Page 249 - The Chronicles Ser2 (6-10)

“I forgot you came from The Sonoran Trust. You’re right it does; wonder
what the cop looked like” mused Midas “That looks like an elevator to the
lower levels. If this place is abandoned; why is there still power?” he
asked rhetorically
“There’s a backup Solar Power Grid; we saw it on approach. If they were
using Polaron power; the crater would be where the main distribution
node would have been. That could account for the trace residual
radiation” the Tech replied. “Hello?” he said and picked up something his

foot had touched. It was a
transparent crystal rectangular
object with other geometric
shaped layers applied onto it. The object was about the
size of one of the teams’ recorder pads. Very light, but it
was obvious that there was Pico scale electronics hidden
inside its layers. Along the base of a triangular layer was a
slot. And a cabochon was centred on the face of the
triangle. “The Eloi had some of these on the platform
they’re a kind of electronic key; Wonder what door this is
meant for?” he added. They began to examine the floor
and surrounding area more carefully. Three more of the keys were found a second “Shield” and
about twelve of the notched token style keys that the Kryst used in the clinic. There were also a
number of the strange washer type metallic coinage tokens and six 3 Ong
pieces. The second shield was peculiar. It had a Cuneiform symbol instead
of the Alien head “coin” of the other and the script looked like an archaic
script from the Velshi system world Canasta. It was that races symbol
form of Bachi machine language.
“This is getting stranger by the minute. We need to get down to the lower
levels; any luck with the elevator Halnz?” Midas asked the Chief
Technician, a Flutvarn
“Should be… Ah…” he said and the doors opened “It was a simple binary
code; a fourth year student puzzle at best” and he smiled the wide
froglike smile only his species could do. The elevator interior was well lit
and spacious enough for twice their number. A panel had symbol style buttons inset into a backlit
panel. They appeared to represent the different levels of the building. Six columns were above a
dividing line and each column contained twenty four symbols. Below the line were six columns five
containing ten symbols one containing seven. The script was the same archaic form as on the second
shield.
“I’m assuming that the highlighted column represents this elevator shaft. The dividing line is ground
level… so if I select the symbol above the line and press…” Glenna said as she touched the symbol.
The doors closed and a mechanical sounding voice said something in Bachi; and a slight movement
could be felt as the elevator descended to the ground floor. It stopped at every floor and the doors
opened briefly. Each floor looked similar in its floor plan except the floor before the ground. This
floor seemed to have suffered some kind of damage recently. The team exited the elevator and
decided to explore…

…On Lunaris the odd shaped Sarcophagus; which to be honest looked more like an oversized
version of the Kryst Escape pods, was proving to be a tough nut to crack. The systems controls
seemed to be secured using a sophisticated cypher code. The power for the unit was coming from a
form of Polaron reactor; but not like any that had ever been seen before. Arthur’s more
“conventional” unit had been relatively easy to get into.