It was the pedestal that commanded his attention.
“Do you know what that is?” Lorka asked.
Xiong estimated that the column rose about a meter from the chamber’s smooth floor. It was octagonal, seemingly carved from a single piece of transparent crystal. At its center was a slim pillar of lavender crystal, which caught the light from the portable lamp. The column flared at its top, expanding into a concave bowl, at the bottom of which Xiong saw a pentagonal base that also was formed from the darker inner crystal.
“Oh, my God,” he whispered, realization dawning.
From behind him, Xiong heard Tasthene scurrying across the dirt floor until the Tholian stood beside him. Though his companion’s expression would be unreadable with or without the environment suit, Xiong still noted the hesitant manner in which Tasthene approached the pedestal. He seemed almost afraid to get too close.
“Do you know what it is, Tasthene?” he asked. “Is it at all similar to any control mechanism your people might’ve created?”
Tasthene uttered a string of clicks and chirps that translated as “I have never before seen anything like this. However, it seems familiar to me, somehow, just as I feel I should recognize the other Shedai artifacts we have studied.”
“It seems obvious that the item in the box is intended to be used in conjunction with this base,” Lorka said, her tone one of contempt.
Xiong nodded. “Of course, it’s obvious, but what’s notobvious is the purpose that this thing serves. For all we know, we’re holding the key to some kind of planetary self-destruct system.” Memories of what had befallen Palgrenax and had very nearly happened to Erilon were never far from his mind, particularly as he had tried to access and navigate the ancient, unknown control systems, all the while worried that he might invoke whatever final defensive protocol awaited his first careless action.
“Are you afraid to die, Earther?” asked one of the Klingon guards from where they stood near Lorka.
“I’m afraid to die because of simple stupidity,” Xiong countered, reaching for his tricorder and activating it. He held it before the pedestal, unsurprised by the unit’s readings. “Scans aren’t penetrating, but I can at least confirm that it’s made from the same crystalline material as that thing in the box.”
That seemed more than enough for Lorka. “Excellent.” Turning to the guards who had carried the sarcophagus from the other Shedai chamber, she barked another series of commands in her own language. Xiong watched as the Klingons once again exchanged meaningful glances before reaching for the stone container and removing its lid. Taking care not to touch the crystal with any part of their bodies that was not required to lift it, the Klingons raised the oversized object from its resting place and carried it to the column. They paused, looking at each other before casting looks toward Lorka, who snapped another command in Klingonese at them. The guards reacted as though lashed with a whip, moving to the column and setting the crystal sphere into its base.
Xiong heard the distinctive clickan instant before intense white light erupted from the crystal and the column on which it rested, bathing the entire room in its glow. The effect was followed by the Shedai control console flaring to life, its rows of indicators and graphical displays scrolling in rapid fashion across the opaque crystalline surface. A low, constant hum reverberated about the room, and Xiong was sure he felt a vibration playing across his exposed skin. In his hand, his tricorder began emitting a shrill series of signal tones.
“Whatever it is,” he said, “that thing is having one hell of an effect.” He nodded toward the crystal sphere and its pedestal, which now resembled an orb sitting on a scepter and waiting for the hand of the god that might now wield it. “Tasthene, can you access that console?”
By way of reply, the Tholian scurried across the floor until he stood before the now quite active console. He paused, as if to familiarize himself with the scrolling streams of data, all rendered in glyphs and text that so far had defied Xiong’s attempts at translation. Then Tasthene placed his appendages on the console, his body immediately stiffening in response to the new contact. He said something that at first sounded unintelligible to Xiong’s ears, but before he could ask, the Tholian repeated the response.
“I am detecting a host of new pathways into the planetary computer network,” he reported, the long fingers on both hands playing across the obsidian panel. “I am not certain, but from what I can discern, we may well be able to access every subsystem from this location.”
“How is that possible?” Lorka asked, stepping closer and pushing Xiong out of her way. “How are you able to make such a determination?”
“I do not know,” Tasthene responded, and Xiong heard the fear in the Tholian’s voice carried through the translation. “I seem to be guided more by…instinct…than any cognitive function or actual knowledge. I cannot explain it.”
“What about data-storage banks?” Xiong asked. “Are you seeing anything like that?”
Tasthene replied, “I believe so. There are what appear to be vast catalogs with indexes to much larger caches of information. It will take some time to decipher, of course, and there may be some form of data encryption that I am not yet detecting.”
“Incredible,” Xiong said, breathing the word. “Everything we’ve been searching for might be right here. The technology, the history of the Shedai, the key to the meta-genome—it could all be at our fingertips.” Could it really be that simple? After so much prolonged searching, might a single artifact hold the key to everything?
There has to be something more to it.
After a moment, Tasthene’s body jerked, and he emitted a series of agitated chirps. “I am also registering a form of communications signal, broadcasting outward from the planet.”
The graphics displayed on the massive black panel shifted, warbling and dissolving, only to be replaced by a new image coalescing into focus. It took several seconds for Xiong to recognize the new representation as a star map. Thousands of stars littered the picture, shining in a broad spectrum of colors. More Shedai text crawled across the image, accompanied by indicators pointing to what seemed to be hundreds of the stars being depicted.
“What is this?” Lorka asked.
Tasthene replied, “It appears to be a map of the Taurus Reach. I believe the highlighted stars represent systems that at one time fell under Shedai influence. As far as I am able to determine, the signal currently being broadcast is extending in all directions. It is possible that the intent is to connect to other planets with similar technology.”
“The network,” Xiong said, whispering the words and looking up to confirm that Lorka had not heard him. If he correctly understood what he was seeing, the map represented locations of every Conduit on any planet in the Taurus Reach. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of planets appeared to be indicated on the map. By the looks of things, the enigmatic race’s influence was indeed as far-reaching as indicated by the Shedai Apostate, as told to Ensign Theriault.
And here we are,he mused, insects to be crushed under their heel if we keep getting in their way.
Could the sphere be trying to establish contact with the network of Conduits that had gone dormant in the aftermath of the Jinoteur system’s disappearance? He frowned as he turned and once more beheld the crystal, resting on its column and pulsing with light and new life, which he found disconcerting, to say the least. What was the sphere’s purpose? It stood to reason that access points such as this must also be present on the other worlds where Shedai artifacts had been found. Were there other similar spheres to accompany them? If so, why? To what end? Given the abilities the Shedai had commanded, for what possible use might this physical manifestation of their power be needed?