"Zuten?" Mallack's voice was sharp, and his gaze whipped to Kavryn.
"Long story," Kavryn threw Mallack's own words back at him, not without some glee, I noticed. So they didn't only know each other, but there seemed to be a story there. Not necessarily a good one. Before I had time to wonder what—or who— Zuten were, another voice cut in.
“Major Stafford,” the only human interrupted, either to not be left out, or to interrupt the brewing testosterone fight that hung in the air between Mallack and Kavryn. His voice was quiet but cut through the hum like a blade. "From Terra, here to oversee and assist with the magrail."
This was the second person from Terra. Earlier, I hadn't been awake enough to realize the magnitude of the word, but now I fully caught on. Again, I surprised myself with the boundless knowledge when it came to history and facts that had nothing to do with me or my past. But I knew that about a hundred rotations ago, the Cosmic Coalition dropped a large number of humans—my ancestors—off on Leander as part of a deal. Since then, there had been no further communication between Leander and Terra. So they must have returned, while I… slept—I refused to stay while I was dead. It didn't sound right.
I would ask Mallack about this later. Right now, there were other things, more important things that needed to be discussed.
Mallack surveyed the team with a grunt of approval, then turned to Kavryn. “What are we looking at?”
Kavryn motioned to a corner of the cavernous space. A bend made it impossible to see more from this angle, but it was as lit up as the rest of the area. Curiously, but also wearily, I followed the males while I looked around the hollowed-out space. It was clear to see that thiscavewas some kind of air pocket that must have formed hundreds of thousands of rotations ago. It was oddly shaped, boxy in some areas, round in others. Something about it raised the fine hairs at the back of my neck. The walls looked sharp; things protruded from them that reminded me of pipes and cables. And when we walked forward, I noticed something else. The ground below my feet was surprisingly level. There were smaller rocks and pebbles here and there, but overall, it was as level as any floor inside a building. I recalled the ground in another cave. The one I woke up in. It had been clean, but not level like this.
Kavryn’s voice echoed ahead of us as he led the way. “It’s just around this bend. We were digging down to see if the river runs underneath here, and then our drill hit this air pocket.”
He was walking with that same smug stride I remembered from the last civil war, shoulders too square, chin lifted half an inch higher than it should be. Kavryn had always been a fine soldier; that much was true. Even under Kennenryn’s bloody reign, he followed orders with precision and discipline. But where the rest of us fought to end tyranny, he’d seemed almost… comfortable in it.
He never questioned Kennenryn’s executions. Never flinched at the brutal suppression of Groyk's supporters. And when I stood trial for refusing the order to torch an entire civilian colony suspected of harboring Groyk sympathizers, Kavryn had been one of the loudest voices against me. Said I was too soft to be a vissigroth. That I let sentiment cloud my blade. Why wouldMyccael place him here? In charge of a site crawling with secrets no one understood?
To keep him busy, maybe? To get him away from court? Or because Myccael, like me, knew Kavryn would obey any mission to the letter. He didn’t have vision, but he had efficiency. That made him useful, I supposed.
We rounded the bend, and then I saw it. It looked like we had stepped into someone's living quarters. Perfectly preserved, besides some dust and one corner that must have burned at some point. My gaze moved to the artificially vaulted ceiling, from which hung… a light fixture of some kind I had never seen before. Cylindric and faceted, more decorative than practical. It was still on. Not very bright, but it worked. I didn't believe for a moment that this place had power, so the source had to be inside the lamp itself.
Snyg, what was this place?
Daphne stepped over to what looked like a gray slab of concrete in the shape of a couch. I wanted to call her back, to tell her not to touch anything, but stopped myself in time. She wasn't a child. And no matter what my instincts told me, there was nothing evil here that would jump at her. Multiple lights made sure of it. There was not one shadow in this area.
"Oh," Daphne exclaimed when her fingers brushed over thecouch. There was a table in front of it, covered in dust, and I realized that the dust must have come from the ceiling when… whatever happened, happened here.
An oval, large object hung crooked on one wall, its surface reminded me of a palmtop, just a lot larger and mounted on the wall. It was an interesting concept, one I could see being useful.
I watched Daphne's feet leave imprints on the debris-covered ground. Hers weren't the first. A multitude of them had nearly cleaned the floor. Enough that I could make out a patterned, deep green surface. There was no doubt in my mind that this place had been someone's living quarters.
"We've left everything as we found it for now. I don't know if Tovahr told you, but our susserayn is on his way here." Kavryn filled me in.
"Ney, that's news to me," I admitted, then turned to Zavahr, the archivist. "What makes you think this is Zuten?"
The male stepped forward and pointed at a small box on the wall, the only object next to the oval flat screen, that appeared to have been cleaned. “The markings match recovered relics from Gorgolum's lower vaults—almost exactly. The resonance pattern is similar, too. We didn’t want to speculate until we had confirmation. But there’s no denying it now.”
"I'm sorry, Zuten? Gorgolum?" Daphne asked, and I realized she had no idea what we were talking about. I hadn't mentioned the Zuten to her, much like a lot of other things, namely that she was a grandmother… I closed my eyes. There was still so much she didn't know.
“A few cycles ago, Myles, the Vissigroth of Oceanus, discovered that many hundreds of thousands of rotations ago, our ancestors, the Zutens, had a thriving civilization on the Fourteen Planets. Well," I amended, "mainly on Oceanus, but some made it out before the catastrophe hit. From what it looks like, they made it to Leander, too."
"Catastrophe?" Daphne echoed.
Snygg, I wasn't doing a good job of filling her in. I was a soldier, not a male of words.
"From what we learned, they were the first,” I said softly. “The oldest civilization known to Leander. They mastered biotechnics and gravity-based travel, enough for them to spread through the fourteen planets. They built cities and temples, and then they vanished.”
Daphne tilted her head. “Vanished how?”
Zavahr cleared his throat, and I nodded my assent, relieved to have a more capable male explain this to her, “It’s believed they attempted to regulate the weather systems of their homeworld,Sorintos,the world you know as Oceanus, using a series of layered atmospheric stabilizers and magnetic regulators. But they miscalculated, badly. The result was a cataclysm. Constant storms. Torrential rain. Entire cities drowned beneath rising seas. My ancestors were driven into the mountains. Some survived inside a mountain calledGorgolum.”
“Oh," Daphne exclaimed, and her beautiful features scrunched up adorably, as she remembered Oceanus. Or I hoped she did. I still wasn't sure what she knew and what she had forgotten.
"Oceanus, the planet covered in water?" She made sure, proving that she did remember that part. My heart felt heavy when I realized that she remembered the world, and maybe Myles' father, but not her and me, on a boat, riding the waves with incredible speed. She had laughed so loud and heartily… the sound still echoed in my heart. I blinked the memories back; they had no room here and now, but sadness filled me at the thought of all the things Daphne didn't know. All the people who had been her friends, those who had died, all the kids she had known who were grown-ups now. For her, the time stoppedwhen she… when she… died. For the first time, I wondered if maybe it was a mercy that she didn't remember. Maybe Grandyr hadn't been cruel at all by making her forget.
“Zyn,” Zavahr answered darkly. “The other males and I thought we were the only ones left. Our world was inside Gorgolum, inside a cave. It was only us and the sirens.”
