VIII. ASCENT
He almost forgot that he was there on a mission. Behind the stalks is the almost vertical cliff side of the preternaturally cylindrical plateau. Crisscrossing its blue, glowing surface is a complicated network of flat walkways that spiral towards the plateau’s top. Alex observed that these walkways were made artificially, by SenRets, of course. On top of the plateau, 600 feet above the ground, he could make out the details of tall spires that appeared to be carved out of stone. These spires surround the circular top of the plateau.
The SenRets’offerrings to their God, Alex surmised.
He surveyed the plaza. The distance between him and the cliff-face is approximately two and a quarter miles and the open grounds were teeming with SenRets. He could not possibly leave his hiding spot without getting seen. He thought that these creatures would rest at some points during the day, but a ReTarcan day is composed of 93 Earth hours and Alex did not think he had the time to wait for them to clear the plaza.
Besides, he realized that the box he was hiding in could be taken anytime soon.
He had no time to spare.
He remembered the strokes of diversion that he had used on the SenRets on his way in. None of them seemed applicable for his current predicament. Alex sensed a movement to his right. A SenRet: it started pulling away the box that Alex was using for cover. He hurled himself into the box. The SenRet did not notice. With his back against one side of the box, he felt that he was being wheeled across the plaza towards the stalks.
Pure luck, Alex told himself.
When the box came to a stop, he looked up to see a single stalk towering above him. Just then, the warts attached to the stalk started falling all around him. He threw himself out of the box just in time to avoid getting struck by one of the ‘warts’ which is three times the size of his own head. He landed beside the tail of a SenRet that also failed to notice him as it busily picked the ‘warts’. He immediately climbed to his feet, and then dashed past the stalks toward the cliff-face as fast as he could. He turned around to see if the SenRets had seen him, but he was stunned when he realized that they all went on with their businesses, obviously oblivious about the human intruder.
“Poor senses, I guess,” Alex noted.
Before heading for the steps that lead to the plateau’s top, Alex stopped to pay one last look at the plaza. He marveled at the scenery in front of him: marveled at the beauty of the Sentient ReTarcans and marveled at the peaceful quality of their city. He thought that the explorers had missed so much when their instruments failed to capture and record all of these.
The next thing that he needed to do is to trek the 600-foot cliff.
Alex sighed.
According to his wrist computer, it took him three and a half Earth hours to reach the top of the Great ReTarcan Plateau. Wincing in pain and huffing in exhaustion, he looked around.
The whole expanse of the plateau’s top was covered with ice. At the center is a frighteningly large hole. Dumbfounded, Alex walked tentatively towards it. He stooped to peer into the hole, and what he saw is an enormous shell-like structure 150 feet below the surface. His amazement was suddenly washed over with a primeval kind of fear, realizing that the Great ReTarcan is right under his feet – waiting.
He had to finish his mission as quick as he could.
Around the hole are the spires: forty-two of them – solid stone pillars emblazoned with the SenRet’s symbols. The pyramidal tops of the spires are made up of bluish crystals; electric charges can be seen coursing through every one of them.
Strewn all around the bases of the spires are rocks of different shapes and sizes. They share the same crystalline appearance of the pyramids and the bluish glow. Alex saw electrical charges jump from one rock to another. Seeing all these, the fear and exhaustion he felt vanished all of a sudden.
The energy-sustaining rocks he has been looking for is real.
He fought the urge to shout in triumph. He took off his gun and his pack and then laid them on the ground. He then searched his pack for a pair of thick, radiation-resistant gloves. He picked them up and then slipped them over his grey spacesuit gloves.
He took out a large, vacuum steel case that occupied most of his pack’s space. He entered a three-digit code to open it before setting it on the ground. Alex started picking up crystals that he carefully arranged inside the rectangular case to minimize the use of space. He intended to bring with him as many as he could get.
Alex has finished packing up when the first tremor threw him off his feet.
