Our Dark Stars by Audrey Grey & Krystal Wade

Author:Audrey Grey & Krystal Wade [Grey, Audrey & Wade, Krystal]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blaze Publishing, LLC
Published: 2018-03-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Will

The Hall of Memories was a crumbling building of moss and beige stone, preserved from another century. Even if Will didn’t already know the building was pre-mock era, he could have guessed it by the attention taken to the details. Gothic arches and sharp spires ended in ornamental finials above stained-glass windows and dramatic cloisters. A long-abandoned garden had overgrown the grounds and honeysuckle and trumpet vines wound themselves around the decorative columns.

Only humans labored needlessly on such trivialities—although a part of Will was glad they had.

Inside, an iron chandelier caked with rust hung from high arches. Glass vaults, each containing a floating holo-book, filled the enormous room. Not a speck of dust drifted inside the slants of light, a testament to the cleanliness of the monks who preserved the books stored below.

If he searched his history’s programming through the human-led eras, he’d see this place was once a church, rebuilt by settlers to match an earthen church from their home and one of the few left in the known galaxies. But he didn’t need to look it up; his mother had told him everything about this place. How, after humanity’s defeat, the mocks let this place stay untouched. A token to keep the human slaves from revolting.

As one of the flesher monks strolled by, he pinned Will and his crew with a curious stare, seeming to float inside his coarse brown robes. Probably not many mocks came inside this hallowed shrine of human history.

“Tell me again what we’re looking for?” Lux asked. Her green eyes squinted against the amplified solar-flare light pouring in from one of the arched windows and glinting off the countless vaults.

“The symbol from the pod. I drew you a picture?”

“Right.” She flicked a skeptical gaze around the room. “And we have one hour?”

“Actually a little less, now.”

She crossed her arms. “Tell me again why we can’t just sell her to one of the ice-trawler crews and be done with her?”

“Because,” Will said, speaking slow and deliberate—his crew were like children sometimes who needed orders repeated constantly. “I’m the captain, and I said no. Now, let’s start in the center. If you look closely, you see the vaults make the shape of six octagons fitted inside one another. If we start with the center octagon, we can work outward.”

“Fascinating,” she said as she stalked off, muttering, “Should have went with Jane and Dorian for supplies.”

Will found himself smiling as he watched Lux weave through the vaults. The navigator was stubborn to a fault. If he ever had a sister, he’d want her to be just like Lux, minus the criminal leanings. Maybe the whole crew could buy back their status if all went as planned.

No, they’d probably squander their chances. Not Will, though.

A sense of urgency thrummed his bones as he found a vault in the center. The label read 2742 AD-2842 AD. His programmed histories told him that was nine hundred eighty-nine years ago. The same year a group of earthens left their planet on the Columbus Explorer searching for a new home.

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