Epic of Aravinda 1: The Truth Beyond the Sky (6 page)

CHAPTER
10

A CAVERN UNDER THE SOUTH POLE

When Zahn opened his eyes again, he saw a jagged landmass buried in ice and snow. Waves crashed onto grey rock, and he could see no sign of life anywhere. Even the ocean itself seemed uninviting, appearing as a seething dark mass below the ship.

As they passed over a snowy cliff, Zahn felt better that they were once again over land, even if it was freezing.

Oonak waved him up to the command chair.

“You may find this vantage point more enjoyable for this part of the journey. We are about to enter an ancient cave system. When we crashed, the impact resonated within a cavern below which allowed Navika to sense the hollow space beneath. Discovering it was divine fortune, and I have instructed Navika to place a waypoint marker on the cavern entrance.”

After a few moments Zahn noticed faint coordinate markers had appeared on the ground below them.

“Oon, how did you do that? Is the computer doing that?”

“Yes, Navika is compositing a coordinate system over the light that is filtering through the hull.”

Soon, a red triangle appeared on the horizon, and as they grew nearer, Zahn realized it was the waypoint marker that Oonak had mentioned earlier.

“You know, I was thinking about what you said before, about how plentiful life is in our galaxy, and something bothers me. If life truly is everywhere, how significant does that make Avani?”

“Zahn, is a diamond worth any less if it is surrounded by other diamonds?”

“I guess not.”

After a few minutes, they were just above the waypoint which was beside a small crater in the snow. Yet, Zahn saw no cave or crevice anywhere.

“Curious,” Oonak said. “The fracture we made in the surface of the ice has disappeared.”

“Why?”

“Unknown. I shall cut a new one.”

A red grid appeared all around them, as if the entire ship were about to begin a fight to the death. Behind him, he heard a faint high pitched sound, and below him a single square of the red grid flickered furiously. A fraction of a second later, two painfully bright violet beams of plasma converged from two sides of the ship and cut through the ice below them.

As Navika effortlessly cut into a large section of the ice, a chunk of it broke free and fell into a hollow space below. Once the hole was large enough, they flew in and found themselves in a large underground cavern. It was quite dark, and Oonak must have mentally signaled Navika to illuminate the cavern because Zahn didn’t see him speak or move at all. Could this incredible ship actually read his mind?

Despite the radiance of Navika’s light, the system of caves seemed almost sinister to Zahn. Stalactites hung from the ceilings like ghostly apparitions, and the way they cast shadows onto the walls gave him the impression that they were not alone in these caves.

But they were alone, and Oonak seemed very calm as he navigated the cave system, occasionally following a dark passage deeper underground and then following another passage that curved back up. While he did this, Zahn said nothing. He trusted Oonak’s sense of direction.

When they finally slowed down, they were in a massive cavern that was just below the ice. Zahn could tell because light filtered through a section of the ice above, giving him a clear idea of the cavern’s size.

Near the far wall, he could see a large ring-shaped machine between two columns set atop a rocky pedestal. The whole structure looked ancient.

As they landed on the cavern floor, Zahn braced for a thud, but none came. Navika had alighted upon the rock just as a bird would alight upon a stem: with perfect grace.

“Smooth landing.”

“You can thank Navika for that. I give him commands, but Navika is the one who puts the real finesse on the flight.”

“So there’s a kind of symbiosis between you two, isn’t there?”

“In a way, and right now Navika indicates that the air outside is quite cold but still breathable. Come with me.”

Oonak led him back out to the central room.

“Be careful. Water will solidify quickly out there.”

“You mean it’s below freezing?”

“Oh, yes. You will need these. They are warm and repel water, as well.” As Oonak said this, he handed Zahn a thick silver jacket, long silver pants, and boots, all of which were similar to the uniform that he was wearing.

“Oh, thank you.”

“You are the one who deserves thanks. You were not obliged to assist me, yet you did.”

When the door opened, the temperature of the air shocked Zahn’s exposed face, causing him to pull his hood tighter, and as they headed toward the ancient gate, he was again struck by the size of the cavern. He wondered how many cave systems were yet to be discovered on Avani and if any of them might be hospitable to life.

And then, the immensity of the gate dawned on him.

Despite its apparent age, it was perfectly preserved. The main feature of the gate was a huge upright ring made of a strange metallic stone. To either side of the ring were two control panels that curved outward, and all of it was atop a large stone pedestal.

Zahn walked up to one of the control panels, and found it to be unlike any technology he’d ever seen before. The panel was covered in strange markings and circular grooves that had been etched into the stone. He moved his hand over the panel, and found it chilling to his exposed fingertips.

He tried touching a prominent ring shape in the upper left corner of the panel, but nothing happened. No matter what he did, the controls didn’t respond. Oonak walked up behind him, holding a device that reminded him of his father’s reading pad.

“We have deduced that these are some of the symbols that this machine uses to signify numerical digits.”

On the pad were bizarre, curving symbols that seemed vaguely familiar to Zahn, and he studied the controls again.

“Oon, could these numbers be some kind of address system? I mean, if the gate network is made up of a series of gates all around the galaxy, wouldn’t it need something to identify them?”

“Indeed, you are as clever as we had hoped. That is exactly what we believe the numbers are used for. I would have told you before, but I wanted to get your unbiased opinion first.”

“So how do we activate the gate?”

“Although I removed all of the ice from the gate controls when I first discovered them, my attempts have thus far proven unsuccessful, as you know. We were hoping that if you used the gate’s controls, it would recognize you as an Avanian.”

For a while, Zahn continued to play with the controls, but nothing he did had any effect. Frustrated, he kicked the side of the control panel, hurting his foot in the process.

“I can’t believe this. We’ve come this far and nothing works. I don’t know what else to do here, Oonak.”

“Do not fear, Zahn. A solution will present itself. One moment, I will be right back.”

As he waited, Zahn allowed his back to slide down the side of a nearby column, eventually sitting on the smooth floor of the cavern. Despite the jacket that Oonak had given him, he was starting to feel cold, as well.

To get his mind off of this seemingly unsolvable problem, Zahn examined the floor of the cavern, and as he did this he felt something wet drip onto his hand. He looked up and observed a thick patch of ice high above him near the center of the room. Enough light was filtering through the ice that he might have been able to examine the greyish floor of the cavern even without Navika’s illumination.

On a whim, he decided to take out the knife his grandfather had given him as a child and tried to chip off some of the column. He wondered if this column might be connected to the gate in some way and pressed the blade into the stone harder. In the process, he slipped and cut one of his fingers.

Zahn leapt up and yelled in frustration as blood oozed out.

“Ah! This is stupid. I can’t believe we’re stuck after coming all this way.” Zahn sucked his cut to get some bits of sand out.

“Navika said he heard you yell out,” Oonak said as he ran over. “What happened?”

“I cut myself. Do you have anything? What do spacefarers do when they bleed?”

“Navika has something. One moment.” Oonak ran back toward the ship.

While he waited, Zahn decided to try his hand at the controls again. Perhaps they’d just needed time to warm up. When he got back up to the controls, he gazed at them as though he were in a staring match with a great villain.

“If I were a civilization smart enough to build a machine that creates holes in the fabric of spacetime, what button would
I
expect people to push?”

Again, he noticed the ring shape in the upper left corner of the panel, and in a mixture of desperation and stubbornness, he pressed the button again.

This time, it worked.

The cavern flooded with light as the gate burst to life. Zahn was so shocked that he felt as though his eyes were going to pop out of his head. Each of the number symbols now glowed a ghostly white, and the circular grooves that he noticed before revealed themselves to be a row of glowing circles that filled the lower half of the control panel. Perhaps most exciting of all, the gate lit up in a bright white ring, and everything became covered in faint geometric patterns.

Zahn was so stunned that he just stood there for a while to bask in the moment, watching the colors on the gate as they gradually pulsed in brightness. When Oonak walked up a few seconds later, Zahn felt that he was just as surprised, yet he expressed it in a much quieter way.

“How did you do it?”

“I don’t know. I just—I hit the button again.”

“How curious… yet whatever you did was effective. Excellent work, Zahn!” Oonak smiled so largely that even his eyes seemed to smile.

“Now the question is, how do we tell it where we want to go?”

“Patience. Let me tend to that cut first.”

When Zahn showed Oonak his cut, he sprayed a strange bubbling gel onto it which stopped the bleeding and then melted away. “This will prevent infection and accelerate healing speed.”

After Zahn thanked Oonak, he examined the controls again, soon realizing that the row of glowing circles were probably planets. There were the right amount, and some were glowing green while most were a dim red. After a few moments, he noticed that there were pointed ray shapes carved dimly into the stone behind some of the planet symbols.

“Oon, what do you think the ray shapes mean?”

“Uncertain, but I would hypothesize that there are three main types of gates: those that allow you to jump from world to world, those that allow you to jump between a world and the vacuum of space, and those that jump from vacuum to vacuum. Perhaps this ray shape symbolizes a path to your star.”

Zahn touched the ray shape, and it lit up, haloing the green circle in a golden starburst. The sound of the gate also became deeper, and at the end of the row of circles, a new circle lit up. This new circle was golden and much larger. Beside it was a small ring, and Zahn noticed that a hexagon now pulsed in a blue light farther up on the control panel.

“Oon, I’m beginning to think this gate was designed to be relatively simple to operate, and I’m pretty sure that I just linked this gate to another gate in orbit around Avani’s star. When I push that hexagon, I think a vortex will appear.”

“I was wrong before. You are more than clever. Proceed.”

Without hesitation, Zahn pressed the glowing hexagon, and the low hum of the gate became a roar. After a few seconds, a point of bright light appeared in the center of the ring, and then all of the space in the middle of the ring spiraled in on itself, as if reality itself were an ocean going down a drain. Photons spun into the vortex at odd angles, and the sight was unlike anything Zahn had ever imagined.

“You know, I’ve simulated wormholes in the observatory’s computers before, but I never realized how…” Zahn paused. “I never realized how otherworldly it might look.”

“Thanks to you, now we know. Are you certain that the destination is set?”

“As sure as I’ll ever be.”

Oonak walked over to the controls and observed them, and Zahn glanced back over to the majestic starship, suddenly realizing that his role in Oonak’s quest might be over now. Would Oonak still need him now that the gate was active? What about his own quest to discover the true fate of his mother?

“Oon, now that I’ve activated this gate, do you still need my help?” Zahn said as the gate roared louder. “I must admit I was hoping to see Avani from orbit, but I just want to check before I get my hopes up. Or does my adventure end here?”

As Oonak turned toward him, a faint smile was on his lips.

“Far from it, Zahn. The next gate appears to be within your star system, so I still require your assistance in the next step of my journey—of our journey, I should say. At least, if you agree to it. I must warn you that this journey will only become more dangerous as we head farther from your home. The space between planets is not always as empty as it appears, and this galaxy is more wild than you could imagine. I have extensive experience in navigating the Ocean of Space, and I will do everything in my power to keep us unharmed. However, please realize that by continuing onward, you risk your life in the dangers of wild space, and there are no guarantees that you will ever return home.”

Zahn thought about this for a few moments.

“I understand,” he said. “My choice has not changed. I want to continue. I trust you, Oonak, and as you said, I am the most logical choice.”

“Indeed, you are. Come, let us see what Unity has in store for us on the other side of that gate.”

Back in the ship, Zahn decided to plant his feet firmly on the floor this time, despite the fact that, if he ignored the seat beside him, it almost appeared as though he were levitating above the cavern floor.

As he captured a few photos, he found himself wondering how long the gate would remain active after they’d used it.

Did the gate have a mechanism to close the opening after a certain period of time?
I wonder if Oonak knows.

Zahn looked over, but Oonak seemed focused on analyzing the vortex. He seemed almost hypnotized.