Ancient Relics (Shadow of the Ancients Book 1) (11 page)

After a less than turbulent entry into the thin
atmosphere of Gidim’s barren and dead planet, Logan’s away team reaches the
planet’s surface where the probes indicated subsurface intrusions.

Nearly thirty kilometers of buried archaeological
treasure beckon the team to explore it.

Paige, Oni, and Tess all accompany Logan on the
mission. Logan gathers the team together and begins his briefing.

“We will divide into four teams,” Logan starts.

He points to Paige and continues, “Paige, I need you
to take your two science officers to track probe team Charlie.”

Paige nods in understanding and looks toward her
teammates to get a handle on their locations.

Logan points to Oni and continues his briefing,
“Oni, I want you to take Dexter and Norm to probe team Bravo.”

Oni smirks with a devilishly large grin and yells,
“Woohoo, all right!”

Pausing a moment, he looks at Oni in a double take
and warns, “Don’t get over zealous and endanger yourself or my people, OK? This
is an opportunity for you to get the experience yo u need to become an
archaeologist.”

Oni calms herself a little and replies with an
attempt to suppress her exuberance, “Okie dokie, I’ll do my best… but this is
soooo cooool.”

Logan then diverts his attention to Tess.

Somewhat hesitant, Logan asks her, “Do you think you
can handle leading a team? I know you haven't really had the chance to lead
yet, and have only just begun your internship with the academy.”

Tess replies, “I believe I'm ready boss. Hit me with
it.”

“All right then,” he continues, “I want you to take
Emory and Fiona and check out the area around here, stay with the shuttle, and
if anything happens use the shuttle to gather everyone up.”

Oni counts the number of personnel and realizes
Logan has no team.

Curious as to why he would exclude himself from the
mission she asks, “So, what are you gonna’ do boss?”

Logan begins grabbing a few supplies and his
equipment as he replies to Oni’s question, “I am going to head due south about
five hundred meters to check out that strange hill we saw on our way down. I
suspect it may be a building covered by soil. I’ll be in radio shot if anyone
needs me.”

With the briefing concluded, he begins walking to
the mysterious site south of the shuttle’s location.

Each team leader gathers their equipment and
supplies as orders fly around, as if battle is about to ensue.

Just as quickly as Logan ran off, each of the teams
start-off to their assigned locations.

Logan is the first to reach his destination between
the teams that had to walk to their coordinates. Upon arrival, Logan’s first
task is to begin a preliminary scan of the hill.

Speaking aloud to himself, Logan mumbles, “Hmm,
extrusive sedimentary deposits with deep carbon scoring. An intrusive
crystalline structure fills the cavity of the hill; just as I suspected.”

Logan pulls out his DataCom device and opens a
channel to the Wayfarer.

“Commander,” Logan announces as he fumbles around
with his DataCom, picking and poking around the file system and typing command
code into the device.

Commander Asim quickly replies to Logan’s call, “Yes
Doctor?”

Without missing a beat, Logan rattles off requests,
“I need a new set of probe-bots sent to my location with these commands
programmed into them.”

As he makes his request, he uploads the files to the
ship’s science station.

Continuing his request, Logan adds, “I also need a
heavy-extruder sent down to my location.”

“Probes launched,” Commander Asim informs Logan, “As
for the heavy-extruder, it’ll take a few minutes. They’re all still packed up
in crates.”

“Understood, I’ll be standing by,” Logan replies
seemingly unfazed by the information.

The two new probes reach Logan and begin their
programmed tasks. One moves to the opposite side of the large hill while the
other stays near Logan’s position.

The scan readings fill into Logan’s DataCom device
as he continues to prod around in the database. He opens command lines and
sequentially uploads them to the probes in a continuous and flawless execution.

After nearly an hour of scanning the hill, Logan
receives comms from Commander Asim.

“Dr. Bailey, the heavy-extruder is in route to your
location,” the Commander informs him.

“Understood Commander. Thank you,” Logan replies
without any break in concentration.

A few minutes later, the heavy-extruder lands and
Logan uploads a command file to the large vehicle-like robot with a disc drill
mounted on the its front.

Heavy-extruders are diggers. The robot performs
heavy soil and rock lifting operations in locations too dangerous for people to
work.

On asteroids throughout the galaxy, heavy-extruders
mine for ore deposits in the rock. Sometimes the asteroid will break apart,
making the job too dangerous for people.

Within minutes, the extruder begins digging tons of
rock and soil up from the hillside. Like clockwork, the extruder tunnels deep
into the hill. As it digs, it builds supports to help keep the tunnel from
collapsing.

After another few hours, the extruder reaches the
desired depth and stops. The extruder shifts into reverse and slowly backs-out
of the deep hole tunneling through the hill.

“Excellent,” Logan emphatically announces to
himself.

Just as the extruder exits the hole, locates a place
to park, and shuts down, Paige calls Logan on the comms.

“Uh, Logan?” Paige announces questioningly.

“Are you coming back to camp, or are you going to
stay awake all night again, like you did on Orcus?”

Orcus was one of the first planets Logan and Paige
worked on together not long after she joined the team.

The running joke between the team members is that
Logan stayed awake for almost two days before realizing he had not slept,
eaten, or done much of anything else during that time.

As a result, due to his need to sleep, Logan missed
an important find when the team discovered the skeleton of a rare breed of
ground dwelling mammal that had been extinct on that planet for millennium.

Logan looked at the chronometer on his suit and
realized how long he had been working.

“I’m on my way back to camp now. See you in a little
while,” Logan replies to Paige.

Walking five hundred meters is no small feat.
However, the low gravity of the planet allows Logan to complete the distance in
short order with little effort.

When Logan arrives to the campsite, he steps into
the habitation module, which Tess’s team thought ahead enough to erect, and
puts his gear away.

“What’s soup?” he asks inquiring what meal has been
prepared.

Paige is already beginning to sit down for her meal
when Logan asks.

She smiles meekly and informs him, “Well, Oni was
kind enough to lend her culinary skills and food supplies to provide us with a
little taste of Ubasti cuisine.”

Logan walks over to the food dispenser and grabs a
plate while he looks over the options presented.

“Interesting,” Logan remarks, curious of Ubasti
foods, as he takes in the sights and smells of Oni’s cooking.

Logan places a serving from each selection onto his
plate and sits down at the table.

As he sits, he looks to Oni and states, “Can’t say I
ever had Ubasti cuisine. Thank you for taking the time and effort. I’m sure
we’ll all enjoy.”

As if waiting for some monstrous creature to pop out
of the food, Oni looks around the module, watching the reactions of each member
as they begin sampling the food.

Paige is the first to react as she jumps to her feet
and runs to the sink to acquire as much water as she can take in.

The next to go is Norm.

As he starts to run to the sink, he realizes the
faucet was in use, so he quickly changed course to the rest room to utilize the
faucet there.

Logan watches as the ruckus unfolds around him.

Peering around the room, wondering why everyone was
running around like the module is on fire, he slowly takes a bite of one of the
items.

As if there is a small white-hot flame burning in
his mouth, Logan comes to the realization that it is not the module that is on
fire, but everyone's mouths, for the food is extremely spicy. The commotion in
the module is a direct response to food nearly being unpalatable for mortal
consumption.

Before long, nearly everyone in the module has a
mouth full of white-hot embers eating away at their lips, tongue, and throat.

That is, all except for Oni.

Oni begins laughing hysterically.

“Don’t worry. It only burns for a few minutes before
your mouth goes numb. Then you can’t feel anything,” Oni informs the group.

She tells them, “If you eat the green stuff, the
burning goes away immediately. The design of this course provides balance to
the taste, smell, and spice. It’s also very nutritious and builds-up your
immune system.”

After several minutes, people begin to settle-down
and return to their meals. After eating several different items from the meal,
the team notices the ‘balance’ pointed out by Oni.

“Yet another memorable moment in the history of this
team,” Paige remarks, “Thank you Oni. You, and this meal, will live in infamy.”

The group chuckles at the thought of yet another
inside joke told around future campfires.

Having a full nights rest, the team awakens the next
day, eats a not-so-spicy breakfast, and heads out to their respective sites for
further study.

Logan returns to his hole in the hill to begin
exploration of the excavated depths.

Entering the tunnels created by the heavy-extruder
Logan sees layers of terrastrata that indicate upwards of 250,000-years’ worth
of sedimentary deposits.

Descending further into the abyss leads Logan
further and further back in time until he finally reaches the core.

At the core of the intrusion his probes detected,
Logan sees a synthetic structure, obviously created by some intelligent life
form.

While mostly destroyed, enough of the structure
remains intact for Logan to accumulate better readings and date the structure.

Continuously watching his readings, Logan scans the
deposits for radio isotopic dating.

The radiation, which seems to have destroyed this
planetary system, is unfortunately interfering with his scans, preventing
accurate dating.

“Damn radiation,” Logan mutters aloud.

Overhearing his conversation to himself, Paige calls
over to Logan using the in-helmet communication system.

“Having issues, Logan?” Paige asks.

“Oh, sorry,” Logan responds to Paige’s inquiry, “I
forgot these are passive voice communicators.”

Paige laughs at the thought of Logan cussing to
himself about trivial matters.

“Ha, ha. No problem, boss. If you need help over
there, just yell, or… speak aloud, not yell. I haven’t found the volume
controls on these things yet,” she tells him.

Logan sees the jest Paige is trying to use to liven
his spirits, and then remarks, “Alright, I’ll keep that in mind.”

Thinking about the offer, Logan considers how much
more work can be done if Paige were there, being that she is an expert is
filtering-out radiation signatures.

“Now that you mention it, I think I could use your
help after all,” Logan says to Paige, “The radiation is hampering my readings
and I could use an equipment expert to filter-out the background radiation.”

Paige responds to his distress call, “We’ll be there
in a few.”

Paige gathers her team and equipment and begins the
march to Logan’s hole in the ground.

As they reach the hillside, Paige examines the hole
before entering and says to Logan on the comms, “Wow, you have been busy!”

Logan laughs at the remark and replies, “Yeah, just
a little. Some of the work was done by the robot though.”

Upon regrouping with Logan, deep in the belly of the
pit, Paige pulls out her equipment and gets to work cleaning-up the readings
for Logan.

“There’s a ton of radiation readings in here,” Paige
notes, “I would figure the radiation would be limited to the surface.”

Logan considers the theory and replies, “Well, I
guess that means whatever destroyed the surface must have caused this
radiation.”

Paige freezes, considers what Logan just said, and
responds, “This is nuclear radiation then!”

Simultaneously, Logan and Paige dart out of the hole
leaving the remaining team members behind in-wonder as to why they just took
off.

As the old saying goes in science – ‘If you see me
running, try and keep up.’

With that saying in mind, the rest of the team
takes-off behind them to catch-up.

When they regroup at the surface, the trailing
team-members ask with heavy panting, “Why did we just run out of the hole like
a wild Yuka was after us?”

Paige and Logan both emphatically reply in unison,
“Nuclear radiation!”

It took a few seconds to sink in, because the Class
II suits do not protect the wearer from high-energy radiation particles,
causing them to absorb, briefly, a moderate dose of dangerous ionizing
radiation.

“Logan to Wayfarer,” Logan begins communication with
the Wayfarer in orbit.

“This is the Wayfarer. Go ahead Professor,” the
acting commander responds.

“Yeah, can we get a medical team down here to
administer some Isocon?” Logan asks.

“Isocon? Is there heavy radiation down there?” the
acting commander asks.

Logan responds to the question with an intense sense
of dread, “Ohhh yeah! You can say there’s heavy radiation down here.”

He looks over to Paige and shakes his head in
disbelief.

“Medical team in route. Do you want them at your
present location of at the module camp?” the acting commander inquires.

“Send them to the camp. We will be there by the time
they arrive,” Logan informs the Wayfarer.

“Roger that, Wayfarer out,” the acting commander
affirms as he signs-off.

Logan begins picking-up gear on the ground outside
the drill hole’s entrance and says, “Let’s get back.”

By the time Logan and his roasted team members make
it back to camp, the medical crew arrives.

Zoey steps out of the ship with equipment in hand,
and with a confused, yet cheery attitude, she asks, “So, we have radiation
problems here?”

Logan motions Zoey and her team to go inside while
replying, “I’ll explain inside.”

While Zoey and the medical team give the group
injections of the anti-radiation serum Isocon, used to treat acute radiation
exposure to prevent the onset of radiation sickness, Logan explains how they
encountered nuclear radiation.

“Oh wow!” one of the medics exclaims.

The crew’s on-call physician asks a series of
questions, such as how long they were exposed and if they brought back anything
from the site.

“Well,” Logan attempts to explain, “I was in there
the longest, by maybe an hour. We dropped everything we had inside the hole and
brought back equipment that didn’t go inside.”

“Did you want a sample?” Paige asks, wondering why
he would ask if they brought anything back.

“No,” the doctor replies, “I just needed to make
sure you didn’t bring anything back that would further expose you to more
radiation.”

“Oh,” Paige tilts her head up to show she
understands his line of thought.

“Why is it that every time we meet on official
business you are getting yourself into danger?” Zoey asks Logan jokingly.

Logan, seeming as though he expected some tort from
her, responds in like, “You should have been here last night for dinner.”

Paige breaks out laughing and quickly assembles her
composure.

Zoey smirks with a slightly confused expression on
her face, in wonderment of what Logan could possibly mean by his statement.

“Must have been some awful meal,” Zoey responds.

Oni, just in earshot, hears Zoey’s remark and
objects, “Hey, it wasn’t awful. They just couldn’t take the heat.”

Having eaten Ubasti food before, Zoey knew exactly
what transpired the night before.

“Oh,” she began, “so your mouths caught fire and no
amount of water could quench the flames?”

Logan and Paige looked at Zoey with disdain and
Paige jokingly warns, “Never mention this again.”

Zoey laughs and continues working on the team.

The away-team physician motioned to one of the
security members, and then looked to Logan saying, “We brought some Class III
suits down in anticipation you would need them.”

“Thanks, Doc,” Logan cheerfully thanked the doctor
for the foresight, “Now we can safely reenter the structure.”

“You might want to hold-off for at least a day, for
the medicine to kick in. Then you can safely reenter the structure,” the doctor
reprises Logan’s statement.

As the doctor and the medical away-team suit-up to
return to the ship, the doctor informs the group, “Make sure you drink plenty
of water… a lot of water!”

Logan responds while gesturing a wave good bye,
“Understood, doc.”

After a full nights rest and a few liters of water
later, Logan uses a radiometer to check his isotope levels.

With a safe limit given, he decides to make the trek
back to the hole.

As he is suiting up in the Class III suit brought to
them by the medical away team, Oni watches and speaks up, “Not gonna’ listen to
him, are you?”

Logan, slightly surprised by Oni’s presence,
responds, “I’m within safe tolerance. I think I can handle it.”

Oni walks over to Logan and offers a proposition.

“What if I go, you stay, and you command me from the
deck?” she offers.

Logan considers the proposition for a moment and
agrees that the ship’s medical crew would more warmly receive her solution.

“Alright,” Logan agrees.

Logan takes-off the suit while Oni suits up.

After a brief walk, Oni and her team arrive to the
radiation soaked hill and venture down into the hole.

With radiometers in hand, the team takes constant
readings to gauge the level of threat presented to them.

“How you reading me pops?” Oni asks Logan over the
comms.

Logan presses the transmit button on the comms panel
and replies to her quip, “Loud and clear, little girl.”

Oni smiles and shakes her head silently thinking to
herself, “He’s finally getting me.”

Oni, with DataCom on hand, begins sorting the
radiation signatures and separating them into files.

“I believe these are the readings you were hunting
for pops,” Oni says as she sends the data back to base camp.

Logan examines the readings quickly, and after
deciding they are what he wanted, he replies, “They sure are. Thanks Oni. While
you’re there, see if you can use your relic finding magic to get a good
sample.”

Oni smiles widely this time, as she just received a
pride inducing complement from Logan.

“Sure thing pops,” she confirms Logan’s orders.

Logan looks over to Paige, who by this time is
trying not to break into tears from laughter.

Logan asks, “What the hell is so funny?”

Paige shakes her head side-to-side, tosses-up her
arms in an exaggerated shrug, and tries to conceal her grin as if nothing
happened.

Logan gets the message and says, “OK, back to work.
All of you.”

He then redirects his attention back to the mission
at hand.

Snickering to other teammates, Paige whispers in
conspiracy as though Logan cannot hear them.

After a couple of hours, Oni and her team return to
the camp with relics in protective cases.

“Got some good stuff for ya’ pops,” Oni says as she
begins taking off the suit.

Logan calls back to her in the air lock, “Alright,
place the containers in one of the lockers on the wall. We can get the items
sent back to the ship for decontamination.”

Placing the cases in the lockers, Oni completes her
mission and meets with Logan and the rest of the team in the operations pod.

“I think we have enough here,” Logan begins his
debriefing, “Tomorrow, we tear down and shuttle back to the ship. Get some
rest, for a job well done.”

Logan pats Oni on the shoulder as he exits the
operations pod to head to the mess pod for some food and a cup of Cava juice.

Paige walks over to Oni and informs her, “Don’t take
his complements lightly, Oni. He doesn’t give them unsparingly.”

Oni nods her head in understanding and starts
breaking a small smile of pride.