Page 208 - The Chronicles Ser2 (6-10)

said she was taking his uniform to be cleaned. That’s when he retrieved it. “Is our Charlie about? I’ve
a little summat for ‘im” he said to her and he gave her the coin. She turned it over and rubbed it in
her fingers. It felt odd too, not cold like metal should. She was about to try and bite it, but he
stopped her.
“My; but that’s a weird ‘un. He’s out by Haricots Chemists; he doing an errand for old Mrs Jenks.”
She said handing it back to her husband. “Now give me yer jacket James Charles Harrington senior”...
He handed over his jacket and his other pair of uniform trousers…

Artefacts and clues
Lance was back at the Library Console in the Hall of Records. He was going over some
ancient reports of strange artefacts that had turned up from time to time. It was while he was
reading an article from a Colony World in the Janvar Republic;
that he saw a reference to another, more ancient occurrence
from Earth by the then Criminal Intelligence Agency. It referred
to the finding of a crystalline tube with metallic end caps
containing a strange Gel substance. Analysis of this had thrown
up a number of odd compounds, mostly silicon based. It was
highly conductive and seemed to be part of a larger structure.
Lance recognised it as an early form of Bio-Circuit that the Kryst
had used in their ships memory cores. The authorities at the
time didn’t have a clue; but the Kryst admitted that even their
records from that time were sketchy at best. A lot of dodgy practices went on around that time. It
may have been some Military Research outfit working in secret. A foot note in the article caught his
attention. He read it quietly aloud to himself.
“The finder was admitted to hospital with a number of strange blemishes, incisions and marks on his
body. It is the opinion of the investigating officers that he was the victim of some bizarre practical
joke. In private the officers had noticed an odd rise in the Ozone levels in the area he was found. He
was gripping the tube so tightly his knuckles were white and blood drained. The area appeared to be
scorched, but there was no trace of any residuals that should have been there; if the area had
suffered from fire…” He looked further into this and found that the Gel Tube had been locked away
in a vault at Fort Knox. He praised his grandfather’s insistence that he listen to the ancient history of
their people. He remembered what his grandfather had recalled about Fort Knox.
“During the latter part of the Economy Wars; a private organization took possession of Fort Knox and
had the entire structure moved, lock; stock and barrel to an undisclosed location on the Moon
(Lunaris). It’s probably still up there with all that locked up history” he’d told him. He thought for a

moment then asked the Library Hive to set up a link with Lars
Helstrom; a friend from his days at Thule Academy. He was a
researcher at Sloan Mining, one of the Aleutian Companies that
had been contracted to do some “resurfacing” work in Mare
Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquillity) one of the Lunar “Seas”.
Deposits of some rare minerals had been found that were useful
in the production of certain drugs. He’d probably have access to
the right surveys and reports in the Terran database that he was
excluded from. A little while later Lars was on a Visual Coms link
and Lance explained what he’d found. He asked Lars to get back to
him with any information regarding the current whereabouts of the ancient structure and its
contents.
“… Sure Lance I’m just as curious as you why nobody has thought about finding this place. Think of
the treasure archive; and the knowledge base. It’s absolutely ludicrous that this omission has been
made. I’ll contact my buddy Flint Henderson over at the Military Base; he’s another “Ancient History
Buff”. Give me about a week or so and I’ll get back. Oh; I almost forgot. Remember those laser