Frontier's Reach: A Space Opera Adventure (Frontiers Book 1) by Robert James (beach read TXT) 📗

crazy, kid. If they get here before you come back up, you’ll be the ones dead in that tomb.” Althaus stopped as more ghastly yelling echoed beyond their position. “I’ll see if there’s another path out, because if we have to make a quick escape, we won’t be able to do it up that rope.”

Jason nodded. Althaus was right. He closed the safety rail and turned to Tyler. “Come on, let’s go.”

Twenty-Two

“Six million years old?”

Nicolas rubbed his brow. “I find that hard to believe.”

“The sphere’s exterior and the surrounding rock were tested when they were unearthed fourteen months ago,” Petit told him. “Both tests substantiate the same passing of time. Give or take a few hundred thousand years.”

“And it was buried here?”

“The sphere doesn’t appear to have landed, if that’s what you’re suggesting. There’s no impact crater of any kind.” Petit pointed to the door of the antechamber. “As you can see, our surroundings have been constructed deliberately. The tunnel system around it is coated in an artificial substance which acts as a barrier to moisture and bacterial infestation.”

“So, whoever buried it wanted to protect it?” Nicolas pondered. “They’ve gone to a hell of a lot of trouble.”

A truly alien object. The proof that intelligent life exists. Or at least did, millions of years ago. Nicolas couldn’t believe he had a front-row seat to such a profound discovery.

What would people back home think?

“I assume you have a theory on what its purpose is,” he said to Petit.

“That I haven’t determined yet. After doing my initial testing, I attempted to decipher the markings on the outer shell.” Petit led Nicolas and Susan around to the other side of the sphere where the container the Vanguard had brought to Orion V sat. Nicolas had almost forgotten about it. Its lid was open but faced the opposite direction.

 “Like Egyptian hieroglyphics, I’ve surmised the language is pictographic. However, since we don’t have an intergalactic Rosetta Stone at our disposal to do the translating, it’s been rather difficult.” The professor kneeled and pointed at two particular pictographs. “Without going into the boring specifics, these markings became of the most interest to me.”

Nicolas joined him and studied the images. The first was a small rectangular shape with rounded edges. Next to it was what seemed like a trunk with branches. “A tree?”

“Ah, that’s what I thought at the beginning as well.” Petit smiled. “After reviewing it further, I came to the conclusion it may be a hand instead.”

Nicolas tilted his head, wondering if it might appear different from another angle. “But it’s got six fingers, not five.”

“Right. A second opposable thumb. After further study of the sphere, there was something I found peculiar. No door. No key. No lock. Nothing. But my tests have determined it’s hollow.”

“So, there should be a way in?”

Petit nodded. “That’s my hope.”

“If that’s the case, where’s your door?”

“We can’t see it.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I believe the seal’s invisible, and these markings represent the lock to the door. It just needs a key.”

“If this is the lock, then what’s the key?”

“That’s where I come in,” Susan said, allowing the professor to take a breath.

Nicolas darted his eyes at the package. “The container?”

“When I instructed the Ministry of Defense of my findings concerning this particular pictograph, I informed them of my theory regarding the markings,” Petit continued. “I believe the key had been at TIAS all along.”

Nicolas stared at the container. Its secretive nature had bugged him ever since they’d left Earth. When he’d said goodbye to Susan above, he’d thought he’d never see it again. Now, he’d finally get to gaze upon the mystery that all this destruction had caused.

The elevator came to a halt at the bottom of the shaft and Jason slid open the safety rail. He and Tyler walked out, following the lights to the end of the tunnel where an entrance had been cut from the rock. Striding over the threshold, Jason checked himself before slipping. He raised a curious brow at Tyler at the steps beneath their feet.

“Put your weapons down!”

Before them, half a dozen Marines approached. All aiming their rifles at Jason and Tyler. But it was the spherical object behind them that astonished Jason the most.

“What the hell is that?” he blurted out.

“Drop them now!” came the command again, by the lead Marine with major rank pins on his collar.

The stompers cautiously moved toward the brothers. Both Jason and Tyler put a hand up in surrender and dropped their rifles. Like tigers, the Marines pounced, bundling them to the ground and wrenching their arms behind their backs.

Even under the stress of the hulking soldiers, Jason couldn’t help but be drawn to the object sitting in the center of the subterranean cave. He tried to say something, but the gorilla with his knee in the upper half of his back wasn’t having any of it.

Another trio approached, but they weren’t Marines. A man wore a blue CDF uniform with a captain’s rank pin on his collar, while the other man and woman appeared to be civilians.

“Let them up,” the captain said.

The Marines quickly pulled Jason and Tyler to their feet.

“Who are you?” the captain asked, eyeballing them both for an answer.

“I’m Jason Cassidy. This is my brother, Tyler.”

“Jason Cassidy?” The captain’s mind seemed to wander, before he gave an accusatory stare. “Are you responsible for what’s happened here?”

Jason and Tyler glanced at one another.

“Of course not,” Tyler said. “We’re from the Argo. A cargo ship. We received a distress call from the UECS Vanguard.”

“They sent a distress call? My ship. Did you—”

“I’m sorry, we found its debris in orbit.”

The captain’s eyes closed, and the woman put a consoling hand on his shoulder. Jason recognized the agony he was attempting to hide.

“I’m Captain Marquez. Can you—”

“Look, Captain,” Jason cut him off. “While I’m sorry for the loss of your ship, we don’t have time for chit-chat. The people responsible for destroying the Vanguard and laying all this whoop-ass on Orion are on their way here