain that wasn't in the original plan. Besides, it's my ass if we lose it."
"Yeah, I could just see that one. 'We found this Aldenata artifact and dropped it in a lake. So sorry. but it really was cool at the time.' I can't see them buying that."
"Right," Bell Toll chuckled. "Well, I'm going to wrap it back up, so show and tell is over."
"Right, sir. I'll keep an eye out tonight. And I can set some of my sensors to act as additional alarms if you'd like."
"Please," he agreed as Dagger walked in a crouch back across to his gear. He reflected that Dagger wasn't so bad when his interests were challenged. It was boredom that made him awkward.
It was dinnertime again. Hopefully, there'd be few more of those on this patrol. As shifting, flashing sparks of false dawn warned of the coming light, they plowed into their food. Hunger helped and so did long practice, as well as awareness that they'd be out of here in very few sleeps.
"Tuna again," Gun Doll bitched. "Who eats this crap?"
"Sorry, Doll," Thor said. "But I'm not swapping my pork fritter."
"Doesn't matter," she said, resignation and a sigh in her voice. "I'll eat it."
Dagger said, "Be right back. Gotta drain the vein," as he rose and walked toward the large rock.
"Why didn't you go in the stream like the rest of us?" Thor joked. Then he wondered why the sniper was walking out past the rocks, and with his rifle. "Hey, Dagger, the slit is over th—"
As he passed the rock, Dagger grabbed a neural grenade from the pouch on his harness and tossed it back into the middle of the team.