A Fistful of Dust (16 page)

“Hardly surprising,” Henry declared.

“Not sure I understand.”

Henry laughed. “Why the good man loves you, my dear.”

“That…cannot be.”

“Why shouldn’t he?”

“He’s a…common soldier, and our servant.”

“Love has no barriers, Elizabeth.”

“Are you not angry with him?”

“For what? Taking care of you? Has he ever done anything inappropriate?”

“Well…no.”

“There you are then.” Henry moved in front of her. “My dear, I appreciate anyone who has seen to your safety. I can hardly blame anyone for loving you when I see so much to love myself. If you should love someone else, my sweet Elizabeth, I would not stand in your way.”

“Why, Henry, what are you saying?”

“Just that…I am never going to change.”

An unfortunate witness to this outpouring of devotion, Annabelle took to studying one of the sea spiders. She could see what Henry meant by their being easy to catch. She had put several feet between herself and the lovers, but the formation of the cave sent whispers to her ears.

“I am quite the adventurer it seems.”

“My dear Henry; I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“We are perfectly suited then, and…I say.” Henry broke off suddenly. “Did you feel that?”

5.

THEY BELIEVED THEY
reached a problem when they had to climb down through the rocks. Notch wasn’t going to be able to accompany them, and they weren’t sure the Chaldrite would take kindly to being left behind. They needn’t have worried. Although they had to push him in one place and feared the rock would scrape his shell, for the most part the Chaldrite was quite capable of adhering to the surface, just as any insect on earth. Clearly, their shells were tough and it begged the questions what force had caused the chip in Notch’s carapace.

They had warned both Arnaud and Whitlock about the crystal city, so although both were suitably awed, they were able to hurry them along. Clearly, the city was no surprise to Notch who seemed to find their fascination curious.

They left Whitlock at the entrance at the base and moved along the corridor. Folkard hesitated at the metal wall, but Nathaniel urged him along.

“These are the…chambers, you described?”

“Yes, Doctor.”

“Do you mind if I…?” Arnaud disappeared into one of the chambers without waiting for permission. Folkard shook his head but kept walking. Although torn, Nathaniel could not abandon his mission for the sake of Arnaud’s curiosity, especially when he could see no immediate danger, so continued to the base of the monolith. A simple examination revealed nothing useful.

“Folkard?” Nathaniel had hoped Folkard would sense something.

“I’m not…sure.”

They were still investigating when Arnaud joined them. At his glance, Nathaniel shook his head.

“This is the creature you both saw?” Arnaud examined the creatures on the monolith. When both confirmed, he said, “Looks like a mole.”

Now that Arnaud mentioned it, Nathaniel saw the resemblance.

“By the way, gentlemen.” Folkard waited until they were both looking at him. “The creature is nearby. I believe it is sleeping.”

“You know that?”

There was no reply. Folkard approached, held his hands out a few inches from the surface.

“This is similar to what you saw above?” Arnaud whispered when Folkard failed to perform a miracle.

“Yes, though on smaller scale and not all the markings above are on this portion, though many are duplicated.”

“It looks like a family tree.”

Nathaniel glanced at the layout of the symbols. “Yes. A hierarchy. The…” He shrugged. “The mole is at the top of this middle segment, what we presume to be Chaldrites second. These two, I have no idea what they represent. This.” Nathaniel pointed to the last of the five top figures. “It resembles a starfish. The things we ate?”

“I hate to agree but
oui
. And reason dictates a food chain.”

“A food chain? Not a hierarchy?”

“Maybe both.”

The top most one was a humanoid shape. A head and four limbs, what appeared to be two arms and two legs. Beneath it a circle.

“The head…” Arnaud hesitated, searching for a word. “Sachem?”

“Maybe. Tribe leader is as good a hypothesis as any.”

“Bien je jamais.”
Arnaud looked at Nathaniel when he raised an eyebrow. “Annabelle, she wondered why the Chaldrites were so eager to attend to us, why they followed the other men as well as us and seemed upset over our altercation. This could explain why.”

“They think this symbol depicts man?”

“As good a reasoning as any.” Arnaud glanced at Notch, lowering his voice, despite the beetle’s lack of understanding. “They may think we are something we are not.”

“Quite, but I believe these are Drobates, though your theory holds. The beetles indeed mistook the two arms and two legs as representing man.”

“This is broken.” Folkard rejoined the conversation making both Nathaniel and Arnaud jump. Even as they looked at him, Folkard laid his hands on the third and final part of the monolith, the display of symbols. The monolith coming to life made them leap away.

6.

“WHAT IS THAT?”
Highmore clutched at his head as if he experienced the onset of a headache.

Annabelle closed her eyes; she felt strangely nauseous. Maybe spiny moon spider didn’t agree with her.

“I’ve been here more weeks than I care to count,” Henry said. “I’ve never felt this before.”

“Headache?”

“No.” Henry answered Joseph’s question even as Elizabeth said, “Yes.”

“Ill. I feel ill.” Annabelle barely managed to get the words out through gritted teeth. She feared if she opened her mouth, she might be sick.

“Dizzy.” This was from Henry. So they were all experiencing different things.

7.

“I’M NOT EVEN
going to try to guess what powers this thing.” Nathaniel lay on his side staring into the inner workings of moving cogs and threads of light. Nathaniel knew of no other means to describe the filaments, they being a form of technology way beyond his comprehension. When Folkard had said it wouldn’t burn, Nathaniel hadn’t bothered asking how he knew, just turned his attention to the…shining wires. They felt slightly fibrous, gave off light but no heat. The light from the panel stuttered in comparison. “I see what’s wrong. It’s so simple. Some of these gears have slipped out of alignment.”

“You can repair?”

“
Oui.
I mean yes.” When Nathaniel looked up, he saw Arnaud grinning down at him for his slip into French.

Chapter Twelve

“In Which Some May Question Whether This is the Best All Worlds”

1.

“IF I COULD
only…reach.” Nathaniel cursed. While he lay there expecting a jolt of power that might well fry him, he attempted to align the last cog. Despite his patience and sensitive touch, it just refused to slip into place, the task made more difficult by his weak wrist.

“Erm…Nathaniel.”

“Not now, Arnaud. This…requires…delicacy.” Nathaniel reached deeper, the strain of over-stretching making a muscle pop in his side. “Damn!” The cog slipped again and Nathaniel had to give up the attempt in order to catch his breath. He rubbed his wrist, which had begun to tremble.

“Nathaniel.”

Maybe if he tried another angle.

“
Mon toujours
!”

Something in Arnaud’s voice accompanied by a hissing from Notch indicated urgency. Nathaniel pushed away from the monolith, looked to where Arnaud was staring. He’d previously noted the large opening of sufficient size that it would only require a step up and a stoop to slip through to the bottom of the crystal city. Now, something blocked the light. At first, Nathaniel thought it was Folkard, then he got a clearer view.

The captain stood swaying. Before him, the burrowing creature reared up. The fur was indeed golden, with a silky appearance. Its snout and paws, or claws, for that was the shape of its forequarters, were of the same pale skin. Though pale, the epidermis was clearly tough like the pads on an animal’s feet.

At least there was something of a barrier between Folkard and the creature, although if it decided to strike, it could probably bring the entire ceiling down.

“Try talking to him.”

“I have.”

Had he been that engrossed he had failed to hear Arnaud speaking to the captain? “Arnaud, swap places with me. Lie down. Look in there. Can you see the cog, the third one from the back, out of alignment?”

“No. Wait. Yes. Got it.”

“Try to put it back.”

“Give me the simple job,” Arnaud muttered.

Hoping he hadn’t just made a mistake and that Arnaud might have better luck and wouldn’t be hurt, Nathaniel turned his attention to Folkard. The man stood rigid, gaze intent yet unfocused, his lower lip a little slack.

“Captain. We could be in danger. I need you to snap out of this.” Nathaniel glanced at the creature, positive he could feel it gazing back, although it appeared to have no eyes. It didn’t seem aggressive, but how could one tell? Notch didn’t like it, but if the beetle was on this thing’s menu, Nathaniel could understand why. “Jacob?”

“Got it!” Arnaud’s triumph rang out even as the sound of power revving up vibrated throughout the corridor. If he’d known Arnaud would have success where he had struggled for so long, he’d have asked him to do it sooner. He didn’t have a chance to say so for under his touch, Folkard stiffened.

Although his stare didn’t waver, Folkard closed his mouth and swallowed. “It’s called a Florenskiite.”

“The creature?”

“Yes.”

“You’re…communing with it?”

“Now I am. Whatever that monolith is…the sound. Can you not hear?”

“No.” He was aware of
something
, but more a vibration beneath his skin than true sound.

“Sound?” Arnaud frowned. He slapped a hand to his forehead. “Of course!” He looked at Nathaniel, excitement sparking in his eyes. “Cairns.”

“Cairns?”

“Yes. A cairn can be a mound of rough stones, often found on hilltops, built as a memorial or landmark. Some are prehistoric burial mounds.”

“I know what a cairn is, Arnaud!”

“Sorry. Of course But there are also chambered cairns, sometimes referred to as tombs, although that word is misleading.”

Nathaniel knew that, too, but could tell that Arnaud was working his way through his thoughts as much as imparting knowledge. The ancient constructions Arnaud referred to were thought to have served as repositories of the dead, but many took that to mean the purpose was funerary. Bones found in cairns were often in differing states of disorganisation to neatly arranged, complete skeletons. In some, piles of specific bones were arranged with different parts of the body all collected in one area, such as the skulls forming a single heap. Nathaniel tempered his natural prejudices with scientific knowledge and curiosity. While he was more comfortable with mechanical constructs, he understood and had even had cause to examine the workings of the machine known as the human body, and accepted that times changed, the world moved on, and cultures varied. Many practices became antiquated, even vulgar.

There was much speculation on the use of cairns. An area for decomposition was one such possibility, as some cultures believed that a person’s soul only found release to the spirit world once flesh decayed. Some societies used the cairns to interact with their dead, perhaps commune with their spirits, even to seek advice, maintaining that their departed continued to be part of an individual’s family as well as the community. Many believed some Neolithic civilisations viewed the cairns as simply “houses of the dead”. Places where the dead dwelled separate from their lives and yet still part of it. They were not tombs in the sense as the British would view them, but played an important role in the lives of those relatives left behind. Was Arnaud suggesting these small chambers had something to do with the inhabitants of Phobos? Nathaniel had considered the structures supported the corridor or perhaps the crystal city above. Granted, he had realised the shape could not be natural, but he hadn’t thought the Chaldrites had constructed them, unless they had since devolved somewhat. However, if not them, than whom? If they could build something as intricate as the crystal city, the cairns might be simple in comparison, but the materials were different. Now that he paid closer attention it occurred to him the Drobates might have built these and moved on. That still did not explain their use.

“Some cairns are divided into compartments rather like these. Unlike these, they also contain structures one can only refer to as shelves. Some have side cells, or composite chambers.”

While he would have welcomed this discussion any other time, the sense of urgency prevailed. Possibly, seeing he was frustrating Nathaniel or losing his interest, Arnaud got to the point.

“Some historians believe that cairns were not just storage or homes for the dead, but could have held great religious significance.”

“I know all this. They believed they could commune with their ancestors’ spirits.”

Arnaud shook his head. “
Oui
, but not just that. As with many religions, their prayer time or worship could have involved music, singing, chanting. It is believed that the design of some cairns magnified this. Combine that with…oh, darkness, atmosphere, possibly mood enhancing substances such as alcohol, and you have a recipe for what might seem to some as a spiritual experience.”

“Arnaud, there is a giant…mole creature paying us particular attention. I rather wish you would get to the point.”

Arnaud threw up his hands in what struck Nathaniel to be a very French gesture. “The cairns may have been built to heighten acoustics! Or it may have occurred by accident, but the holy men of the time would have exploited this phenomenon. In some cairns, a sound played in one area may not be heard at its origin but is amplified in another. Imagine, Nathaniel, that someone of that time hearing unusual, inexplicable sounds, might have mistaken their source, certainly believed the explanation non-secular. Many historians and archaeologists have theorised that sound played an important if not intrinsic role in their ceremonies and traditions.”