Her spacesuit came with a built-in headlamp, so she flipped it on. She had expected a corridor, but another huge bay opened up, the ceiling at least three stories above them. She could not see to the other end because mountains of rubbish rose all around them, the peaks touching that high ceiling in places. An aisle meandered through the towering heaps, like a river snaking between hills.
“Looks like we have gravity,” Tomich said, coming through the doorway with Yumi, Alejandro, and the soldiers.
“And radiation,” a soldier carrying equipment for measuring the environment said.
“More than expected?”
“No, but we expected an alarming amount.”
“I’m watching my helmet display,” Tomich said, “but let me know if you read anything that suggests our suits won’t be able to handle this and we need to get out.”
“Yes, sir.”
Abelardus stayed right beside Alisa, opposite of Leonidas. She felt like a controversial political figure who needed bodyguards to keep the assassins at bay.
Mica walked toward the closest pile and picked up a small piece of rubble. She tossed it high into the air, and it tumbled slowly back down for her to catch. “Partial gravity.”
“Keep your boots magnetized,” Tomich told everyone.
“Down the path?” Leonidas asked Alisa. “Or over the piles to avoid possible traps?”
As if she knew. This was Alejandro’s quest. She looked back at him, and he shrugged.
“I thought you had some extra insight, Doctor,” she said.
“From what I read, the unwelcome will be punished for trespassing,” he said.
“I can feel the presence of Starseer artifacts,” Abelardus said.
“Booby-trap artifacts?” Alisa asked.
“Possibly.”
“Can you sense the presence of anything… significant?” Alejandro asked him.
Significant? Their Staff of Lore?
“It’s possible it’s among the things I sense, but…”
“You don’t think so?”
“I would expect a greater presence from something so powerful,” Abelardus said.
“So, it’s not here?” Alejandro sounded more relieved than devastated. Maybe because he knew the soldiers would only take the staff if they found it now.
“I can’t be certain yet. It could be muted by being stored in a vault.”
Sensing that everyone was waiting for her—and what a lovely feeling that was—Alisa started up the path.
“May I see that?” Yumi asked, walking beside Mica.
Mica handed her the small lump of rubble she had been tossing. Yumi rubbed it with her gloved fingers.
As they followed the path, Leonidas kept his steps slow so that he did not pull ahead of Alisa. He probably wanted to, but if anyone would trigger traps in a station made by Starseers, it would be a cyborg.
“This is a gold coin,” Yumi said, holding up the prize that she had cleaned of dust. “Pre-empire. Late Kirian, judging by the date and stamp.”
Several of the men stopped to stare at the dust-shrouded piles with renewed interest.
“Are all of those coins?” one asked.
“If so, we’ve stumbled into some ancient dragon’s treasure cave,” another said.
“Just worry about the mission for now,” Tomich said. “If there’s treasure here, we’ll come back for it later. The three suns know the Alliance can use valuables in its coffers to pay for the expenses of running a system.”
Judging by the look the two soldiers exchanged, they weren’t overly concerned about the Alliance’s coffers.
“Not treasure,” Alejandro said, rubbing off a piece of equipment that looked like it belonged in an engine room, a very old engine room. “Offerings for the dead. This is a burial chamber. Alcyone’s burial chamber.”
“Which makes me feel all the better about invading it,” Alisa muttered. She continued along the winding path, the beam of light from her headlamp playing across the dusty floor ahead of her.
Something made the hairs on her arms rise again, and she stopped a second before Abelardus grabbed her arm from behind.
“Don’t walk there,” he said, pointing at a portion of the floor that looked the same as the rest. “That should be fine up there.” He waved a few feet to the side, indicating she should walk over the lumpy base of a rubble pile.
“Should be fine,” Alisa said.
Despite his earlier attempts not to get out in front of her, Leonidas walked in the indicated direction first. Rubble—offerings—shifted and cracked under his boots as he avoided the path. Alisa and the rest of the team carefully followed him.
A faint clink-clunk sounded from a far corner as Alisa stepped back onto the path. She froze.
“Do we have atmosphere in here?” Mica wondered. “I heard something.”
“As did I,” Abelardus said. “I think someone brushed that trigger.”
“It wasn’t me,” a soldier in the back said.
“We may have just reached the point,” Abelardus said, “where whatever sensors are still working on the station realized someone is here.”
“Comforting,” Alisa said.
Another clunk sounded from a corner that they could not see, not with the mountains in the way.
“Can you tell if something is over there?” Tomich asked Abelardus.
“I sense… not much in that direction. Machinery.”
“Isn’t machinery what you sensed when you tried to read those androids?” Alisa asked. “Androids that tried to kill us?”
“Yes.”
“My sensors show a partial atmosphere,” Leonidas said. “Not enough to breathe, but there might have been more once.”
More sounds followed, the shifting and tinkling of pieces of rubble—or coins—being moved aside. It was coming from that corner.
Even though his only weapon was his staff, Abelardus walked forward to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Leonidas in the path. Beck and several more soldiers also eased past Alisa.
A shriek came out of the darkness, so loud and startling that Alisa nearly fell over. Flashlight beams crossed in the air, seeking the source. Something flew out of the shadows, massive webbed wings flapping. Alisa thought it was a real animal—a real monster—but it clinked as those wings flapped, and dull, mechanical eyes stared out from its bat-like face.
“Fire, sir?” a tense soldier asked as it soared around the ceiling, looking down upon them.
“Abelardus?” Tomich asked.
“I’ve never heard of anything like it before,” Abelardus said. “And it’s not living, so I can’t perceive its intent, though it does have… This is one of the artifacts I sensed.”
Artifacts? Did that mean it would have some power beyond wings and talons? Starseer power?
“It’s here to defend the tomb,” Alejandro said, sounding certain.
“The tomb we aim to raid?” Alisa asked.
The creature screeched again, the ear-splitting noise more animal-like than mechanical. Then it banked and veered straight toward them, straight toward Leonidas.
He stood his ground and fired. The blazer bolts splashed off the creature’s metal hide, as if they had struck combat armor. It continued toward him, plummeting, razor-edged talons extended.
Alisa, Mica, and Yumi scurried back as several soldiers leaped forward. Alisa felt cowardly for scrambling out of the way, but Leonidas and the soldiers were the only ones in true combat armor. The spacesuits were designed to withstand radiation, not talons.
Leonidas sprang out of the way an instant before the construct would have snatched him up. The long talons snapped at the air where he had been. Air beat at Alisa’s chest as it caught itself with flapping wings, just keeping from crashing. Only now, with the great creature so close, did she realize how large it was. It had to have a wingspan of thirty feet.
She joined the soldiers in firing at it, but her little pistol did no more than their rifles. Someone switched to a grenade launcher.
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“Abelardus,” Alisa called. “Can you attack it? Throw it against a wall?”
“I’m trying to do something,” he replied, his voice strained. He stood on the path, his staff pointed toward the creature, but only shook his head. “It’s as if there’s a barrier around it, protecting it.”
“Alcyone, or those Starseers who entombed her here, must have expected that Starseers might one day invade her tomb,” Alejandro said.
As the flying creature banked for another attack, Leonidas scrambled halfway up a treasure pile, coins skidding down under his weight. It headed straight for him again.
“Apparently, they were worried about cyborgs too,” Alisa muttered, looking around, seeking inspiration. She felt useless.
This time, instead of springing away from it, Leonidas leaped toward the creature.
Alisa cursed. What was he doing?
He slammed into it hard enough that the great bird faltered. One of those talons grazed his armor, but he struck its chest, managing to find handholds as his legs dangled free.
The creature landed on one of the piles, using its wings to bat at Leonidas’s armored back. Ignoring the battering, he clawed his way upward, toward its neck. The bird’s sharp metallic beak plunged toward his helmet. Alisa fired at the same time as several other soldiers. She struck the construct’s faded gray eye, and the head reared up instead of striking Leonidas. It screeched again, pinning her with its stare. Had that actually hurt it?
One of the soldiers launched something at the construct as Leonidas made his way to the neck and clambered aboard the creature’s back. A grenade. It exploded as it struck the bird’s chest, the flames contorting oddly in the weak gravity and atmosphere. Smoke stole Leonidas from Alisa’s sight.
The creature leaped into the air, flapping away from the men.
“Watch where you’re firing,” Alisa yelled, wanting to shoot whoever had hurled the grenade. That could tear up Leonidas’s armor as easily as it could tear up their enemy.
She let out a relieved breath when she spotted Leonidas, his head up as he straddled the creature’s back. He lifted an arm and drove a punch between its shoulders. Another ear-splitting shriek came out of that metallic beak.
Leonidas appeared to have a good grip, but he was abruptly flung away from the creature’s back. He spun through the air and struck the ceiling so hard that Alisa heard the thunderous thud from halfway across the chamber.
As he tumbled back down, the soldiers opened fire on the creature. It screeched and spun toward them, fearless—fearless and pissed.
The air seemed to shimmer, and a wave of power slammed into the men. They scattered like poker chips struck by an angry gambler. Darkness descended as flashlights flew from men’s hands and hit the floor.
Alisa was on the edge of the wave, and she caught some of it, too, enough that it knocked her backward, her legs flying over her head. One of the treasure piles stopped her flight as her back struck it, blasting her breath from her lungs.
Though dazed, she rose to her knees and patted herself down, making sure none of her fasteners had been torn free. Her Starseer genes would not save her from the radiation in here if that happened.
Another grenade flew through the air as Alisa, assured that none of her body was exposed, climbed back to her feet. Where had Leonidas gone? The construct was still flying around, alternating between diving and flinging mental attacks. The men were scattered all about, a couple of them no longer moving as they lay among the dusty burial offerings.
The creature swooped down to attack someone blocked from Alisa’s sight by another mountain. Leonidas?
“Mica?” Alisa called, looking for her friend. “Where are you? You didn’t bring any rust bangs, did you?”
She had no idea if the corrosive acid would do anything against whatever shielding Abelardus said this creature possessed, but anything would be better than firing useless blazer bolts.
“Of course I brought rust bangs,” Mica said from surprisingly nearby.
She crouched behind Alisa, waving a canister. “I’ve thrown two and completely missed both times. I have melted good-sized holes in piles of gold.”
Alisa took the offered canister. “Let’s hope Alcyone won’t mind.”
The creature came back into view, powerful wings stirring the air as they flapped. Alisa hefted her new weapon, but did not throw. Leonidas had found his way astride the great bird again. He gripped the back of its head and tore off a piece of plating, flinging it to the side.
The construct shrieked like a wounded bat, and Alisa expected Leonidas to go flying again, but he flattened himself to its back and wrapped his arms around its neck. His body jerked, as if he’d been struck by a giant hammer, but he did not let go.
The construct started to bank, turning away from a wall coming up in front of it. Leonidas’s armored shoulders flexed and heaved. The long neck jerked to the side, and the head whipped along with it. The creature’s flight faltered, and it did not bank in time. It struck the wall hard and went down. Leonidas kept his grip, going down with it. Both cyborg and creature disappeared from view.
Alisa scrambled to the top of the nearest pile, hoping to get a chance to use the rust bang—and hoping Leonidas was all right. She had seen before what those Starseer powers could do to him, harming him even inside his armor.
Several of the soldiers also ran over a ridge of offerings. They shot blazers, seemingly oblivious to the fact that they were ineffective, and the man with the damned grenade launcher looked to be ready to fire his weapon before seeing if Leonidas was next to the creature or not.
Abelardus passed Alisa as she ran, topping the same pile that she was on.
“It’s down, but it’s getting up,” he called, and pointed his staff at it.
Alisa made it to the top and found Leonidas punching the creature in the side of the head, as if his fists were the best weapons he had. In this case, maybe they were. His power could bring down walls, after all.
“Get out of the way,” Abelardus yelled down to him.
Leonidas glanced up, and Alisa waved her rust bang. He punched the construct a final time, leaving a dent she could see from her perch, and sprang away, leaping twenty feet before landing.
The creature struggled to rise, inching off the scattered offerings where it had come down. Abelardus growled, his staff quivering as he concentrated. The creature bowed its head, its legs also quivering. Was he holding it down?
Alisa threw the rust bang a second before Abelardus yelled, “Everything you’ve got. Use it now.”
The soldiers needed no urging. Weapons fired, and another grenade spun through the air. It exploded next to the construct’s head, flames and smoke bursting into the air. The rust bang also exploded, less spectacularly, but perhaps more effectively. Acid flew everywhere, spattering the metallic creature.
Leonidas ran up the mountain to join Alisa and Abelardus. He turned toward the creature, as if he might use this elevated perch to spring atop it again. But the smoke cleared, revealing that their foe was not moving. Its head had been torn off, wires and the remains of metal vertebrae spilling from the stump.
“It seemed to like you,” Alisa said, swatting him on the chest playfully, though she was eyeing him up and down with her headlamp, hoping there were not any breaks in his armor. Dust dulled the usually shiny crimson, and it definitely had new dents.
“It saw me as the biggest threat,” he said.
Abelardus snorted. “More likely, it shared the Starseer hatred for cyborgs.”
“Alcyone worked alongside the fledgling imperial army and its newly minted cyborgs.”
“Just because she fought with them doesn’t mean she liked them. I’m fighting with you, and I don’t like you.”
Leonidas looked at him. “I have more reason to loathe and distrust you, Abelardus, than you have to feel that way toward me.”
“But you don’t?” Alisa asked.
“No, I do.” Leonidas put his arm around her back an
d pointed down the treasure pile to where the soldiers were gathering around Tomich.
She let him help her descend. “Is your arm around me because you’re a gentleman and you’re assisting me, or because you’re possessively removing me from Abelardus’s company?” she asked quietly.
“I am a gentleman, and a gentleman removes ladies from the company of unsavory influences.”
“Who told you that you were a gentleman, Colonel Adler?” Tomich asked over the comm.
A few snickers came in response.
Alisa flushed. She had forgotten that everyone was on the same channel, and their comms were open.
“Did someone tell you I wasn’t?” Leonidas asked, deadpan.
He and Alisa joined the soldiers, a sour-faced Abelardus right behind them. Apparently, he did not care for being called unsavory.
“It’s not the usual adjective we in the Alliance apply to cyborgs,” Tomich said.
“I’ve heard Alliance officers have a limited vocabulary.”
“Well, we all know I do.” Tomich grinned and thumped Leonidas on the arm. “Nice riding up there.”
Leonidas grunted indifferently, though he looked faintly pleased at this acknowledgment.
“Now who has a limited vocabulary?” Alisa teased him.
“Sir?” a worried voice asked, hurrying up to Tomich.
A couple of flashlight beams targeted the young soldier as he lifted an arm. Three parallel slashes in his suit revealed bloody cuts in the flesh beneath.
The soldiers fell silent.
“Get back to the shuttle and hit decon,” Tomich said, all of the humor gone from his face. “Max, go with him.”
“Yes, sir.”
The two men hustled back the way the group had come. Alejandro watched, his expression also grim. Alisa almost asked if the soldier would be all right, but she was afraid to do so.
“This better be worth it,” Tomich said, turning up the path they had been following. “Abelardus, you sense any other threats out there?”
“Yes.”
“Wonderful.” Tomich waved for Alisa to take the lead again.
Wonderful, indeed.
Not feeling brave, she made sure Leonidas and Abelardus were with her before heading down the path.