Page 167 - The Chronicles Ser2 (6-10)

Houses. But most of it was buried into the hillside and underneath. The chamber behind looked
quite large; and could possibly accommodate as many as fifteen adults more if there were more
levels. None of this could be verified until the doors were opened; which was proving to be
something of a puzzle.

“It looks like there should be some kind of key or tool that fits into the slots on the left-hand door”
Tom said to T’luha.

“I’m not so sure; I just tried an ultrasound scan. There’s some sort of circuitry behind this cover plate
and part of that panel on the other door seems to be a kind of photo-voltaic device” she countered
“I’ll try to … AH!” she said as she tried to pry the panel away. It did so with a click and swung away.
Wires from the rear of the plate went to some kind of storage system and further wiring ran out to
the hinges and bottom framework of the door. “It’s a safe bet that they run
up the other side and across the door to that lock plate. Have you got a
needle torch?” she asked. Tom retrieved a long slim device with a
transparent end that lit up when twisted; he handed the torch to her. She
reached into her Kit Box and retrieved a portable endoscope. Using the
needle torch to illuminate the inner mechanism of the lock; she used the
endoscope to examine the innards of each aperture. “This is similar to the
Locks that the Ulahri used on The Sphere ship. The Osir also use something
similar. The Key must be inserted into the openings and an internal scanner
reads embedded crystals in the probes. Forcing the lock open could end up
triggering booby-traps; so I suggest we see if any of the others have found
something at the other site” she said. Tom passed the word on to look out
for anything with three prongs that could be a Key. About half an hour later the team up at the ridge
site sent a messenger droid over with an object that might be the Key “It was found in a desk at the
Schoolroom with a number of data discs, those have been sent to the Veklaar for analysis.” was
Trok’s recorded message. Tom picked up the 30cm object and placed the prongs in the indicated
slots on the cover plate. There was a pause before a mechanism hidden in the doors began to
operate. The door popped open a little and there was a hiss of sweet fragrant air escaping.

“Hmm! That’s interesting. Seems our Kryst were careful about letting contaminants into the place”
Tom said. And he and another member of the team opened the heavy doors; which moved
surprisingly easily, but needed to be held back by a couple of large chunks of rubble to stop them
swinging closed again. “Counter balanced hinge system; clever” he added. Lights illuminated the
interior automatically. “Must be on some independent power supply or we’d need the portable rigs”
Tom said as they entered the chamber. Recessed areas had connectors for equipment covering
about a third of the circumference. Two large view screen panels either sides of these formed most
of the wall. A railed off stairwell heading down to a lower level, and a door leading to an ante-
chamber and restrooms took up most of the rest of the outer circumference. The last part of the
wall had a tall bronze coloured plaque on which was a set of Glyphs; possibly instructions, and two
circular recesses, in one of these was an inscribed medallion like object. A large table in the center
and consoles with chairs furnished the place. In the center of the table was a bronze box or casket.

T’luha touched the clasp and the lid popped; it
opened up easily. Inside was a second medallion,
this was inscribed like the one in the plaque recess.
However; this one only had glyphs on one face.
Tightly fitted into a depression on the other side
was a transparent crystal disc. Some sort of code
and images could be seen faintly visible in the disc.
One appeared to be a representation of a the