Steph Bennion - Paw-Prints of the Gods

“They financed your dig,” Kedesh pointed out. “Though I’m puzzled as to why the corporation was happy to let the Dhusarians take first innings. Que Qiao is no doubt watching events with interest. Technology like that portal is way ahead of anything we can do.”

“The Americans must have put the capsule there themselves,” Govannon protested. “The dating samples show the chamber last saw sunlight twelve thousand years ago. If it was the same light we saw today, your so-called portal last opened back when humans were stuck on Mesolithic Earth. The capsule could not have arrived that way, see?”

“Time travel,” Hestia said solemnly. “I was right all along.”

Urania snorted. “Don’t be stupid!”

“Watchers don’t play cricket when it comes to regular space-time,” Kedesh told her.

“Paw-prints of the gods?” Ravana suggested accusingly. “Nana and Stripy said the chamber was built by the greys. The hieroglyphs at the entrance were from the Isa-Sastra . Is all this what that damn cat woman referred to as some kind of game?”

“Perhaps the script was added later,” mused Govannon. “As a warning, see?”

Ravana frowned. Yima reappeared at the ceiling hatch looking solemn, holding the vial of blood Kedesh gave him earlier. As the agent climbed through into the Platypus , the boy’s head appeared at the hatch behind him.

“This ship is much better!” Artorius said with glee. “It’s got guns and everything.”

“Take no notice of the silly little boy,” Ravana murmured, patting the console.

Ininna regarded Yima impatiently. “Well?”

“This is from the boy?” asked Yima. He showed Kedesh the vial, who nodded. “What I got from the cartridge is badly degraded, but the DNA matches that of the blood.”

“See?” said Kedesh, smiling smugly at Ininna.

“There’s more.” Yima looked puzzled. “I ran a carbon-fourteen count on the cartridge sample. Whoever it came from took their last breath over ten thousand years ago.”

“What?” cried Ininna. “That must be wrong.”

“It’s pretty close to when you said the portal last opened,” Kedesh told Govannon.

“Nonsense!” retorted the archaeologist, but the way he scratched his stubbly chin suggested doubt. “Carbon dating can’t be used away from Earth. No calibration data, see?”

“Time travel!” protested Hestia. “It must be.”

“There is more going on here than I can take right now,” Ininna told Kedesh irritably. “I would dearly love to arrest you all, but there’s not enough room on our ship and I don’t trust you to follow in this heap of junk. You, the boy and the Dhusarians come with us. Your friends have one hour to leave this system and if I ever see any of them again, or if anyone ever speaks of what we saw, I will personally hunt them down, rip out their tongue and poke a sharp pointy stick in their eyes. Do I make myself understood?”

“Perfectly,” Kedesh murmured.

“Both our eyes?” asked Quirinus and waggled his eye patch.

“Don’t get smart with me,” Ininna growled. “I also want everyone’s wristpads. I saw some of the students recording what was going on down there.”

Xuthus gasped in protest. “Our wristpads?”

“You heard me,” snapped Ininna. She turned to Ravana. “As far as I’m concerned, you’re wanted on Yuanshi, not here. Not my jurisdiction,” she added, with a sideways glance at Kedesh. “But one of your little grey friends gave you something. Give it to me.”

Ravana had forgotten about the globe. Ininna’s fierce glare was enough to persuade her to comply and she pulled it from the pocket of the borrowed jumpsuit. The soft green sphere had lost its sparkle and looked quite mundane under the cabin lights.

“Funny little Nana,” Ravana said and sighed. The grey’s gift was an odd souvenir of their Falsafah adventure. “She’s been through such a lot. I hope they get home okay.”

“You said ‘she’,” Kedesh noted, smiling. “That’s a lot better than saying ‘it’.”

“What’s that?” asked Artorius, watching from above. “Alien poo?”

“Aliens do not exist,” Ininna said coolly. “And that’s official.”

She snatched the globe from Ravana’s hand and dropped it into her own pocket. Pistol in hand, Yima went round the flight deck and took the wristpads from those who had one, then ordered Urania to collect the rest from everyone in the crawl tunnel and beyond. He counted what she returned and gave a satisfied nod.

“The reporter said you’re lucky that place was underground,” said Urania. “Otherwise everything her cambot saw would have gone out live.”

“There will be no news from Falsafah,” snapped Ininna. “Bring the Dhusarians.”

Ravana glanced to the crawl tunnel. Zotz, Xuthus, Hestia and Urania, looking glum following the confiscation of their wristpads, realised they were blocking the entrance and one by one retreated into the carousel. Momus, Lilith and Dagan had been listening on the ship’s intercom and the Dhusarians looked sullen and apprehensive upon entering the flight deck, where Ravana greeted them with a hostile stare. At the hatch above, Artorius took one look at Lilith and disappeared inside the agents’ ship without even so much as a goodbye. Ravana had to admit he seemed okay to be going with Ininna and Yima.

“Poor Artorius.” Ravana sighed. “Does he know he’s a clone?”

“It matters not what he is, only that he is here,” said Lilith, sounding far more smug than Ravana expected given the situation. “What happened at Arallu was unexpected, but he has done Taranis’ bidding and this must be how it is supposed to be.”

“Giant spiders?” Dagan retorted nervously. “I didn’t sign up to church for that.”

“It was the greys who opened the portal,” Ravana pointed out. “Not Artorius.”

With a weary sigh of resignation, Ininna gestured to Yima to lead Lilith and Dagan into the Alf-Sana Booma . Dagan reached for a grab handle and pulled himself up after the agent. Lilith moved to follow but was stopped short by a touch of Ravana’s hand.

“Taranis,” Ravana said, sounding hesitant. “You said he was dead. Is it true?”

Lilith smiled. “I did say that, didn’t I?”

“Answer her question!” growled Kedesh.

“I lied,” Lilith said coldly. “I’m pleased to say that the father of our Church is alive and well. Rest assured he has not forgotten you, my so-called demon king.”

She pushed Ravana’s hand away, reached for the handrail and hauled herself through the hatch, away from the girl’s dumbstruck gaze. Ininna motioned to Kedesh to follow, then rolled her eyes in exasperation when she saw the woman was more interested in retrieving her cricket bat from where it had been wedged.

“This is the longest arrest ever,” the agent complained.

Kedesh shoved the bat under an arm, gave Ravana a smile and held out her hand.

“It’s been a pleasure,” she remarked. “A veritable test match of sticky wickets, but final scores were pretty much as expected. The Grand Priory can use people like you.”

Ravana hesitantly shook Kedesh’s hand. “Will you and Artorius be okay?”

“We’ll be fine,” she reassured her. “I won’t bore you with stuff about timelines and paradoxical quantum shifts. Let me know if you’re ever up for some more fun.”

“Get in the ship!” snapped Ininna.

Kedesh grinned and reached for the hatch. Ininna gave one last glare and followed her into the Alf-Sana Booma . The hatch swung closed behind them, then with a muffled thud and puff of jets the agents’ ship broke free of the Platypus . By the time Zotz, Xuthus, Hestia and Urania joined Ravana, Quirinus and Govannon on the flight deck, the Que Qiao ship was firing its main engines to break orbit. Ravana watched it go with a sadness in her heart, for despite Kedesh’s erratic loyalty and Artorius moody selfishness, they had been through a lot together. Zotz came to her side, behind whom she saw Momus, Fornax and Philyra slipping from the crawl tunnel into the crowded cabin. Kedesh’s mention of timelines puzzled her.