Steph Bennion - Paw-Prints of the Gods

“Looks like we were followed,” Quirinus murmured.

“Who by?” Govannon said irritably. “A herd of elephants, is it?”

A harsh buzzing filled the air. Ravana ducked as a small rotor-driven robot came from nowhere and whizzed over their heads with lights ablaze. She frowned when she saw intrepid reporters Philyra and Fornax were right behind and hurrying towards her.

“What are you doing?” Ravana whispered. “You were told to stay on the ship!”

“And miss the big story, kid?” scoffed Fornax. “Not likely.”

“Keep your voices down!” hissed Govannon.

Philyra joined Ravana crouching by the wall. Together they watched nervously as Fornax’s flying camera buzzed past the android and into the chamber. Hearing more noise from behind, Ravana turned and groaned. Another two figures appeared in the green-tinged gloom of the tunnel, this time wearing the grumpy countenances of Yima and Ininna.

“Whoopee,” grumbled Quirinus. “The cavalry has arrived.”

Ininna replied with a withering stare, but whatever cutting retort she planned was lost in the din of yet more new arrivals. Govannon looked close to despair at the sight of Xuthus, Urania and Hestia trotting through the ancient alien tunnel with no more urgency than they showed on their way to lectures. Ravana’s cat leapt from Hestia to Stripy and was greeted by a tentative stroke of fur. The crowded passage was suddenly awash with urgent whispers.

“That capsule is a time machine,” Hestia was saying. “You’ll see!”

“It’s from the USS Constellation ,” retorted Xuthus. “Well, maybe.”

“This is crazy!” Govannon hissed. “Go back to the dome, the lot of you!”

“I take it all back,” Philyra whispered to Ravana, casting a doubtful eye over Nana and Stripy. “Your aliens are real. But that boy! I know him! It’s Artorius of Avalon!”

Ravana frowned, confused by both Philyra’s recognition of Artorius and the talk of time machines and capsules. The android guard moved again with another clank.

“What are they doing in there?” whispered Yima, peering into the chamber.

“Some weird space-alien ritual, no doubt,” muttered Ininna.

“What do you know about Artorius?” Ravana asked Philyra.

“The boy who came from nowhere to be king! Don’t you watch Gods of Avalon ?”

“Keep out of sight!” Quirinus urged. “Do you want to give us away?”

“They can’t see us,” Philyra retorted. A shadow fell upon her. “Whoops.”

Ravana lunged for the plasma cannon but it was too late. Philyra stepped from their hiding place, her hands held high as the android loomed closer, its rifle aimed at her chest. Lilith and Dagan, brandishing the agents’ confiscated pistols and looking very unimpressed by the intrusion, stood nearby. With a sigh of resignation, Ravana put down the cannon.

Philyra gave an apologetic grin. “I think we’ve been spotted.”

Ravana watched fearfully as Dagan directed the robot to the far side of the arch to stop anyone leaving. A scowling Lilith led herself, her father and the greys into the chamber.

The heart of the labyrinth, cast into sharp relief by the powerful floodlights, was an awe-inspiring sight. The star-shaped floor and angular alcoves made Ravana picture the alien construction as a giant machine, where she was but a grain of dust drifting past silent cogs poised to whirr into action in the blink of an eye. The pale blue luminescence of the walls revealed the labyrinth’s true scale; looking up, the soaring alcoves and rods made her dizzy and not a little fearful at how far below ground they were. More unnerving was the way the ground trembled with every step she took. The floor was pockmarked by tiny craters in the manner of a volcanic mud pool froze solid, one nevertheless ready to erupt once more.

The tableau at the centre of the chamber was harder to define. Doctor Jones called it a cocoon, but the brown decaying ruin looked like the remains of a hollow tree after a storm. Beyond the inky pool Ravana spied a glint of white, then shivered as her gaze fell upon the tangled giant spider, embedded in the ground. Her headache was getting worse.

“Weird,” muttered Quirinus.

Jizo made as if to hit him with the bottle in her hand, then instead threw it towards the arch. There was a shriek of pain as the last of the Pinot Noir hit Yima’s bandaged arm.

“Silence!” she snapped. Her other hand wielded a slate.

Ravana shot Kedesh a fierce glare, but the woman refused to meet her gaze. Artorius managed a weak smile, despite cheeks streaked with silent tears. Ravana glanced around the chamber and saw for the first time the sad mound of rubble near the wall. The realisation that Professor Cadmus had died at this very spot brought forth an involuntary shudder.

“You said the girl was dead,” Lilith remarked coolly.

“I lied,” said Kedesh. “But I don’t take kindly to people stealing my clothes.”

Ravana gave the woman her best withering look. “Do your feet still hurt?”

“A little bit.”

“Good!”

“zz-siileencee-zz!” screeched one of the monks. Ravana winced as her implant sent a bolt of pain through her skull. The speaker wore the sash patterned with silver lions that belonged to Brother Simha. “zz-wee-haavee-muuch-woork-too-doo-zz.”

“You won’t get away with this,” Ininna called fiercely from the arch. “Threatening officers of the law is a serious offence! We have a team on the way and by the mighty Allah all hell will break loose when they get here and find out what you’ve done!”

“No one is coming for you,” retorted Dagan, waggling the gun in his hand. He had stayed at the arch to guard those huddled in the short length of passage beyond.

“It’s still all on holovid,” said Quirinus, glancing up at Fornax’s buzzing cambot.

“What do you want with Artorius?” asked Ravana. “He’s just a little boy.”

“And you’re just a girl,” sneered Jizo. “We don’t answer to you.”

“zz-thee-booyy-iis-aall-thaat-maatteers-zz,” buzzed the second cyberclone, who wore the archers motif of Brother Dhanus. “zz-hee-muust-doo-oouur-biiddiing-zz.”

“zz-oorphaaneed-chiild-oof-Sool-zz,” rasped Simha. The clone grabbed Artorius by the shoulder and turned him towards the towering circle of rods, causing the boy to release a trembling cry. “zz-iin-yyoouur-heeaad-bee-iit-zz!”

The creatures’ shrieks clawed at Ravana’s thoughts. Jizo sidled to the dead spider, broke off a chunk of dried flesh and popped a piece in her mouth, all whilst idly scrutinising the slate in her hands. Simha released Artorius’ manacles and led him onto the narrow circle of ground between the rods and the dark pool. With a sniff, the boy nervously looked around the chamber, ran a hand across a snotty nose and started to cry.

“Help me,” he wailed quietly. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Brother Cadmus was meant to help,” muttered Lilith. “The boy knows nothing.”

“Professor Cadmus?” exclaimed Ravana. A chorus of surprised gasps echoed from Govannon and his student archaeologists in the archway. “He was a Dhusarian?”

The clones stood unmoving behind Artorius. A hush fell upon the scene, broken only by an uneasy cough and shuffle of feet from Dagan and the buzzing of the cambot high above their heads. Ravana felt Nana take her hand. A cat-shaped blur loped from the shadows and she guessed her electric pet had escaped Stripy’s clutches. It was then she heard a plaintive meow and saw her cat still clutched firmly in the grey’s embrace.

“What…?” she murmured.

“A fascinating situation, don’t you think?” purred a voice in her ear.

Ravana slowly turned her head. Standing there was Athene, resplendent as ever in her floor-length silver and black fur coat. The watcher smiled, stepped up to Lilith and playfully waved a hand before the woman’s scowl to demonstrate that the nurse and everyone else were oblivious to her presence. Ravana thought about their meeting on Hursag Asag and how the mysterious stranger had apparently frozen time, but on this occasion she could hear nervous murmurs from the captives awaiting the Dhusarians’ next move. Then she saw Kedesh’s wide-eyed stare across the room and realised Athene was visible to at least one other.