Shackleton's Folly (The Lost Wonder Book 1) (22 page)

“The inscription pieces it is,” she replied with a little melancholy in her voice and reached out to run her free hand through his hair, winking at him. How did she feel about him? It was something she could not explain to herself. She appraised her actions — the flirting, the way she maintained her silence coming aboard ship. In her soul searching, she caught a glimpse of the datapad. It was turned away from her, so she spun it around. The display was still filled with Alec’s bucket list. Her heart fluttered and then raced with anticipation as she read and reread the top item: “Be with Electra.”

She knew now that she loved him, for no simple statement could have such a profound effect on her if she did not. But she had a duty to fulfill, and, for the moment, a warm and tender moment, they had the same mission — whether Alec knew it or not.

Alec smiled back and put down the artifact. He turned to Dancer. “Was there anything useful in the data we bought?”

Dancer ignored the exchange. “A lot of navigational charts. The Captain has stripped the mineralogical data from the charts, but that is what we are looking for.” Dancer’s hands and digits flew in a blur across the controls he accessed. “There,” he stated.

The holographic display of the Galaxy shimmered as the new data was imported into the image. “I have given the new data a blue hue to distinguish it from our existing data. If we are happy with the import, we can remove the artificial color and see truly what’s what,” said Dancer. A huge section of the galaxy near their destination overlaid with suns was repositioned, updates to planetary systems were made, and nebulae were updated or simply added. The repositioning and movement of stars seemed very accurate and well worth the expense.

Dancer adjusted the size of the holographic display to make it easier to see the extra detail they now had. The region of known space was highlighted with a red shift added to the natural color of stars, planets, and nebulae. The new section of space highlighted in blues extended into the next arm of the galaxy. The Frontier.

Alec expanded the map to give them a better view of the section of the galaxy they were in. “Impressive. From the data we have been collecting and O’s coordinates, where are we heading?”

Dancer pointed to a section of the newly highlighted space. The display zoomed in on it. Dancer said, “I’m not absolutely sure. I analyzed the information purchased from O. It was not exactly in line with this new data. I would have to assume that O’s data would be more suspect, judging by the accuracy found in the rest of the data provided us by the
Last Straw
. They do not have any reason to manipulate something like this.”

Dancer looked closer at the display. “It’s a long shot, but I think this is where we will find the piece we are looking for.” The display zoomed in again on a trinary star system.

Electra jumped to her feet. “I know that trinary star system. It was where my ship was captured.”

Dancer changed the display to enlarge the trinary star system at the edge of the highlighted region of space.

Electra looked incredulously to Alec. “My crew’s mission was to find and return technology taken from my home world. We know some went to that star system,” she said as she pointed to the display.

The enormity of the revelation stunned Alec. “Really?”

Electra looked at each of them. “Alec, the inscription you are looking for is not what you think it is.”

Fate had intervened. Alec had to know the truth.

Dancer accessed the database. “The data has a feature that can be best translated as ‘Heavenly Snowflake.’”

Electra asked, “This inscription piece you have — may I see it again?”

Alec nodded to Dancer. “Dancer, would you please show her the piece we have?”

Dancer turned and opened his back compartment. As he unwrapped the piece, a corner popped out.

Electra reverently touched the inscription piece that stuck out of its cover. “This is the stolen property we were searching the galaxy for.”

“What?” exclaimed Alec. He stood up and took the inscription piece from the wrap. He held it up for her. Alec said, “This is not a map to a world, then?”

“It is not.” She cradled the piece in her hands so she could hold it along with Alec. Electra said, “You have me now as a guide. Alec, we have the future of all of our peoples in our hands.”

“When were you going to tell me? You saw the inscription pieces together in the galley.”

“Alec, dear sweet Alec,” she said as she reached toward him, but he pulled back a little.

“Anything else you would like to share?”

“No, nothing. I told you I was on a mission to find what you call inscription pieces. I was sworn to secrecy — no one outside my world was to know.” She looked at him imploringly. “You wanted to find pieces of the inscription, and so did I. The reasons were the same — to save our people.

“I was in search of Rovers and found you. It became obvious very quickly you were not one of them. I had to learn who you were.” She reached out to him; this time, she was able to take his hand. “You are a good man, Alec. You became my great hope in completing my mission —
our
mission — in saving our people.”

Alec thought about it — from her perspective. Alec was an unknown to her, and she had been searching for a band of renegades who had caused some calamity and could justify not telling him everything about her mission.

Alec turned to her and searched her eyes. “You are my great hope, too.” He said to Dancer, “Full speed, Dancer. Let the
Quest
do what she was built for — burn space.” His feelings were hurt, but he couldn’t blame her for holding back some information. “Together?”

Electra took the inscription from him. “Yes, we were — correction,
are —
on the same mission, and, together, we will succeed.” She sat down and marveled at the ancient message and touched the surface of the material.

Dancer said with deliberate exactness, “Trinary star system ahead of schedule.”

The
Quest
adjusted for the new coordinates and then blurred as the space yacht leapt into FTL with speeds greater than ordinary craft. Her designers knew space-hull design was not as important as her power plant, but they were artists. They wanted both speed and form to exude from their creation. The
Quest
commanded respect from anyone who saw her. She had an aerodynamic hull for planetary-atmosphere entry at speed. The owners of this yacht would not have to slow themselves down just to land. They could break Mach five and touch down in a vertical profile on a lawn if needed. The interior had been divested of some of the luxurious materials and accessories before Alec had purchased the ship, but she was a work in progress.

Alec had made sure that her engines and shields were in order and upgraded where needed to be superior in speed to anything out there. The rest of the ship’s interior was a little Spartan, but how many ships of this size included a water shower? The prior owner had used the shower area for additional cargo space, but not Alec. He saw the ship for the thoroughbred she was under the layers of paint and dirt. Alec had stripped her hull down to the metal frame. He rebuilt her all the way to her skin, which he then had coated in a metallic mirror-like material that reflected energy beams of all types in directions other than where they came from. The sensor profile would be minimal. He also made a statement. When he came to town, he wanted people to know someone had arrived.

Electra was in the pilot’s seat and stared out the front port. Alec monitored the ship’s systems at the engineer’s console, but it was not really needed. The
Quest
was in top form and crossed great distances in next to no time.

Electra mused, “Thousands of cycles ago, traders from the Empire came to our planet. It was before the dawn of civilization on our world.”

“You mean Earth,” said Alec.

Dancer came in with a tray of sandwiches and drinks. Dancer asked, “Traders?”

Alec took one of the sandwiches.

Electra was reminded, “Earth? Yes, Earth then. Well, they set up a trading post. They mingled, even married the inhabitants.” Electra took one of the drinks and a sandwich. “Thank you for lunch, Dancer.”

“My pleasure,” replied Dancer as he set the tray down on the counter closest to Alec.

Alec reached over and picked up a sandwich and drink. “Humanoid, then?” he asked.

Electra looked over at Alec, “Yes. They were close enough in biology that they could pass as human but were not able to genetically mix with humans.”

*

Dancer watched the two try to put things behind them. He was glad his friend had recovered quickly from the surprise she had given them. Dancer could see that, if they could be themselves with one another, they would be good for one another.

*

The
Quest
dropped out of FTL on the edge of the trinary star system. The smaller, interloping star was feeding on the nearest of the two larger stars. It had been a binary system with five worlds — two rocky and three gaseous — until the nomadic smaller star had come too close to the system. A gravitational battle ensued, and the planets lost out. Their orbital paths were so disrupted by the smaller star, they were consumed by one of the original binary stars or hurtled out into interstellar space. The planets had become casualties of the star’s dominance of near space.

The
Quest
had to change course again, and, in a great arc, they followed a new course to search the one place in the system where an object could be left in a stable position for extended periods of time. The gravitational tidal forced the binary stars to one side and the interloper star to the other. This one point in space was where gravity was negated, leaving anything there alone for eons at a time. Eventually, the star’s own life would change and throw off the give and take, but not for the foreseeable future.

This was the point of balance in the space between the three stars. The
Quest
came upon a structure as big as a gas giant planet — it was not a planet but a machine. The
Quest
hung back, scanning and gathering information about the device.

Periodically, great beams of energy erupted from different parts of the structure in a single beam or many smaller ones, reaching distances of several hundred thousand kilometers.

*

Dancer took readings from his sensors. He checked them against his earlier readings and gave his opinion. Dancer stated, “It’s obviously artificial and nearly the size of your Jupiter, Alec. It’s at a stationary L-point between the stars.”

One of the great beams of energy blasted past the hull of the
Quest
.

“It’s like a snowflake falling from the sky, the crystalline form stretching outward,” Dancer remarked. “Now scale it up to the diameter of 139,741 kilometers. Instead of frozen water, it is made of selenite crystals, in all four varieties, on a scale not found in nature.” Dancer keyed in commands that backed the
Quest
further away from the device. “I have been taking readings of the energy beams. Unfortunately, they seem to be totally random shots from the ‘Heavenly Snowflake.’”

Alec had the data they had collected up on the monitor. “I can see the ‘Heavenly’ part of this. Get too close, and you’re vaporized — gone to heaven.”

Electra agreed. “This is where we failed. We spent months studying this structure. We tried to find a pattern in the energy blasts and failed. Then we tried sending in a team. The builders were thinking big in their defenses, so we went small, but it became quickly evident that this, too, was impractical. It is the size of a gas giant, and we were looking for a piece of the inscription about the same size as the one Dancer has on him. I ask: Where do you start looking?”

Alec flipped some switches, and the view of the Snowflake changed.

Dancer keyed in some commands. “I’ll send in a probe.” Dancer launched a probe toward the Snowflake. He then flipped a switch, and the view of the screen changed again to the probe’s point of view. The image of the Snowflake grew larger as the probe hurtled toward its target. A blast of an energy beam lanced space near the probe but left it unaffected.

Alec asked, “Dancer, you said there were some coordinates and other things along with that data O gave us — right?”

Dancer stared back at Alec. “I’m so stupid. Yes, there are, and I’ll compare them to the structure.” Dancer went to work creating a model of the Heavenly Snowflake structure. He then analyzed the data O had provided, looking for correlation and possibly the key to the structure.

Alec approved. “You do that.” He asked Electra, “What would have made your ancestors leave Earth? Did any of that information come down to you?”

Electra said, “There was a revolt in the Empire that, from what we learned about it, included assassinations of many in the royal line. When the military regained control, they came to our world to retrieve the last surviving royal of the dynasty.”

Dancer manipulated his console, and an overlay of the coordinates appeared over the 3D model of the Heavenly Snowflake. It spun and turned, trying out the different locations on the surface, looking for a topographical match to their information. “Go on.”

Electra told the story with delight. “He loved our world, Alec — Earth. So he ordered his home on our world taken to the royal gardens, which were in the final phases of construction at the time. He gave everyone the opportunity to join the Empire. Most did.”

Alec downed his drink. “They just moved everyone from Earth for the Emperor?”

Electra stood up. “We have prospered until now. We have more room and living space than we could possibly use.”

Dancer observed, “Somewhat extravagant, but he was the Emperor. Enough said. The military, I am sure, was looking to stabilize things as quickly as possible, and this must have been just a small matter.”

Electra’s demeanor changed and became anxious. “It is our people who failed my world, not the technology. Over time, a group we refer to as ‘the Rovers’ wanted to leave our new home and explore other worlds.” She looked at Alec earnestly. “News of war and the factions the Empire had been split into shocked us all. Our world would be highly prized by any one of the factions.” Electra stood and paced the floor. “It was decided that no one could leave if it meant the secret of our location getting out. The Rovers believed it was all government propaganda to control the population.” She stopped and turned to Alec. “The Rovers left anyway, and, ever since they did, we have been fearful of an invasion fleet arriving at our doorstep.”