Sunset in Silvana (Da'ark Nocturne Book 1) (24 page)

And between the crater and the rails lay a shattered, bloody shape.

Iain moved cautiously over to the body, picking the best route through the wreckage.  He bent over the thing which had been Joseph, before it had been torn apart by the force of the blast and flying shards of metal.  He looked up and shook his head.

Carefully he made his way back to the others.  “There’s nothing we could have done.  But he couldn’t have suffered.  The blast would have killed him instantly.”  He helped Tanya to her feet.  “Are you injured?”

It was all she could do to shake her head in mute denial.  She shuddered as she looked towards where the boy’s remains lay.  “Poor Joseph,” she said.

RD was a few yards away, kneeling by something on the ground.  “Pull yourself together and come look at this,” he said.  There, lying face down in the dirt, was Joseph’s head.  “What do you make of that?”  He pointed to the base of the boy’s skull, where the flesh had been burnt away to show something embedded in the bone.  “It looks like an implant.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it before,” Tanya said.  Whatever it was, it was black and slimy but vaguely metallic, yet, at the same time impossibly, it writhed as though alive.  Even the sight of it made her want to throw up.  As they watched, it began to vaporise.  “I don’t know what it is – or was – but I hope I never encounter another one,” she added with an involuntary shiver.

“It appears that Joseph was more – or perhaps less – than he seemed,” Bartes said.

They made their way to where the others were waiting.  Anoushka looked at each of them in turn and asked “Where’s Joseph?”

“I’m sorry – he didn’t make it,” Iain told her.

“Oh, no!” she said, her eyes filling with tears.  “We heard an explosion, and I was scared...”

“The helicopter crashed,” Bartes said quietly.  “He was caught in the blast.  There was nothing we could do.”

Peter sighed.  “It’s a pity,” he said.  “We were on such bad terms after he found out who I really was.  I’d have liked to have a chance to rebuild our friendship – it wasn’t all pretence.”

“After the explosion, we noticed something odd,” Iain said.  “Joseph had this strange implant in his head: it was black and metallic, and highly sophisticated.”

“It didn’t look like something the Zelynans would have,” added RD.

“No.”  Tanya said slowly.  “And it wasn’t anything I’ve ever met before – as far as I remember.  I didn’t like it at all.”

“We ought to bury him,” Anoushka said.  “It’s the only decent thing to do...”

“We haven’t the time,” Iain said.  “The Zelynans must know where we are now.  If we stay around here much longer, we’ll be captured.  There’ll be time to mourn later.”

“You’re right.”  RD shouldered his pack and set off through the woods.  Reluctantly, one by one, they turned their backs on their dead companion and silently followed RD.

They knew they had to get away from the area as quickly as possible, so despite their exhausted state, they pushed on with as much haste as they could.  They walked until, just as the sun was setting, they came to a swift-flowing river that ran through a broad gully across their path.  “I don’t think I can take another step, let alone cross that,” Anoushka said breathlessly as she slumped down on a fallen tree-trunk.

Tanya looked round at her bone-weary friends.  “We don’t dare go any further,” she said, “In our current state, we’d be stumbling around in the dark.  We’d only end up injuring ourselves, and a broken ankle would slow us down even more than a brief rest.  Let’s look for somewhere to hole up overnight.”

“What’s that?” Iain asked, pointing ahead to the left.  “There’s something on the top of that hillock.”  There was a strange overgrown shape on the mound he’d identified.  In the dying sunlight they could just make out what looked like the stump of some sort of derelict structure – a watchtower, perhaps?

“Let’s go have a look,” Bartes said.  “If nothing else, we can shelter on its leeward side.”

Anoushka and Peter waited at the bottom of the hill while the rest of them trudged wearily upwards to inspect the wrecked building, which did indeed prove to have once been a circular tower.  The upper levels had fallen in on themselves to form a solid pile of masonry, which had been covered by undergrowth over many years.

“This is old,” Iain said, “really, really old.  It must date back to the time of the elder races.”

“This damage isn’t just erosion, either,” Bartes pointed out.  “There are blast marks on some of these stones.”

“And not just from hand weapons,” Iain said in awe, pointing through the bushes at a huge granite slab that had been burnt and shattered by a single impact.

“I’m as impressed as you are,” Tanya said, “But whoever did this is long gone. I’m concerned that we all get a good night’s rest.  This place would provide a little shelter from the wind.  It’s better than nothing, but I don’t like the idea of a night in the open – especially when we’re under pursuit.  It’s a pity there’s nowhere to shelter inside this ruin.”

:
Oh, but there is,
: Slimmest told her.

:
What do you mean?
: Tanya asked.

:
The underground part of the building is still usable.  I’ve found a way in, over here, hidden behind some bushes.
:  She was sitting off to the right by a patch of dense undergrowth.  :
I’ve been inside, and it’s ideal for your party, though the entrance might be a bit of a tight squeeze for
some
of you.
:

:
Is it safe?
: Tanya asked.  :
I don’t like the idea of being trapped underground.
:

:
Perfectly safe,
: the cat assured her.

“Slimmest has found a way inside,” Tanya told the others.  “Follow me.”

They pushed aside the vegetation to reveal a hole in the tower’s wall which was mostly blocked by a slab of fallen stone.  “Hmm...  Looks stable enough,” RD mused.  He looked at Tanya.  “You’re the slenderest – apart from the boy, and I trust you marginally more than I do him.  You reconnoitre while we stand guard out here.”

“As you wish, O Master” Tanya said with a mock bow.  She dumped her gear to avoid getting it caught on protruding masonry, but before she went down into the darkness, she sent to Slimmest,  :
Are you sure there’s nothing dangerous down there?
:

:
Not a thing,
: came the reply.

“Can you detect anything living down there?” she asked Bartes.

“Only some bugs, and a rodent or two,” he told her after a few seconds.  “And a few fish,” he added in a puzzled tone.  “Anyway, Iain and I’ll go and get the others while you’re inside.”

Tanya lit her torch and held it between her teeth as she squirmed through the aperture.  Something seemed to brush her skin as she passed through the tower’s wall and there was a faint electrical odour.  The air inside smelt a bit musty and slightly damp, and she almost felt like she was being watched – not by any person, but by the tower itself.  It didn’t seem a hostile gaze, though, and a few feet in the tunnel opened up into a short passageway that ended in an arch.  She stood up, and looking back it became clear that this had originally been an entrance to the tower.

Passing through the arch, she found herself on a small landing facing a blank wall.  On her left, stairs spiralled down, and to her right more continued upwards.  The walls, floor, ceiling, all were made of the same smooth grey material.  It seemed a bit like stone and a bit like metal, but above all very solid and very hard.  The whole structure seemed to have been carved from a single block, or perhaps extruded or moulded in some way.  It seemed less dark than she expected, and when she doused her torch to check, she found that, whatever the substance was, it gave off a soft glow.  She laid the palm of her hand against it and felt a slight warmth, almost as if the building were alive.

She turned right and started to climb, but after a dozen steps she was blocked by a wall of the same material, in the middle of which was a crystalline panel made up of different coloured sections, each of which also seemed to glow with a dull inner light.  She couldn’t make up her mind whether it was a sig
n, a door control or a piece of artwork, but, remembering her companions waiting outside, she realised that whatever else it was, it was definitely a mystery for another time.

Turning around, she descended to the small landing and started down the opposite staircase.  As she walked, she became aware that although the width of the passage was constant, its curvature was gradually lessening.  She had nearly completed one full turn of the spiral when she realised that the light in front of her was increasing.

The source of the extra light was an opening on the inner side of the staircase.  She stopped and looked through, down into a large conical area.  She was near the ceiling, which was roughly the diameter of the tower above, but the chamber opened out to about a hundred and fifty feet across at the bottom.  In the centre of the floor, which was a fair way below, was a large circular pool.  Everything seemed to be constructed of the same grey material, the inner glow of which was now enhanced by a soft, warm, white light that emanated through one of two arched openings in the base of the wall, and from under the water below.

The lower third of the walls were circled with troughs that were filled with soil.  Similar troughs were dotted around the floor of the chamber, and continued down to the very edge of the pool, interspersed with couches and tables.  Tanya remembered that one of the elder races, the Forerunners, delighted in the natural world, and installed gardens wherever they could.  Her heart rate soared with excitement as she realised that she was looking at the remains of one of their creations.

She could hear the sound of running water, and, looking closer, she saw small streams issuing from apertures in the wall just above the highest troughs and circling downwards, irrigating the trapped soil as they did so.  For such a system – and the lighting - to still be operating, even after an unguessable passage of years, was astonishing.

Her mood of awe turned into laughter as Sophie’s small spotted cat came skittering from the darker archway below and hurled herself belly deep into the shining water.  With a light heart she ran down the remaining stairs, and reached the bottom far more quickly than she expected.  By the time she got to the water’s edge, Slimmest was happily splashing through the water pouncing on small minnow-like fish that easily evaded her paws.  Tanya knelt down and called her.

:
What kept you?
: she asked.

:
I’m not as lithe as you, little sister,
: Tanya told her.  :
Thank you for finding this place.
:  She scratched Slimmest between the shoulder blades and the cat reared up ecstatically.

The chamber was uninhabited, apart from a family of rodents that had built a nest in one of the troughs at the base of the wall.  The lit archway opened onto a passageway that continued downwards.  At first glance it was an exciting discovery but Tanya’s hope of a major find soon turned to chagrin when her foot disturbed the water covering the floor, a liquid so still and clear that she had failed to see it until the ripples of her footstep marred the surface.  She took several more paces, but as the path spiralled downward the water deepened, and she thought that, if she continued onward, it would soon fill the whole tunnel – here was another mystery that would have to wait.  Everything seemed safe, so she returned to the top of the stairs, again arriving more quickly and with less effort than she’d have expected.

“You took your time,” RD said as she squirmed back through the opening.

“Sorry,” Tanya replied.  “It’s fantastic down there – like another world.  You wait till you see it.  Iain, you go through and we’ll pass you our equipment.  Bartes, see if you can find any fallen branches so we can light a fire inside.”

It took some time to pass all their gear, plus the firewood, through the cramped passage, and for everyone to follow it through.  As they worked, Tanya gave the others a running commentary on what she’d discovered, but she could see they thought she was exaggerating until she led them to the window she’d found earlier.  They were every bit as amazed as she had been.  For once, even RD had nothing negative to say.  Only Anoushka seemed less than enthusiastic about their new hideaway.

“What’s the matter?” Tanya asked her as they started down.

“Nothing, really,” she replied.  “It’s just that it’s so far down, and I’m so tired...”

“Don’t worry,” Tanya reassured her, “there’s something a bit odd about this place.  We’ll be at the bottom before you know it.”  Indeed, they seemed to take only a couple of dozen paces before they entered the chamber and were able to collapse onto the couches they’d seen from above.  These were surprisingly comfortable, made of a material that yielded to the touch.  They did, however, seem to have been made for a humanoid race somewhat taller than the refugees.

In the end RD broke the silence of exhaustion.  “We ought to keep watch,” he said.

“Not outside, surely,” Bartes said.

“Of course not.  We don’t want to give ourselves away to anyone who’s passing by – or flying over.  No, in the entrance passage.”

“There’s not much chance of anyone else finding it,” Tanya pointed out.  “Not unless they’ve got a highly intelligent cat with them.”

RD grunted.  “I suppose that animal has its uses,” he admitted grudgingly.  “Still, we ought to keep an eye on anything that might happen outside – just in case.  And we ought to eliminate any traces we left out there, as soon as it’s light.”

“You’re right,” Bartes agreed, “but Anoushka and Peter are in no state to do anything without some recovery time. The rest of us will have difficulty keeping awake.”

“You’re right.  The best we can do for now is staggered watches, two at a time, four hours on and four off, changing one person every two hours.  I’ll go first with Iain.  Bartes will replace him in two hours, and Dr Miller will replace me in four.  Could you get us some food before you rest, Doctor?”

Tanya sighed.  “A woman’s work...” she muttered, but smiled as she did so.  She was just too glad to find such a haven to take any real offence.

There was a hearth in the wall of the tower where Tanya carefully laid out some of the wood Bartes had found.  Since most of it was tinder-dry, she had no problem igniting it.  The flue seemed to be blocked, but by keeping the conflagration small, she managed to avoid too much smoke. 
At least none of it will escape the tower and give away our position,
she thought.

She made her way across the floor to the edge of the pool. 
I wonder what the water’s like?
 
It
looks
clear and clean. 
She knelt down and scooped up a little of the water in her palm and touched it with her tongue. 
It seems OK, but I’ll run it through the biofilter anyway.

She soon had a kettle-full of clear water which she set to boil.  She toasted some bread, covered it in butter, and distributed it, along with the hot drinks.  She lay back on a couch with a slab of toast in one hand and a mug of coffee in another, and sighed contentedly.

Bartes sat down beside her, and they ate and drank together, enjoying the quiet and serenity of their haven.  “Who d’you think built this place?” he asked.

“One of the elder races, probably the Forerunners.  From what I’ve heard, they had a special affinity for gardens – and for water.”

“But where does the water in the streams come from, and where does it go?”

“It’s fresh, and the pool is about level with the river we saw.  They must be connected somehow.”

“The cat seems happy to drink it.”

They watched Slimmest lap from the pool.  After some minutes, the cat suddenly stiffened, waggled her bottom, and dived into the water.  After a brief flurry, she pulled herself out, wet and bedraggled but with a large fish flopping about in her mouth.  Exuding both triumph and pleasure she proceeded to eat her catch.