Jack sneezed. “Hey, Aya, how are you coming with getting some fresh air in here? I’m getting dizzy.” “Keep your britches on, Jacky Boo, I’m plumb stuck like a hair in a biscuit.” Jack looked up from the computer. “What?” “The ventilation shafts have been sealed, and I can’t open them,” Aya clarified. “I recommend you put your breathing mask on.” Jack didn’t hesitate, he knew that if Aya recommended something, it was serious. He unlatched the mask hose from its carrier on his belt and pulled the mask up to his face. He checked the installed oxygen disk; it had a full 72 hours of air, but he had 12 spare disks – enough for one month before he’d have to leave. Oxygen wouldn’t be a problem. Bowan ran through the door from his check of the facility. “Sir, put your mask on, the air is toxic… oh, you already have.” “Yeah, Aya says there’s a problem with the ventilation system. Did you find the treasure?” “No, Sir, the hall just dead ends.” Jack stood and stretched. “I’m bored going through computer records. Everything after a seismic event 75,000 years ago is gibberish. Let’s go figure out what happened to the Kings Chamber.” Jack led the way out of the Gate Room and down the hall. “I’ve never actually been inside one of these pyramids before, the instructors at the Gate Academy talked about it, and there were some diagrams in the textbook, but that’s it.” “This hall is kind of small,” noted Bowan. “Yeah, Aeden’s were smaller 200,000 years ago.” “How tall will you get?” Jack trailed a hand along the stone wall, it was cool to the touch. “Probably around seven and a half foot. My girlfriend’s mother is short, so Kalu will probably only be around 10 foot.” “They say Captain Dagas is the biggest Ruk there is,” said Bowan. The hall ended and Jack looked up at the edge where the stone wall met the ceiling. “Uncle Margus told me the reason the Ruk got so big is that your home world had such light gravity, but your strength evolved later after you left and had to start landing on regular gravity worlds.” Jack pointed at the ceiling. “See that seam, this is an emergency door to close off the public part of the pyramid from the secret Gate Facility. The Kings Chamber with the treasure is beyond this door. Aya, has the main entrance been opened?” “No, Jacky, the entrance is still sealed. We’re as snug as a bug in a rug.” “Can you lift the stone?” Aya took a moment to reply while she checked the lift mechanism. “Yes, Buggy Boo, it is functioning, but it’s not advised. The stone was dropped in place automatically during the seismic event 75,000 years ago, and until we know why it was dropped, we shouldn’t open it.” Jack stepped back and stared at the stone, thinking. “Aya, do you have a standard map of one of these pyramids? I don’t remember much from class about them, I was only seven at the time and had just arrived at the Gate Academy.” “I sure do, Sugar Buns, here you go.” Jack held up a hand. “Nope, I draw the line at Sugar Buns.” Bowan gave Jack an odd look. “Are you talking to me?” Jack shook his head. “No, I’m talking to my A.I.” “Your A.I. calls you Sugar Buns?” Bowan twisted his mouth to the side. “Do you want me to call you Sugar Buns?” Jack’s eyes widened. “NO! I don’t want anyone calling me Sugar Buns.” “Okay, because Captain Sugar Buns would be really weird,” replied Bowan. Jack glared at Bowan. “Let’s go up to the observation room and take a look outside.” “Yes Sir.” Jack caught a slight grin playing at the corner of Bowan’s mouth right before he turned away. Ohhh, so Bowan had a sense of humor and was messing with him. Jack’s eyes narrowed, okay, two could play at this game. “I think the stairs up to the observation room is this way,” said Jack. Jack walked past Bowan to lead the way. “You know, on second thought, you can call me Sugar Buns if you want.” Jack exaggerated the sway of his hips as he walked. Bowan walked in silence for a minute before saying, “You’re messing with me, right?” Jack turned around and walked backwards. “You were messing with me first, I saw that grin.” “Sorry Sir.” Jack shrugged. “It’s fine. You’re going to be my right hand man, so I want us to be friends, and a little humor to lighten the mood occasionally is okay.” “Yes Sir. You know, I should be walking in front of you.” Jack frowned and willed himself into the fastest state of molecular acceleration he was capable, then walked back behind Bowan. Jack returned to a normal state and pushed two fingers against Bowan’s back. “Stick ‘em up.” Bowan jumped and spun around, to his eyes it had seemed like Jack had disappeared, and then reappeared behind him. “I’m not helpless,” said Jack, “and I don’t need a babysitter. What I need is someone to be an extra set of eyes behind me watching for danger.” “Yes Sir.” “You don’t have to call me, Sir.” Bowan shook his head. “I have to keep my discipline, that’s what they taught me during Basic. They said it was especially important for me because I’d be on special assignment and wouldn’t have anyone else around to remind me, so I have to be extra careful.” “Was Basic hard?” asked Jack. “I loved all the running and shooting and fighting stuff, but memorizing the Marine Battle Book was super hard. I wasn’t very good in school and I’m not the smartest person, so I stayed up late every night studying, and the other guys helped me, and none of them made fun of me because I’m so short. It was like I had a bunch of real brothers all of a sudden. And I helped them also, I’m really good at shooting and fighting, so I was able to help them pass the marksmanship and hand-to-hand combat phase. I’ll never forget what you’ve done for me. I'll die before I let you get hurt.” Jack walked past Bowan and slapped him on the arm. “No offense, buddy, but that creeps me out a little.” “That’s because you haven’t learned what being part of a team means. You do everything alone, and you shouldn’t. I’m just a Private, and I don’t hardly know anything, but I’ll do my best. What I really need is to be in a team with a real Sergeant to teach me the advanced stuff.” “I’ll admit you have a good point,” said Jack. “I really could use a few more guys to help me puzzle out this pyramid. I’ll give it some thought and let you know.” “Yes Sir.” The passage way up to the observation room was strewn with rubble and debris, and one thirty-foot section of the wall was badly cracked and crumbling, like something from the outside had hit it with a giant sledge hammer. “Aya, are there any breaches in the stone?” “No, Jack. The stone was thick enough to hold, but this section should be repaired.” Jack noticed Aya had dropped the Southern Belle accent. Something had her rattled. Natural light from the top of the stairs in the observation room provided enough illumination to see without tripping on the broken stones. Jack reached the small observation room at the top of the pyramid. The capstone at the tip of the pyramid was made of a one-way translucent stone; they could see out, but anyone on the outside would only see normal stone. Jack looked out over the landscape, and the mystery of why the pyramid had never been broken open was solved. “Jack, I’m detecting anti-matter radiation,” Aya informed him. “I know,” said Jack. “The device we’re looking for is gone.” Jack looked at the crater, the edge was not even five miles from the pyramid, and extended for at least thirty miles. If there had ever been vegetation here, it had never grown back. The wasteland extended for as far as Jack could see. Bowan was looking down at the side of the pyramid. “The stone is black.” “Yeah, the stone probably burned for weeks,” replied Jack. “What happened?” asked Bowan. Jack sighed. “The device we were looking for is an anti-matter device used inside the repulse engines. It’s what lifts such massive spacecraft off the ground. The problem is that we need to build repulse engines for the new RS-40, but we can’t find the blueprints. The last time you had to build repulse engines was during the Great Re-Build when the new Galaxy Class ships were built. They made four extras of the anti-matter devices, and they were supposed to be put in storage, but due to an administrative error, they were tossed into landfills on four separate planets.” Bowan looked at Jack with a blank expression. “Okay?” Jack turned away from the devastation that had occurred 75,000 years ago. “We were supposed to find the landfill and identify where one of them was buried, then an excavation crew could come dig it up, and we could reverse engineer the device.” Bowan gave Jack an apologetic shrug. “I’m sorry, I still don’t understand what that has to do with anything.” “The civilization that lived here found your landfill and dug it up. Someone must have found the anti-matter device and tried to open it. That crater out there was caused by an anti-matter explosion. The nuclear winter would have lasted decades. There’s nothing left alive on this planet.” Jack sat down on a stone bench and put his head in his hands. An entire planet was dead because someone filled out the wrong form. Bowan took a deep breath. “I get it now. My ancestors made a horrible mistake, but you said there were four devices left behind. That means there are three more on worlds we don’t know if they’re okay. We can’t sit around and feel sorry for ourselves. If those three other worlds haven’t blown themselves up yet, we have to find those devices before they do. So, what’s the plan, Sir?” Jack looked up at the young Marine. Bowan had a simple clarity of thought that cut through the complexity of the situation. Jack stood. “You were right, I can’t do this alone. Let’s head back to the shipyards and get this expedition outfitted correctly.”