Star Clusters: New Arrivals by Dalo Lorn Page A

drones were in a thick jungle near a river. “The dig site shouldn’t be too far from here - I think it’s upstream,” Lanis said; and he was right, as they soon reached a small clearing where a facility similar to the one on Cartha used to be. There were very few ruins left, and most of what was left was overgrown and worn out beyond any hope of usability - the only reason there was a clearing in the first place was because of the archaeological expedition which arrived there fifteen years ago in an unsuccessful attempt to determine what the location had been.
    When they performed a survey of their own, they soon discovered that they would have no more luck than the expedition had. Or so it seemed. “I think I found something!” Lanis cried out as the search neared its end, calling Zeshaira and Fanra to come take a look. “Take a look at this. This pillar’s fairly unremarkable in itself,” he said once they arrived, “but the inscription on this side looks like it’s Tarhedian.”
    “It is an old dialect - it was fairly common during the centuries before the Tarhedian Civil War. I do not understand what it is doing here, though,” Zeshaira said.
    “Can you read it?”
    “Yes,” she answered, pausing to read the text, “Yes… How could I have forgotten...?” She trailed off; it was clear from her face that she was quite surprised as she walked away, visibly disturbed by what she had read.
    “What’s wrong?” Lanis asked.
    “What does it say?” Fanra asked immediately after Lanis.
    “An… old memory. And a painful reminder,” Zeshaira answered.
    “But what does it say?” Fanra repeated.
    “It roughly translates into ‘If all else has failed and all is lost, take the stranger’s key, place it in the slot behind the waterfall and say his name,’” she said agitatedly.
    “What’s the ‘stranger’s key’?” Lanis and Fanra asked almost simultaneously.
    “It is a device that was passed to Hatos along with some other instructions - including a recommendation that it remains with the rest of my people on our new homeworld. I do not wish to speak of it any further, but if you must know more, I suggest you ask Hatos when this is over - if he survives.” Having said that, she marched off to finish her part of the search and refused to say another word.
    When they transported aboard, Zeshaira immediately retired to her cabin. “What’s with her?” Herrun asked.
    Lanis shrugged. “We found a pillar with some old Tarhedian text written on one of its sides, and she just… changed,” he said.
    “Something about a ‘stranger’s key’ and instructions on how to use it. Well, actually, just instructions,” Fanra explained, taking off her AEA suit. “Zeshaira says the person who gave it to the Tarhedians suggested that they keep it on their new homeworld, but she won’t tell us anything else.”
    “We should probably leave her alone for now,” Lanis said.
    Meanwhile, the Hippasrus emerged from hyperspace at the rendezvous coordinates. Most of the fleet had already arrived, but there were still a few ships whose location was still uncertain. “Contact the fleet,” Poteran ordered. “Request info about their newly acquired cargo and missing ships.”
    After a few seconds, the communications officer started reporting: “Most of our group’s here, the signal repeater is in perfect condition, as is the rest of the stolen equipment. Piluams and Soscut are reporting the same, and the Meerte Manev hasn’t arrived yet. So far we have eleven ships unaccounted for - three in our group, one in Piluams’ group, and the remaining seven are the majority of the Manev’s group. No, wait; two more ships dropping out of hyperspace. One is from the Manev’s group, the other is with the Piluams.”
    “Alright, we’ll hold position here for another thirty minutes. Hopefully the Manev’s just late.”
    Unfortunately, only four more ships arrived within the thirty minutes they spent waiting at the