Task Force Mars - Kevin Dockery [91]
“No, I didn’t think that was possible,” Jackson admitted. He glanced at Char-Kane. “The consul told me that such devices were still in the planning stages.”
“Maybe for the Shamani. Do you see that mast emerging from the summit?” Parvik indicated a tall shaft extending straight up into the air from the very top of the pyramid. As they flew closer, they could see coils of tubing enclosing the lower half of the spire.
“I was wondering why that wasn’t destroyed when you were blasting holes in the sides of the place,” the lieutenant admitted.
“The truth is, we hoped to capture the device. The Eluoi have developed the technology; it allows signals to be pushed through distances of many light-years, almost instantaneously. Once they arrive, they can be set to convert back to any waveform of communication, fit any of your radio frequencies for example. So…”
“So if we could reach that transponder, we could send a message back to our own system,” the officer concluded, finishing the thought.
“Precisely.”
“This is rumor, nothing more!” snapped Char-Kane, finally breaking her silence. “Such a transponder is merely theoretical. Our best scientists have determined that it is not even possible to make such a device! And I warned you not to trust this—this Assarn!” She all but hissed the last word.
“There are some things you Shamani told us that have turned out not to be true,” Jackson replied. “And a few other key details that you seem to have withheld.”
“You humans are like children!” she retorted. “You are not ready for all the secrets of the universe.”
“I think we’re ready for this one,” he replied pointedly. “It sounds like we need to go to the pyramid and see about getting inside.”
“And that might be easier now than it would have been just a few hours ago,” Olin Parvik declared. He pointed toward the great pyramid, which was only a few klicks away now. For the first time Jackson could get a good look at the battle damage, which appeared to be significant. Gaping craters yawned in the sides of the massive structure, and several of the holes were spewing dense columns of smoke. Most of the battery emplacements had been blasted into rubble, and in many places they could see directly into the interior of the massive building through gaps ranging from small cracks to, in a couple of places, yawning breaches where they could see Eluoi soldiers and gun crews setting up mobile field pieces, presumably to defend against a subsequent attack.
The two big firefighting ships were focusing their attention on the far side of the huge building. Ground equipment was arriving from all directions, mostly truck-sized transports clustering around the base of the pyramid, which Jackson guessed was at least three klicks wide on each of its four sides. There were workers and repair crews swarming around the lower slopes of the structure, but the upper half, where much of the damage had been inflicted, was mostly devoid of activity. A few jetcars similar to their own were landing here and there on the few surviving docks or on some of the few large flat spaces within the gaping craters on the steeply sloping sides.
“Can you get us a closer look?” Jackson asked.
“Sure.” The pilot swooped the vehicle over one face of the blasted structure. They saw a particularly large crater, no longer smoking, that was surrounded by blasted concrete and reinforcing bars but offered a bed of rubble at the bottom that looked flat and larger than the aircraft. With a few deft touches of the controls, Parvik brought the jetcar to a smooth landing within the smoldering ruin, high up on the side of the pyramid.
Jackson unstrapped himself and stood, turning to the rear in time to see Ruiz sticking his head through the hatch to the flight deck.
“Hey, LT,” the master chief said. “Take a look at what we found in a locker back here.”
He was carrying two garments of slick white cloth: uniforms of Eluoi officers, Jackson guessed immediately. The smaller