Steph Bennion - Paw-Prints of the Gods

Artorius nodded and started to pick his nose.

“Taranis is set on creating a new mythology for his Church,” said Kedesh, keeping her eyes on the windscreen. “He uses people like pawns in chess, only he makes up the rules as he goes along. His own disappearances just add to the mystique. What does the Isa-Sastra say? Do you really think this prophecy, Artorius and the dig are linked?”

“Artorius’ forgotten rhyme is carved into a wall we uncovered,” said Ravana. She gave Kedesh an odd look and wondered why the woman was questioning this now. “The Isa-Sastra has a star chart that pinpoints Tau Ceti using pulsar coordinates and there’s a line in the so-called prophecy itself that identifies Falsafah. If we ever get to the excavation I’ll be able to retrieve my slate and check Taranis’ notes.”

“Pulsars as triangulation points.” Kedesh gave a wry grin. “The Americans used to fit plaques to space probes that used the same trick to show Earth, until people got nervous about who or what might actually get to read them. That would have been around the time the Isa-Sastra allegedly first appeared. Coincidence?”

“Allegedly?” Ravana caught the light-hearted tone of her comment and frowned. “I thought you believed it was genuine.”

“You don’t know what I believe,” the woman replied. “You never asked.”

“Thraak,” said Nana. “Thraak thraak.”

“Fwack fwack!”

Artorius scratched his head. “I didn’t understand that at all.”

The bright, swirling implant image created in response to the greys’ interruptions was confusing. Ravana was left with the impression that Nana and Stripy both had an idea of what was buried at Arallu but had each tried to describe it in different ways. Kedesh too seemed intrigued by the implant translation. Ravana found the woman’s reaction irritating.

“I’m so sorry Artorius and I have been wrapped up in our own concerns,” she said crossly, addressing Kedesh. “Go on then. Tell us what you believe.”

Artorius’ eyes went wide. “Alien monsters!”

“Silly boy. I meant you never asked me what I thought about the dig,” Kedesh remarked, with another glance over her shoulder. “I know something you don’t.”

Ravana was too tired for games. “Which is?”

“Arallu has been excavated before. About ten years ago, in fact,” said Kedesh. Ravana stared at her in surprise and caught the reflection of the woman’s smug smile in the windscreen. “It’s amazing what you can learn with the right contacts. Before you ask, what the previous dig found is something I don’t know.”

“Professor Cadmus said we got there first,” Ravana said doubtfully.

“Officially, that’s true,” the woman replied. “There are more mysteries on Falsafah than any of us can possibly imagine.”

The lava channel became increasingly steep and narrow as they ascended into the mountains. They aimed to pass north of the mighty peak of Hursag Asag, towards where a colossal flat caldera ran across their forward horizon, stretching for hundreds of kilometres to the rocky crags of the north-east. Kedesh’s plan was to find a route into this crater and cross to the far side, from where she hoped there was a way down through the rolling foothills that fringed the distant Arallu Wastes.

Kedesh had been at the wheel almost six hours by the time Ravana took over driving duties once again. The terrain was difficult and the transport, pushed to its limit, had begun to make very odd clunking noises as it climbed through the rock-strewn landscape.

A couple of hours into Ravana’s drive, the lava channel widened and then fell away to become a vast rift in the crater wall. By now, everyone else had joined her in the cockpit and the collected sense of relief was palpable as their vehicle passed through into the interior of the ancient caldera. The rocks beneath the wheels gave way to soft drifts of sand. It was something else entirely that made Ravana reach for the brake and bring the transport to a halt.

“Oh my,” she murmured.

Kedesh frowned. “I didn’t expect this.”

The crater was home to a shimmering lake that stretched as far as the eye could see. Tau Ceti was directly overhead and sparkling motes of sunlight flickered upon tiny rippling waves that danced before the stiff prevailing winds. A thin mist hung in the air and far away to their left, the faint silver streak of a waterfall could be seen cascading down the distant southern rim of the caldera, beyond which Hursag Asag itself rose through a layer of diaphanous cloud. The bright sunshine was deceptive, for the console’s environmental monitor revealed the temperature outside was just a few degrees above freezing.

“Why is there a lake in our way?” Artorius asked grumpily. “That’s stupid.”

“It’s amazing,” murmured Ravana. “The warm air from the plains must be condensing on the mountains. The volcanic rock is sucking the sky dry. I bet there’s another lake beyond the top of that waterfall, maybe in the crater of Hursag Asag itself.”

“Well deduced.” Kedesh looked thoughtful. “That would explain the dark patch on the map. It would appear I’ve directed you to Falsafah’s one-and-only beach resort.”

“Very funny.” Ravana sighed. “What now?”

Kedesh squinted through the windscreen and slowly scanned the entire crater from left to right. Ravana followed her gaze and her heart sank at the thought of the lengthy detour needed to reach the other side. Kedesh soon confirmed the girl’s fears.

“I can’t see an easy way round,” she said. “Let’s take a walk and assess the state of play. We can handle a bit of water if it’s not too deep.”

“Outside?” Ravana gulped.

“Can I come?” asked Artorius.

“No,” Kedesh said firmly. She looked at Ravana. “Are you up for this?”

Ravana paused and then nodded. “I could do with stretching my legs.”

“Thraak thraak!”

“Not literally! It’s just a turn of phrase.”

Kedesh found a spare survival suit and helmet for Ravana and before long they were huddled in the airlock ready to face the world outside. Kedesh armed them both with a cricket stump, plus gyroscopic binoculars for herself. Ravana was not sure why Kedesh had given her the stump but found a heavy stick in her hand somewhat reassuring.

Once outside, Kedesh went ahead of the vehicle and cautiously approached the water’s edge, pausing now and again to prod the ground with the stump along the way. Ravana caught on fast and followed, checking the ground ahead with her own stump. The sand beneath their feet remained firm and by the time Ravana caught up, Kedesh had taken a few steps into the lake itself, which even a few metres from the shore barely reached to her shins. The water was crystal clear and through the glass bowl visor of her helmet Ravana was surprised to see patches of brown fungus-like growths sprouting from the lake bed. Missi’s spiders aside, Falsafah was proving to be not so dead as she thought.

“Have you seen those?” she remarked, pointing. “There’s life on this planet.”

Kedesh gave a cursory glance but did not reply. The woman waded back to shore, handed Ravana the binoculars and gestured towards the transport. The faces of Artorius, Nana and Stripy pressed excitedly against the windscreen.

“Go onto the roof and see if you can spot dry land beyond this,” she said, her voice faintly distorted by the speaker in Ravana’s helmet. “It seems to be getting shallower to the north but it’s hard to tell.”

Ravana nodded and jogged back to the parked vehicle. The ladder to the roof was next to the airlock hatch and soon she was on top, her feet gingerly placed amongst bits of blasted spider the maintenance robots had missed, with the binoculars to her eyes. As Kedesh surmised, barely half a kilometre from shore on her right, a ridge of sand rose from the lake which offered a route west. Ravana was about to turn away when she noticed a dark shadow upon the lake. It looked like an oil slick, but with a start she realised it was moving against the wind, straight towards where the woman waded a few metres from shore.