Discovery (standard:science fiction, 1515 words) [6/8] show all parts
Author: Goreripper	Added: Dec 02 2000	Views/Reads: 2896/1744	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
The narrator arrives on Daktar to follow-up his colleague's amazing discoveries there... and finds even more amazing things.

Guillamo had established her base at the foot of a monstrously high
cliff, crowned by a single gigantic volcanic cone that rose more than 
twenty spans into the sky. Standing alone on the planet's ageless 
desert of red dust, this lonely, unaccountably huge mountain was the 
most massive and imposing single geological feature I had ever 
witnessed. Even the Professor was awed by the sight. 

The stellar explorer sped low over the surface of sand and scattered
rock and landed beside the resident team's own craft. Guillamo herself 
met us and ushered us quickly inside the base with a rapid warning that 
a dust storm was on the way and we would have to remain where we were 
for at least two of the planet's days. 

During that time, Guillamo and I found ourselves in each other's company
a great deal, and by the time we went aboard her stellar explorer for 
the flight to the location where her team had uncovered what appeared 
to be a settlement, I found myself feeling something much stronger than 
just friendship for this tall, intelligent and amusing woman. It 
appeared that I was beginning to discover something of myself on this 
expedition, as much as I had so far found about the lost culture of 
Arcana. 

After several hours, the ground streaking along under the explorer
suddenly dropped away into one of the most spectacular and vast canyons 
in the galaxy. The rift was so deep we were unable to see the bottom at 
all and the other side seemed incredibly distant. Even at the speed we 
were traveling it took several minutes to cross this enormous valley 
that stretched left and right beyond the horizon without becoming 
noticeably narrower or shallower. >From space this would look like an 
enormous rent made by the talon of a monster. What a remarkable world 
Guillamo had found! A planetary ring made of iron ore, a mammoth 
volcano that dwarfed any other we had ever seen and a canyon of immense 
proportions that seemed to split the planet in two. This world held as 
much wonder as the one we had originally come to study. 

A short flight from the stupendous valley a very large hill rose high
out of the plain. It was at the base of this hill, Guillamo explained, 
that one of her scouting parties had seen the remnants of buildings 
poking through the sand. Three days later a powerful localised dust 
storm had completely uncovered them, but as yet no one had explored 
there further. We were now about to experience yet another portentous 
moment: the first visitors to the site for 100,000 years. 

Even after all the remarkable things we had seen so far on Daktar,
nothing could have prepared us for what we found on that barren, 
desolate plain. Shrieking winds carried storms of harsh red dust and 
sand which tore at us as we made our way to the semi-buried buildings 
ahead. Beneath the shifting sands of this vast red desert lay the 
remains of a dead city so old it had been founded, waxed and died even 
before our own species had peeked a fearful eye out of the sheltering 
branches of some primordial jungle tree. The buildings were low and 
dome-like in structure, leading us to believe that the greater part of 
their construction lay underground. Windows like the cold black sockets 
of a skull peered through the swirling storm and we saw at last that 
one of these was in fact a tall, narrow door, choked with debris and 
bitter red sand. Guillamo and I earnestly but carefully worked to clear 
the entrance, and in a short time our team was inside the first of 
these ancient buildings, sheltered from the extreme weather of this 
harsh and unforgiving planet. Exposed as this room was to the 
environment, we found nothing there but for the ubiquitous dust. 
Whatever this room had once contained, the incredible wind erosion 
evident here had long since destroyed it. In the gloom however we 
perceived two obvious exits, both heavily sealed by strong doors, 
closed and locked so long ago they had become fused shut. If we were to 
go on from here, we would have to burn these doors open. 

After a brief consultation, we decided to open the southern door first.
From all indications, the complex extended in that direction from our 
immediate location and therefore we were more likely to find artifacts 
or evidence of habitation, however ancient it may be. 

It took only a short time to burn the door enough so it could be removed
from its frame to allow us access. We put aside the cutting torches and 
eagerly took up the lever bars to jemmy the door open. Doing this 
required seven of us using all our strength on the bars. The seal, 


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