Resolute

Chapter 6

The Resolute hovered a kilometer from the gravity anomaly that loomed with the unknown. ''We ready to send a buoy through?'' Kris asked. Actually, urged.

''We've rigged it with a camera so we can see what it sees once it comes back,'' Sulwan said.

''Assuming it comes back,'' the helmsman muttered.

''Let's be optimists,'' Captain Drago said. ''We're working for one.'' He punctuated that with a glance Kris's way. Those dark eyebrows hinted at thoughts quite different from his words.

''Buoy is headed out,'' Sulwan said. ''Buoy is gone. Should be back in one minute,'' she added quickly.

It was a very long minute. Nelly counted off every second in the back of Kris's skull. If Kris herself hadn't been so antsy, she might have shushed her computer.

Nelly hit sixty and nothing happened.

The bridge stayed quiet. Very quiet. Not even the sound of someone breathing. No surprise. Kris wasn't breathing, either. She listened as Nelly counted. At sixty-three, the errant buoy reappeared and the main screen came to life.

''That's a whole different set of stars,'' Sulwan whispered.

''Can you match it to anything in our charts?'' Drago asked.

''Not enough coverage.''

''Well, Your Highness, what are your orders?'' the captain said, eyes still on the screen.

''Would you please slip your ship through this jump? We don't want to end up in Iteeche space,'' Kris said, trying to keep the proper petitioner's tone of voice that one should have when riding in another's ship. Not the flaming eager voice that was in her throat.

''Send the buoy through, then follow, Navigator, pianissimo.''

The buoy vanished. Sulwan nudged the Resolute forward.

It seemed to take forever to reach the jump point.

''I wonder if maybe the reason these jump points look so different might be ‘cause they're cargo jumps. Not meant for something alive,'' Jack said.

''Shut up,'' Kris said, along with most of the bridge crew. Not Sulwan. She had her eyes on her board.

They made the jump, shook off the effects of it, and stared at that strange star pattern they'd seen from the buoy report.

''Tell me where we are,'' Captain Drago called softly.

''Just a moment, sir,'' Sulwan said, her eyes on her board, her fingers flying over it. Then she smiled and looked up.

''We're about fifteen light-years outside human space, in unclaimed territory,'' the navigator reported. The main screen now showed a familiar star chart. A new point flashed red in an area that was dark with inaccessible stars.

''Doesn't look like much of a system,'' the helmsman reported. ''A couple of rocks close to the star. One of them huge. Several gas giants way out. Nothing in the potential zone of life.''

Kris looked over the helmsman's shoulder. A more thorough study might take a day. And likely would tell them little more.

''This a dead end?'' she asked Sulwan.

''No. There's a jump point not more than an hour away.''

''Head for it,'' Captain Drago said, too eager to ask Kris.

''Leave the buoy here,'' Kris said.

''I'm glad to see Your Highness has some sense of self-preservation,'' Jack said, leaning close to her ear.

''I do know how to leave bread crumbs.''

Abby and Chief Beni picked that moment to step onto the Resolute's bridge. Jack had serious questions about taking leave to accompany Kris's expedition. ''Anytime I'm within five light-years of you, Princess, I'm working. Or dodging incoming.''

Beni had no such questions. ''You bet I want to be in on whatever you're up to. It pays good.''

Kris had said nothing to Abby. She'd actually planned on leaving the maid behind. But Abby had shown up waving a fur bikini. ''You'll need this if you have to make a formal appearance as a Barbarian Princess to these folks.''

''Just how secret is this little shindig?'' Jack remarked.

Kris shrugged… and remembered the steamer trunks trailing Abby aboard the Resolute. All twelve. None got left behind.

Jack raised an eyebrow as if to say ''You sure you want to do this? Even Abby's magic Ouija board is saying it's dangerous.''

Abby didn't trail any trunks onto the bridge just now.

''Anything interesting?'' Beni asked, chomping on an apple left over from lunch.

''Doesn't look like it, just another jump,'' Kris said.

''I've only got two more cameras to mount on the buoys,'' the chief said.

''We've only got three buoys,'' Captain Drago pointed out. ''I do wish you'd let me order some drones. It might mean a delay, but we'd be better prepared.''

''And why would the Resolute be ordering a batch of remotes,'' Kris said, shaking her head. ''We don't want questions raised. Don't worry. It's all taken care of.''

The look the captain gave Kris didn't look persuaded.

The second buoy's exploratory trip through the next jump brought back more strange stars… and something recorded in the radio bandwidth.

''Can you make anything of it, Chief?'' Kris asked.

''It's more static than anything else. It's just that it's static in the wrong place and static with too much organization in it to be ignored.''

''Go through?'' Sulwan asked.

Captain Drago raised an eyebrow to Kris.

''You see anything in the buoy's report that says we'd be in danger if we went?''

''Can't say that I do,'' Beni said, almost making it sound like he wanted to.

''If you would, Captain,'' Kris said, and the Resolute followed its buoy through the jump.

This time they found themselves deep in a system's inhabitable zone, orbiting a distant moon of a planet that had several more closer in. A planet beautifully blue and green.

‘''That's where the noise is coming from. Right down around the equator,'' Beni reported.

''Do we go down there?'' Captain Drago asked.

''Just a moment. Nelly, do you have design instructions for remote deep-space probes in your gizzard?''

''I have such designs in my memory banks, Your Highness,'' Nelly answered formally. Very formally. Did I hurt her feelings, Kris wondered. No, not possible.

She must have thought it too solidly, because Nelly answered. I do not like it when you make fun of me in front of your friends. I want respect.

Okay, girl, I'll remember that.

''Abby, I have three ten-kilo bars of Smart Metal in my trunks.''

''Of course, ma'am.''

''And some extra self-organizing computer goo, don't I?''

''You know you do.''

''After Turantic, I never leave home without the stuff,'' Kris said, giving Jack and Captain Drago a big smile. ''Abby, please get one bar and a vial of the goo and meet me in Engineering. Let's get ourselves some outriders before we go anywhere. Who knows what might be in our way.''

An hour later, Kris and Nelly had conjured up a dozen remote probes and fueled them with antimatter and reaction mass from the Resolute's power plant. Captain Drago was much more enthusiastic about shifting his ship to a lower orbit, now that he was following behind a scout force that verified it was safe.

They settled smoothly into a comfortably low orbit and turned on all the cameras and sensors Kris had snuck aboard her leased ship. After two orbits of the planet, Kris was smiling from ear to ear. Oceans covered 65 percent of this blue-green world. Ice caps glistened at the poles. Two large continents had grass plains and forests spread over their temperate zones. The tropics were either desert or jungle with a really lovely area of green savanna. What looked like a major tropical storm system was swirling its way north from just above the equator.

''Kind of reminds you of Earth before we got done with it,'' Abby said.

''What do you make of these?'' Kris asked Beni, highlighting several large mounds. Some were in huge meadows amid forests. Others were scattered widely among the grassy plains.

''I'm more interested in this one,'' he said, pointing at a section where the high canopy of the tropical rain forest made way for lower mounds and one tall spire. ''This is where that radio noise is coming from.''

''Nelly, make us up some small drop scouts to send down to look that place over closely.''

''They will be ready for the next pass over that site.''

''Call it Site One.''

''What about these?'' Jack said, pointing to one of the savanna pictures. A herd of something on eight legs was racing along. ''Looks like they're running from something!''

''Or someone said ‘last one in the river is a rotten egg','' Abby said.

''Animals don't waste their metabolic economy on frivolous things like that,'' Jack growled.

''Unless the fastest girl gets the fastest guy,'' Kris said. ''Let's launch the probes and get a closer picture.''

Three hours later, and two more orbits completed, they were no nearer to any solid answers. ''They got big animals and little animals,'' Abby said.

''They got animals dining on plants, and others that dine on them,'' Beni pointed out.

''I say those are ruins,'' Jack said, pointing to what looked very much like ruins… or large rock outcroppings in the middle of plains and forests.

''And none of the animals we're looking at look at all like any of the Three species that built the jump points,'' Kris said.

''Assuming anyone built them,'' Captain Drago put in.

''And assuming the pictures your Great-Grampa Ray saw on Santa Maria really were of the Three,'' Sulwan added.

''Questions, assumptions, everywhere and not a drop of data to hang a hat on,'' Nelly finished.

''So let's go down and see some of this up close,'' Kris said.

And ducked at the onslaught of ''not now.''

''we're not ready,'' and ''you can't be that crazy'' that followed.

''Okay, okay,'' she said, raising a hand. ''I want to go down there, so we are going down there. What do you bunch of nannies insist on us doing before we go?''

Actually, Kris wasn't at all surprised at the safety burden laid on her. If they'd given her a minute of peace, she would probably have outlined everything they said. Still, it must have made Jack, Captain Drago, and even Abby feel good to tell her what to do. So she let them.

Kris brought the shuttle down in a spray of water, waited until she'd bled off most of her speed, then swung the shuttle around gently to head it for the bank of the river. With no sandy beach to aim for, she settled for the foot of a trail that seemed to be where most of the locals came down to drink. The shuttle lost the last of its momentum among what looked like reeds and planted its nose gently onto the muddy bank.

''Not bad,'' Jack said. ''Now to get out of here as easy.''

Kris held up her arm, encased in a fully armored space suit. ''I won't drink the water. I won't breathe the air. What more do you want, my loyal security officer?''

''A nice safe chair by a crackling fire… at home,'' Jack said. He'd been so happy to find that the Resolute's storage included full battle armor for this trip that he hadn't even asked just how it came to pass that a simple merchant ship happened to come so equipped.

Kris had. ''I bought them surplus. Armored suits were cheaper than the usual spacewear. I was saving money,'' Captain Drago insisted. Leaving Kris to wonder if Captain Drago and Maid Abby shopped the same sales.

Jack helped Kris on with her gauntlets and helmet, then Kris did the same for him. Chief Beni was paired with the Resolute's communications officer, the same tech who'd upped the gain on their sensors last cruise.

Captain Drago had offered four strong backs to do the fetching and carrying. Abby had suggested that she might fill one of those slots. Kris had considered her options and decided she'd rather have her group made up of four knowns to balance the unknown loyalty of the ship's personnel.

''That assumes anyone knows where Abby's loyalties lie,'' Jack muttered darkly, but since he made no stronger objections, Kris waved Abby aboard.

With everyone suited and checked out, Kris had them crack the shuttle's hatch. The air that came in was breathable, but laden with a wide selection of pollen, bugs, and the likes, enough to make Jack remark: ''Now ain't you glad you're breathing canned air?''

Kris shrugged—a comment lost in full armor—and stepped into water up to her knees. She waded through muck and vegetation to the beach. All ashore, she closed up the ship and looked around.

The place was green. Green of leaf and branch. Even most of what passed for tree trunks were green. Some were brown, a few appeared purple. Strange sounds came from the mikes mounted to the outside of their suits. Within their sight, nothing larger than a small fly moved. While two ship's crew tied the shuttle to solid-looking trees, Kris sent probes down the path they intended to take to Site One. When they reported back nothing that seemed worth worrying about, Kris led off.

''Who did that?'' came on net.

''What?'' Kris asked.

''I just got hit by a rock. Anyone throw it?'' No one had.

''Let's go, crew, but take your time. Head's up.'' Two of the crew carried low-power lasers for clearing path. Abby and another crewwoman had M-6 weapons at the ready. Kris had two automatics strapped to her suit, but was more interested in looking than shooting. ''Nelly, use audio and visuals to examine our situation. I want to know immediately if you see anything that looks intelligent or hostile.''

''Or both,'' Nelly added. ''I am at least as interested as you are, Kris. And so far I see bushes moving in the wind. I see small animals that shouldn't be able to throw a rock. I don't see anything else.''

Something on six legs that reached about to Kris's knees turned the path's corner and trotted toward them. It took a half dozen steps, froze, and raised a snout with four curling tusks. Kris stared into two small eyes that stared back at her.

''Nelly, some noise please. All the speakers will take.''

There was a loud screech. All around them, winged things took to the air. In front of Kris, the situation didn't change. As Kris slowly reached for her automatic, Abby came on net.

''Let me try this,'' she said, and a large stone arched over Kris's shoulder to land in front of the critter. It bounced once, and would have hit the thing, but it made a noise all its own and bolted into the green shrub beside the trail.

''I figured it might not know about an M-6,'' Abby drawled. ''But if someone was throwing rocks, that might do the trick.''

Kris stooped to pick up some rocks. Soon, anyone who didn't have his hands full with black-box gizmos had a couple of rocks. Two crewmen talked about a slingshot and how they might make one out of what they had on hand. Since most of it involved cannibalizing their suits, slingshots remained just talk.

The path split in two, but the place Kris wanted was straight ahead. The laser cutters took over, making trail. They took another rock as they left the trees.

''Nelly?''

''I only saw the latter part of the rock's trajectory. Who- or whatever threw it was in the trees.''

They stood for a long minute, eyeing the tree line they'd have to cross to get back to the shuttle, but nothing moved out of what they had already determined was ''the ordinary.''

They crossed the six-foot-high grass as quickly as they could. Ahead, the gray spire gave them something to aim for. What it may once have been was impossible to say, but it was tall, and thin, and looked very well worn. Yet it stood.

They broke out of the grass to find themselves walking over broken stones or maybe shattered concrete. Cracks allowed for tiny invasions of growth.''

''A million years old and it looks this good,'' someone said.

''The road between the stars wasn't the only road the Three made,'' Kris said.

And a rock bounced across her path.

''I saw that!'' Abby said.

''What was it?''

''It looked like a string of oversize jelly beans on centipede legs. Only the first two legs were throwing things. It disappeared into that pile of rocks,'' Abby said, waving her rifle's snout to the left of the column.

''Let's not shoot anything we don't have to,'' Kris said.

''It didn't look like anything a big-game hunter would want to mount on her mantelpiece, anyway,'' Abby said. ''Leastwise none of the hunters I worked for.''

''I just don't want them mounting my head on their mantelpiece,'' Beni said.

''Let's keep all 360 degrees covered,'' Jack said. ''You two at the tail. You're the back door.''

Kris turned to find that the rear of the column was already walking backward, rifle or pistol up, covering the rear. Nice to find field craft like that among merchant sailors.

Yeah, right, Nelly muttered in Kris's brain. I can add two and two as well as any human.

Down girl. Don't look a gift horse under the armpit as our captain says.

Yes, but I hope you will do a better job of checking the hooves of any Greek gift horses we now stumble among.

That's a good one, Nelly. Now concentrate on the present problem. We can't afford to burn more than one bridge at a time.

''There's one,'' Nelly said, and Kris got a fleeting look at what was tossing things their way. And sidestepped the latest rock to come at them.

It did and didn't look like one of the Three. Grampa Ray's ''download'' from Santa Maria of some of the records from the Three showed three distinct species. One, the strangest, was a segmented species that started as one section of tubing, then added more as it grew. It didn't grow them, but attached other singletons. Adults might have five or as many as seven segments, though there did appear to be one picture of an eight. For obvious reasons, they'd become known as the Caterpillar People.

Beyond that, people didn't agree on much about this weird species. ''You sure we aren't trying to figure them out from say, a Donald Duck cartoon. How much about humans would a classical Road Runner and Coyote snippet tell you?'' was a question Kris found funny when she was a kid.

Now, looking at something that didn't fit the expected, she had to wonder just how much she knew… or needed to unlearn.

''Keep your eyes peeled,'' she ordered. ''Let me know if you see one of those things with more than three segments.''

''You think we've found one of the Three?'' Jack asked.

''Or what it looks like after a million more years of evolution,'' Kris answered.

''Evolution?'' Abby said, ''or de-evolution? This place don't look like the place I'd want my great-to-the-nth-degree-grand-kids to be living in.'' Abby had a point. That point was emphasized when Kris spotted one of the critters in question defecate, pick up the droppings, and hurl them at her crew. That one missed, but not the next one.

''You know, Princess,'' Chief Beni said, trying to scrape the muck off the leg of his battle suit with a large green leaf, ''I don't think they much like us.''

''Kind of looks that way,'' Abby agreed.

They reached the edge of the greensward. Ahead lay a series of rock piles. On closer look, they turned out to be less of a jumble. Kris could make out the underlying walls, many of them cracked but still standing. Inside you could see open spaces, shaded by only a few stunted trees or shrubs that had found footing.

''They look man made,'' one of the sailors said.

''At least intelligently made,'' Kris agreed.

Underfoot was more of the paving. It showed different textures and hints of different colors. Here and there it was broken by growth, but the handiwork of some engineer was fighting a long, slow retreat. Kris considered what on Wardhaven might still show that humans had been there in, say, a million years. She doubted anything would be left in a hundred thousand.

''Chief, are we still headed for the source of the signal?''

''Yes, Lieutenant. It looks to be coming from that tower. Don't know if the signal is originating from way up there or from someplace down around its base.''

''That's what we are here to find out.''

That turned out to be no easy walk. Rocks and muck were bouncing off them regularly now. That didn't impede them, but the work of the builders here did not always hold up as well. They had to cut their way through a thousand yards of grass, that or take a long walk around. There were also some pretty tall trees rising above the grass, and some nasty thorn bushes.

''Now aren't you glad we're in this armor,'' Jack said.

''You don't remember getting an argument from me, do you?''

''She was kind of unusually pliant, as I recall,'' Abby said.

Jack might have shrugged, but the battle suit absorbed most of it. Kris decided to credit him with a shrug, because he said nothing to Abby's defense of her.

There were more of the critters here in the trees. Kris spotted what might be a family or clan. Anyway it had several of the triple segments, as well as several double segments and a few singles running around under what Kris took for close supervision. The rocks, sticks, and muck came mostly from the triples. A few of the doubles did try their ''hands'' at throwing, but theirs seemed almost comical in their poor aim. Were they teenagers imitating their elders?

''Would be nice to take a sample of those home with me,'' the sailor Captain Drago had identified as Doc said.

''Crew, if we don't have to kill anything here, I sure would like to leave here with no blood on my hands.''

''You assume they have blood,'' Beni said.

''Let's give these things the full benefit of the doubt.''

''And if they start throwing hand grenades?'' Abby said.

''Then you can give them the full benefit of your rifle.''

''Amen to that'' came from somewhere in the rear.

They were still a good thousand meters away when they got their first partial view of the structure at the foot of the spire. ''That place looks huge,'' Beni said.

The satellite pictures and feedback from the scouts had not prepared Kris for what she saw. The building, she mentally tagged it ''noise central,'' was already too big for them to get a full view of it. What she could see showed multiple sides, a slight corner every hundred meters, no telling how many sides there was to this one.

Beside Kris, the city, if she dare call it that, was in less ruin. No way to tell if that was because it was better built or just protected by its surroundings. Still, while most of the roof might be intact, there would be some holes, made evident by a tree poking its leafy head through. Or a wall would be cracked, letting grass and shrubs into the shadows.

Kris called a pause to let suit radiators catch up with the heat. They were only edging into the yellow, but Kris didn't intend to get into anything today without plenty of reserves. Abby and one of the sailors, claiming that their suits were already in the green, took it upon themselves to laser down some shrubs and take a good look inside one of the buildings. The Doc provided a lookout or, in their case a look in, at the hole in the wall while they did some rummaging around inside.

And returned empty handed.

''It don't look any different inside than it does outside,'' Abby said, the helmet on her suit turning back and forth in as much of a rueful shake as it could.

Satisfied with the color showing on her team's readouts, Kris ordered them forward. The wind had been blowing softly as they made their way through the city. It fell calm as they reached the base of the spire. The jungle sounds also went suddenly missing. No rocks were tossed their way.

Kris eyed the base of the silvery spire. No cracks in this wall; no grass grew on its smooth sides. There was hardly any pitting in the shiny blue-black façade it presented her.

''About this time in all the vids don't the intrepid explorers decide to split up?'' Abby muttered.

''And half of them vanish,'' Jack added dryly, ''into something truly vile and revolting. No thanks.''

''The photos say,'' Nelly said, ''there are three identical indentations in the building that might be entrances. They are equally spaced around it. The nearest is about five hundred meters away to your left, Kris.''

''Thank you, Nelly,'' Kris said. ''What say we skip the vile and stupid mistakes some fiction weavers resort to and do this smart.'' Kris turned to the left and took a step.

Her second step sank deep into goo.

''Where'd that come from?'' Kris muttered. ''Folks, watch your footing. Some of this paving didn't wear as long as the contractor promised.''

That got a laugh. But Jack noticed Kris's limp. ''How bad?''

''More embarrassing than hurt. I think I can walk it off.''

And even if she couldn't, she wasn't going to admit it. It was hard to tell in armor, but the shape of Jack's shoulders seemed to say he didn't buy her claim. She kept walking.

''Whoever built this took pride in his or her… or its… workmanship. Look at how this shines after all these years,'' Beni said after a few minutes of walking around the wall.

Maybe it was the armored suit, or the familiar canned air, but Kris didn't feel any of the shivers that she did around the old houses on Wardhaven, or some of the really ancient sites—three or four thousand years old—that she'd seen her one trip to Earth.

Or maybe it was just that it looked too good. She'd marveled at Stonehenge on Earth. It ''felt'' old. This… just seemed too modern.

Or maybe too alien.

They arrived at what might be a door… or not. Here was a longer side some two hundred meters between turns. Only this one had an alcove cut two hundred meters into it.

''Looks like a murder hole,'' Abby said, then had to explain. ''Ancient castles or forts let you get at their gates, but only by walking into a space like this where they could shoot at you from all sides. You see any gun ports along there?''

A search of the walls showed no holes for guns, arrows, or fire of any sort. From the ground to as far as they could see, the wall was just blue-black, seamless, and shiny.

But then, in front of them there also was no evidence of a door, gate, portal, or any other way in.

''Maybe it's not a murder hole,'' Kris said. ''Maybe it's just a place to sit and smell the flowers.''

''I don't see no flower,'' Beni observed. ''And I don't see anyplace to sit.''

''In a million years, those things could get lost,'' Kris said. ''Nelly, could you modify our nano-scouts to go over this place with a fine-tooth comb, see if they can find any cracks that we can't.''

''Doing it, Kris,'' Nelly said. ''Done.''

''Have them start there,'' Kris said, pointing at the middle wall where a human architect would have put a door.

Ten minutes later Nelly reported, ''No luck. That wall is solid down to the quantum level. Very solid.''

''Maybe that's not where these folks would put a door?'' Jack said.

''Yeah, maybe the door has to face east or west,'' Beni said. ''Aren't there some ancient cultures that were like that?''

''Yes,'' Abby agreed. ''But they usually oriented the entire building that way.''

''But this building is just one big, round half sphere. If these people were made in six or seven segments, and could bend themselves around?'' Kris said slowly, not at all sure where she was going with this thought.

''Or are we bending our logic into a pretzel?'' Abby asked.

''I am sending the nanos to scout the other sides of this U,'' Nelly said.

''Maybe we need to look at the paving,'' Beni said. ''Maybe they liked to walk downhill into a place.''

''We didn't see any basements in the buildings that are open,'' Abby pointed out.

Kris let the chatter wash over her, something she'd react to if and when she needed to. The building itself was having its own effect on her. It towered, but it also leaned back, away from her, hiding its upper limits from her eye. What impact had the original architect sought on his public. No columns here. No towering straight walls.

Totally alien.

''Kris, we seem to have found a break in the wall that is linear,'' Nelly reported.

Kris led an avalanche of ''Where?''

''I will try to have the nanos mark the separation. It hardly qualifies as a crack. The nanos cannot penetrate it.''

''That really is small!'' Kris said. It took several tries to mark the outline of the potential door. The first two efforts at marking it resulted in slight puffs of dye marker drifting away on the tiny updrafts rising in the heat of the building.

The third try succeeded in leaving a thin yellow mark. Slowly a pattern formed. It started about five meters away at the bottom where the building met the pavement. Then it rose in an arch, widening. ''They were round centipedes,'' Kris said.

The circling pattern met at the top. No flourishes, nothing that Mother called gingerbread. Just a circle cut off at the bottom by the flat line of the pavement.

''I guess that qualifies as a door,'' Jack said.

''Only if we can open it,'' Kris reminded them. ''Nelly, have your nanos look for something like a keypad or door lock. Anything that might open it.''

''I have had them scouring the wall around it, as well as the wall across from it. Kris, what you see is all that we have found. This is a very blank wall.''

''Thank you, Nelly,'' Kris said. Nelly's nonexistent feathers seemed to be a bit ruffled. Maybe some human respect would soothe. ''Beni, do you have any signal that we might use for an ‘open sesame'?''

''All I'm getting is the usual noise I've been hearing. Static with too much of a hint at some organization.''

''Anyone want to try explosives?'' Abby said.

''You really think anything we've got will mar something that's withstood a million years?'' Jack said.

''Nothing beats a try but a failure,'' the maid answered.

''Let's start with the lasers,'' Kris ordered. The lasers had been very low-powered to cut brush. Now the sailors dialed one up and applied it to a section of wall.

To no noticeable effect.

''Kris, feel that?'' Nelly said a full minute later.

''It ought to be white hot.''

''Yes, but my nanos report that it is no warmer than the surrounding wall.''

''Where's the heat going?'' the sailor with the laser said, putting it down.

Kris reached slowly for the place he'd been working on. No heat came back at her. She touched it. Her gauntleted hands transmitted no warmth. ''Whatever this stuff is, I want it on the hide of my next ship.'' Murmurs of agreement filled the net.

''Kris, I may have spotted something in the static,'' Nelly said, interrupting them all standing around looking dumb.

''What do you think you have?''

''Among the signals I found on the stone chip I have been analyzing are a whole series of sequences that seem to make no sense at all. They are just in this one place on the chip with no reference to anything.''

''And,'' Kris said.

''One of the sequences coming from the spire is the first half of one of those sequences from Santa Maria.''

''An entrance code?''

''Your guess is as good as mine,'' Nelly answered. Kris could almost hear a laugh run through the humans on net. Almost. Maybe they turned their mikes off.

''Well, let's see how good your guess is, Nelly. Play the sequence back,'' Kris said.

There was a pause. The door, if that was what it was, stayed closed. ''I just played it,'' Nelly said.

''Do we need to hunt for a different frequency to reply?'' Beni asked.

''That could put us here forever,'' Comm Boss at his elbow sighed, but he seemed to have intercepted Nelly's signal and was already working his own black box.

''Or maybe we didn't send it right?'' Abby said.

''Your thoughts,'' Kris said.

''Nelly, you sent it the whole sequence, right?''

''Yes.''

''But was it sending out the whole sequence, or just part of it?''

''It was sending only the first part.''

''Send only the second part,'' Kris said.

And in front of them, the entire door moved up and out of their way. ''Very, very good, Nelly,'' Kris said as the doorway reached full open.

Ahead of Kris spanned a large, empty space. The only light came from the open door. By it she saw the building's ribbed outer wall rising up. The floor inside had a series of designs laid into its speckled-green stone that formed no pattern Kris could comprehend. Nelly, you working on it?

I am storing it for later study, Kris, when I have more of it available.

Right. ''Are the nanos inside?''

''Yes, Kris. They report nothing dangerous. However, they do appear to be gaining weight. They are having to use extra fuel to stay aloft.''

''What's making them heavy?'' Jack asked.

''I do not know. I would have to bring them out to evaluate the problem fully.''

''Bring a couple out and let's have a look,'' Kris ordered.

A minute later, several nano-scouts were out. ''Ah, Kris, they are no longer overweight. I can find nothing on them,'' Nelly said, sounding rather puzzled for a computer.

''Interesting,'' Jack said. Kris could almost hear his eyebrows going up behind the mirror of his faceplate.

''So, a million years ago some clean freak designed gear to keep this place spotless. And they're still at it. Too bad we can't tell her how good she was.''

''Maybe so, but how will it effect our suits?'' Jack asked.

''I intend to find out,'' Kris said.

''I'm glad you got your itty bitty buddies out in front,'' Abby said, coming back from across the street twirling a stick as tall as she was. ''But I'm gonna trust something a bit more primitive to test out where I put my dainty feet.''

''I think I'll get a stick, too,'' Beni said, heading for the same small copes.

''Get me one, too,'' Kris said after him.

''Me three,'' Jack added.

''I'll get one for everyone going in,'' a sailor with a laser answered as he followed the chief.

''How many are going in?'' Jack asked.

''You, me, Abby, Beni. Doc, you willing to stay behind?''

''I really want to get a look inside. Take air samples. Why not leave our radio boss behind. He's got the antenna to net us to the Resolute. Him and one of the gunners.''

Since Abby was one of the two gunners, that left only one. After some good ribbing about bringing back lush native girls for Comm Boss, and a hunk for the gunner, that was settled.

Beni headed back with an armful of walking staffs. ''Bring me a big rock,'' Kris called. ''Something to put in the doorjamb.''

The laser wielder turned back, picked a large one that looked like it had started life as a cut slab, but been broken in half. Radio trotted over to give him a hand and the two of them lugged it in and set it upright along the right side of the door.

''Think that will stop it from closing?'' Jack asked, eyeing the half meter tall block.

''Long enough for us to get out,'' Kris said.

''Here we are, the finest example of twenty-fourth century womanhood,'' Abby said, ''and manhood, and we're reduced to using rocks for doorstops.''

''I'm sure the next expedition will be much better prepared,'' Kris said. ''Now, do you intend to fold this hand and leave all the fun to them, or are we going to take our own primitive step into, well, whatever.''

Abby put out her walking stick, tapped the stones on the inside of the doorsill, and stepped across. ''One small step for this woman, one big question mark for the rest of you.''