Sang the Setari

18. Split

We had barely passed from Deep-space and into orbit around Muina when a message from the surface came requesting our tanz to offload its cargo and continue on to a new site that had requested additional staffing. Half of Fourth Squad would stay in Camelot, the rest of us would remain aboard and rendezvous with Second Squad already at the site.

"Ista Green, you're needed in the new Muina MedBay. Luke and I can help with moving the supplies for the new Setari residences. Gabe, I know you want to get our rooms settled. So who else will be staying with us?" Kota asked.

"Tsee Blackbourne, I will also stay," Nathan volunteered. "It leaves you with a more rounded out set of elemental talents that complement Second Squad's talent set."

"True, thank you for your input Tset Griffin," Tsee Blackbourne said. "That will work well.

Gabriel was last to exit the tanz after our landing. As he passed me he leaned in and licked the side of my nose, earning a giggle from me and a stern "Tset Coleman!" from Tsee Blackbourne. He merely waved off the admonition and bounced down the ramp after Luke.

"Good call having Nate stay," Silas said as we watched them race up the shore towards the new buildings. "Hopefully, Gabe will be too busy organizing for them to start any fires. Do you remember when they visited the Lents home on one of our Kalrani leave days?"

Nathan volunteering to stay made more sense.

"Hmmpf," North grunted and turned to me with a smirk. "Would have been triple trouble if we didn't take Sang with us. You should have seen what I walked in the other night. All three of them still smell like sugar from whatever they did to the bath. And don't get me started on Gabriel and the leg deal or nude Luke."

Silas winked at me flirtatiously as he said, "Oh really?"

"Eh, don't get too excited. It wasn't that kind of naked fun," North replied. I felt a blush creeping up my cheeks at the insinuation.

"Ah, well, Aggele, you let me and North know when you do want to have that kind of fun," Silas teased pushing me towards me seat for departure. Heat pooled low as images flickered across my mind of Silas and North clothing-free. My tall, dark and handsome duo, muscles slick with bubbles streaming down...Oh Mylanta! It was overwhelming and so I refocused my thoughts by opening the briefing file to review our instructions for this mission.

We arrived at the the village and Tsee Blackbourne immediately went off with Tsee Toma to do captain things. We stayed close to the tanz catching up with Second Squad as we awaited specific orders. Corey and Victor were both bent over a piece of scanning equipment with a green-suit when the captains returned with a slightly older grey-suit.

"Thank you for coming.  I am the head of this outpost, Tsaile Diego Ramirez," he introduced himself. After a few basic pleasantries he started to lead our group to the outskirts of the village. "We were going to make this as a secondary site, but then Tset Coalter sensed an anomaly with Path Sight and the discovery team found this." His sweeping gesture encompassed a wide area with three conical protrusions from the mountainside.  Despite the years of neglect and creeping vines and detris from an encroaching forest, I could tell that the structures were too evenly spaced and too perfectly formed to be natural.

"This isn't like any Muinian architecture we've seen before," Ramirez said.  He turned to me. "We can't consult the Nurians but Tsee Toma suggested that perhaps there was a Earth connection."

We moved closer the center structure.  Technicians were still busy clearing the doorway and pulled a section off vines away to reveal a frieze depicting a woman, robed so her upper face was covered. And the figure was most definitely female from the breasts and curved nude form revealed by the split front of the clothing.  Her arms spread out with the edges of the robe flowing into forms of plants and animals.

"Is that supposed to be Muina?" I asked, reflecting on Muina Mind-Heart Society, the planet-worship religion practiced on Tare.

"It could be, but I don't think so," Blake Coalter replied. "One of my associations outside of KOTIS deals in restoration. I don't think they have come across something like this. Of course, it is rare to find any likeness of Muina, since the Pledges of Anterra have sought to destroy anything reminiscent of idolatry."

"It doesn't look like the Muina depictions from South Kolar that I have seen. Ravenstahl, what about North Kolar?" Silas asked. At Ravens denial, Silas added, "We should have Coleman here. He knows more about art history."

Something tickled at the edge of my mind.  I kept thinking this reminded me of something as we walked toward the eastern structure.  The technicians over here were now scrambling to see if another frieze lay underneath the vines covering this doorway as well. It did, only this was obviously a male figure.

"Well, that isn't Muina," I blurted, wide-eyed and trying not to blush at the generous proportion and very erect...uh...attribute of the figure ruling over this domain. At which at least three sets of hands reached over to cover my eyes.

Raven merely scoffed and said, "Eh, he's puny compared to Kolarians. Right, South, Silas? Go ahead and tell them, Kayli....or should I show..."

He was interrupted by a resounding chorus of "NO!"

Amidst, the others' outburst at Raven's commentary, it suddenly clicked for me what was familiar about these structures.

"The shape threw me off," I thought aloud, drawing the attention of the group. Most wore highly amused expressions. I heard North and Silas choking back laughter. Tsee Blackbourne was pinching the bridge of his nose.  Victor looked like he might be blushing.

"The shape...of what?" Tsaile Ramirez questioned, trying to suppress a grin.

"The buildings, of course," I replied, confused. What else could have a misleading shape?

"Of course," Tsee Blackbourne said with a stern gaze to North and Silas who were clearly having a private Interface conversation. "Could you elaborate, please?"

"On Earth, one of the ancient civilizations in a land called Egypt was ruled by pharaohs that were considered almost equal to the gods. They built pyramid shaped tombs and filled them with everything the ruler would need in the afterlife....including treasure, furniture, even servants that were buried alive with their masters." I had to explain the English terms of 'tomb' and 'bury'. Tarens and Kolarians practiced cremation.

"Interesting," Tsee Blackbourne spoke up. "Miss Sorenson, if you will?" He lifted a hand and waited, looking expectantly at my shoulder where I usually kept a spot open in the nanosuit for enhancing Setari on missions. I sent a quick signal to the suit answering his request.  After a tap to my exposed shoulder, he approached the tall  door and paused before placing an ungloved hand on a cleared space. Only a few later and he was turning pale, knees weakened and pulling back.  North stepped forward to support Tsee Blackbourne as he took a few joden to compose himself.

"What did you sense?" Tsaile Ramirez asked when Tsee Blackbourne straightened.

He replied, "I think she may be right. Though this could have been part of the mass dhura attacks when Muina fell. There was...death...so much death. There is a seal behind the the door.  I also sensed great fear. I suggest you use extra caution opening this passageway." 

"It will be several kasse, maybe another kai before we get to that," Ramirez said.

North, Silas and I were then ordered back to the tanz while the others started patrolling the area. Ramirez requested I compose a report on Egyptian pyramids and any other Earth culture's burial practices.  North forced me to eat while I wrote about morbid things like coffins and the river Styxx and that buried Chinese army and when I finally finished a tangent about the Holocaust, I was tired and just done. I crawled into one of the pod beds since we would be rooming in the docked tanz for the time being. I was asleep within joden.

Thankfully, I had no nightmares. Instead, I dreamed I was lying in bed, curled up against Tsee Blackbourne.  In the dream, I was shy but he pulled me close, even hooked a foot over my ankle. The dream was one of those hyper-realistic ones and waking up was a disappointment.