Doctor Who_ Sleepy - Kate Orman [23]
‘There’s that,’ said Benny. ‘And there’s the complete lack of writing anywhere else on the structure.’
‘Graffiti?’
‘Possibly. But it looks to me as though these inscriptions were made in the stone before the temple was built. They don’t flow continuously.’
‘Maybe they’re just stonemasons’ marks.’
‘Possibly. A lot of it is the same short phrases, repeated over and over. Look at this.’ Benny held up her notepad Page, pointed to a symbol she’d transcribed. ‘There are definite similarities between this language and several others in the area. Some of the symbols are nearly identical to Ikkaban and D’nasian glyphs.’
‘But... Zaniwe glanced up at the temple. ‘Surely these People weren’t capable of space travel?’
‘They didn’t need to be. Civilizations like the Ikkaba and the D’nasians helped spread Exxilon culture throughout this area. There are half a dozen worlds where the native languages develop up to a point, and then are suddenly replaced by one of the Exxilon ones.’
‘Is that right?’
‘This symbol,’ said Benny, ‘— actually, it’s two symbols joined together by that crossbar. You see?’
Zaniwe peered closer. It was a... flower? Joined to an egg? Something like that.
‘ Roses and souls,’ said Benny. ‘The line over the top indicates a plural.’
‘What does it mean?’
‘ Roses and souls is the Ikkaban metaphor for sacrifice.
I’ve seen it on altars on three different planets. The rose isn’t really a rose, of course; that’s just how Hadley translated it in her monograph. For that matter, given Ikkaban theology, the soul isn’t really a soul.’
‘Benny,’ said Zaniwe, ‘I’ve been a student of archaeology for ten years, and I’ve never heard of any of this.’
Benny looked at her over her shoulder. ‘Well... um. Well, that’s because Hadley hasn’t actually been born yet.’
‘I see.’
‘Um...’
‘Are you sure you should be telling me this, if you’re from the future?’
Benny laughed. ‘I’m sure that’s my line. Or something like it. I don’t think it’s going to do much harm, so long as Hadley doesn’t get hold of my notes... but then, maybe that’s how she did the translations in the first place... sorry, I’m thinking out loud again.’
‘Why? Why’d you come here from the future?’
‘It’s the Doctor,’ said Benny. ‘He travels around in time and space. Chris and Roz and me, we’re passengers.’
‘Why does he do that, then?’
‘He gets bored easily. And he wants to save the universe. Look, we don’t have a hidden agenda. We heard a rumour about the infections, and we wanted to come and see what really happened.’
‘A rumour,’ said Zaniwe. ‘You mean, you read about us in your history.’
Benny glanced at her sideways and nodded. ‘As usual, things were more complicated than we thought.’
Zaniwe regarded her, head tilted to one side. ‘It’s just that it’s an odd coincidence,’ she said. ‘Someone has done this to us. The virus, I mean. And you folks showed up...’
‘A week after the first outbreak,’ Benny reminded her.
Zaniwe grinned. ‘Okay, future girl,’ she said, ‘I’d better go and see what Jenny’s up to.’
Benny smiled as she watched the woman go. Her smile faded a little as she wondered whether the Doctor did have another reason for their visit. One that he was keeping to himself. What was he up to, back at the colony? Had he expected her to find the pieces of spaceship? The Ikkaban writing?
Cruk. She was getting paranoid.
She turned back to her notepad, craned her neck, looking at the pair of glyphs at the top of the temple. Looked back at her notepad.
‘Right there,’ she said, tapping the symbols with her pencil. ‘Right there. Something-Temple. No, Someone-Temple.’
She rolled over, lying on her back, looking up at the top of the stairs.
‘But whose temple were you?’ she asked.
5 Hear no Evil
Cinnabar’s lab had once been the busiest part of the colony; she had been in charge of assembling all the equipment (borrowed, begged, stolen) they had brought with them, as well as setting up the colony’s computer system (generously provided by the Company). Now that part of the work was over, her lab was almost empty, and she