City of Ruins

ELEVEN



I think this is where they built the Dignity Vessels,” Ilona says. She’s set up a holoreplay system in the large conference room, and she’s actually using an old-fashioned pointer to tap an image of the center of that chamber.

The rest of the team is scattered around the table. As usual, the hotel has given us a fantastic spread of food. If I’m not careful, I might actually gain weight on this job.

“Dignity Vessels came from Earth,” Ivy says. “Everyone knows that.”

“But we’ve never been able to adequately explain how they got out here,” Ilona says. “Maybe the specs were brought here, and the vessels were built here.”

“Underground?” Bridge asks. “Not likely.”

“Maybe there’s another way out,” Ilona says. “From what I can guess, that chamber is deep in the mountain. Maybe there was an opening like the one we went down, and maybe it closed.”

“Or maybe this place has a different function,” I say, “one we haven’t yet figured out.”

Ilona shakes her head. “The words ‘vessel’ and ‘assemble’ are everywhere.”

“And so is the word ‘repair,’” Gregory says. “Maybe this is just a maintenance hub.”

“Have you found the phrase ‘Dignity Vessel’ yet?” I ask.

“No,” Ilona says. “But it’s only a matter of time.”

I look away from her. “Anyone recognize that section of space that appeared on the screen above us?”

“We can’t even pinpoint it,” Bridge says. “It’s not in our database or in the Vaycehnese’s or in the sector’s either. It’s unknown.”

“And the numbers?” I ask.

“You didn’t get a good enough look for us to examine them,” Ivy says.

I know that, but I had hopes.

“What about the console? Any idea what it does?”

“The words are shorthand,” Ilona says, setting down her pointer and returning to the place at the table. “Like we would have on a child’s console. ‘On,’ ‘Off,’ ‘Start,’ ‘Stop,’ that kind of thing. But nothing that suggests what comes on or what starts and what stops.”

“The intriguing word is in the middle,” says Gregory. ‘“Open.”‘

“I didn’t find that intriguing,” Lentz says, speaking up for the first time since the meeting started. “What I found intriguing was the blinking light over the word ‘automatic.’ Isn’t the entire place automated? What does that mean?”

I lean back in my chair. “I don’t know. I was hoping you guys would know by the time we had the meeting.”

“This isn’t guesswork,” Voris says. “We must be precise. You know that, Boss. You’re the one who drilled that into us.”

Once again, the soft-spoken man makes the best point. I sigh and get up. I can’t sit long.

“We know that the team has suffered no ill effects from the dive,” Roderick says.

“That have shown up yet,” Ivy says. “We don’t know what long-term exposure does.”

I nod. I’ve had us checked by medics, our biologists, and several scanners, in addition to the Business’s decontamination chamber. So far, we’re fine.

I’m still not willing to risk a longer dive. But I’m going to violate space rules. I’m going to let all of us dive again tomorrow.

“We’re going back in the morning,” I say.

Roderick shakes his head. “Boss, you know that’s risky.”

“I think we activated something. If we wait the standard two days between dives, we might not know what got triggered,” I say.

“Maybe saving yourselves,” Ivy mutters.

I let that go. For the first time in one of these meetings, I look at Stone. I expect her to take command, but she doesn’t. She’s watching something on her handheld and taking notes. It’s as if this meeting doesn’t concern her.

And, at the moment, it doesn’t. She can’t go into the chamber. She’s effectively shut out of everything.

“I’ll keep tomorrow’s dive short,” I say. “But I’m planning to go in every day until we have an idea what’s going on.”

“You saw the word ‘danger’ on the floor, right?” Mikk asks.

I nod. “But we don’t know what it refers to. And we know how old Earth systems work. If the Earthers believed the chamber was dangerous, that word would have been on the door.”

The historians immediately concede the point. The others shrug, all except the Six, who watch me with something approaching fear.

“Come on,” I say to them. “Enjoy this. This is probably the most important discovery any of us will ever make.”

“And we can’t even investigate it,” Bridge says.

I look at him. He’s sitting with the other scientists. They seem frustrated.

“You can’t do good science with recordings,” he says. “We need to be hands-on.”

“I know,” I say. “But I don’t know how to get you there until we determine if that field reading we’re getting is not stealth tech.”

“It has to be,” Ilona says.

“It doesn’t have to be anything we already know,” I say. “The sounds are different. And we’re not sure about the technology. We have to be careful.”

“I think we’re being too careful,” she says.

My cheeks heat. “I think it’s bad policy to determine what something is in advance. We need to go slowly.”

“I am not disputing that,” Ilona says. “Just your interpretation of existing data.”

I shrug. “Right now, we’re all guessing. And I can hardly wait until the guessing ends.”

“Me, too,” says Ivy. “Because I keep looking at that word, ‘danger,’ and wonder what you’re dragging the team into.”

“The Boss always takes us to risky places,” Roderick says. “If you don’t like it, you can leave.”

But Ivy remains seated. So does everyone else, including—to my relief— the Six.

“Okay,” I say. “A short dive tomorrow. Maybe after that, we’ll have some answers.”

* * * *