David Sakmyster - The Cydonia Objective

“Just the same,” Diana called out from the back, “I hope the others made it out.”

Temple nodded. “One tram evacuated before us, and there were two teams of psychics in the field, and one in town on a training mission. At least they’ll be okay.”

“Yeah,” Orlando said dryly. “Stargate will live on!”

“No one will live on,” Phoebe countered. “Unless Caleb can find and stop Calderon.”

She dug her nails into Orlando’s hand. He was about to tell her to chill and enjoy the ride when the tram rocked violently. The driver screamed just before they impacted something and the car jumped the tracks.

“Oh, shi—”

It flipped, slammed off the walls, then careened forward, sparks roaring like the Fourth of July behind them, bounced again, and then, like in an underground rollercoaster, it simply dropped.

Down a huge incline where the rock floor had been, gliding on its belly until finally, slamming head-first into a barrier, punching through rocks and grinding to a stop.

“Everyone ok?” Orlandohelped Phoebe up. He wanted to make sure neither of them had any broken bones before verifying the condition of the others, but she was already up and rushing for Aria.

“She’s okay,” Diana said, stepping in the way. Orlando couldn’t see around her in the blinking overhead lights and the sparks still flying from the smashed equipment, but he thought he saw the little girl leaning over her father.

“Give her a minute,” Diana whispered, shaking her head sadly.

Phoebe squeezed Orlando’s hand tighter. “Oh no…”

Someone behind them cleared his throat. Temple, limping, bleeding from half-dozen cuts on his face and neck. “Sorry, and I know this is no place for something like this, but we don’t have a minute.”

“Sir,” Diana pleaded. “She saw him die. She—”

“She’ll be fine,” Aria said, and they all turned to see her form in the shadows. Aria laid a gentle kiss on her father’s forehead, then backed away, head bowed. Then she turned and with eyes brimming with tears, she nodded. “And I know, we can’t take him with us.”

Phoebe gasped. “There’s got to be a way.”

“No,” said Aria, climbing over wrecked seats and broken glass. “There isn’t. Just like there isn’t time to climb back up and run to the exit.”

Temple let her pass, but shielded her from the cockpit, where another casualty lay impaled under a pile of granite. “Then?”

“We need to go ahead.”

Phoebe looked ahead, following the beam of light that Temple just turned on.

Aria’s little feet crunched as she moved ahead. “Into their place.”

Orlando swallowed with anticipation, and after another step he realized the hand he was holding was now smaller. Aria was between them, holding Phoebe’s hand as well as his, urging them forward.

Orlando blinked as she squeezed his fingers and he gasped, the same time as Phoebe.

“How did you do that?” She whispered, then looked over to Orlando. “Did you see it?”

He nodded, just as the flashlight beam fanned back to them, highlighting Aria’s grim but determined expression.

“See what?” Temple asked as Diana moved around and took the beam from him, then turned it off. And their eyes immediately picked up the local lighting, soft and ambient, revealing a widening chamber, largely undamaged except for a few cracks in the ceiling and walls.

“Oh,” Temple said. “This.”

Aria nodded, still leading Phoebe and Orlando, heading toward a rounded marble staircase that ascended to a second level. “I’ve seen this before,” Orlando said. “It’s where the UFO-things returned from outside.”

Temple looked doubtful. “But they all left, hightailed it out of here.”

“They did,” Phoebe agreed, “but not all their crafts left with them.”

“There,” Diana pointed, toward the second alcove from the right on the upper level. Something multi-hued, transparent. And inside…

“Room for four?” Orlando wondered, but Diana was already running up the stairs, leading Temple and Aria.

“Let’s hope,” she called back. “And let’s hope I can figure out how to fly it!”

“If anyone can,” Temple said. “It’s you.”

Orlando was about to race up after them when Phoebe held him back. He stopped and saw that her attention was riveted on the side wall. “What is that? Artwork? A mural?”

“A map, I’d say” Phoebe’s eyes bounced around from the colored circles to the elliptical lines drawn around the center object—a bright orange sun.

“There’s Saturn,” Orlando said, pointed to a striped, ringed circle. “But what’s that symbol over the smaller dot next to it? And there, the same thing on other dots.”

“They’re moons, idiot.” Phoebe smiled, looking at them all, taking in the whole scope. She was aware of Aria on the second level, watching them with interest while Diana and Temple tinkered with the craft’s controls. She hoped they could gain some insight without psychic intervention, and in time. But for now, she was engrossed with the map.

“Tell me,” said Orlando, “it’s not another Pharos-like door. Some kind of devilish test or code to break.”

Phoebe shook her head, her eyes shining, even as the room shook again and dust fell on them. “No code. No test. Just a map.”

“Of what?”

“Look closer at the symbols on those moons, Orlando.” She stepped closer as well, just to be certain her theory was correct. “Oh, if I’m right, big brother is going to be so jealous I figured this out without him.”

Orlando grinned, then peered closer under the ringed planet. “So, if I remember my astronomy class, this would be Saturn’s largest moon. Almost the size of the Earth itself. Titan.” Looked even closer, and brushed away some dust from the raised symbol. “A book?”

Phoebe nodded, tracing the same symbol not only on the Earth itself, but on its satellite. Specifically on the shaded side. “Wisdom,” she whispered, and closed her eyes.

“What does it mean?” Orlando frowned. He noted the book symbol elsewhere. “It’s also on Pluto’s moon. What was that one, Charon? And here, closer, on Phobos, for Mars.”

“And look out beyond Pluto,” Phoebe said. “At the edge of the wall.”

“Another one?” Orlando scampered there, then looked back on the five feet of emptiness, just black tiles. “What the hell’s out here? And this is one big ass book, twice as large as the others. And it’s just one dark planet.”

Phoebe shook her head slowly, still staring at the Earth and the Moon. “I can only guess about that, but for those closer to home, I’d say everything is a learning plan. ”

“A what?”

Another rumble, and the floor cracked. The stairway split and three steps crumbled.

“Hurry, people!” Temple shouted. “Get up here.”

“Not ready yet!” Diana yelled back, sounding like she was in a tight position, perhaps trying to jump start the craft.

“On our way!” Orlando yelled, glancing at Phoebe. “We are, aren’t we?”

Phoebe nodded, giving the map a long last look, memorizing it. “We are.”

“Learning plan?” Orlando said as they ran for the stairs.

“Libraries,” she said. “It has to be. Repositories of wisdom, starting with the one on Earth.”

“In the Pharos Vault.”

“Originally, yes.” They gingerly took the steps, careful where they placed their feet. “And maybe the others are similar, just copies of everything we—our ancestors—once knew.”

“Ancestors, or aliens?”

“Half-dozen of one, six of the other.”

“Okay,” Orlando said, jumping over a gap, then helping Phoebe. “I guess. But you think it’s more?”