41 (DSV Nautica) Ancient Knowlege
Aki was falling behind the curator as they advanced off the lift down a narrow hallway. Her mind was racing as fast as her heart was pounding. She could read one of these scrolls? The portals to another dimension and universe containing all the knowledge known to them, and more."We know what the scrolls are, we know what they do, and how to utilize that...but we don't know how they work." A new, familiar voice said from behind her. Aki turned around fast enough to throw herself off balance. The Matriarch had managed to sneak up behind them. Her face had a calm look about it, putting off a reassuring feeling. Aki shuffled a little, dipping her head. The Matriarch chuckled slightly and rested her hand on Aki's shoulder."I think we are past that now, young one. Come now. Walk alongside me."Aki tried to act as casual as she could, but she still felt like she was waddling like a penguin. The importance of the Matriarch to the Ayr'een people...and here she was standing next to her. Before this day, the closest she had ever gotten to the Matriarch was the day of her graduation from the academy, and named Captain of the Erebus. The Matriarch had spoken to all the new captains at the ceremony. "You all have great destinies before you in the Universe. From the far reaches of AZ-943 to the deadly AU-945, you all will make your mark on this universe, one way or another." Aki had felt strange that day. Speeches were good and fine, but she had felt the Matriarch was speaking to her, directly reading that passage. The feeling was so strong she broke out in a sweat as she stood at attention.
"We knew from the day you were born that there was something special about you, Captain. An air of destiny if you will. We didn't know what it was, or why, but as you drew your first breath, I felt the tremble. It was not necessarily strong, but different. It felt as we do in the presence of the scrolls."Aki was sweating again, her hands flexing. She hugged her shoulders, tugging at her shoulder feathers absentmindedly. They arrived at a large chamber with a pedestal in the center of the room. What looked like a thin tube 3 feet in length with handles sat on a small, ornate stand. The room felt different as well. Almost like something tremendously powerful was watching them, or in their presence. The silvery case of the scroll shimmered and shifted, the edges and defined shapes of the tube never staying long."So this is it..." Aki said, more of an observation that a question."Yes. One of the three in our possession." The Curator replied. "We only have three of who knows how many might be out there."The three of them stood around the scroll, staying several meters back. It was like being in the presence of a divine artifact sent from a god. Aki had always been somewhat amused at the religious ceremonies and rights of other species. Their artifacts and rites to the
gods that didn't exist had seemed like child's play. She felt like a fool that she now stood before this scroll, feeling dumbstruck with power and respect.
"We don't know how to make them...we don't know how it did it, but Celeste itself manufactured these at various stages of the journeys, or so we assume.""You only assume?" Aki asked."Yes. Celeste makes no mention of the scrolls. But we checked the ancient charts of the route it has taken. The scrolls were found directly in line with that path. As if Celeste dropped them behind. Leaving a trail of pebbles." The Matriarch took a deep breath and continued. "Once was found in space. The second found orbiting very close to a star. It was particularly troublesome to retrieve." She took a moment and let out a chuckle. "The last was found on a planets moon, buried under eons of moon dust."The first one was found...in space? How was it found so far out? Space is so huge..." To say that space was huge was a serious understatement."Yes..." The Curator nodded. "It called to the Captain of a stealth cruiser, much like your own Erebus. He received strong visions that led to the scroll, simply floating in space several hundred light years away.
"So we could have missed some?""We certainly have missed some. All three have been found in the same galaxy, and two in the same general area, within 35,000 light years of each other. And they all laid on Celestes path with a less than 0.01% deviation." The Curator nodded and stepped back, taking a seat on the floor and bowing her head. Aki looked to the Matriarch, confused. She smiled back at Aki. "Take the scroll Captain. Read from the pages."Aki reached forward, hand trembling. The scroll was cold to the touch, as metal in a dark room usually was. It was oddly light. She held it with both hands, feeling as if she was fouling a pristine and flawless gemstone or structure. A small handle protruded from the bottom of the scroll, meant to pull it open. The tales of the Eidolon scrolls always ended with death or worse for the reader."Is it true...the stories?"The matriarchs smile faded slightly to a soft, sympathetic one. "Somewhat, yes. A properly shielded mind can withstand staring infinity and knowledge in the eye, but a shielded mind will take nothing from the experience. A user with the proper discipline and mental fortitude, however, can glimpse briefly into the scroll, but it takes its toll. The eyes begin to dull and the mind becomes sluggish..." She paused. This was the piece of information that Aki would hate the most. "And for the untrained mind...it will swallow you whole. Some are completely destroyed into the smallest subatomic particles. Others are ripped from their bodies, leaving nothing left but a brain dead husk behind. All who have fallen to this fate have not been heard from since."
Aki felt sick.
"How...how are you so sure? That I can..." Her hands were shaking pretty badly."Celeste bridged over your mind. That....Is extraordinary. A feat on par with a scroll I would have to say. If you survived that...then this will be a challenge, but not like the others. You may struggle for the information you seek, but you will not be destroyed like the others."Aki licked her lips. The scrolls held all the answers to, well, everything. But the risks were something else as well. But that would only mean she got to join the infinity inside sooner. She took a deep breath. Her shaking slowed a little. Zhi. She hadn't gotten to say goodbye. Or tell him that even though he may have made a mistake she was still upset about, she still felt the same way about him. Some would say she shouldn't, but she did. She couldn't help it.For a brief moment she thought of refusing to read it. But then what? If they took no for an answer, She would have refused the Matriarchs request. She couldn't do that...she couldn't avoid a higher calling than this. She felt backed into a corner,
"Can...you...do me one last favor?""If it is in my power, I shall." The Matriarch bowed to her slightly."When Zhi gets back...oh! Please get him back." Aki felt a lump in her throat."Of course!""When he gets back, If I don't make it back, tell him that I love him.""I shall, captain. I shall pray to the stars that you tell him this yourself, but If the worst should happen, I shall."Aki smiled sadly. The Matriarch was confident that this would work. Confident enough to tell her all about this and ask her to do it. But she still did not want to be so headstrong that she deny the possibility that this wouldn't work. She stared at the opposite wall. What should she say? What should she do? Was there even anything left to say...? She took a deep breath, grasped the scroll, and pulled it open.Deep underground on the moon, Flare blasted another bucketful of rock off the rear of the cave. She grimaced at the destruction, but they needed a place to stay that would not be found by the Natives. They didn't want to stray far from the Thanatos wreck, as it would be what their kind would be looking for, and they didn't know how far the next island or continent would be.
Underground was the only place to go. It was work, blasting chunks of rock for hours on end with their will. Not only was it physical, but the mental task was tedious and strenuous. Who thought digging would be such a pain for will users. The air was sparse as well. They were over 100 meters in and making good time. They had only started some hours ago, but the ferocity had worn them out quickly. They really wanted to get underground before anyone discovered them. A team of 12 foot tall Ayr'een were not going to be subtle, so they needed to take shelter. She had also noticed a
trend going on. Members of the team were..."pairing off". She and Ash had a history of being stranded together. But the others seemed to either be making friends, or finding mates. She had just run into Ar'den and Shy'dra having a private moment a bit off in the trees around their camp. They looked rather embarrassed to have been caught and ran away as fast as they could. Flare wasn't about to stop anyone from this seeing as how she was with Ash, and wasn't subtle about it either. What had surprised her was that Lyn and Zhi were beginning to spend a lot of time together. She wasn't sure if they were in a sexual relationship or not. It certainly seemed like they talked a lot, and sometimes went missing. She was curious as to what Aki would do if she found out. Aki was a close friend, and Lyn her subordinate. If it ever got out that they were in a relationship like this, it wasn't going to end well for anyone.
They had only been here for 3 days, and yet it seemed so much longer. The primitive lifestyle was fun, and reminded her of New Ayr back home. They were very primitive on the ground, but once you left the atmosphere you hit a collection of technology that boggled the mind.She stopped blasting back the rock, but she hadn't been stopped for a minute when Lyn showed up, her suit peeled back, providing just enough modesty to not be explicit."Hey...how close are we?" Lyn quipped, getting ready to take over and start ripping up this tunnel."Not that badly. We got another 25 meters to go. Then, we go down and dig for 100. after that...we begin to carve our living places."Lyn nodded and took off, ripping down the wall as fast as Flare was when she had first started the job. She already got a meter done by the time flare had started heading back toward the surface.Flare felt a cold feeling wash over her. Her skin crawled and feathers rose. She rushed up to the surface. Something had happened.