The Shadow of the Moon-Lydia's Tale

Chapter Eighteen

The brittle pink sky was shot through with long arrows of light tipped with the delicate streaks of white feathers that signified the coming of dawn over Ax. Far off over the bone capped mountains the moon hung eerily dominant like the vast pendulum of an otherworldly clock caught at its lowest point in its passage through the heavens.  

Pressing her face up close against the thick windshield of the splinter ship Lydia found the strange sight reassuringly familiar after the long trip back and the violent harshness of the environment they'd encountered on Alamut. The Seer had talked of Ax being home and at that moment she was surprised at how much she'd missed it. 

Ahead of them as they raced over the edge of the crater she could make out the distant camp as it grew steadily out of the early morning haze. Still early, there was little activity from the sprawling mass of tents round the temple. Thin wisps of smoke rose wearily from innumerable half spent fires and languidly drifted upward into the still morning air to thin and dissipate into the pallid atmosphere high above them.

Even from this distance she could see the work on the temple was nearing completion, from the ragged line of shelters grew a single monolith of stark crystalline white, set bold against all-consuming inkiness of the surrounding sand.  

As they swept closer Lydia could make out a large flag-stoned square lined with two majestic colonnades leading up to the entrance of the now reconstructed archway where they'd first found the inscription. The tumbled stones that had once spread half buried across the sands had been gathered together to create a central structure of rectangular orange megaliths topped with a pyramid of the purest pearlescent marble, reminiscent of some the earliest of the ancient ziggurats she'd seen on Earth. 

Faulke buzzed the camp a few times to find a safe place to land. Drawn by the thunder of the ship's engines a few startled Ax stumbled from the covers of their awnings to cover their eyes and stare up at them as they circled the temple. 

The only movement were two towering Exo machines working close to the entrance and a single space suited figure standing on a high wall watching their progress. As they spun round it motioned that they should land close to where it stood. 

Faulke waved his hand in acknowledgment. 'I'm going to put us down on that square by the temple's entrance, it's probably the safest place.' 

Lydia waited impatiently for the black dust to settle. As the roar of the engines died to a whisper she slid deftly through the hatch and walked to the edge of the square. Already some Ax, alerted by the sound of the engines had already begun to gather to watch them. The space suited figure made its way around the top of the high wall, disappeared for a few moments and then reappeared at the edge of the square and made its way toward them through the crowd. 

'Lydia, is that you? You look different, you've sort of grown haven't you.' It was Nape, struggling to contain the surprise in his voice. 'The weapon, I hear you've got it. It's all over the C.'  

'Father Rytt,' sighed Faulke dropping onto the sand beside her. 'I guess now everyone knows.' 

'I see you've even given up wearing the suit now, Lydia. I wish I could, working in this thing has been hell.' Nape made an attempt to shrug his shoulders, 'Come on, let me show you what we've done. Tekinon and the Ax have been fantastic, mind you we needed the Exo's for moving the big stuff.' 

They walked along the colonnaded walkway together. Lydia was amazed by what they achieved in such a short time. The two parallel lines of pillars running up to the entrance that had once lain half buried by the drifting sands had been lifted and placed where they had once stood many millennia ago, their long shadows running out across the dark sand, black on black. The main entrance archway ahead had been freed of the choking sand that had consumed most of its exposed side in suffocating earth so they could now see the curiously enigmatic inscriptions that packed its surface.