Lokians 1: Beyond the End of the World Read Online Free PDF Page A

away by hand. That time, Becker complained
about grunt work, followed by Zakowski, who claimed he was getting
blisters, and lastly, DeReaux said he hated sweating, unless it was
between sheets. The captain told them to shut up and dig. The
remainder of the day went by with little vulgarity, and by 19:00
hours, they found something.
    Chadwick, Levine, and Royce were dusting away
the dirt from what looked like a metal deposit. They used spades
first, to clear dirt away, but when the object appeared to have a
geometric shape, they locked eyes, and ran to retrieve
archeological brushes. Soon, they had a conical cylinder uncovered.
Swain looked proud of his initial suggestion. He wasn’t quite
right, but they had something.
    “ It looks like a probe,” Chadwick
commented.
    Swain went down to the item and kindly pushed
the scientists aside, except Levine who was a mechanical engineer.
They exchanged glances then looked at O’Hara. Levine was a nerdy,
older woman. Her long, black hair was pulled back, and her bright,
blue eyes were really just contacts. While none of them were tanned
because they had never been under direct sunlight, she was
especially pasty. O’Hara approached with a worried look on his
face.
    “ What,” he asked.
    “ Well, Sir,” Swain began. “It’s not a
probe. Not one of ours, anyway. I’ve reviewed all the designs
extensively, even improved some of them. This is something else.
I’d wager it’s a beacon of some sort.”
    O’Hara was pensive. “One of our beacons.”
    “ No, Sir,” Swain replied. “Not one of
our beacons. Let’s get this thing completely out of the ground.
Levine and I can get a better understanding of what we have. We
can’t bring it aboard the Phoenix like this, anyway; it
could fricassee our systems.”
    Imes, Martinez and Chadwick helped. Within
two hours the object was removed. It was unbelievably light. The
men and women stood marveling at the shiny device. It was a conical
pyramid, less than two feet high and six inches at the base. There
were several, tiny panels along its structure, but no buttons, or
screws, or any visible method of holding the smooth panels in
place.
    “ What is this,” Mickelson asked as he
ran his dirty hands along the object.
    “ We should take scrapings and run
tests,” Nicholson suggested.
    “ Swain? Levine? Your call,” O’Hara said
as he looked them over.
    The two exchanged a glance and shrugged.
    “ I say, yes,” she replied.
    “ I second that,” Swain
crowed.
    “ Go for it, guys, but for God’s sake,
be careful,” the captain answered.
    Mickelson and Nicholson took their scrapings
before dragging their trunks away from the dig site. Zakowski,
Becker, DeReaux, and Fitzpatrick accompanied the two. Swain,
Levine, Chadwick, Nandesrikahl, Imes, and Royce stayed behind to
see what knowledge there was to garner from the beacon. The rest of
the crew took watch shifts.
    O’Hara figured it best to send Martinez to
help Swain in case the beacon was really some kind of weapon. He
then pondered whether or not to contact Admiral Lay. They had found
something, but he didn’t know what yet, and there was little sense
in bothering the admiral with half-assed assertions. Besides, he
said to transmit once we have results, he thought. O’Hara
decided to wait, if anxiously.
    Pacing about the camp, hearing everyone’s
speculations, it took all his concentration to keep from jumping
the gun. He kept rubbing his face, trying to stay calm and wait for
conclusive results. He hadn’t shaved in a while, and it was
itching. Thoughts of sleep crossed his mind; he was tired, but his
mind ran rampant. Mickelson and Nicholson should have their
results before long. Swain and the techies will have something,
too .
    Requiring a little alone time, O’Hara found a
large rock under a tree, sat against it, and closed his eyes.
Essentially, he had succeeded at his mission, which was great news,
and the only thing left to do was get the beacon aboard the