Page 116 - The Chronicles Ser2 (6-10)

About ten minutes in the seal cracked and the lid released with a faint hiss. She gently pulled
at the cap. It surprisingly slid out very easily. Using gloves she gingerly removed the rolled up scroll
inside. Taking it over to a vacuum table she carefully unrolled it. The vacuum sucked the scroll; which
appeared to be some kind of synthetic film, flat against the surface of the table and she clamped
down the transparent lid. She had seen early star chars before, but this one was a revelation.
Whoever its creators were really knew how to compress a vast amount of data into a small space.
The tiny Glyphs used on the map were almost microscopic. They appeared to be similar to ancient
Egyptian Hieroglyphs, though some didn’t fit with that language. She
darkened the room and turned on the table’s backlight system. She
used a jeweller’s loupe to look at a couple of the locations on the
map. She changed the light source to different spectrums. When she
put on her forensic spectacles and turned the light source to UV
something miraculous happened. Above a centre rectangular section a
visible glowing cube of space appeared showing the map in a
holographic representation. The UV light had activated long dormant
photo circuitry that turned the film into a touch pad. Tapping or
touching a point on the map highlighted that star and/or system in the
holographic display. She picked up her pocket recorder and made
verbal notes. She then contacted Julio’s office. One of the sets of
Glyphs highlighted the location of rifts and other anomalies in The
Veil. One Glyph had been decipherable… Kryst!

Approach with Caution
The Hellion crew had worked out, with the help of the Ilkar’s knowledge of Behemoths, how
to shield the ships against the brunt of the Rift distortion effects, preventing wake backlash
problems were another matter altogether. Lennie had accessed some Krall archive data on trans-
phasic warp stabilisation that lead him to create a set of differential stabiliser systems that might
compensate for the backlash that could occur.
“You must realise that we have no means of testing the systems prior to entering the rift, but from
what the Ilkar have noticed during a Behemoth entrance; we have a very close approximation of
how the animals do it. Nature beat us to it if you like and has had a lot longer to come up with the
solution. The mineral composition of the Behemoth skin gave me a vital clue - thanks to your notes
Lorna” Lennie said during the meeting to discuss their first approach.
“I got a lot of help from the Ilkar too, and while we’ve been in this region of space, I’ve had contact
with a local group of Spacers working a mining operation. They take notes of Behemoth and Space
Whale pods journeys as a means of avoiding disruptions to their operations. They noticed that there
are a number of rifts that the animals seem to use out of preference. The one here being one that is
used on a five yearly cycle. The main influx of pods to the region is not for a few months so we won’t
be disrupting the animal’s life-cycles” Lorna added
“We have finally got the go ahead from the Unity Council HQ to try outfitting two of the single man
speeders with the modifications to trial the systems. They’re hoping that if we succeed; it could
result in safer travel being possible throughout The Veil region.” Hart commented. Jonas was
contemplative concentrating on some of the medical feedback reports he’d had from testing
members of the crew. He realised he was meant to contribute and spoke up
“From these latest reports I’d say we have a choice of six; possibly seven crew that could handle the
flights and the stress, and four Mechanoids, Lennie included, who would be suitable. But we should
really modify two speeders and use one of each group to get a better assessment of personal
experience. We can’t; realistically, simulate the effects as there is no way of predetermining them”
he said adding “I want to contact a Neurologist friend of mine who could supply us with the latest
Neuro-inductive monitoring equipment. She’s on Valhalla 4 doing research into the neurology of the
natives there. Would it be possible to send a message over the Hive-Net from here Captain?” Jonas
asked