Beneath the Eye of God (The Commodore Ardcasl Space Adventures Book 1) (10 page)

She looked at the misshapen lump in his hand. "Of a root?"

"Worse than that. Of Alexander."

She didn't laugh. "Want me to scratch behind your ear?"

Ohan sighed. "If you did, it would have the same effect. We both roll over on our backs, wave our hoofs in the air and look stupid."

Leahn smiled. "Don't knock it, sport. It's one of the things that makes the world go around." She looked away. "It took me a while to get the hang of it but it helped keep me alive between then and now." She turned to face him and laid her hand on his arm. "I know I'm pretty and I know what effect I have on you." She laughed again. "And on Alexander."

Then she was serious. "That's the way it is between men and women and believe me, I'll use it to get where I'm going. But you and I are friends, Ohan. That's stronger than sex and harder to hold onto."

She pulled up a tuber. "I've had sex with a lot of guys. But you're the only one I'd dig roots with." Ohan found himself smiling. It took him a moment to realize Leahn was still watching him seriously. "You're my only friend, Ohan. I hate it when I try to use you the same way I do all the others." She turned away again. "But a friend is supposed to understand."

Ohan reached out and put his arms around her. They lay down in the warm dirt and he held her close for a long time.

***

They returned to find the old man beside himself with excitement. The twins had set up their scanners on the smaller pyramids. He called them the pyramids of the two moons and was overwhelmed by the pictures the computer printed. "It sees beneath the leaves and dirt back to when they was new," he chortled. The twins had to make extra copies for him before he would allow the equipment to be moved.

Alexander was not nearly as impressed by the pictures as he was by the tubers, which he devoured in a symphony of snorts and grunts. Ohan was relieved to discover he was no longer the least bit jealous, even when Leahn announced that she was going swimming again and that anybody who wanted to watch would have to do so from the rim—except for Alexander who was welcome to accompany her to the bottom.

The whole group went along to see Alexander safely across the fallen part of the trail. The Commodore assured Leahn that he had observed a great number of females of various species while swimming with no ill effects to either him or the females—that Leahn had, in his professional opinion, nothing to be ashamed of and finally, when none of this proved successful, he grumpily chided her for her "lack of charity."

Considering his considerable bulk and tiny hoofs, Alexander pranced with surprising ease around the fallen part of the trail. He and Leahn continued on down while the rest of the group climbed back up to a little overgrown temple platform the old man showed them. It was perched on the very edge of the pit. By leaning out over the partially fallen balustrade, they could look directly down into the circle of black water far below. They watched in the gathering twilight as a slim white figure free of sword and tunic dove into the still pool.

The Commodore leaned back on a stone bench, his bad humor somewhat abated. He drew a bottle from his pocket. Ohan recognized it as coming from the tavern back at the edge of the forest. The Commodore pulled the cork and offered a toast. "Whether the blood in their veins be warm or cold, their skin furry, scaled or smooth, from one end of the galaxy to the other, they remain a beautiful mystery. Here's to the ladies, may we always be able to appreciate them even though we shall never comprehend them."

He took a long draught from the bottle and passed it to the old man who drank, at first tentatively, then deeply. "Folks used to make stuff like this back in the old days." He took another swallow and passed the bottle to one of the twins. "They used roots and tree bark. I tried to make some on my own a while back. Alexander didn't approve. Thought it was a waste of good roots."

He followed the bottle's progress from one twin to the other. "That was a long time ago," he said wistfully. "Haven't had none since."

Ohan took a small sip, found it unpleasant and passed the bottle to the Commodore who raised it aloft. "Greater love hath no man than to give up booze for a friend. I hope Alexander appreciates your sacrifice."

By the time Leahn and Alexander returned—she looking refreshed and clean, he looking smug—the rest of the party was relaxed and the bottle was empty.

As they sat in the evening air on the rim of the pit, Elor indicated the big pyramid lost in the trees behind them. "We have saved the largest structure for last. Tomorrow we should examine it." He turned to the old man. "You said the smaller ones were dedicated to the two moons. What about the big one?"

"The Eye of God," the old man said. "That's his pyramid."

Elor nodded. "I thought it might be."

"Many's the night my daddy and I would sit up there and watch the sky and he'd tell me about the folks who built the city." He scratched absently behind Alexander's ear. "I'd dearly like to be here when they come back on their pillars of fire. That'd be something to see."

He became excited and turned to the twins. "And if your little machine will paint me a picture of how the big pyramid looks under all that dirt, I'll show it to them, show them it's as good and pretty as new once they scrape the grass and leaves off."

The Commodore heaved himself to his feet. "Our little machine will be delighted to oblige you, my friend. And now, since we're going that way anyway, I propose that we scale the heights of your great pyramid and commune with its essence under the stars before the morrow when we delve into its innards."

The old man clapped his hands. "That would be wonderful. I haven't been up there at night for a long time. Alexander ain't much for climbing."

"You're telling me?" Leahn laughed. "I had to push him up the last half of the trail." Alexander snorted. "He and I have had about all the excitement we need for one day. You go exploring. We're going to bed."

The stone steps cut into the face of the pyramid were steep but not dangerous. The old man had managed to keep the side facing the broad mall relatively free of growth but the other three sides of the big stepped structure had been reclaimed by the forest.

"There's nine platforms including the one on top," the old man puffed as they stopped to rest part way up. "Same number of doorways in each of the long buildings. My daddy showed me that but he didn't know why it was."

Each step was three times as high as it was deep. The party had little breath left to exclaim over the spectacular view that greeted them when they finally arrived, gasping, at the top. The treetops were far below. They faced the ornate stone temple in the center of the topmost platform. Its two dark doorways stared blindly at them but behind and all around the temple rose the cold night splendor of the Eye of God.

"Impressive," puffed the Commodore.

"The people would have had little doubt," Elor said, "that the essence of the Eye of God did, indeed, reside inside this temple." He turned to the old man just mounting the last step. "Did your father have any idea in which direction the builders of this city went when they mounted their white towers and departed?"

"Sure," the old man grinned. "The same way we just did. Up."

***

On the way back down, Ohan stayed next to the Commodore while the old man and the twins went on ahead. "Is it really true that people came from the stars to build this great city?" he asked.

"You mean ancient astronauts?" The Commodore snorted. "That, my boy, is a view often put forth by our contemporaries to explain the works of their predecessors when they themselves have no clue as to how the work was done. Since they can't imagine that their very own ancestors might have been smarter and more energetic than they, they have to invent extra-terrestrials to blame. That gets them off the hook. They don't have to admit that they aren't nearly as bright as their great, great, great grandfathers."

He stopped to catch his breath. "You see, my boy, I am an ancient astronaut—well, a middle-aged one. And let me assure you, on behalf of all astronauts, space traders and travellers between the stars. The very last thing we would consider doing, on any planet, in any star system, at any time, is building a big rockpile like this. At least not one without an elevator."

Chapter 7

"This is the oldest structure in the city, more than twice the age of all the other buildings. This single pyramid is 1,400 years old." Erol replaced the laser equipment in its case. He, Ohan and the Commodore were standing beside one of the two smaller pyramids.

Elor turned to look at it. "This one was rebuilt time and again over the centuries. It faces the market square which may have been in use since the first farmers moved into the area ten thousand years ago. Excavation would probably reveal an avenue running from here to the market.

"Then, 600 years ago, someone decided to change all that. He built the second small pyramid between this one and the market. That one has none of the evolutionary layers that underlie this one. Then he turned the basic orientation of the entire city by 90 degrees. He built this great mall leading in a completely new direction, ending in the Eye of God pyramid."

The Commodore picked up the case and headed for the end of the mall where Elor and Leahn already had their probes in place on the big pyramid. "It must have been much more than a simple change in direction," he mused. "It may have been the introduction of a whole new religion. He must have been a very persuasive fellow."

"All these changes," Erol said, "appear to have taken place in a relatively short time, one or two lifetimes. Whether we have a new dynasty taking over after the military defeat of the old, or whether it was simply a dynamic new leader revitalizing an established regime can only be determined by excavation. But whoever it was, he probably changed much more than the direction of the mall. The new system of roads that appeared at the same time could indicate the formation of a vast empire from formerly independent states. Whoever this key person was, he or she was an extremely ambitious and apparently successful individual."

Elor, sitting at the computer console, continued his brother's sentence as they drew near, ". . . an individual to whom we may soon be able to introduce you."

The Commodore raised an eyebrow. "Say what?"

Elor set the computer to print out a reconstruction drawing. "The older of the small pyramids has at least one burial chamber. So did one of the other pyramids we examined earlier out in the forest. But that one had partially collapsed and this one appears to have been filled with rock to keep the same thing from happening when a later structure was built on top of it. But here," he indicated the Eye of God pyramid in front of them, "here we have a single structure, built originally as you see it now."

He took the drawing from the computer and handed it to the Commodore. "Here you have an immense mausoleum with its burial chamber intact and the access passage beneath the floor of the temple only partially filled with rubble."

The old man peeking over the Commodore's shoulder cackled with joy. "Look at it. Look at it. It's just like new under there. They're going to be so pleased."

"So they are." The Commodore handed the drawing to the old man. "You have done an admirable job in preserving the outside. But perhaps we should check on the condition of the inside as well."

"Inside?" The old man was admiring his drawing. "The little room on top? I sweep it out every once in a while."

"No, my friend." The Commodore pointed to a shadow at the heart of the drawing. "The room beneath the room at the top. When was the last time you swept that out?"

The old man stared at the drawing. "Beneath? Inside? There's no beneath. Nobody ever said there was." He looked up at the Commodore, his eyes filling with concern. "Oh dear."

The Commodore patted his shoulder reassuringly. "Not to worry, old friend. I'm sure it's in good condition but perhaps we should have a quick look, just to make sure."

"A look? Yes. We should look. But I don't know how . . . "

"Leave that to me. Come, children. I think we should have a peek inside."

Alexander refused to be left behind. It took the combined efforts of Ohan, Leahn, the Commodore and the old man plus a great deal of grunting and squealing on everyone's part to get him up the steep stairs to the top. When they finally arrived, out of breath and sweating, they found the twins had already removed several cut stones from the floor of the temple, revealing a steeply angled passageway and a stone stairway leading down into the dark.

"Nobody ever told me," the old man panted. "Not my daddy, not the Preacher, nobody. If I'd known . . . " He peered into the darkness. "I hope everything's all right down there."

The Commodore had been leaning against the wall of the temple trying to catch his breath. "We're going to need a light," he gasped.

Erol reached into his pack and pulled out a tiny cube which suddenly lit up the room. Alexander, collapsed in a heap in the doorway, gave a snort of surprise. Ohan caught his breath. It was rather like the lanterns they used at school except much smaller and its light seemed a hundred times brighter. Leahn had the curious feeling that she had seen something like it before, long ago.

The Commodore, noting everyone's surprise, struggled to his feet, took the light and turned it down several notches. "Handy little gadget, what? Friend of ours makes them. Not quite ready to go on the market yet so we don't show it around." He knelt beside the opening in the floor, pointed the light inside and turned it up again.

The others crowded around and stood speechless as the opening blazed into brilliant color. There were rows of painted glyphs. Around and between them were figures, some of men, others of strange creatures, all rendered in vivid color, mostly tan and black but with splashes of blue and red as clear and bright as if the artist had just stepped away to clean his brush.

The Commodore laughed. "Perseverance, gentlemen. That's the key. I knew this bright little planet would reward us if only we kept to our search. Once again, my willingness to endure toil and hardship has paid off handsomely."

Ohan looked up into the face of one of the twins who rolled his yellow eyes in mock despair. Then he winked.

The Commodore pointed the light down to the bottom of the passage and nudged the old man. "It's a good thing we checked. Your friends from the sky would be a little disappointed in your housekeeping." The old man gasped in horror. The bottom of the beautiful passage was filled with rubble.

"How deep?" the Commodore asked.

"Six meters," Elor replied.

The Commodore sighed. "Nothing is ever simple." He slapped the old man on the back. "But cheer up, old fellow. That's what friends are for. We'll lend a hand and have this mess cleaned up and ship-shape in no time."

The old man was ecstatic. "Would you? Will you? If only I had known. If only someone had told me." He turned and took the Commodore's hand. "Those pictures on the walls. It's them, isn't it? It's pictures of them."

The Commodore patted him reassuringly. "Yes, my friend. I do believe it's them."

***

The rubble consisted of dirt, rocks of all sizes, pot shards which the twins set aside, a number of old tree branches and several large blocks of cut stone. They organized a human chain with the twins at the bottom taking care not to mar the wall and ceiling paintings, passing the debris from hand to hand until they had it piled outside the temple door. Later in the day they threw it down the back forest-covered side of the pyramid. The largest stones and branches took considerable effort to haul up the steep passageway. It took half the day.

No one stopped for lunch and by late afternoon when the passage was finally cleared, everyone was starving. Leahn and Ohan were sent to fetch the stew pot and they all ate a hearty early supper on top of the pyramid.

"They don't look much like I thought they would," the old man mused. Everyone except the twins were leaning against the side of the temple watching the lengthening evening shadows steal across the forest canopy. "I don't know how I thought they'd look but that ain't it."

"Those are probably scenes of ritual and death," the Commodore explained, "rather than of everyday life. So we have mainly pictures of gods and mythological beasts and priests dressed as gods. Most of them seem to be wearing masks and elaborate headdresses which probably depict their various godly attributes. The whole thing is highly stylized and may have been as incomprehensible to the ordinary people in their own day as it does to us, 500 years later."

"Those gods," the old man asked hesitantly, "do you suppose they're gone too? My daddy never mentioned any except for the Eye of God that watches over us all, and the forest, of course, and the spirits in the trees. But those other gods, don't you suppose they would have said something if they were still around? Or did they take them with them when they left?"

"I suspect they took them. In my experience with gods . . . Did I ever tell you about the time I met a . . . ?" Ohan and Leahn were both nodding their heads vigorously. "I did, eh? Well, gods like these, demanding gods, do all right when things go well. Even when things start to go badly, most people are willing to give a bit more in sacrifice and hope for the best. But if things don't get better, if the crops still fail or they face defeat at the hands of somebody with different gods, then the old gods can find themselves pretty quickly forgotten. A lot of gods have come and gone across the galaxy."

The sun had dropped below the horizon when Elor emerged from the temple. "We're ready to go in."

"In where?" Ohan asked.

The Commodore stood up. "In to meet our host," he said, "the man who built this city or, at least, changed it all around and raised up this great mausoleum in the middle of it in honor, most likely, of himself. The king, the priest, the living god, the empire builder and, according to our friend, here," he helped the old man to his feet, "the ancient astronaut. Whoever he was, we're going to see if he's still at home. We're going to peek inside his tomb."

Ohan gulped. He had been so caught up in the splendor of the passageway and then the work of clearing it, he had completely forgotten that it was little more than a stairwell leading to their real objective, the tomb.

"Careful, lads," the Commodore cautioned. "Not a business to be taken lightly, this opening of tombs. Back on old Earth the Egyptians used to leave curses for the unwary. Go to it, lads, but carefully. I'll stand ready up here in case you need rescuing from trapdoors or deadfalls."

"We appreciate the thought." Elor was standing beside him at the top of the stairs. "But what we really require is a little more muscle to move the stone out of the doorway. I'm afraid it's just your size."

All eyes turned to the Commodore. "Ah." He looked around and sighed. "Well. It just shows how far you boys would get without me." He descended the stairway. "Where do I grab hold?"

The twin at the bottom was holding what Ohan recognized as the sonic insect repeller. He moved it along the floor while the Commodore took hold of a rope they had somehow attached to one side of the stone. He gave several great grunts and the door began to swing slowly outward. As soon as there was enough space between the door and the wall, he wedged himself into the opening and shoved the stone all the way back. Then he stood away from the opening and called for the light.

The group at the top of the stairs had come slowly down, one step at a time, until they all stood peering into the darkness beyond the doorstone. The Commodore switched on his light and they all saw it at once. The room was narrow with a high ceiling. At floor level it was almost entirely filled by a large, intricately carved, stone sarcophagus. Its thick stone lid stood to one side against the wall. The sarcophagus was empty. High above it, tied by a foot to a beam in the ceiling so that it hung upside down, its arms over its head pointing into the corners of the tomb, was someone in a white space suit.

"Damn," said the Commodore. "There goes my theory about ancient astronauts."

***

It took them all to lift the stone lid back onto the sarcophagus. Then the Commodore stood on it while Erol scrambled up on his shoulders and cut the rope that held the body. The rope was woven from a monofilament, little deteriorated with time. Whoever was in the sealed pressure suit had become curiously distended over the years as he hung there upside down. Most of his mass had flowed down toward his shoulders and into his closed helmet. Then, apparently over centuries as the bodily fluids had failed to dissipate through the impervious synthetic fabric of the suit, they had turned to a viscous mush. It flowed slowly back toward the feet as the body was laid out on the sarcophagus lid.

No one volunteered to open the faceplate. "Curiosity is a wonderful thing," said the Commodore, "and mine has had an extraordinarily busy day, one that should last it for a good long time. I have no interest whatsoever in looking inside that suit. Anyone planning to unsnap the helmet, kindly notify me beforehand so I may be far away when you look that unfortunate fellow in the face, or whatever's left where his face used to be."

"We agree," said Elor. "Interesting as it might be, we are not equipped to conduct an autopsy and feel that the body would be better left as it is for future examination."