Mummified Moon by PC Nottingham

Author:PC Nottingham
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: 4 Horsemen Publications, Inc.
Published: 2022-10-28T16:28:25+00:00

Twenty-Six

Lunar surface, unnamed moon, Dusoi orbit, Xechas system, Collective fringe

Rick glared at the corpse-sized hole in the rust-green mountainside. It would’ve been barren otherwise—a forgettable cluster of rocks amid the craggy surface. Destroying another culture’s architecture on top of a natural formation was despicable, but he had orders—no matter how much they twisted his gut. Lazy pillars of smoke and dust rose from the shattered remains of the false door.

Why the hell’d the Chamayna put these statues there, facing the wrong way? If it hadn’t been for those tracks, we would’ve searched in the wrong direction for hours. Wish I could kibosh this whole damn operation.

A ping arrived on his omni-tablet from Amanda. “Sir. We performed a secondary scan of that scrapper’s remains. You’re right. No signs of life. Hell of a risky gamble. You could’ve killed all of them, even that translator. Our preliminary scans have been wrong before.”

If by kill you mean put out of their misery and save them from exploitation, yeah. He prepared to tell her he didn’t like her tone but decided against it. “Thanks for checking.”

Rick double-tapped the shoulder on his modified armor and faced his squad. They were in various stages of suiting up. “Troops, we don’t know what’s in there. We have our targets and our orders. It looks like we’re going underground. This civilization most likely died off before they could harness electricity, so odds are we won’t have any light to guide us. We’ll need light beams on at all times. Wellsford,” Rick inclined his head toward a recruit, “radio the transports and tell them to get haul-teams ready to go behind us. Our squad doesn’t loot.” He cast a steely glare at Rymon. “We respect the dignity of these people. We’re allegedly going into some sacred place. Act like it.”

Lamont scoffed.

Rick glared at him. “Something to add?” Eyes narrowed all around the group, and a tense silence passed. “Didn’t think so.”

Moreno furrowed his brow, further darkened by his breathing helmet’s visor. Other recruits made similar dour expressions with scowls and scrunched noses behind their helmets.

“There’s an extraction team following us. They will assess the value of what we find—not us. We don’t touch anything or take any souvenirs. Questions?” Rick scanned the crowd. “Didn’t think so. Let’s move.”

Rick activated his pistol’s light attachment and ventured inside the crypt, bunker, or whatever this damn structure was. His breather sputtered against the pulverized dust cloud; a stray whiff of the dissipated plasma grenade snuck through.

Phantom pains in his missing arm reminded him to exercise caution. The missing limb also served as glaring proof that Humans lacked independence and respect. If desecrating this place brought Earthquake’s goal of Human sovereignty closer to reality, even one iota, the Chamayna would have to forgive him from whatever afterlife they had.

Prehistoric Earth mythology gossiped about tombs like this bearing treasures and curses for any who dared fate by trespassing. Gramps once told him about prehistoric movies that featured adventurers doing just that. Hopefully, the curse would be for the three who escaped the Kasoro.

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