Page 2 of Ancient Rising

Sossos’s face shingles moved in a wave.Harwin had to guess it was embarrassment.She would figure it out with exposure.

The shuttle got clearance and then dropped from Yasku Station and headed for the transport vessel.Time to start her new life.

Harwin was hiding in the gym and working out.Three weeks of dealing with the team was sending her squirrelly.They wanted to know how primitives did anything and everything, and she was the most primitive creature they knew.

They were going to be at their destination world soon.Harwin was excited.Looking over the notes, she had been shocked to see familiar figures on ancient walls across the stars.She would have to pay attention to the finds on the research world.As she bench-pressed more than her favourite bookshelf at home, she considered everything that had happened and everything that might happen.

She was in the middle of her combat simulator when Sossos ran in.“Harwin!”

“What?”She ducked and punched.

“We drop in thirty minutes.We have been looking for you for hours.”

“I have been here.Wait.Thirty minutes?”She dodged a hit, rolled, and hit the stop button.“I will be there.”

“Base shuttle in bay six.”

“Got it.”She grabbed her bag and ran at a full tilt to her quarters.It took her ten minutes.Her bag was already packed, so she took a quick solar shower.Five minutes later she pulled on her security uniform, and then, she bolted out the door and headed for the drop shuttle.She passed Sossos and Minka on the way to the shuttle and nodded to the professor who was heading the team.She got behind the controls and made preliminary contact with the ship.

Sossos looked at her and snorted when he sat in the copilot’s seat.She checked the life signs on the shuttle.

“Sossos, do we have them all?”

“All accounted for.You are fast.”

“It’s the long legs.”

He grinned and went to make sure everyone was strapped in.When he came back and confirmed it, she finished drop clearance.

She hit the hover mode while the countdown marker glowed ahead of them and put her voice through the cabin.“Drop in three-two-one.Drop.”

The floor swung out, and the shuttle exited the shuttle bay.She cut the hover and let them drift out of the transport before turning slowly and heading into the star system.

“Clear of transport, coordinates locked in.We are away.”She hit the accelerator, and they picked up speed to get the archaeologists to their destination.

Sossos chuckled.“Well, you are a good pilot.”

“My previous assignment had me flying shuttles frequently.”

“Excellent.When will we be on Aten?”

She paused.“Is that the name of the planet?I didn’t read that in the briefs.”

“It was the ancient name of this world.It has been silent for over three thousand years.”

“So, why did the professor choose this place?”

Sossos smiled.“Because satellites show that winds have exposed a city in the sands.This is the mission of a lifetime.”

Harwin focused on the path to the target planet.She muttered, “I hope no one reads from the book.”

“What?”

“Never mind.Terran joke.”She smiled at the human joke and headed for the world of sand and pyramids.

Seven hours later they were entering the atmosphere, and Harwin held the controls steady as the winds tried to rock and tip them over.She hummed pop songs as she glided through the troposphere.When the city was in front of them, she eased their speed off and settled them in for a delicate landing.

When they were in the position on the computer’s nav system and the engines were cooling, she flicked the base activation.The ship began to stretch and expand like a monstrous tent, and rooms, labs, a galley, and other specific areas came into being at the flip of a switch.

---