Relic of Sorrows

  They had been at the halfway point through the chamber when the construct attacked, and it did not take long for another set of double doors to come into view, these also standing open. Alisa spotted a dusty staff sticking out of the bottom of one of the last piles of offerings. She paused, eyeing it sidelong, and an idea popped into her head.

  Careful not to draw attention to it, she tapped her faceplate and turned toward the people behind her. Beck, Alejandro, and Mica. Yumi was lagging behind, wiping dust off things and examining them. She would be the ideal one to make an accomplice in this, if Alisa could get her attention.

  “Anyone have any idea how to scratch your eye when it’s behind a faceplate?” Alisa asked, when a dozen faces turned curiously toward her, people wondering why she had stopped.

  “Let me know if you figure it out,” one of the soldiers said. “I’m sweating like warts on a frog.”

  “That doesn’t make sense,” another man said.

  “Unless they’re sweaty warts.”

  Tomich sighed. “There may be a reason imperial cyborgs think we have a limited vocabulary.”

  “What, are we supposed to say perspiration instead of sweat?”

  “Yumi, what’s that you’re looking at?” Alisa asked, hoping the conversation would distract the men for a minute—or at least keep them from growling at her to keep going.

  She caught Abelardus’s eye as she headed back toward Yumi and tried to give him a significant look. Since he liked to jump into her thoughts, he shouldn’t have any trouble reading that as an invitation to do so.

  Got it, he said into her mind. I’ll try to ensure they find this conversation ridiculously fascinating.

  It might take more than a Starseer to do that.

  We’ll see.

  “It’s some old medical equipment,” Yumi said, as Alisa approached.

  “Do you think Alejandro would like to add it to his collection?” Alisa turned off her comm and touched Yumi, pointing toward the staff. “Can you linger behind, dust that off, and see if there’s a way to fancy it up? Leave it leaning against the wall by the door there, so we can grab it on the way out.”

  Yumi opened her mouth, but Alisa held a finger in front of her lips. She doubted Yumi had turned off her comm.

  After a glance at the staff, Yumi nodded.

  Alisa returned to the front of the group as the wart-sweat conversation concluded. She turned her comm back on. Leonidas was watching her suspiciously. That was fine. So long as the soldiers were not suspicious.

  She shook her head as she resumed walking, scarcely believing that she was trying to arrange things so that her people got the staff. If they actually found the staff.

  When she and Leonidas reached the double doors, he leaned his head through first, shining his built-in flashlight around the next chamber. The next and the last chamber, it seemed. There were not any visible doors on the other walls. Instead, a dais rested off to one side with a sarcophagus atop it. Several rows of black humanoid statues stood facing it, staffs held at their sides, as if they were Starseers eternally worshipping the one entombed there.

  A mural was painted on the opposite end of the chamber, as dusty as everything else, but the details still visible. A woman with flowing black hair stood in the sky on an asteroid, pointing a staff toward a planet. A painted yellow beam showed energy shooting forth from the staff, slamming into the surface of the planet, which was already partially crumbled, pieces streaking out into space.

  “The saint,” Alejandro breathed as he leaned through the doorway. “We are in the presence of a divine hero.” He touched his chest, his religious pendant probably dangling there underneath his suit. “May we prove worthy of her blessing and of being in her presence.”

  “She’s a traitor, not a saint,” Abelardus said from behind Alisa, his gaze also toward the mural.

  Something stirred near the dais, one of the statues. Leonidas pointed his rifle at it. It turned to face them, revealing that it was not a statue at all, but some human-shaped robot. Layers of dust topped its shoulders and head and dulled the rest of its black body, but the centuries did not keep the eyes from opening in its expressionless face. They glowed a disturbing red, and the head turned toward the doorway, its gaze locking onto them.

  The rest of the statues—robots—came to life, at least twenty of them, all turning toward Alisa and the others. They raised their staffs, their intent clear.

  Chapter 19

  Leonidas pulled Alisa out of the doorway, pushing her behind him. “Wait out here where it’s safe,” he said as he strode forward to meet the threat.

  “Where it’s safe?” Alisa asked, getting bumped as the soldiers pushed past her. “You mean in the room where we just got attacked by a giant metal pterodactyl that hurled you into the ceiling?”

  He did not answer. The soldiers took over the comm channel, barking orders to fan out and find cover. The noise of unfamiliar weapons firing drowned out their words, something that sounded like a cross between her Etcher and a blazer. Were those staffs shooting?

  Alisa glimpsed bolts of energy streaking through the air in front of the soldiers, but she obeyed Leonidas’s wishes and moved back into the treasure room. Mica, Alejandro, and Yumi were there, and so was Tomich, who stood in the doorway, using the wall for cover. He fired into the fray, even though he wore only a spacesuit instead of combat armor. Beck and Abelardus had gone into the chamber with Leonidas and the soldiers.

  Yumi held up the staff Alisa had pointed out a few minutes earlier.

  “Guess I could have gotten that myself,” she muttered, since none of the Alliance people was paying her any attention.

  She took it and leaned it against the wall by the doorway. It felt like metal rather than wood and had runes engraved in the sides at either end. They did not glow or do anything interesting. In fact, it looked like a walking stick one might buy at some camping store. Would the soldiers believe it was Alcyone’s legendary staff? Alisa blocked it with her body in case Tomich took his gaze from the battle.

  “Any rust bangs left, Mica?” she asked, thinking of leaning through the doorway and trying to help.

  “No.”

  “None at all?”

  “Maybe you should bring your own weapons when you’re heading into battle,” Mica said.

  Alisa barely heard her over someone giving orders and someone else shouting an earnest, “Look out!” She muted her comm so she would not distract them.

  “I didn’t think there would be battles here,” she said.

  “Shortsighted. You should have expected the worst.”

  “As any good pessimist would?”

  “Precisely.”

  Alisa turned back toward the doorway and almost ran into Alejandro’s back. Tomich had stepped inside—she could just see his sleeve as he fired at someone. Or something. Now Alejandro stood in the doorway.

  She reached for him, intending to pull him back. Since he did not carry weapons, she assumed he simply wanted a good look at the dais and sarcophagus. That could wait until later.

  But he slipped inside before she could grab him. What was that fool doing?

  “Masters and Diaz are down,” someone reported grimly.

  Down? Did that mean injured? Or dead?

  “They know to target the seams in our armor,” another soldier said, “and whatever they’re firing is as powerful as a pissed sun god. Do not get hit.”

  Alisa paused as the gravity of the situation pressed down upon her. How many people could be killed here trying to get something she cared nothing about?

  Nothing at all? Are you sure?

  Abelardus? she asked. What was he doing in her head when he was in the middle of the battle? At least, she assumed he was in the middle of the battle.

  I’m getting the staff. Be prepared to pilot us out of here.

  In what? The shuttle is the only thing nearby. And it already has pilots.

  You’re a better pilot. I prefer you.

  Uh, thanks, but
that’s not what I was—

  An explosion went off near the door, interrupting her concentration. Smoke billowed out, and Alisa stumbled back. She need not worry about breathing it inside of her suit, but her instincts said to get away from it.

  An armored soldier flew backward through the door, just missing her as he landed on his back. Half of his chest had been blown open, his armor peeled away.

  “Blessing of the Suns Trinity,” Alisa whispered, the words coming out in a shocked stutter.

  Join us in here, Abelardus urged. We may not have much time.

  You better be helping them, she snarled back in her mind.

  He did not respond. Another explosion sounded, this time from the direction of the dais.

  Alejandro had disappeared inside. Alisa crept to the doorway, batting aside the smoke. Her instincts said to stay outside, but if Abelardus was about to do something stupid—or if he wasn’t using his powers to help as much as he should—someone had to crack him on the back of his helmet.

  Smoke filled the entire chamber, with occasional crimson slashes of blazer fire streaking through the area. Alisa glimpsed the back of a spacesuit near the wall ahead, someone moving along it. Alejandro?

  Feeling like a fool, she crouched low and hurried along the wall after him. If she could get to the sarcophagus, she could hide behind it—and hope the robots did not notice her.

  As she reached the corner, weapons fire ricocheted off the wall ahead of her. One of those black robots strode out of the smoke, its staff pointed like a gun. She was on the verge of sprinting back for the door but realized it was aiming at the person in front of her, not her.

  “Alejandro, look out,” she called.

  He turned toward the robot and lifted his hands. As if that would do anything.

  “Duck,” she shouted.

  He started to, but the robot fired. Alisa ran forward, as if there was time to pull him out of the way. She knew there wasn’t.

  But the projectile that flew from its staff diverted oddly and bounced off the wall next to Alejandro. The robot itself flew backward before it could fire again, disappearing into the smoke.

  I protect my allies, Abelardus said firmly in her mind. Come here. To the dais.

  Her feet obeyed before her mind decided if that was a good idea. Alisa snarled, certain Abelardus was influencing her again. Had it even been her idea to come in here and check on Alejandro? She thought about digging in her heels and doing her best to race back to the doorway, but reluctantly admitted she might be safest beside Abelardus and behind the sarcophagus. She assumed—hoped—the robot soldiers wouldn’t fire at the very thing they had been left here for centuries to guard.

  As the shape of it grew distinguishable through the smoke ahead, Alisa peered into the chamber, trying to glimpse Leonidas’s red armor. Another explosion went off. One of the black robots flew toward her and smashed into the wall several feet above her head. She dove toward the dais, fearing it would crash down atop her. She wasn’t wrong. It clunked to the floor scant inches behind her. Its head was gone, but its arm twitched as it tried to lift the staff still held in its grasp.

  Imagining it targeting her, she sprinted the last few meters to the sarcophagus. She forgot about the raised dais and the toe of her boot slammed into it. The impact sent her sprawling, and she tumbled against the sarcophagus itself. Her fingers curled about the top, and she caught herself, managing to keep from cracking her helmet against the side. She hauled her body upright and found herself staring into an open coffin, the decaying remains of Alcyone, or whoever had been buried there, staring at her.

  Alisa tightened her grip on the rim, barely keeping from screaming. The last thing she wanted to do was call everyone’s attention to her.

  “Just a dead person,” she whispered. “Just a dead person.”

  A dead person whose skeletal hand looked like it had been pried open. Alisa did not see the staff. Had Abelardus already taken it? Several other items were in the sarcophagus, including dusty armor that looked like something an Old Earth knight would have worn. If these were truly the remains of Alcyone, she had been buried as a warrior.

  A keening went up from different points in the room, the noise hurting her ears.

  “What happened?” a soldier asked over the comm.

  “I don’t know, but keep shooting,” Tomich said. “They’re not moving now.”

  They know we have the staff, Abelardus said into her mind. We have to get out of here.

  A hand gripped her from behind, and Alisa jumped.

  It’s me, Abelardus said, pulling her behind the sarcophagus.

  Is that supposed to make me less alarmed?

  He tugged her toward the wall behind the dais. The eerie keening continued, raising in pitch and growing in intensity. She did not want to take her gaze from the smoke, in the hope that Leonidas would stride out of it to join them. Only when they had gone several steps and when the smoke had started to swallow the sarcophagus did Alisa realize that the wall she had expected was not there.

  From the doorway, the wall behind the dais had appeared solid, but Abelardus was pulling her into a tunnel. Alejandro walked beside him, holding the staff, one different from the one Abelardus bore. Alisa, seeing it for the first time, gaped at it. The long ebony weapon was similar to the one Lady Naidoo had carried, but in addition to having illuminated runes, a golden sphere on the top glowed softly, lighting the windowless passage they had entered. It looked like a smaller version of the orb that had brought them here.

  Alejandro met her eyes, a triumphant smile stretching across his face. Abelardus looked triumphant too.

  Alisa planted her feet. “Where are you taking me, and why didn’t you call the rest of our people back here too?”

  Alejandro leaned close, trying to hear her, but the keening noise was following them, still growing louder. Alisa had the uneasy impression of something about to overload and explode.

  That’s my guess too, Abelardus said, not needing to hear her words to understand her. They may be enacting a last-ditch effort to save the staff. We have to get out of here now.

  And the others? Alisa jammed her fists against her hips.

  I don’t need them to fly the ship.

  What ship? Alisa looked into the darkness behind Alejandro. Did Abelardus know where this tunnel led? Had he known all along?

  There’s a centuries-old ship back there, yes.

  Why can’t you fly it?

  I’ve only flown Starseer Darts—they respond to mental commands and are intuitive. This looks as intuitive as a rock. But you fly that freighter. I’m sure you can fly this.

  Fly it? You actually expect something that old to start?

  We’ll find out if it can, he said, pulling her again.

  Alisa leaned back. We’re not leaving without the others.

  They can go back in the Alliance shuttle.

  You’d send Leonidas back with them? They want him for questioning. Or interrogation. She shuddered.

  Darn.

  Abelardus gave up on pulling her and lunged in, trying to wrap his arm around her waist.

  She jammed her knee into his chest. She wished she could have put it in his face, but the helmet precluded that. It didn’t matter. The blow did not hurt him, and he succeeded in lifting her. She kicked him in the groin, but his spacesuit offered too much padding. He probably did not even feel it.

  “Damn it.” Alisa turned her muted comm back on. “Leonidas, behind the dais. There’s a tunnel—”

  Stop! Abelardus growled in her mind.

  She did not want to stop, but her tongue obeyed him instead of her. She hissed in frustration.

  Are you trying to give them the staff? Abelardus demanded.

  Yes! she roared with her mind since she couldn’t speak. You think I want the empire to get it? Or the Starseers? If it has to be dragged out of hiding, I want it in the hands of people who can’t use it. In truth, she had no idea if the Alliance could use it. What if anyone could wiel
d it? Or what if they found an Alliance-friendly Starseer to use it on their behalf? She gritted her teeth. Even if that happened, it would be better than whatever the empire would do with it. I’m not flying you anywhere without Leonidas, Beck, Yumi, and Mica.

  By the gods’ grace, you’re frustrating, Abelardus said.

  Are they coming?

  He paused, then replied, I told them to join us.

  “Hurry,” Alejandro shouted, tapping Abelardus’s shoulder. The word was barely audible over the keening. “If that continues to escalate, it’ll rupture our eardrums.”

  “Eardrums aren’t our primary worry here,” Abelardus replied. “Trust me.”

  The smoke stirred behind them, and he set Alisa down.

  She tensed, half-expecting the soldiers to burst into the hidden passage, firing blindly as they went. But Beck led the way, his spacesuit smoldering and charred but intact. Yumi and Mica followed him, Yumi waving the staff from the other chamber.

  “Do we still need this?” she yelled.

  “Yes,” Alisa replied at the same time as Abelardus barked, “No.”

  “Yes,” Alisa said again, waving for them to follow. “Abelardus, where’s Leonidas?” she added as the others charged past.

  Beck shone his headlamp into the passage ahead, and she glimpsed another chamber. Another hangar bay?

  Your noble cyborg is carrying wounded Alliance soldiers out of the dais room before those robots blow themselves up.

  “But he’ll end up stuck with them,” Alisa blurted.

  His punishment for being noble. Come on. I will carry you if you don’t come.

  The smoke stirred again, and Alisa paused, hoping it was Leonidas. But a soldier in a spacesuit was running into the tunnel toward them.

  “Marchenko,” Tomich yelled. “You’ll never see your ship again if you take that staff.”

  Abelardus flung out his own staff, and Tomich was hurled backward so far that he disappeared into the smoke again.

  “Damn you, Abelardus,” Alisa snarled.

  He grabbed her from behind, this time not giving her any leverage with which to kick him. He hoisted her from her feet and sprinted away from Tomich and the Alliance soldiers. Away from Leonidas.