Page 139 - The Chronicles Ser2 (6-10)

“Why has the rest of this wall been reduced to rubble; when this Gate has survived?” Trok asked, he
was thinking out loud but Lyris had an answer.
“About four or five thousand years ago, this systems star went though some kind of trauma that
caused a massive coronal ejection. The planets in the system had their orbits kicked out of whack.
We think Atlantis and Shust were abandoned much earlier, several thousand millennia ago” she said
unpacking a locator and a scanner.
“Shust? That’s an odd name, where did it come from, it almost sounds Buraxin?”Misha asked
“One of our first explorers here was Luntarian, a similar culture to the Bedouin of Old Earth, she
named it after her Grandmother, “a dry, irracible old crone of a woman” was how she described her.
It’s from an old Luntarian dialect and means dried or withered” Lyris replied.
“Very appropo” chuckled Trok “That dust in the atmosphere; my sensors are showing high levels of
silicon, berylium and boron. Not harmful to me but I see why you organics need the suits now. Is
that some kind of temple over there?” he asked
“We think so; but we never found any significant object that would be associated with religious
belief, not even any markings. The walls inside are vitrified limestone; they look like fine marble and
give the place a distinct light and ambiance” Lyris replied.” The place
we’re looking for is further in and is easily spotted, probably the
ugliest ruin of a building you could ever want to come across” she
added and they headed of in the direction she had pointed. As they
walked she said they had found similar buildings buried in the ice of
Venetia “Near the equator it’s more Tundra like so we laid roads
down for our mining outfits. The Ice of Venetia has lots of useful
minerals embeded in it” she paused to adjust her air filters and to
catch her breath, Misha did the same. The pilot’s voice came over
the coms

“I’m getting indications of a dust storm headed my way; a big one, from
the south, the wind speeds are climbing. At least you’re in the “dead zone”
I’m changing over to the Cold fusion Generators and boosting the shield
configuration so there’ll be no coms link till the storm abates. Virgil out!”
and the coms went to static then silence. They were on their own for now.
They hit a stretch of paved ground and their progress became easier.
About a kilometre away a dark structure could be made out.Trok had
brought a portable generator with him and when they arrived “up Close”
he saw the reason why Lyris had insisted in bringing it and a light weight lighting rig. The “building”
was ugly; compared to its surroundings, it sat or rather squatted into the landscape, its megalithic
presence like some kind of brooding beast. It was constructed of huge blocks of Granites and Basalts.
It had huge heavy doors that seemed to be made of the same unforgiving materials, but close up
that was an illusion. The “Doors” merely had a skin or veneer of the material fastened to bronze
panels by means of a dovetailing method. It looked almost Incan, though it couldn’t possibly be so.
What passed for windows were tall slits about forty centimetres wide and around two and a half
metres tall. Some had lost the material that passed for glass others had remnants of the stuff.
Analysis showed it to be a form of quartz; One door was hanging vertical the other had; at some
point, dropped over at an angle and bent the huge bronze hinges. So it was now wedged in the
ground by about seven centimetres.
“At some time we belive the interior was lit by a kind of artificial sunlight; Polaron Energy powered,
but the system is so badly deteriorated it would probably explode if power was applied. Our
explorers cut a more sensibly sized door into that one, though when you get inside you’ll see why we
should have tried to keep the doors intact. It should be just bolted on the outside” Lyris said.
Entry was as described; there being a sprung opener to help move the still heavy door. There
was just enough light entering by the doorway to allow them to set up the lighting rig and the
generator. When the lights came on they were momentarily dazzled. Surprisingly the walls were