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Chapter Twelve

The conversation had been rather awkward all morning as they hiked their way through the forest. Obsidian had not told Janus about what he had witnessed the night before and had gone back to bed pretty soon after.

There was a light drizzle as they stepped through the light foliage of the forest floor, both carrying backpacks which they had prepared previously and that Carrus had oh so kindly helped them to prepare before they left the hotel.

"Carrus became much more helpful" thought Janus, who was just glad that nobody had witnessed it. He had always believed in his mind that he was completely straight but these latest experiences showed him that he was not.

It had thrown his whole belief system into chaos.

His father, odious and lecherous creature that he had been, easily dominated by the strength of other woman, had always been extremely against the idea of two males being in a committed relationship. Although he owed nothing to his father, nevertheless, this attitude had rubbed off on young Janus.

"Homosexuals are a sin against Athen" he thought.

But...

Was it not stupid that he believed that but rejected almost all of Athen's other teachings? Surely he was already condemned in the eyes of many intensely religious Vulnira?

He could not bring himself to acknowledge the hypocrisy of his outdated views, which were more influenced by his biological father and the customs of his family, rather then some greater religious or cultural purpose.

He owed nothing to his family so why did he cling to them so tightly?

The mid-morning sun had already broken through the thick layer of clouds that had dominated the sky since dawn but it was still an omen that a far greater storm was coming.

Obsidian was panting and complaining since they had set off this morning. He was clearly not used to his creature comforts. He had complained about everything, from the lumpy bed of the hotel, to the pace of which Janus was walking through the forest.

"Why couldn't..." he wheezed, stopping for a moment to catch his breath. Janus found this rather amusing, to see such a large horse, much larger than him struggle so much with the incline. "we... just... have taken the car... up to the dig site?"

"I wanted to check out the site first" replied Janus, sitting down on a log, waiting for Obsidian to catch up with him.

Obsidian was taking his time, trying not to fall over as he climbed over the dense foliage on the surface of the forest.

"Remind... me... to file... a complaint..." he wheezed, finally reaching the same position as Janus.

Janus scoffed and rolled his eyes. "If you want you can fucking sue me..." he said callously. All he cared about was getting to the bottom of this mystery and finding justice for his lost wife and everyone else that had suffered because of Phoenix Grace.

It took several hours of continual complaining from Obsidian and very uncomfortable walking to finally reach the small plateau on the side of the mountain, where the Phoenix Grace Archeological Dig was located, during which time, Janus had reminded Obsidian that if he spent as much energy walking as he did constantly complaining, he probably would not have had to stopped so often.

The stopped just before the entrance to the base, which was sealed off with a large wire fence which covered the entire of the shealth, with only one entrance, a gate on the only mountain road that existed on the side of Everonth.

"This used to be a car park?" asked Janus, whispering to Obsidian, who was lying prone on the ground next to him, tails pinned to their bodies as they peered through the fence, not wanting to turn around and look at the sharp, steep incline they had just spent several hours climbing up.

Janus swung his backpack over his shoulder as he pulled out a pair of binoculars from his backpack, holding them up to his large, yellow eyes to survey the surrounding area as Obsidian whispered to him, looking somewhat nervous. It was obvious that he did not want to be here.

"Yes, it was a look out point for the Everonth Park nature reserve..." he whispered, using the opportunity of lying prone on the ground to recover his strength. His long, hair-like horsetail whipping gently in the air to keep annoying biting insects away. "We've got permission by the Vulnira Government to seal it off so we can commence excavation into the side of the mountain."

There were several armed guards stationed all around the complex and several tents set up right in front of them, which Janus guess housed some sort of research equipment. There were also several shuttles, small two man vehicles that were capable of linear landing and take off, used for equipment transportation.

However by the huge rock face of the mountain itself was several huge drilled holes which led into the mountain. Whatever this discovery was, it had Phoenix Grace extremely interested as the majority of the security was based around it.

"We need to get in there..." muttered Janus as he peered at the entrance with the binoculars.

"Correction..." whispered Obsidian, looking over at Janus with his large green eyes. "You need to get in there. As I told you, I don't have security access for that part. I can get you inside the complex but that's..."

"As far as you go?" replied Janus, not surprised by Obsidian's cowardice. He had, of course been forced to come with him.

"Alright then..." replied Janus, putting the binoculars back into his backpack and giving Obsidian a rather stern look. "Let's go then..."

Both of them slowly rose to their paws, carefully treading over to the fence, Janus producing some bolt-cutters from his bag, creating a hole in the wire mesh, behind one of the tents so that they could both enter, lifting the fabric of the tent so they could climb inside without being seen.

"This is such a bad idea..." whined Obsidian as he booted up the computer, on a desk inside the tent, prompting the holographic display to come to life, projecting an image of a log in screen.

Janus watched the entrance of the tent, checking to make sure that none of the guards were heading towards them while Obsidian worked.

Obsidian tapped a few commands into the keyboard and entered some information into the computer, causing it to produce a piece of white plastic and handing it to Janus.

"I've registered you onto the system, you are a "Consulting Archaeologist" but you will need a Level 4 or higher keycard to access the dig site security. This is only a Level One access card. You're Doctor Syrus Melbourne."

Janus took the card and looked out into the dig site. "Crap!" he thought as he noticed a female, unusually not dressed in the typical female attire that was so common in Vulnira. She was approaching the tent with a computer tablet in her hand. "We've got company..." he whispered.

"Come on!" gestured Obsidian, almost panicking. "We can get out through the hole in the fence." rushing to lift up the back of the tent cloth.

"No time..." replied Janus as he rushed over to the computer, with a very confused Obsidian staring at him.

"We can't stay..."

"Mr Greyfell!" replied a rather formidable female voice as somebody else entered the tent. Obsidian almost flailing in surprise at the sight of the white furred Vulnira with blonde hair looking straight at them both disapprovingly.

Janus could not help but gork at her. She was astoundingly beautiful, much tall then even he was, with a sultry, endless legs which perfectly complimented her busty frame but not in such a way to overwhelm her. She was wearing a small tank top, under her white overcoat, with a rather odd-looking sun hat to protect her from the harsh sunlight this far up of Everonth.

"D-Doctor Equinox" replied Obsidian, unsure of what to do. "I-I'm sorry... I..."

"Who is this?" she asked, looking over at Janus with an accusing glace. Her eyes narrowing over her strong jaw line that made her distinctive white muzzle.

Janus had to think fast. It was simply no good to rely on Obsidian, who had obviously crumbled at the first sign of any real danger.

"Doctor Syrus Melbourne" said Janus confidently, allowing his Upper City accent to fully come through. Most of the educated elite were from the Upper City of Crystal Lake. "Anesera University. I confess... Mr Greyfell failed to mention how beautiful, his co-workers can be."

He flashed her his card that Obsidian had just made for him, really hoping that this would fool her, if not, then the charm offensive might.

But Cassandra Equinox was absolutely no push over.

She looked at him with cold eyes, obviously unamused by his compliments. "I see..." she said, tapping her computer tablet. "Mr Greyfell, I thought you had gone on annual leave?" checking the personnel roster.

"Y-Yes M-Ma'am..." replied Obsidian, his lip quivering as he looked decided nervous.

"For Athen's Sake!" thought Janus, feeling the tension of the situation. "Don't you dare blow our cover!"

Obsidian took a moment to compose himself while Cassandra glared at him. If Janus had not known better, he could have sworn her parents were Serpentaris, a snake-like species which were renowned for their piercing gaze.

"Well?" replied Cassandra, who seemed very busy tapping on her tablet, breaking eye contact for just a moment to respond to something while looking directly at Obsidian.

Obsidian took a deep breath and finally regained control from the urge to panic.

"I am on leave ma'am. I met Doctor Melbourne here at an archaeology seminar at Anasera University and I thought we could use his opinion on the recovered artifacts. He has been studying artifacts from the "Forgotten Period" for a long time and is quite the expert."

The Forgotten Period was a period of Terran History which existed over a massive amount of time until five hundred year previous. During that period, there were no written historical documents and only minor artifacts discovered until now. It had been one of the most significant mysteries across the whole of Terra.

The Church of Athen claimed that the world had not existed prior to five hundred years ago but several recent historical discoveries, including this latest one made by Phoenix Grace at Everonth had disputed this commonly held belief. However the church still considered such evidence to be blasphemy.

"This project is classified Mr Greyfell" replied Cassandra with a scowl. "You cannot just bring your friends here when you feel like it!"

Janus could feel the situation rapidly deteriorating, but it had also provided him with the opportunity he needed.

"I am very sorry" replied Janus, putting on the most sympathetic voice he could before moving towards the exit. "I convinced Obsidian to show me the artifacts. I shall surrender myself to security immediately"

"As for you, Mr Greyfell" she said. "You will be given a full disc..."

She stopped mid sentence as she collapsed onto the floor face first, Janus giving her a hard blow to the back of the head as he had moved behind her to go outside.

"What are you doing!?" exclaimed Obsidian in harsh tones. "Now I'm gonna lose my job!"

"Look..." replied Janus, looking up at him, taking time to look over the unconscious body of Cassandra, removing her white coat and putting it on while taking her identification card. "I needed a way to get into the dig site... she didn't really leave me with many options. I deplore hitting woman."

"But..." continued Obsidian. "What if she wakes up!?"

"You'll think of something..." replied Janus, who had no time to lose. He was going to discover the secret of this place.

Even if he died trying...