Hidden Empire - Kevin J. Anderson [249]
Louis swallowed hard and leaned against the overhang wall, looking out into the night. Without question, Sirix, Dekyk, and Ilkot would come for them. And since the archaeologists were stranded here on the ghost planet, the black robots had all the time in the world.
In a tunnel deeper within the cliffside, away from the portal wall chamber, DD had scraped away a broad section of powdery, resinous covering. "It was similar to plaster, obscuring the hieroglyphics. When I scanned the wall, I discovered the markings underneath. I thought you would like to inspect them, Margaret, so I carefully cleaned the overlay. Notice several instances of the symbol that corresponds to the Klikiss robots."
Margaret drank in the information. "Good work, DD. You'll make a fine xeno-archaeologist someday."
Tracing her fingertip along the symbols, she read quickly from what she knew of the language. She'd had enough practice by now that she could interpret the general meaning without recourse to her carefully compiled databases and dictionaries. No wonder some ancient Klikiss survivor—perhaps the cadaver they had found in the machine room—had wanted to hide this last testament.
"Is it important information, Margaret?" DD asked.
Her heart grew colder as she understood the markings. "Yes, DD. This might just be the last piece of the puzzle." She began to walk numbly back toward the main overhang. Louis had to know what she had learned.
As she passed the portal wall chamber, she glanced inside and saw the clutter of their day's work. Next to her notes lay part of a sandwich and a protein wafer, the small but beautiful music box Anton had given her. Feeling a pang, Margaret snatched the music box and pocketed it.
Louis's shout rang out before she could make her way back to him. "Margaret, here they come!"
Her instincts were torn between confronting the treacherous black robots and just taking her husband and fleeing deeper into the catacombs. Perhaps they could find some escape, some protection inside the empty Klikiss city.
But it was not, after all, a difficult choice. She went to stand beside Louis.
At the edge of the overhang, he looked down into the dark canyon, his seamed face fearful but his eyes flashing. The scaffolding lay smashed on the ravine floor. Far below, the three beetlelike shapes crunched along the dry riverbed. Their optical sensors glowed like malevolent fireflies in the shadows.
"I don't see how they can get up here," Louis said, but Margaret had her doubts about how impregnable this empty city would be. "Did you learn anything, dear?"
"I found the answer to all of our questions," she said.
Louis Colicos, the lifelong xeno-archaeologist, managed to summon enough enthusiasm for his passion in life that he actually looked up with interest. "Well, a lot of good it'll do us if we can't tell anybody."
"You and I will know, old man," Margaret said, patting him on the arm.
Down below, Sirix and the other two robots stopped, swiveling their geometric heads upward. "Margaret and Louis Colicos, we know you are up there."
"And we know you're down there," Louis said. "Now leave us alone."
"We wish to discuss our creators with you. We want to learn everything you have discovered."
"And then kill us afterward?" Margaret called down, challenging.
The three black robots fell silent for a long moment, then they buzzed and chattered with each other in their strange electronic language. Sirix finally looked back upward. "Yes, and then kill you."
Margaret was surprised the robot would be so blunt. "Well, at least they're honest," Louis said.
Margaret called, her words clear and sharp in the silent canyon. "We know all about the first hydrogue war. I read hidden descriptions of the ancient battle between the Klikiss and the hydrogues, and even the Ildirans." Louis looked at her, astonished, while the three black robots pondered