Horizon Storms - Kevin J. Anderson [215]
Having a few more years with his wife would have been nice. During their best times, he regretted not spending enough days just enjoying her company, relaxing with her, going to the hot springs she loved so well because her body ached. Now that the Chief Scientist was alone and had all the time in the universe to spend on his investigations, he would have preferred just to take an afternoon off and walk through the canyons of Rheindic Co with her. But she was gone now…
One of the technicians, bleary-eyed and exhausted from hustling people through the trapezoidal gateway all day long, remained on duty to perform bookkeeping chores, though she clearly had no love for the task. Aladdia had a narrow face, bronze skin, and long blue-black hair. As she went about her tedious paperwork, ignoring him, she ate an evening snack that filled the small control room with the pungent odors of curry and garlic. Palawu couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten, but Aladdia didn’t offer to share. He was not impolite enough to ask.
Her control board brightened, and the trapezoidal stone window grew blurry. “It’s about time,” she muttered, more to herself than to Palawu.
He looked up and saw a shadow appear. A tall man stepped through. He had tousled black hair and wore a dusty but comfortable-looking expedition jumpsuit. His lightweight pack contained the requisite scanning and documentation apparatus, as well as a conservative supply of survival rations.
The explorer unslung his pack and handed her the results and images he had gathered. “Another decent world, a bit colder than the others, but the ground is rich in rare metals. A keeper.”
Aladdia scanned the data pack, then nodded. “Good. We’ll add it to the roster.”
“Right now, I’m getting a shower, some food, and a long nap.” The transportal explorer left his equipment behind and walked briskly into the tunnels.
Over the past month, Palawu had often seen explorers return from their expeditions to undeciphered destination tiles. He’d always been intrigued by their daring adventures. He said to the technician, “So many of the tiles remain untried. Who knows what we might find if we traveled through to those worlds?”
“Yes, who knows? If you figure out how the transportals work, we’ll get a lot more answers.” Apparently, the explorer’s scheduled return was all she’d been waiting for. Wrapping up the remains of her snack, Aladdia signed off her log and called it a night. “The system is yours, Dr. Palawu. I hope you find something worthwhile tonight.”
Pacing the room after she left, he stared at the big stone window through which the man had just returned. Palawu had already passed through the transportal network many times in order to study the apparatus on other already proven Klikiss worlds. But the thought of so many blank holes in the data bothered him on a fundamental level. As the Hansa’s Chief Scientist, it was his job to find answers about the whole alien transportation system.
He scanned the mysterious Klikiss hieroglyphics, exotic letters or numerals assigned to the worlds their lost civilization had claimed. Palawu could choose from among hundreds that had never been investigated, never been seen by human eyes. The very idea intrigued him.
He had his scientific curiosity, after all, and he had watched so many colonists pass harmlessly through the transportal. Palawu had already left his mark in many ways: his technical papers and scientific accomplishments, his work analyzing the Klikiss robot Jorax, dozens of fundamental breakthroughs that ranged from the wildly profitable to the unbelievably esoteric.
Knowing the symbol coordinate tile that would return him to Rheindic Co, he could always find his way back. He had nothing left to prove…but why not achieve something else? In reality, he had nothing to lose.
With the meticulous care he had learned from his first job as a lab assistant, Palawu carefully documented what he intended to do, leaving a full explanation and tidying up the reports he had so far compiled about the transportal