"Dammit, Veronica,” Connell said. “You pull a stunt like that again and you're on your own."
"They were running away,” Veronica said, seemingly ignoring Connell's words and attitude.
"Running away from what?” Sanji asked.
"This.” Veronica pointed to a carving just to the right of the alcove's narrow entrance. It was a long, narrow, evil-looking shape, bristling with many sharp protuberances and jagged spines. Something of the shape made Connell think of paper wasps, with their thin bodies and dangerous demeanor.
Sanji peered closer. “Is it a spaceship?"
"I think so,” Veronica said. “I believe this was their enemy in some ancient war. Follow the line of boxes; it seems rather clear what happened."
Connell's eyes traced the line of square carvings from right to left. The one just to the left of the wasp ship showed three dumbbell shapes; lines shot out from the hulls and arced into two wasp ships, both of which were breaking up into pieces. The next square showed a planet surrounded by wasp ships. In the middle of the planet was a detailed rocktopi. The next square chilled Connell — the planet broke into pieces from a wasp ship attack.
"Their planet was destroyed?"
"I believe so,” Veronica said. “It looks like the Garden of Eden out there was part of a navy, but had no home to return to."
"Won the battle but lost the war, eh?"
"So it seems. Too bad the wasp ships didn't get all of the ugly glowing bastards."
The concept cast a sullen mood over all three of them. Destroying the entire planet, leaving a species without a home; it bordered on unthinkable. The rocktopi soldiers were left in their warship; left with nowhere to turn.
"Why did they come here?” Connell asked. “And why didn't they just take over the whole planet?"
"I think that's explained here,” Veronica said. Her hand traced more exquisite picture-carvings on the wall until it rested on a square containing hundreds of the wasp ships. Connell could see three dumbbell shapes in the carving's center. It painted a picture of hopelessness, or overwhelming odds.
"They were being hunted,” Connell said quietly.
Veronica nodded. “Looks like they were highly outnumbered and were unable to call for help."
"There had to be others in their force, why could they not call for reinforcements?” Sanji asked.
"Maybe they didn't have any reinforcements,” Connell said. “And if they called for help the enemy might pick off the signals and track them down. They had to hide. But how did they know to come here, to Earth? I mean it's obvious they can breathe in our atmosphere and survive in our gravity, but how did they find Earth?"
Sanji dropped to one knee, examining the bottom row of the ten-inch by ten-inch carvings. Some showed a flaming star surrounded by planets. Some showed just a planet, other planets and moons. Connell and Veronica followed the bottom row with their eyes; it reached all the way around the alcove and continued halfway around in the next row up. The last carving showed a star surrounded by nine planets. Connected to that carving was a planet with rather familiar-looking continents and a single orbiting moon.
Connell stared at the planet. “They didn't know about Earth. They searched for a new home and found it.” The breadth of the rocktopi's search for a home stunned him, left him filled with awe at the magnitude of such a quest.
"My goodness,” Sanji said as he counted the squares. “They searched hundreds of star systems and at least thirty planets. How long were they out there?"
"I can't tell,” Veronica said. “I think I'm close to understanding their written characters, but since their ‘days’ and ‘years’ are probably based on their home planet's rotation they'll be different from ours."
"Well they had to translate to Earth time at some point, didn't they? Some system that measures day and nights?” Connell asked.
"Why would they? They're always underground. The weather never changes, day and night remain constant. They could have any timekeeping system they wanted."
Connell wondered in awe how long might it have taken them to find Earth. “They could have been out there for thousands of years. The entire culture would have to be self-contained. Entire generations might have been born, lived, and died before the ship reached a suitable planet."
"Maybe that was their culture,” Sanji said. “A class of their society that lives and dies on-ship. Perhaps entire generations that never see their home during a voyage."
Connell nodded, seeing how neatly the elements seemed to fit the bizarre situation. “Maybe that's why they ran. If they already had a self-contained society, then all they really had to do is find a place to land, right?"
"And that's what they did in this series of carvings,” Sanji said, his hands trailing across another line of boxes. “I think this will look strangely familiar to you, Roni."
Veronica and Connell looked at the frame. The Wah Wah Mountains’ outline graced the carving's bottom edge. A large, rectangular chunk of the mountain range floated in the air, leaving a gaping hole. Underneath the floating mountain, half inside the hole, apparently descending, was the dumbbell ship.
"That's what the big rectangle was,” Veronica said in a cold, flat voice. “They didn't dig a trench, they lifted the entire fucking mountain and set the ship inside."
Connell didn't like the sound of her voice. She seemed unfazed by the elaborate display of history before her, somehow distant, as if she wanted to solve the puzzle merely because it was there, by rote mechanics rather than heartfelt curiosity. He wondered if O'Doyle was right, if she was “slipping,” as he called it.
"We're guessing they came here more than ten thousand years ago,” Veronica said. “Human civilization was still in the infant stage. There was no technology. And there were very, very few people in this area. They could have easily taken over all of North America without even trying, and the rest of the world as well. They could have wiped out humanity and taken over the Earth for themselves."
"Perhaps they cannot live on the surface,” Sanji said. “They seem to thrive in temperatures too great for human comfort — perhaps where we are comfortable it is too cold for them. I imagine an Earthly winter might kill them. Winter would entail a 170-degree drop in temperature for them, arguably comparable to us trying to survive in an environment where daily temperatures reach a hundred degrees below zero on the Fahrenheit scale."
"Besides,” Connell said, “the enemy was still out there. The rocktopi didn't care about conquering, Veronica. They cared about surviving. They wanted to hide from this enemy. That's why they buried themselves so deep and left no trace on the surface. That's why they bury all remains of anything they attack — they don't want any evidence, not even a shred, that they're here. Even if their enemy came to Earth, they might not find the rocktopi."
"So the rocktopi started over,” Sanji said. “What happened then?"
"There are two more alcoves right next to this one,” Veronica said. “Maybe the story is there."
They moved into the next alcove.
Chapter Thirty-nine
Lybrand watched as O'Doyle twisted in a fitful sleep. Sweat poured from his head. Many of the blisters on his face had broken open; pus oozed out of them, thick and glistening under the artificial light. She constantly dipped her hand into the shallow pool of water at the river's edge and gently rubbed it across his face. She didn't know if it did any good. The water was a touch cooler than the oven-like air, and it seemed to slow his sweating, so she continued.