Planet Arkadia Storyline/English/4.2 Desert Discovery

4.2 Desert Discovery

The hot sun burned down on Chambers’ unprotected head as he once again thought of the hat he had left back at his quarters. Relaxing for a moment in the shade against the wall of the hole he had been painstakingly excavating for the last couple of hours, he wiped the sweat from his forehead for the hundredth time. ‘What the hell were we thinking last night?’ He said to Kai Tero, who was working next to him. ‘I know it’s been twelve months since we got here and everything, but I haven’t stayed out that late in ages.’ ‘We volunteered for this, remember?’ Tero said, ‘And we both know why we did. Sundari said this was one of the most promising sites she’s seen.’ Chambers couldn’t deny it but grumbled under his breath anyway, his head pounding incessantly from his hangover. He knelt back to work but overbalanced and fell forward, landing heavily on his knees. The ground rumbled beneath him and suddenly collapsed, sending him tumbling down a long, steep ramp, his curses turning into cries of pain. He finally came to a stop, bruised and winded, on a flat surface. For a long moment he lay struggling to suck down a breath. ‘Chambers! Chambers, are you alright down there?’ Came Tero’s distant yell from the hole of light far above. ‘I’m alright.’ Chambers called up when he got his breath back. He sat up slowly and tried to work out where he had landed, but it was too dark to see a thing. ‘Hold on, we’re coming down. Just stay there.’ Chambers felt around blindly but there was nothing nearby. The floor where he sat was dusty but it only took moments for him to realise it was artificial. It was too uniform and smooth to be anything else. Was it possible that he had fallen into one of the Oratan’s underground lairs? The briefing before they had set out had said the closest camp was some distance to the north, but who knew how many more encampments were lying just under the colony’s feet? Hardly daring to breathe, he unclipped the light from his belt, expecting to hear the sounds of approaching Oratan at any moment. He turned on the torch and the room was instantly bathed in light that reflected off a thousand different surfaces. A quick scan was enough to show that he was in a huge room with no apparent entrances other than the ramp. Reassured, he slowly released his pent up breath. Scanning the room again with the light, he tried to make out details of all the objects around him. Close by was a collection of pots similar to those he had been excavating at the surface but that wasn’t what drew his attention. All around the room he could see hundreds of indistinguishable shapes in stacks and piles, as well as various objects hanging from the walls. ‘Kai, get down here. You won’t believe what I’ve found.’ It wasn’t long before Tero reached Chambers, along with the rest of the dig team and half the troops sent to guard them. Within half an hour they had catalogued some of the most intriguing items and sent them back to the teleporter. The artefacts in the room were obviously of Arkadian design and the collection was made up of all kinds of equipment; ranging from a number of weapons and armours of several different designs, to the simplest of pots. To top it off, everything was in extremely good condition. There was even a device with a display that unbelievably had the faintest power charge remaining. Chambers wished that he could be the one to discover its secrets, but decoding devices was a foreign skill to him. The greatest find so far had been what appeared to be the last stand of a squad of Arkadian soldiers. The team had found nearly a dozen complete sets of scorched and scarred battle gear strewn around the room, arranged in what the troops recognised as a defensive position. The Arkadian formation had been focussed around a cleverly designed door, which was sealed with a technology unlike anything they had encountered before. The armour sets had been immediately tagged and shipped back to Celeste Harbour for detailed analysis, but the door itself was an enigma. Chambers didn’t have a clue how to unravel its secrets, as there was no obvious locking mechanism and the team’s basic tools were useless against it. No doubt when the scientists got here they would be able to work out how to open it. Chambers and Tero soon had the next collection of items topside and almost loaded for transport. These would be the last to go over land to the teleporters as the IFN were organising aerial transport for the rest. Chambers was trying to decide if the last spot should be filled with another suit of armour or a container of shortbladed weapons that emanated with cold, when he was interrupted by one of the troops still topside yelling down the ramp. ‘Sarge!’ ‘What is it?’ the Sergeant called back. ‘We’ve got Oratan incoming from the north! They’re still some distance down the hill but we’ve been spotted.’ ‘How many?’ ‘Looks like nearly a hundred, Sarge, spreading out to surround us. Way more than we can handle.’ The Sergeant appeared out of the ramp and took one look at the enemy before shouting down to those remaining underground. ‘Alright, everyone up the ramp immediately, we’re heading back to the teleporter.’ ‘No!’ Tero yelled. ‘We can’t just abandon what we’ve found here.’ ‘We’ll be taking this load back to the teleporter and I’ll seal up the chamber as best I can. Gather your gear, we’re leaving.’ Chambers quickly tied the shortblades to the rest of the items as the last of the group came running up the ramp. As soon as they were clear, one of the troopers pulled some cover over the entrance. Chambers looked around and saw the Sergeant finish burying something in the loose sand a short way up the hill before sprinting back down to the group. ‘Alright, civilians around the transport,’ The Sergeant said. ‘Troops, form up around them. On my command, we’re going to hit the western flank while it’s still weak and punch through these bastards. Then we make for the teleporter as fast as we can.’ ‘But what about the room?’ Chambers said. ‘I said I’d deal with it. They’re nearly on us. Everyone ready? Go!’ The troops opened fire on the Oratan rabble, creating a hole in the thin line that the group passed through in seconds. ‘Run, but stay in formation.’ The Sergeant yelled, and everyone obeyed, quickly opening a small lead on the Oratan. Chambers ran like he had never run before, too afraid to look back as he listened in terror to the gunfire and the cries of the fallen behind him. Suddenly, everything was drowned out by an explosion and he risked a quick glance over his shoulder. His eyes widened in shock at the sight of sand raining down the hill as a small landslide covered the dig site. I hope it’s enough, he thought to himself as he strained to keep up with the others. They had only gone a few hundred metres before Chambers’ breaths began to rasp raggedly from his throat. ‘They’re gaining on us.’ He heard one of the troops cry. ‘Faster!’ The Sergeant yelled, but Chambers’ legs were already burning. Desperately fighting for more speed, he could hear the other archaeologists labouring just as hard. He could tell they weren’t going to make it. But even as that thought formed he noticed a new sound and looked up with relief to see a pair of IFN gunships appearing overhead. The gunships fired as they came, buying the retreating group precious seconds, before circling to land in front of them. Before they could touch down, a rocket leapt out of the horde of Oratan and struck a gunship square in its side. With a deafening roar, the wounded craft rolled over and exploded into flames. Cursing, the Sergeant steered the group towards the remaining craft. ‘Civilians inside, quick.’ The Sergeant shouted. ‘Grab what you can carry and leave the rest; we’ll try to draw the Oratan away.’ Chambers scrambled in with the others and as soon as they were inside, the gunship took off towards Celeste Harbour as the troops continued on towards the teleporter. It hurt him to have to leave most of their newly discovered items behind, but there was no choice. As he watched, groups of Oratan chased the gunship and the remaining troops as they sprinted away, but some remained to swarm over the abandoned relics. He could only hope that they would not discover the cache in the hillside.