12 Miles Below: The Frozen Realm: (A Progression Fantasy Epic) by Mark Arrows

Author:Mark Arrows [Arrows, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aethon Books
Published: 2023-06-26T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

REUNION

The crusader had set this as something important to guard. I couldn’t know her motives until I could read the logs. Since this was her armor, I could at least try to protect whatever she’d marked important as a sign of respect.

Reaching down, I pried it out of a long-dead hand.

At first glance, it looked like a file storage device of some sort. It didn’t have any seams that showed it could open, except at the edges. Whatever this was, it was mechanical. That guess about it being a file storage got thrown out of the airlock once I noticed no ways to connect the brick to any power supply. That meant it had an internal supply—if it was even electric in the first place. I started looking for openings.

What I had found instead were buttons on the handle. Possible on-off switches? Flicking these did nothing—the item was probably out of power. Unlike occult knives, this device probably didn’t store power like backup generators did, so there would be a finite lifecycle. Searching further, I found what I’d been looking for: on its right side was a small valve and inscribed sigil for power. Jackpot.

All I knew about this item so far was that Cathida had died protecting it and that power was required. Fortunately, we did have plenty of power to spare.

I shuffled over and grabbed one of the three spare power cells we had in stock, graciously donated by less than reasonable folks.

A quick twist on the valve opened it up, and power flowed freely as I dropped a small trickle of liquid, charging up the device in a few seconds. Since the brick was small, it didn’t take much out of the power cell before capacity was reached.

Now I flicked the power switch back to what was probably the activation. The brick lit up a few stylized runes in dim blue on its flat surface but nothing else besides that. I rotated the device, looking for points of egress, and found that there were a few seams that were now more visible with the dim lighting, where the thing would probably open. All four corners and right under the handle. That part opened with a tug, showing the plate had protected two buttons. One was labeled “Capture” and the other “Connect.”

I pressed the connect button, but the box just flashed red and the switch flipped back. I guess that was a dead end for now or required something more. I toggled the capture button next and saw a telescopic tube shoot out of the front, followed by the sound of air being sucked.

Looks like it was a mini-vacuum cleaner. This could be a science kit designed to study small samples of material, at least from my first thoughts. I flipped the switch off and the tube retracted smoothly, the vacuum turned off. I’d have to dig into the logs to find out more about what this thing was.

“Keith,” Father said at my side. A quick glance and I could tell what was on his mind without more words.

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