Artifice (Special Forces: FJ One Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

question, as time was of the essence here.
    He gathered them together. “Engineering, what have you got?”
    Kaplan brought up a hologram in the center of the cabin. “The planet’s got full sized ice caps, and a variable climate. We’ve stayed stationary over a full revolution, scanned the whole planet at nighttime, and seen no signs of advanced civilization. The closest thing is a pre-Columbian level of light in a equatorial city here…”
    He zoomed in. “It’s in a valley, more like a bowl, surrounded on three sides by sharp mountains resembling the Grand Tetons back home.”
    The map showed a river, about two miles across at its widest point, that flowed into the tallest mountain, and then out again on the other side as a waterfall.
    The picture tilted to show the falls, as high as Angel Falls on Earth, but there was only a thin trickle of water dropping to the valley.
    “So,” Cruz speculated, “there’s some kind of reservoir or underground river inside the mountain, because otherwise those falls would be roaring.”
    Kaplan nodded, zooming in further. “The trickle falls into a small man-made reservoir at the bottom, which drains to a canal system in the city.”
    The reservoir was nearly dry, and sat between the falls and a great stone edifice that could only be a temple. The temple was the terminus of seven broad avenues, forming a fan shape in the bowl of the valley. Each avenue had a canal running through the center, and there were seven smaller avenues in an arch across the “fan,” stone bridges crossing the canals in the main avenues. All the canals were nearly dry.
    Six of the seven canals ended at the city limits, but the great central canal flowed out of the city for several miles, into a fertile delta like that of the Nile. Or would, if there was any water.
    Kaplan went on. “The readings off this mountain with the waterfall are warmer than the others, but it’s not volcanic or post-volcanic in shape. It’s unusual for a formation that has this altitude and so much water running through it to be this warm.”
    “In other words,” Archambault speculated, “the kind of place where a super-intelligent AI would run up a big power bill, which it would pay for with some kind of hydroelectric system.”
    “Look over there,” Cruz said. “See where the tree growth is newer? That’s where the river used to be naturally. It’s been diverted, a few decades ago at least.”
    Kaplan raised an eyebrow. “Since when are you a forestry major?”
    Cruz winked. “You know I like the Great Outdoors.”
    The others laughed when Kaplan blushed at his former lover’s joke.
    “So,” Chen said, “let’s say Alex is here. And he diverted that massive river, and blasted out the middle of the mountain, and created a power system.”
    They looked at each other, amazed at the possibility of such a technical achievement.
    “We’ll land here,” he said, pointing at a spot behind a low ridge just outside the city. “We’ll want to scope out the population, see if it’s hostile, and…if it knows anything about Alex.”
    Hewitt furrowed his brow. “You mean, the population may be aware that Alex is there? Or that Alex has set himself up near a population center?”
    “It makes sense, doesn’t it?” Archambault said. “We should get intel from the population, see what they know about Alex. Use standard introductory protocols.”
    They landed the ship and packed up for a preliminary reconnaissance. They dressed in black microfiber clothing for camouflage, partly disassembled their guns and strapped the pieces across their backpacks, and concealed their sheathed carbobsid knives in shoulder harnesses. They packed the standard shiny and mildly impressive objects to hand out as gifts, including the variant food gifts (most species love chocolate).
    “Marcus,” Chen said gently but firmly. “I need you to stay here. You’re not qualified for this kind of expedition.”
    “I know, sir,” he said,