Page 6 of Ancient Rising

The team stared at her while she munched on her ration bar and sipped her water.

“You might want to eat.Something is coming.”She put packs into her cargo pants and stood to look around.“I am going to find a more secure room.It won’t do for them to come through the doors and find us all here.Grab what you need; you have one hour to get somewhere safe.”

Kliotten said, “You are our security.”

“I am.I will remain here.You go and hide.”She finished the ration bar and folded the pack, tucking it away.“Just don’t touch any artifacts.Just look.I will call you when it’s clear.”

The team looked at her until she put her hands on her hips.“Now!”

The archaeologists scattered and took off into the depths of the hall and through doorways.

She stood at rest and faced the door from twenty feet away.Her mind got ready for what was coming, and at the last minute, she whirled and ran back ten feet before watching the door crack as she shoved back with every bit of her strange new power.

The nose of the ship came toward her, and she held it back with everything in her.The nose cone of the pointed vessel hit her chest, and she felt a crack, but she kept pushing back.

She heard the engine powering down and stepped back.Whatever was coming out of that ship wasn’t going to be pleasant.Her instincts were freaking out.

There was a hum, and she stood ready.Weirdly, she had not been expecting the new arrival to come out firing.

Her personal deflection protocol lasted for three blasts, but then, energy struck her over and over.Harwin fell.

In Thravkian, he muttered, “I have been waiting for this to open.Only one defender?Huh.”

She identified the species, closed her eyes, and imagined sensitive points.She sat up with her last energy and started blasting away with small pulses the size of bullets.She watched the invader’s joints explode in bright blue blood as she fired with precision.When he was down and a soft gurgling sound was coming from him, she lay back and opened her com to the others.“He’s down.It’s safe.No other life signs detected.Giant ship in the middle of the entryway, and yes, Kliotten, I can hear you bemoaning that from here.I am going to move the ship a little, and then, you guys are good to go.”

She took a deep, painful breath and rolled to her stomach, pushing up to her knees before she lined up with the ship’s nose and began to push it backward.She made enough room for the team to get in and out, coughed some blood on the ship, and grinned.Kliotten promised to use her name on the reports of this dig, so her family name would still echo in history, even if it weren’t on Earth.

She kept pushing until she got the ship fully into the sun and out of the doorway and then collapsed.Her mind had kept her moving, but her body was broken in so many places, and the base didn’t have the equipment to deal with her.She was dying in the great pyramid and wasn’t upset about it, but she suspected that she wasn’t even going to be a footnote to the team.Promise or not.

She coughed up some more blood and stared at the sun, imaging that she was back on that trip in Egypt with the city in sight of the pyramids if she turned her head.She breathed slowly and let the heat warm her skin.

* * * *

Ra walked through theentryway and summoned the repair bots to replace the stone.The creature on the floor was the first thing to go.His bots tore it apart and went to store the components for later use.

He snorted at the blood splatter and watched until his floor gleamed.The ship had been removed from the structure, so it was easy.He looked at the streak of red and frowned.That was a familiar colour of blood, and it was leading out of the structure and into daylight.

He flexed his wings and walked into the light of his world.The vessel was clear of the doors and down the entry path.A creature in baggy clothing was lying next to the ship with its face turned toward the sun.

He shrugged.The bots would get to it soon enough.He returned to his home and snorted at the small beings that were staring at him with fascination.“Why have you invaded my home?”

One of them stuttered and walked forward.“We are an archaeological team sent by the system government.We are here to investigate your ruined temple, Ancient Overseer.”

He pondered that.“How long has it been?”

“This world has been silent for nearly six thousand cycles.”

Surprising but not unexpected.“How did you enter?Only my handmaids can open those doors.”

One of the others, a younger male by all estimates, pointed toward the door.“She told us that the intruder had been dealt with and we could come out of hiding, so we did.Where is she?”

“The creature in the dark clothing?It appears to be dead.Wait, she was my handmaid?”

The elder said, “I don’t know about that, but she read the signs and opened the door.”

Ra frowned and turned back toward the disappearing red blood on the floor.The bots were consuming it with energy.“Analyze.What species is that?”

“House of Geb.”

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