Return to Dakistee by Thomas DePrima Page A
Authors: Thomas DePrima
Tags: Science-Fiction, adventure, Literature & Fiction, Space Opera, Military, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Galactic Empire, Space Fleet
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out of the yard three months ago."
"Is it a new design?"
"Sail to keel. And is she ever fast. The trip to Higgins from Earth takes just four days, and we made it here in one."
"Any armament?"
"Well, we are supposed to be a diplomatic yacht, so we don't want to look like a scout destroyer, but we have four disguised laser arrays and hidden missile tubes fore and aft. Our missiles have limited punch, unlike the serious torpedoes you line officers have, but if someone attacks us, we can mount a defense of sorts while we prepare to go to Light-9790."
As they talked, ratings had carried two large cases over to Christa's shuttle.
"There's your delivery, Commander. Is there anything else you'll be needing from us?"
"No. Thank you, Lt. Lindall. Extend my appreciation to your captain."
"Yes, ma'am."
* * *
It took thirty minutes to set up one of the projectors the next morning. Instead of directing the beam from the side as they had been doing with the Chembrite panels, Christa and Carmoody set the projector directly in front of the door with the lens opened wide enough to cover the entire door. After they had both donned special eye protection goggles, Christa started at ten nanometers, the low end of the ultraviolet part of the spectrum, and gradually increased the wavelength. At three hundred nm, something began to appear on the door. Christa fine-tuned the wavelength and the image sharpened.
"I'll be damned," Carmoody said. "Look at that."
Christa's attention was already focused on the door and the now clearly visible markings. There was a tiny alphabetic or numeric symbol at each of the thirty-eight marks on each circle and, while the order was the same on all six circles, the starting position was different. No one would ever have chanced upon the combination. Most importantly, each circle had a large alphabetic symbol in the center.
"Damn," Christa said. "It says rodent hole. We were even using the wrong order for the cylinders."
"We would have been here a thousand years if we hadn't gotten this projector."
"Let's not gloat too quickly. There may be additional parts to this puzzle we haven't discovered yet. Let's put our new information to the test."
Five minutes later they had placed the cylinders on the right circles and aligned them with the proper symbols. Christa stood back and uttered the Ancient command for 'unlock.'
Nothing happened.
"Okay," Christa said, "it's time for Plan B." She reset the cylinders to the starting positions in each circle, then, one at time, without moving the cylinder away from the door, she twisted each until it pointed at the symbol identical to the one engraved on the cylinder. As she moved the last one into position, a rumbling sound could be heard from within the door as cams that hadn't moved in almost two hundred centuries tried to turn to new positions and bolts retracted into the door so it could move.
When no noises were heard for several seconds, Christa reached out and removed the cylinders from the door. She then said, "dwuthathsei," which was the Nordakian word for 'open.' It hadn't changed very much in the nineteen thousand, four hundred years since the Ancients had occupied the planet.
The door began to rumble again, then complained loudly as it slid into the door pocket.
As the door completed its travel, Carmoody looked at Christa and said, "Now what?"
"First I have to go report our breakthrough, and then we get to find out what was so valuable that the Ancients employed these incredibly complex machinations to protect it from prying eyes."
----
Chapter Eight
~ October 8 th , 2285 ~
As the two Space Command officers approached the surface, Christa halted to speak with Carmoody.
"We've been pretty depressed the past few weeks because we didn't seem to be making any progress. It's important that we continue that depression. Right now you look much too happy, so you'll have to ratchet it down a few notches."
"Why?" Carmoody asked. "We opened the
"Is it a new design?"
"Sail to keel. And is she ever fast. The trip to Higgins from Earth takes just four days, and we made it here in one."
"Any armament?"
"Well, we are supposed to be a diplomatic yacht, so we don't want to look like a scout destroyer, but we have four disguised laser arrays and hidden missile tubes fore and aft. Our missiles have limited punch, unlike the serious torpedoes you line officers have, but if someone attacks us, we can mount a defense of sorts while we prepare to go to Light-9790."
As they talked, ratings had carried two large cases over to Christa's shuttle.
"There's your delivery, Commander. Is there anything else you'll be needing from us?"
"No. Thank you, Lt. Lindall. Extend my appreciation to your captain."
"Yes, ma'am."
* * *
It took thirty minutes to set up one of the projectors the next morning. Instead of directing the beam from the side as they had been doing with the Chembrite panels, Christa and Carmoody set the projector directly in front of the door with the lens opened wide enough to cover the entire door. After they had both donned special eye protection goggles, Christa started at ten nanometers, the low end of the ultraviolet part of the spectrum, and gradually increased the wavelength. At three hundred nm, something began to appear on the door. Christa fine-tuned the wavelength and the image sharpened.
"I'll be damned," Carmoody said. "Look at that."
Christa's attention was already focused on the door and the now clearly visible markings. There was a tiny alphabetic or numeric symbol at each of the thirty-eight marks on each circle and, while the order was the same on all six circles, the starting position was different. No one would ever have chanced upon the combination. Most importantly, each circle had a large alphabetic symbol in the center.
"Damn," Christa said. "It says rodent hole. We were even using the wrong order for the cylinders."
"We would have been here a thousand years if we hadn't gotten this projector."
"Let's not gloat too quickly. There may be additional parts to this puzzle we haven't discovered yet. Let's put our new information to the test."
Five minutes later they had placed the cylinders on the right circles and aligned them with the proper symbols. Christa stood back and uttered the Ancient command for 'unlock.'
Nothing happened.
"Okay," Christa said, "it's time for Plan B." She reset the cylinders to the starting positions in each circle, then, one at time, without moving the cylinder away from the door, she twisted each until it pointed at the symbol identical to the one engraved on the cylinder. As she moved the last one into position, a rumbling sound could be heard from within the door as cams that hadn't moved in almost two hundred centuries tried to turn to new positions and bolts retracted into the door so it could move.
When no noises were heard for several seconds, Christa reached out and removed the cylinders from the door. She then said, "dwuthathsei," which was the Nordakian word for 'open.' It hadn't changed very much in the nineteen thousand, four hundred years since the Ancients had occupied the planet.
The door began to rumble again, then complained loudly as it slid into the door pocket.
As the door completed its travel, Carmoody looked at Christa and said, "Now what?"
"First I have to go report our breakthrough, and then we get to find out what was so valuable that the Ancients employed these incredibly complex machinations to protect it from prying eyes."
----
Chapter Eight
~ October 8 th , 2285 ~
As the two Space Command officers approached the surface, Christa halted to speak with Carmoody.
"We've been pretty depressed the past few weeks because we didn't seem to be making any progress. It's important that we continue that depression. Right now you look much too happy, so you'll have to ratchet it down a few notches."
"Why?" Carmoody asked. "We opened the
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