A Forest of Stars - Kevin J. Anderson [143]
Earlier, Earth had used slow-moving generation ships, scattering humans on one-way trips across the Spiral Arm. But a century-long journey precluded any sort of commercial exchange.
His head began to pound with an impending migraine as he struggled to synthesize some means of holding a galactic civilization together, but not even his best engineering geniuses could offer solutions. Was there no other way to travel between the stars?
He finally returned the table to its matte-crystal surface. With a sigh, he prepared for dinner with Sarein. She might relax him, allow him to forget for an hour or so, whether through sex or conversation.
Either way, Basil didn’t think any solution would be forthcoming.
73
DAVLIN LOTZE
The hidden backup datawafer provided a wealth of amazing information. Margaret Colicos had recorded her findings, giving detailed translations of countless Klikiss hieroglyphics.
With Rlinda Kett looking over his shoulder, Davlin turned up the illumination inside his cabin on the Curiosity. “She managed to decipher not just these equations, but also most of the historical records written on the walls.” He scrolled through another set of files, looking at diagrams, translations, theories, and questions. “They uncovered some still-functional Klikiss technology…that stone window we found. Louis figured out how to make it work.” He glanced up at her, his eyes wide and intent. “We’ll need to go there tomorrow and investigate it ourselves.”
“Hey, you’re the specialist in obscure details.” Rlinda brought out a bottle of wine from the ship’s stores and sipped from her glass, sighing to make sure he knew how delicious it was. But Davlin didn’t want wine, didn’t even want to stop for a meal. This was too important.
Basil Wenceslas had been right to send him here.
He scrolled to the end of the file. “Margaret was compiling all this information for the next regular report to be sent via telink, but apparently the green priest was killed before she could transmit it.”
“Think he was murdered to prevent the information from getting out?”
“Margaret’s report gives no indication that she feared for her life, no suspicions at all. Whatever killed Louis Colicos and the green priest must have done so unexpectedly. The Klikiss robots and the compy are gone, and so is Margaret herself. Maybe the robots turned on them? Maybe Margaret went berserk from something she found? Maybe the threat was entirely external—say, an Ildiran assassin squad—something that wanted to prevent the Hansa from learning whatever they had discovered? At this point, I am considering every possibility equally.”
Rlinda took a longer drink of her wine and looked out through the tent flap into the clear desert night. “And now we’re here trying to learn the same information. Aren’t you concerned that we might be in danger, too?”
He met her gaze with his large brown eyes. “I am always concerned.”
At the barest hint of dawn, Davlin led a sleep-groggy Rlinda Kett out to the second set of ancient ruins. They entered the echoing ghost city they had already explored, but this time the shadows and mysteries had been pushed back a bit further. With the information from Margaret’s datawafer, Davlin could look at the evidence with a fresh eye and maybe—finally—find some answers.
He went straight into the large gallery that contained the blank trapezoidal surface. Davlin stared at Louis’s bloody palm print on the flat stone, then scrutinized the complex symbol tiles that framed the unmarked area. He went to a side alcove of the big chamber where he had found strange geometric mechanical units, partly dismantled and open.
On his portable screen he referred to some of the notes Margaret Colicos had jotted down—her husband’s incomplete speculations included. Davlin could imagine the woman pestering Louis to write up his own summary, but the old man would probably have put off paperwork, tinkering and learning new things faster than he could document what he had already uncovered.
“So, have you figured out what it is?” Rlinda asked. “Or are the details