Thoss World
The Swamps

Grssn was hauling a forty pound transmitter on his back and leading Senator HvHuss through the humid fever swamps west of Vs’Kssh City. It was tough going, trudging through the thick mud and hacking endlessly at vines and underbrush. Thrynn were suited to the environment, but the packs and gear they were carrying seemed to snag on every wayward piece of foliage in their path. They had several days’ rations, and Grssn was adept at living off the land. The two Thrynn exiles made their way through the steaming jungle.

Deep Space
Uhlek Badlands
G’Nunk Warship Regepple

“Superb horror,” said Binolio, relishing the captive. The executive officer and Dozelord Gannuzo were looking in on the dark lightning in its cell. Its thin airy layers contracted on the mind nucleus, the creature wasn’t especially large, perhaps fifteen meters in diameter. The shimmering mass had an eerie bioluminescent glow that reflected off the polished metallic surfaces of the cell. The psychic implant G’Nunks standing sentry on the catwalks above could sense when it started feeling bold and reaching out again. They’d blast it with liquid hydrogen bursts and drive it back into its reclusive state. A small beep sounded on Binolio’s communication device and he turned to Gannuzo. “Dozelord, the bridge reports contact.”

Planetside
160,48-8

“Here’s the overhead shot,” said Mack over the vacuum suit intercom. Arella had called him over with his copy of the orbital photo. “What’s the crisis, angel?” She gave him a disaproving look. “What, we’re in a church, right? Joke...”

“Silence, lug—no more of your paltry antics. Now, let’s have a look at your piece of amateur orbital cartography.” Mack unfolded the large photograph and pointed out their relative location. Arella walked up to a podium-like structure with a width about that of a desk and just above waist height. “See if you can’t orient that map—good, perfect...right, then, so this is a miniature version of the starmap outside.”

“What are they zeroing on?” asked Mack. Artheneans zeroed the map on a random point, which was fairly unusual. The Thrynn zeroed it on Thoss; the Empire had generally based its own on the Earth system. The Arthenean method generally helped avoid running into negative numbers. “There are a few coordinates on the face, there,” he pointed out. The duo backed up just a bit and looked down. There were a series of symbols, each followed by grid coordinates putting them at various locations on the map. Neither Arella nor Mack could make sense of the markings and they transmitted a copy to Alowala who was back on the Belfast Windfall. The Elowan studied the information for several minutes before sending one specific symbol back.

“That one should be Earth,” said Commander Alowala, the mission’s senior communications officer. “Or more precisely, the Sol system,” she corrected. “The circle with a dot seems to refer to Sol in everything excavated from the Starflight Research Labs on Mars. The Institute used it as well, generally in mathematical computations. One of the others might be for the Mardan System, but there isn’t much supporting data.”

“Thanks, Alowala,” said Mack. “We’ll keep you posted.” Arella was already making the calculations for zero based on the Sol system marking. Mack lifted the flashlight to illuminate the scene a bit more. He looked at the miniature map that sat in an alcove off to one side of the cathedral. The podium was actually carved into the top of a stone that protruded not from the floor of the great structure, but, apparently, from the planet surface beneath it. Mack squated at the map structure’s base and pointed his flashlight into the gap between the floor and the large chuck of rock. He could see nearly a meter down to where the foundation ended and the dusty soil began. It was as if they had build the cathedral around the rock.

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Next: “Canopy”

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