Chapter Summary: Yet another Mysterious Object is discovered on Mars.
Chapter Word Count: 4,384

"So, the moon ship, the Hoosr, now has a Guardian AI spirit thing," Santana said, over the Council comm. "Do we know what that means for us?"

"Not yet," Brittany said. "I'm working on it. It has given us, meaning the Serpent Clan, permission to continue exploring the ship. It has added a ship's comm channel to all Clan currently on the Hoosr."

"So, it has the library Guardian ability to just talk over our comm channels," Santana. said.

"Except there is now a specific comm channel to communicate with it and anyone else on the Hoosr," Brittany said. "A little friendlier."

"Should we be concerned about it?" Quinn said. "It's going to be watching our every move."

"Well, we can't just declare it salvage now," Santana said. "But we won't have to guess about how it works or what all of the rooms were used for."

"It isn't going anywhere," Brittany said. "It isn't a warship. And its own estimates of the repairs needed to restore it mean it will take centuries, assuming it can find a crew."

"We could throw it at the Kraal," Santana said. "Turn on those shields and make them run into it."

"It's too valuable a resource for that kind of thing," Brittany said.

"A crew?" Quinn said. "Construction crew? Repair crew?"

"Unknown," Brittany said. "We don't have anyone to spare at the moment, even if it accepted our people as acceptable for crew. And from talking with the Sachs Family, they don't have anyone who could be crew on a Furling ship. That hasn't been their focus for the last several millennia."

"Lady Andrea has been given some authority over the Furling facilities in this system," Romana said. "If we have need of them, she will assist when and where she can."

"She's a nice neighbor," Brittany said. "Always ready to let us borrow a cup of sugar."

"Her mother is also willing to assist," Sue said. "However she has longer experience with the resources available to the Sachs Family and will not willingly dispose of them on a whim."

"Andy's parents are tough," Brittany said. "It's clear where she gets it from. But compared to them she's very young."

"You had her taking the Fleet command courses," Quinn said. "She's also taken the Trooper command courses. She did very well in all of them."

"Unfortunately, our plans concerning her have had to change. She is no longer ours to do what we want with," Brittany. "As much as we could have with Lady P around."

"Not a total loss," Quinn said. "And the Priestly twins are showing promise. They'll be ready for additional training soon."

"Have you decided where to put them?" Rachel said. "They are hard working but don't really have the temperament to be in the Memory offices."

"Putting them in an active combat role, once they finish training would not go over well with their mothers," Brittany said. "But I think a combination of Shadow training, pilot training, and basic Trooper training would be a good place to start."

"They are Wind Clan," Sophia said. "I would like to see if they have any affinity for Weaver training. Very few of the Weaver trainees that have been sent my way show a talent for such things."

"It wasn't really part of our original focus," Rachel said. "You may need to wait until after the Kraal and our people are more experienced. Most of them are so young."

"There are some," Sophia said, "but it is extremely rare. I have examined the training provided to them. It doesn't encourage the kind of open mind needed to communicate with our goddesses."

"We didn't end up with thousands of atheists, did we?" Quinn said.

"No, but very few have any sense of spirituality. Which is fine at the moment, but in the long run is not health for the Clan. Our goddesses are real," Sophia said. "Instead we have the Nine Cultists."

"Our very own cult," Santana said, her disdain clear over the comm. "Someone needs to keep a lid on them. And keep them from spreading their nonsense."

"They are not burdened with a persecution complex like some cults encourage," Sophia said. "But steering their tendencies elsewhere would certainly be welcome."

"Hah! So they bug even you," Santana said. "How did you scare them off?"

"I have not," Sophia said. "But they are easily distractible."

"You've sent Andy and the Lucia on to another task?" Quinn said. "They found the Prophets, and we now know what happened to the Winter Folk, but where are they going next?"

"There apparently wasn't any connection between the disappearance of the Prophets and the Winter Folk," Brittany said, "and Romana and Sophia can attest to it."

"The group who took them is unknown to the Confederation," Sophia said.

"There is no mention of them in any Clan records," Rachel said.

"We were not able to find out much about them," Romana said. "We would recommend that someone keep an eye on them."

"The Prophets will eventually want to go back to the Wind Clan," Sophia said. "They have even predicted that event."

"If they need a ride home, we can make arrangements," Santana said. "But we won't be dragging them back to their cell if they don't want to go."

"We have a prophecy," Sophia said. "And we are headed to Mars once the Lucia has been cleared for active duty."

"Andy believes every possible avenue has been pursued in deciphering it. I suspect there are others who could be consulted," Brittany said. "But bringing them in on this may be an unnecessary distraction."

"There was mention of a Fox god," Sophia said. "I am not familiar with them."

"Just another of the refugees that were attracted to the Sol system," Brittany said. "They've integrated themselves into Japanese culture though they keep to themselves mostly. I don't think you were with us when we met with them."

"Hmm..." Sophia said. "I'll consult with our goddesses about the wisdom of consulting this Fox god."

"Minor deity, associated with the early Clans," Rachel said. "Three of their priestesses have been working with us."

"Their music has a following among some in the Fleet," Santana said. "Can't say I'm fond of it myself."

"So, the two of you are off tomorrow on the next adventure on board the Lucia?" Brittany said. "You don't have to go if you don't want to. Your presence on the Lucia is not critical like it was earlier."

"It has been interesting," Romana said. "And you don't need me for anything else."

"Could find you some nice boring desk job if you wanted," Brittany said.

"No," Romana said. "I will have to decline."

"I also," Sophia said. "I am needed on the Lucia."

"For any specific reason?" Quinn said.

"I feel a pull to be among them," Sophia said. "Our goddesses desire for me to continue journeying with them."

"Can't argue with that," Santana said.

"Nope," Brittany said.

"So, the Mars Furling Gate is blocked out of the entire Furling Gate system," Andy said to Brittany, leaning back in her jump chair as they approached Mars. "But it does exist. That's a mystery."

"It would be useful to have it," Brittany said. "But not having access to it won't affect our plans for the Kraal."

"Not even as an emergency exit?" Miranda said. "You could move troops around quickly."

"We have theories but we haven't seen the Kraal strip down a system," Brittany said. "It may not be possible to escape them if they make it here. Being able to move quickly between the Hoosr and Mars or Terra may not matter."

"The Ship Gates would be useful," Santana said, "but they aren't in locations we can make use of, and we're years from building our own, if we ever figure it out."

"So more of the same?" Andy said. "Go explore and see what falls out?"

"If we need your team for direct confrontation with the Kraal, we'll let you know," Santana said.

"If you need us as a ship, things will be really bad," Ginny said. "We aren't equipped for major ship action or even sneaking in somewhere."

"True, which is why the Lucia will continue to Mars, investigate those anomalies you did find and then we'll send you somewhere else you are more suited for."

"Some of us don't mind being left out of the direct action," Andy said. "we aren't all dying to die with our suits on."

"I don't want to die with my suit on," Ginny protested. "But dying in my bed would be so boring. Songs are not sung about such things."

"There is enough glory to be found on Mars," Miranda said. "It isn't something to worry about."

"Is that a feeling you're having?" Andy said, looking at Miranda. "My mother did hint at something on Mars of a mythic nature."

"But if she didn't tell you more about it than hints, it can't be that epic," Harry said.

"Well, we've picked the simplest of the locations for this first look," Andy said. "Not likely to be some treasure or secret stash of something there. It's just a large metal box buried deep in the sand."

"There has to be a reason for it being buried there," Santana said. "It's less than one hundred clicks from that crater Q found."

"You have the access codes for the Mars base," Brittany said. "If you need to visit it, or need help, use them."

"Of course," Andy said.

"Prepare for descent," Garnes said over the ship comm.

"Looks like we're landing," Andy said. "We'll let you know what we find."

"Of course," Brittany said. "You have our number." There was silence on the general comm as Santana and Brittany disconnected.

"It's nice being able to talk with the Council so easily," Andy said. "Especially Brittany. But..."

"But this close they can keep a closer eye on us," Harry said. "Can't do our own thing without being noticed."

"Exactly," Andy said. "They are looking over our shoulders even though they don't need to."

"They trust you," Sophia said. "But they wish they could come along and escape their current duties."

"Desk jobs," Ginny said. "Yuck! Not my thing."

"We are doing this in part because they are too busy," Miranda said. "Of course they wish they could be here, but they aren't."

"Mars is inside the Clan home system," Andy said. "It must feel strange for them to know that anything we find is something they missed."

"Oh look, sand," Ginny said, looking at the viewer in the crew cabin. "A beach without all of that nasty wet stuff."

"I'm thinking more sandpaper," Harry said. "Our suits are not going to last too long out there."

"The upgrades included a better outer shell coating," Dart said. "Already tested on Mars by Lady Q herself."

"Oh, then that's perfectly fine," Ginny said. "We can send her the bill when we have to have our suits refinished."

"Not looking forward to sand getting in everything, myself," Andy said. "What we need is an outer coating like a forcefield. Something that doesn't scratch."

"Being radiation resistant definitely doesn't stop the sandblasting effect of Mars," Harry said. "I'd rather be on Venus."

"That's too humid for my taste," Ginny said. "And have you seen the hard suits designed for there? They are more like deep diving suits than something you can fight in."

"No plans for a trip to Venus," Andy said.

"There was a Red Pirate base on Venus," Ginny said. "Usual shoddy construction. If they hadn't had a stasis field it would have been nasty."

"It was nasty," Harry said, making a rude noise. "By the time their stasis field came on they were goners."

"No worries," Andy said. "No travel plans to take the Lucia to Venus."

"How far down is the entrance?" Ixchel said. "And how do we get to it?"

"We can't use the shield trick here," Garnes said. "This sand is too dense for that to work."

"We don't have any automated digging tools on board do we?" Ginny said. "My hard suit isn't designed for digging that doesn't involve explosions."

"The Lucia still has some tricks up her sleeves," Dart said. "It won't completely uncover the entrance but should save you from getting sand in your precious hard suits."

"How far away from it are we?" Dolly asked.

"Couldn't land on it, of course," Garnes said. "It's just outside the maximum shield range."

Andy's thoughts went back to earlier that day as she waited for them to land.

"Can we see that image again?" she'd said. There was something about this object. She wasn't sure what it was but it had been bothering her.

A large grey cube appeared on the view screen, rotating, tumbling slowly.

"Can we get any closer?" she asked. It looked almost as if there was writing on it, but she couldn't be sure.

"This is as close as the Galaxy Viewer would take us," Ixchel said, standing next to her. "Very curious."

"It didn't identify the metal?" Andy said. "Do we know what it is made from?"

"It appears to be made from the same material as the older Gates," Ixchel said. "We were trying to see if another one of the older Gates was on Mars, using an imprint from the one in the asteroid belt, and it found this."

"How far below the surface is it?" Andy said.

"Several meters," Ixchel said. Another image appeared on the screen. It was in a rock chamber with a debris filled tunnel leading down to it. "We'll have to dig it out."

"Using shovels wearing hard suits will not be fun," Ginny said. "Maybe we can check out one of the other finds and come back for this one later?"

"We agreed to look at the simplest one first," Harry said, poking her.

"We will look at the others," Andy said, "but this one lets us get our feet wet, metaphorically speaking. Pieces of a shipwreck in the side of a volcano is really a job for a Shadow team, not us."

"There is that cave complex," Ginny said. "That could be fun. Maybe even cave paintings."

"Very unlikely," Miranda said from where she was lounging in her jump seat. "There are no known instances of Mars supporting native life. It has been the same for millions of years, unless they are buried deep in the poles."

"Don't encourage them," Andy said, sighing. "If there was life on Mars that didn't come from somewhere else, it would have been found."

"What about that object the viewer found at the South Pole?" Ginny said.

"Shipwreck, according to Lady Shadow," Andy said. "So we don't need to investigate it, it's already been explored. Though there wasn't much left of it. Scavengers must have gotten to it."

"So, the plan is to investigate this cube, and then the cavern system?" Garnes said. "And leave any shipwrecks for others to look into?"

"Yes," Andy said.

"Maybe this cube is hollow?" Ginny said. "And there's something, like a jewel, inside it?"

"I won't speculate," Andy said. "Let's dig it up first."

"So, what do we have for shovels?" Andy heard Ginny ask, returning to the present.

"Force hammers," Dart said. "They'll reduce most stone to dust and you can use one of the utility bots to carry that away."

"Utility bots?" Andy said. "Is this something new?"

"Remote controlled shovels, basically," Dart said. "Oz can control them."

"I think I saw a couple of those the last time we were here," Harry said. "Like tiny bulldozers. Something in the sand prevents regular floats from working."

"Can we mount the force hammers on a couple bots?" Ginny said. "That'll make things easier."

"The force hammers interfere with the bots control system," Dart said. "Some kind of shielding issue. Putting better shields on the bots isn't possible."

"Nanobot prohibition?" Andy said.

"Yes," Dart said. "Nanobots for hard suits or space ships? Sure, why not. To make better tools? Not a chance."

"We'll survive," Andy said. "I'm assuming these force hammers won't hurt the hard suits."

"Just need to tune their shields for it," Dart said. "Simple."

"I don't want anyone tinkering with my hard suit," Ginny said. "Nuh uh!"

"You can keep watch then," Andy said.

"Are we expecting company?" Ixchel said.

"No, but you never know. Pirates could sneak past the Mars shield sensors," Andy said. "A boring job but someone has to do it."

"We'll do the digging in shifts," Dart said. "Teams of two and the watch. It won't be a lot of physical exertion and your hard suits can handle it, they get rougher treatment when you're out in the field."

"I'll go first, with Harry," Andy said. "Ginny can watch us."

"I think we need something to keep the sand dust out of the hole," Andy said, watching the hole fill back up. After an hour they'd barely scratched the surface because of the sand.

"Glue?" Harry said. "Turn it into bricks and build a wall around the hole to keep the rest of the sand out?"

"That might work," Andy said. "Might need some clever Ship's engineer to invent a brick making machine to do that."

"On it," Dart said on the ship's comm. "You might as well come inside while I figure it out."

"Could use a break," Harry said. "Hey Ginny we're going inside."

"I'll be right down," Ginny said.

"Standing watch over a bunch of sand is boring," Ginny said, back in the ship and out of her hard suit. "Do we really need someone doing that? The Lucia does have scanners."

"The Lucia isn't going to see someone sneaking up on us," Garnes said. "Unless they're leaking comm signals all over the place."

"Pirates or Black Hats, their shields aren't worth shit. We'd see them before they got close," Dolly said. "I'll take the next watch, once you figure out the shifting sands issue."

"Shouldn't take too long," Dart said. "A hopper for the bots to dump their loads of sand into, and something to mold and press the bricks."

"And something to stack them?" Andy said. "Do you have a bot that has an arm?"

"That will take a little longer," Dart said. "There's a design in one of the old tech manuals. I should have something usable tomorrow, unless you need it sooner."

"Not an emergency," Andy said. "Tomorrow is fine. We have some spare hands if you need help."

"It'll just take longer with 'help'," Dart said. "Unless you want to go pick up that junior Engineer Lady Air promised us."

"We don't get them until after we're done with Mars," Andy said "Sorry."

"They'll miss all the fun," Ginny said.

The next morning Andy, Harry, and Dolly watched Dart finish putting her brick making device together.

"That's quite the contraption," Andy said, looking at the thing Dart had produced to turn dust into bricks and build a wall.

"It's not mobile, that would have complicated it," Dart said. "We'll have to move it if you want a wall that encircles the whole area."

"Just getting rid of the dust is going to be an improvement," Andy said. "How long with the bricks last?"

"They're bio-degradable, so possibly 20 planetary cycles," Dart said.

"That should be plenty of time," Andy said. "If we need something more permanent someone can build it."

"Once the bots start feeding it dust it'll work without supervision," Dart said. "Just don't stick yourself or anything larger than a pebble in it."

"No plans to," Andy said. "Okay, Harry, let's get back to work." She picked up her force hammer, waved at Dart, and stepped into the tunnel opening. Harry joined her and they started clearing the tunnel, stepping out of the way of the bots when there was enough dust for them to move.

"How far down does this tunnel go?" Harry said.

"Quarter of a click?" Andy said. "Any deeper and we wouldn't have seen the cube. The Galaxy Viewer does have limits."

"Not how I thought digging for buried treasure would go," Harry said. "No beach, or coconuts."

"Maybe next time," Andy said. "Who knows what we'll end up doing next, looking for that jewel."

"You don't think this is it?" Harry said, pausing in her digging.

"Won't know until we get to it," Andy said. "Someone thought it was important enough to bury it way out here."

"We'll record the inscription before we remove the door," Andy said. Leaning forward she brushed away the thin layer of red dust.

"Do you recognize the writing?" Harry said, turning on her suit exterior camera once Andy had stepped back.

"Nothing I'm familiar with," she said. "It's not Furling or anything related to it. And nothing modern.

Miranda materialized between them. "Should we take the entire door?"

"We aren't archeologists," Andy said. "Is anyone going to care what we do?"

"One of your 3D recorders is in storage in the Lucia," Miranda said. "That might be better than just a video. It isn't quite, what was that term? Provenience. But do we have time to bring in a team of archeologists?"

"I don't think there are any in the Clan," Andy said. "There was a reason the girls and I were running around documenting all sorts of historical things."

"If we keep finding old things, maybe the Clan should get some? Assuming any of them are willing to work with us after what we did to Yucatan," Harry said.

"Good point. The recorder can be used by someone wearing a hard suit," Andy said. "Let's do that. Dart, could you get my recorder out of storage and send Dolly out with it?"

"The 3D recorder?" Dart said.

"That's the one. It was suggested that we should do more than take a picture of what we found," Andy said. "And have someone bring something we can use to cut rock with without pulverizing it."

"Not pressurized," Miranda said, after examining the unopened chamber from the inside. "And not much room between the walls and the cube. Just enough to squeeze between."

"Anything on the walls, that you can see, or can we just dig it out?" Andy said.

"They're covered in an inorganic material," Miranda said. "Blank, with nothing. The only writing appears to be on the door."

"Blow the top off? Do we have anyone who can do that without destroying it?" Andy said.

"How thick is it?" Dart said. "We could lift it off. You have the cutter."

"It's turning into a big operation," Andy said, sighing. "So, we'll need something up top to pull off the top of the chamber. And some kind of sling, I think?"

"This looks like fun," Santana said, as she and Brittany approached the work site. "Typical Mars. Looks simple, turns out not remotely."

"Well, you came at a good time," Andy said. "We should have it out of there in a little bit."

"Any idea what it is yet?" Brittany asked.

"If we hadn't had the Galaxy Viewer, it would have never been found unless someone tried to build on top of it," Andy said. "There might be writing on it but it blends in with the surface and our lights can't pick it up."

"It's likely a memorial of some kind," Miranda said. "A very private one."

"Do you think it's cursed then?" Santana said. "I know Sophia has had to disarm a few of them in the Yucatan. Some people don't like their memorials disturbed."

"None of the signs are there," Sophia said on the comm. "It's unlikely that whomever put it here did that."

"Unless there's something inside?" Santana said. "Do we know if it is a solid block or hollow?"

"The viewer wasn't able to see inside and it blocks the 3D recorder. If it is hollow, I'm not sure how we get into it without damaging it," Andy said. "Or if it will survive being moved."

"Stasis field," Brittany said. "Like we do when we want to preserve a crime scene for later."

"I don't think we have anything like that," Andy said. "Dart? Do we?"

"Not something designed for that purpose. I can probably take one of the portable stasis fields and modify that."

"No need," Brittany said. "I have one in the shuttle. Dolly? Could you go get it? You know what they look like."

"Yes, Lady Shadow," Dolly said, hurrying off.

"We should probably get our own," Andy said. "Are there any spares?"

"Dolly should know how to modify a standard shield," Brittany said.

"Good," Dart said. "That'll save some time in the future."

"It's a large metal cube," Santana said, as it was gently pulled from the ground. It glimmered in the faint Martian evening light.

"But not as large as we thought it would be," Andy said. "Probably room for one or two people inside."

"Do we want to turn off the stasis field?" Dart said. "Out here? In the Lucia?"

"Not in the Lucia," Garnes said. "If it blows up, I'd rather it wasn't inside."

"Firing range?" Quinn, who'd joined them earlier, said. "If you de-stasis it there, it won't harm anything. Nothing except sand for hundreds of clicks."

"It can be transported in stasis," Dart said. "We have plenty of room for it, if it isn't going to explode."

Several clicks away, in a deep bunker, Andy turned off the stasis field. For a moment there was nothing and then they could feel something shaking. There was a bright flash, just barely blocked by the bunker shields.

Andy shook her head, and rubbed her eyes. "That... was bright," she said. Looking back towards the metallic cube, she winced. It had been replaced by a floating silver sphere, that seemed to bob in an invisible wind.

"Not an improvement," Ginny said. "How do we open that?"

"Maybe it's not meant to open?" Romana said.

"It didn't explode," Santana said. "Or destroy anything?"

"The air is filled with tiny metallic particles," Dolly said, pointing at one of the screens in the bunker. "They're the same metal as the sphere."

"Does it tell us anything about the metal itself?" Brittany said.

"Soft? Not explosion proof?" Ginny said.

Section End Note: Take a DEEP Breath! The next 10 chapters will be posted next month or so, if there is any interest. They just need some minor tweaks to be postble here. Or you can find my AO3 account (acs) and read them there if you can't wait.