Page 174 - The Chronicles Ser2 (6-10)

“Yes; the Council are pleased with what we have discovered so far and they will send us some scans
of further finds that have been made on Shust. They also think they may have an idea why those
specific chains were marked on the DNA diagraph embedded in the crystal disc from the medallion.
Apparently they signify the three markers all races with the Code found to be present in their DNA
have. It’s beginning to look more and more like specific races were deliberately “tagged” as if
claiming “ownership”. The Shust team also found another star map, with details of a rogue planetary
system situated between our Galaxy and the Third Galaxy. They think it could be a long lost colony
or another Kryst outpost. Either way; it bears looking into. Have you had any progress mapping the
Caldera in the equatorial peninsula?” he replied and asked in return.

“Well; it looks as if your “educated” guess paid off. There appears to be the remains of a sunken
harbour and a small community to the north of the Caldera. The lake that formed when the harbour
sank had a lower shoreline. It seems to have ruptured some underlying fault and water from a
covered sea is leaking up under slight pressure. An underwater submersible has been equipped and
T’luha and two others are going to take a better look. Only so much can be obtained from orbital
scans.” Krysta replied. Hubris nodded his approval and picked up another one of the strange Tokens
that seemed to litter both sites.

“A form of Currency perhaps; but then why do they all have the
same symbols and the hole in one corner?” Hubris mused
aloud.

“Ah; we think now that they are some kind of religious votive
token or a devotional symbol to some deity or cause. The
symbols appear to be from an ancient form of the Kryst
hierarchic alphabet and language. We have not found any
reference to them as yet, but the Kryst are proving to be a
strange people to get a handle on” Krysta replied. The ships
intercom bleeped and Krysta answered “Yes; what is it?”

“We’re getting a strange trace on the long range scanners. It seems to be coming from around the
sixth planet in the system. It’s erratic but looks like a repeating sequence Ma’am” ensign Tsu
announced.

“I’m coming to the bridge now” she replied then looked at Hubris “You coming too?” she asked

“I’m heading back to my Lab, could you relay the trace to there and I’ll run an analysis; to see if it can
be translated. This increased activity on P’rada has interfered with my magnetic sense and keeps
making me feel queasy. If you don’t mind I’d like to rest for a while”. He replied. She nodded and
went to the bridge. Hubris wasn’t joking about feeling queasy; he was almost ready to retch. He
hurried to the elevator and just barely made it to one of the Lab’s restrooms before vomiting into a
sink. He went to the small cot that Jennifer had set up in an anteroom and laid down his head reeling
with a dizzy sensation. Vahamat used a magnetic sense in much the same way that Humans use the
inner ear to correct balance. Normally the fluctuations in a star’s magnetosphere had little or no
effect; however, P’rada was more active in the magnetic sense than most stars. Hence the strange
effect the field disturbances were having upon Hubris. He assumed that this is what motion sickness
must be like for Humans. He felt sick again and reached for a nearby waste bin.

Krysta and Ensign Prax Noble were picking through the interference on the long range
scanners data and a probe sent to investigate the source of the signal. The probe’s data was heavily
corrupted because of the stellar flare activity from P’rada.

“Can you apply Hasbid’s filter to this like we do to audio coms?” Krysta asked.