Page 132 - The Chronicles Ser2 (6-10)

“We tried everything, most of the high strength saw blades blunted; acids and corrosives didn’t
work, then somebody though about an ultrasonic Tile saw. It’s a vibrating blade with a diamond
edge. I think we just got lucky with the frequency, it cracked and we were easily able to slide the cap
out. A piece that chipped off was analysed, you have the results in front of you. We tried the same
technique with the Cylinders, but finding a resonant frequency that wouldn’t destroy the contents
was too difficult. I was hoping your people may have some other technology we don’t have that
would achieve the same results; only more safely” Lyris answered. Misha looked at the list of
compounds in the sealant. The organics were somewhat of a surprise; then she saw what the fibrous
strands were and gasped.
“Tundronia Oil from the Buraxin sector world of H’n Shebra; it dissolves this and other minerals, it’s
used a lot in the mining industry it has a relatively low flash point so any dissolved minerals can be
restored by heating it up till it either burns off or evaporates. You’d be surprised to find where it
comes from, and you have a ready source on Keteria, it wouldn’t surprise me if you have some of the
source in the ships Mess.” She exclaimed “If we use that to dissolve the mineral fibres; the sealant
will weaken naturally” she added.
“I’ve never heard of Tundronia Oil before, what exactly is the source Misha” Marcus asked
“That’s what the Buraxin and the Flutvarn call it, Terrans call it Camphor oil, and it comes from the
Camphor tree, one of the few surviving plants from The End event. Some Alien visitors in the distant
past must have found it useful as it appears on several worlds; or rather a genus of the original plant
does. Our ancestors once used it in medicines and remedies” she replied. Marcus got the Mess on
the intercom and asked the Chef if they had any of the stuff. The Chef replied yes, he used it too in
his cleaning solution for the cooking equipment, adding some scent or fragrance killed the smell, but
it killed the bugs also. He sent one of the kitchen staff up with a bottle. When the lad arrived Lyris
took a syringe and filled it with the pungent liquid; with it she carefully applied some of the oil to the
seal around one of the Cylinders. Nothing immediately obvious happened other than they were all
feeling the effects of the Camphor fumes. Marcus switched on the extraction system and turned it
up full. As they watched there was a noticeable change in the sealant, it had started to discolour and
bubble a little. Misha gently pulled at the cap on the end and it came free with a slight hiss. As
expected the cylinder was packed with crystals; all shaped like flat disks about two or three
millimetres thick and fifty-eight millimetres across. They appeared to be grouped in batches of
different colours. There must be at least a thousand in this cylinder alone; and it was one of the
shorter ones, and they were tightly packed.
“They appear to have been sealed in there with a vacuum, hence the hiss when the seal was broken”
Lyris said.
“What do we do with them?” Marcus asked
“We’ll need to rig up a laser diffraction apparatus and an optical receiver. We should have some of
those spare in my kit bag” Trok replied adding “Do you have some kind of electronics bay where I
can jury rig the contraption and a terminal I can send the data to?” he asked. Marcus pointed to a
section next to the laboratory they were in and led Trok in that direction. On the way he picked up a
portable data terminal from a storage locker.
“It’s a pity that our speeders were not retro-fitted with readers like the ones that were found on the
Krall installations Unity explorers came across. We found a huge database and consoles that had
data crystals already in place. It’s a similar technology that the Osir and Unat gave to the Anasazi and
their descendants the Achenazi, but on a whole power higher in density level than those data
crystals. We still haven’t identified what they’re made of. It’s harder than diamond and an artificial
element; that seems to be related to polonium, though the structure of the atoms is radically
different” Misha said to Lyris; who thought for a moment and said
“While we’re waiting for them to make the reader; why don’t we open a couple more cylinders, one
of the larger ones next I think, but first let’s clean up this sealant residue” she said producing a stack
of cleaning cloths from a drawer in one of the side installations of their workbench.