Page 115 - The Chronicles Ser2 (6-10)

“You say this canister is older than the other artefacts, and of a different design, how so?” his Uncle
asked the young Archaeologist.
“Sir; its shape is more reminiscent of the old time capsules used by the early spacers. It’s rectangular
and seems to be made of some kind of ceramic. It’s also incredibly light. When scanned there
appeared to be a scroll of some description housed inside” the young woman replied.
“Has any attempt been made to open the object?” Julio asked
“Yes sire; although scans showed a recessed flange to the lid at one end, the seal has remained
persistently resistant. The material used to bond the two parts is set hard as steel. A piece that
chipped off was analysed and… Er… Well it appears to be organic in nature” she said in explanation.
She handed him the lab results. He looked them over. Carbon for the most part, some form of
peptide and amino acids. The really surprising component was a mineral - Lucite. Somehow this
mineral had been restructured into long fibres.
“Has anyone tried to break the end from the ceramic section at all? I know the instinct is to preserve,
but for expediencies sake I think we could allow that” Julio responded adding “This could be the first
sign of any written language associated with the ancient builders. Go and see to it.” He waved the
young Artificer out and turned to his Uncle, who handed him a message from the outpost on Hemio.
“So; a strange Hail signal has been detected by one of the scout ships near to a weak spot. Has
anyone been able to translate it?” Julio asked
“It’s in a strange dialect of Interlac, and it appears to contain some instructions on how to obtain
access to some kind of computer network, also a file of historical documents. A complete translation
is going to take quite a while yet, but I took the liberty of asking the pilot of the Vuelvo to trace the
source more precisely and report back to the Luna Mechia with the information. I must advise you
we have had other strange intercepts in the past and those proved fruitless” his Uncle replied
“Maybe this time it will be otherwise. I wish My Father had lived to see this. I miss his council. See
that I get reports as soon as they come in; you’re dismissed. Have my sister meet me in the
refectory; I owe her a decent lunch.” Julio said in reply. His Uncle did as he was bid. The Feudal
system; although greatly modified over the centuries, was still enforced in the upper echelons of
power and rule. It had served the people well, and the intermarrying of the two great houses had
also proved useful. But to prevent the gene stock from becoming weak, new blood from outside the
houses, from “common” stock, had to be introduced from time to time. Only so much could be done
with gene regenerative therapy. He had ensured this by arranging for his sister Eleanor to marry into
a family from semi noble stock. She didn’t object; knowing this had to be done and it was the first
such marriage in many decades. Besides, she would have chosen Giuseppe Hadrioni herself anyway,
and it brought new talents into the House repertoire. He headed to the Refectory.

Lyris Valderna Chief Archaeologist was in the main laboratory of the preservation section. In
front of her were the latest artefacts recovered from a moon in a system about a light-year from
Keteria. The moon had been inhabited at one point, probably as an outpost, but very little remained
of the settlement. It was now a blasted, airless and barren irregular chunk of rock. At some time in
its past there had been a massive collision with a roving body that had all but destroyed the satellite.
The planet around which it orbited had also been damaged, though it was recovering, the
atmosphere was mostly methane. The objects were odd survivors, with the same simple eight
pointed star being the only markings on their surface. The group consisted of what appeared to be a
drinking vessel made of a mineral, a flat octagonal metal plate with an indented groove encircling
about two centimetres in from the edge, another of the mysterious metal cylinders as found in
Atlantis, and an obsidian dagger about fifteen centimetres in length with a slotted hilt. If this had
had a scabbard or sheath at some time it had long ago disintegrated. She had also just been given
instructions to try and open the ceramic container. So far any attempt to do so with the metal
sheathed section had proved unsuccessful, and the ceramic part, particularly around the seal had
already blunted a number of heavy duty saws. She ordered a diamond edged tile saw and tried
again.