As the creature dissipated in a cloud of smoke, Lila collapsed to the floor, unconscious. While Sayah panicked unhelpfully, Gurgeh rendered medical assistance until she came round. Utterly confused, she didn't remember anything after putting on the spirit glasses.
Attempts to patch up Alqadi from the creature's assault proved less successful. The armour got in the way. Instead Gurgeh retrieved his crushed drone and recruited Hamsa to help him get it up and running again.
We realised that despite the shrieks we'd heard from the monkey, there was no body. Tahir went looking, and found it, alive and well, in the workshop. It had got the lid off one of the cylinders of presumed grey nanite goo and was now wearing it on its head. Gurgeh threw a piece of jerky at the monkey to see what happened. Not much. Tahir removed the cylinder and the monkey ran off.
There was one unopened door left, and with some work and fervent prayers, we got it open. Inside were a number of storage containers with radiation symbols, their contents confirmed by the clicking of the environmental scanners. One container was open and empty.
In the corner of the room was a lift shaft. Alqadi and the archaeodrone went down first to scout, and reported that there was a reactor down there. Gurgeh and Hamsa followed to investigate the machinery. With some effort they got things working and lights started switching on. It seemed a bit unstable, but Gurgeh managed to get it stabilised.
Lila and Sayah went back to the temple so Lila could meditate with the memory stone. A series of visions flooded her mind, showing the people who had once been here going about various activities. Following their example, Lila went back to the workshop and got to work with the CNC machine and the nanites. An error message flashed up, mostly incomprehensible, but mentioning dwarves. Was that a reference to the monkeys? There was a strange buzzing in the air, but soon Lila had produced a hollow cylinder and a carved cube.
Zhar Baghram had mentioned being short of hot dust. Sayah had assumed that meant nanites, but perhaps he was referring to the radioactive fuel?
Alqadi, now returned from the reactor room, decided it was time to finally let the monkey go. After all, no possible harm could come from releasing a monkey with a head full of nanites onto an unsuspecting planet, could it? He opened up the hatch and shoed it outside.
Lila and Sayah went back to the office to think about solar system calculations. Sayah pulled a date off the computer - it was 350 years since anyone had been here. Lila took off the spirit glasses, and started drawing on the whiteboard, running her fingers through the dirt. Sayah recognised the state she was in as similar to when she was meditating with the stone. Was this another memory surfacing?
Gurgeh was concerned for her health, and despite not being able to identify anything wrong with her, decided to take the stone off her. She woke up again, confused, and tried to take the stone back, but Gurgeh stepped out of reach.
Sayah looked at Lila's drawing and recognised the solar system once again, as seen in the other caves. Lila assured Tahir that she was fine, which was enough for him to order Gurgeh to give the stone back. Drawing resumed.
The lights were getting brighter. Hamsa and Alqadi went back to the reactor. It was making odd noises, as if something wasn't quite right with the machinery - something clogged or misaligned. They returned to the control panel to try to get some control. Was it time to leave? Not with Hamsa and Gurgeh's skill. They managed to return the reactor to its original state, and while the lights went out again, all seemed quiet.
We decided to get some sleep. While the mattresses in the bedrooms had long since disintegrated, the rooms were more comfortable and provided a little privacy - although we all still shared rooms to keep an eye on each other. It was not a restful night. Everyone had strange dreams.
When we awoke, we got a message from Professor Elhana. Strange things were afoot at their dig site. Our ship had been surrounded by Astûrban guards.
We established communication with Suleiman and started transmitting the information we'd retrieved so that he could start computing. He assured us that the Astûrban guards had not been inside the ship. Sayah had locked the doors really well.
What next? There was some debate regarding whether the guards were real guards or pirates, although Sayah, who'd been getting increasingly twitchy, seemed pretty convinced they were real. Suleiman informed us that another ship had landed nearby, on the plateau where we had originally landed. Tahir suggested using the ship's remote control to fly the ship to the towers. Given the alternative meant a walk through the jungle and then confronting the Astûrban guards, this suggestion got universal approval.
Sayah took control of the ship, and with Tahir's help, guided it towards them. As it came close, Tahir used his jetpack to fly into it and drop a ladder. Everyone climbed up, except for Lila with her still recovering arm, who got hauled up on the end of the ladder in a thoroughly undigdified fashion.
With everyone aboard, Tahir flew the ship a little closer to the towers, in the hope of knocking off more of the sandstone cladding to test his theory. Lila and Sayah yelled abuse about this being bad archaeology until he finally decided to fly away from the towers.
Gurgeh took blood samples from everyone, concerned about potential exposure to nanites. He got inconclusive results from Lila and himself. Tahir, Alqadi and Hamsa were all clear. Sayah was free of nanites, but he did find traces of illicit substances.
Tahir took the Aliya back towards the plateau, where we saw a smaller, class 2 ship. Long range scanners detected another ship approaching at range.
Tahir was finally persuaded that the best thing we could do was leave. But then the sensors picked up signs of combustion around the Sogoi village. Was someone attacking the native people? We had to rescue them! But then Suleiman spoke up. He'd fitted together the information we'd transmitted. The people here had been attempting to find a good communication window to the Lady of Tears sector of space. They were trying to make contact with something or someone on the outer rim.
Despite Sayah and Lila's enthusiasm to follow up on this, we agreed we would at least check on the natives first. We weren't the kind of crew who would leave people to die. But after that, the cloud awaited.
No comments:
Post a Comment