Lin Xue's flying car touched down on the brown sand of the Gobi Desert and skidded to a halt, throwing up large clouds of thick dust. She brought her vehicle about next to a massive encampment and parked it near a platform.
"We're here!" She announced. I shook my head, still in awe at what had just transpired, but I quietly followed her out of the car and into the tent where a large group of people in similar uniforms were running about and shouting to each other. Ignoring the others, Lin Xue strode straight to a middle-aged man running the biggest computer in the camp, seated in front of a wall-sized monitor. "Agent Lin Xue reporting, sir!"
"Ah, Xiao Xue, you're finally here." The middle-aged man looked up, a grizzled veteran with a few scars across his tanned and weathered face. His uniform was more practical than Lin Xue's, looking more akin to military fatigues with a dark leather jacket, and black boots. Like Lin Xue, he was wearing gloves, but with his fingers exposed.
Without even needing be told, I understood that he was the field commander of the Sprue team dispatched to rescue the missing archeologists.
I followed Lin Xue and saluted, though I remained silent because I doubted the officer would pay any attention to me. I was mistaken.
"I see you brought the teleportation guy here." He nodded at me. "This is the first time we're meeting, right, kid? I'm Colonel Shang Xiao, the overall commander for this mission."
"Sir." I saluted again. "I'm afraid I don't have the special ability of teleportation. I'm telling the truth."
"Kid, we're not stupid. Maybe you don't have a psychic power that's teleportation, but you certainly have a device that is capable of it. Use it. I don't care what secrets you're hiding, but as long as you cooperate, we won't pry too much."
"Yes, sir." Inwardly, I directed a thought at Aegis. "Is that fine, Aegis? Are you capable of teleportation? Um, at least teleporting them to the bridge of the Crusader and then from there to Earth?"
"Of course, Commander. In fact, we don't even need the Crusader to serve as an intermediary. Even without using the Crusader's teleportation function, I can access the portal and bring them back to your planet."
That was excellent news.
"However, I will need to interface directly with the portal, so I require you to physically bring me to the ruins."
"Understood. Leave that to me." I placed my hand inside my pocket and felt the small component of Aegis. She had given me that tiny part sectioned from herself, and during training I had found out that I could "summon" her full form by activating that portable shard. It was pretty convenient. To Shang Xiao, I nodded. "I understand, sir. I will do my best."
"Then let's not waste any time." Lin Xue spun away and stalked out of the tent. "Follow me, Tian Xing. We'll head straight for the ruins. That's the last place anyone saw of the archeological team."
The camp was set up near the ruins, for obvious reasons. In contrast to the modern looking encampment, which consisted of large container-type buildings transported and then carefully arranged on the sand, the ruins seemed weathered and ancient, its rocky structure rough and dull when compared to the sterile and metallic hulls of the gleaming structures.
We had a generator humming, its solar panels soaking the sunlight to produce electricity. There was a completely separate container building that served as a bathroom, with pipes running along its length that tapered off to an enormous water tank. There was even a single large container building that served as barracks, with windows. And an enclosed tent that served as the cafeteria.
Despite Lin Xue's words, she had decided to show me around the base camp, just in case she didn't make it out of the ruins and I was the sole survivor. In which case, I knew where to go, where to report, where to eat, where to shower, and where to sleep.
"Oi, don't say something so ominous."
"In our line of work, it always pays to be prepared," Lin Xue said firmly. She lowered her head, and I could sense some grief. "I've lost comrades before. It's not something we'll ever get used to, but it does happen."
I gulped. I mean, I shouldn't be surprised, considering that this was an organization of people with special abilities, which inevitably meant there would be conflict, but even so…
"Anyway, now that you're familiar with the layout of the camp, let's go straight to the ruins where the expedition team was last seen."
"Understood, senior." I appreciated the detour and her candor, and sincerely hoped nothing would happen to her. Clearly, Lin Xue had seen too much and suffered tragic losses. I tried not to think too much about it. It wasn't as if I could do anything to help, other than cooperate and make her job easier. It would also benefit my own personal agenda, especially if Aegis was correct.
"Trust me, Commander. I'm very sure a relic is involved in the disappearance of this archeological team. As we get closer, I can sense familiar energy signatures that are a high probability match with technological devices manufactured by the Holy Terran Empire."
"Uh huh. I believe you."
Behind the ruins was the full splendor of the desert, with endless dunes that stretched for miles around. It was a sea of sand, the grains packed so tightly and sparkling under the hot afternoon sun. In the distance, I could see the occasional oasis, clusters of hardy trees that had adapted to survive in the arid environment.
As we approached the ruins, I frowned and glanced around. There wasn't anyone apart from us, and our two shadows cast twin long pillars across the golden sand. Apparently, the large group of Sprue members had elected to stay within the air-conditioned comfort of the camp interior.
"Huh? Where's everyone else?"
"Back in base camp."
"I mean, are we just going in with only the two of us? No one else is following us?"
"There's no point," Lin Xue replied with a shrug. "We're the only ones with special abilities. Colonel Shang has to take command and oversee the operation. The rest are all normal people without any special powers, so they wouldn't be able to help in actual combat. We will be able to fight better if we didn't have to worry about protecting them."
"Are we at least not going to some penal colony and searching for an old man named Gu Zheng Feng to borrow some ancient relic he obtained when raiding a tomb?"
Lin Xue stopped and stared at me. "What the hell are you talking about?! What penal colony? And who the hell is Gu Zheng Feng?!"
"Never mind." I sighed and shook my head. "I guess there's a good reason why the animation adaptation cut out all those chapters…"
After the dumb conversation, we finally found ourselves in the entrance of the ruins. Though there were remains of an ancient, enormous arch that served as a gate, most of it appeared to be buried underground. Now that we approached, I saw that the weathered stone was actually only excavated recently, with mounds of sand on either side and heavy digging equipment arrayed around it in a perimeter. None of the tools were in use right now, with their operators having gone missing. They were disturbed, probably by the search and rescue team dispatched by the military before they decided to call us in.
Lin Xue unholstered a small flashlight from her jacket and shone a beam down into the mouth of the ruins. Despite its tiny size, it provided powerful illumination that almost looked as if the interior of the ruins were basked in daylight.
"Let's go," she said and proceeded down the stone steps that led deep inside and below. I obeyed, my hand going to the small component of Aegis in my pocket for a sense of comfort. We descended and found ourselves in what appeared to be a long, unending passageway filled with glyphs and images.
It didn't take us long before we finally found ourselves in a colossal chamber, the ceiling about ten meters high. Glancing around the cavernous space, I felt uneasy. I was half expecting this to be the grave of an ancient Holy Terran Empire warrior, but if that happened, then somebody was going to be sued for copyright.
Hey, at least we didn't spend four chapters of meandering around before finally getting to this point.
"Here." Lin Xue approached a massive altar in the middle of the chamber, wiping the dust off the stone surfaces. I called it an altar, but to be honest, I didn't know what it was. It appeared like the sculptors had arranged a bunch of chiseled stone blocks on top of each other to create something that looked like a campfire…except that there was no fire. There was something in the center, though, a grove that seemed like something could be inserted into it. I was suddenly reminded of the hi-tech grove in the console station aboard the Crusader's bridge.
The one where Aegis inserted herself to integrate her systems with the cruiser's. This couldn't be a coincidence. If this was Terran Empire tech, then Aegis was correct when she suspected there was a connection to a relic.
"We need a key," I muttered.
"What?" Lin Xue stared at me sharply. I pointed to the grove.
"We need a key…or something like a key. To put in there."
"I see," Lin Xue mused, rubbing her chin thoughtfully as she inspected the altar. "You might be right. But if that's the case, then it's likely that the archeological team is the one with the key. Perhaps they came to the same conclusion as you did, used the key to activate that…thing, and that's what caused them to disappear."
"It's possible," I agreed. Then I realized what she was getting at. "In other words, there's no way for us to activate the machine now because the key is most likely still with the missing archeological team."
"Unless we can find another key," Lin Xue said, looking around. She sighed and shook her head when she noticed how empty the vast cavern was. "It'll be like finding a needle in a haystack underneath all this dust."
In addition to the dust, there were plenty of stone pillars with motifs etched into them. I didn't recognize any of them, and despite my curiosity, I was focusing my attention on the center device. I gave the tiny component of Aegis a squeeze.
"Aegis, earlier you said something about interfacing directly with a portal. Is this the portal?"
"Yes." There was a pause. "I am currently reconfiguring this piece of myself so that I can fit into what you call a lock. I believe you can just place me in there and I will continue modifying myself until I can fully integrate with the teleportation system."
"Excellent. Thank you, Aegis. I'll be relying on you then."
Taking her out of my pocket, I stepped toward the portal. Its shape still didn't make much sense to me, other than the inset, but I trusted Aegis. On the other hand, Lin Xue wasn't so trusting.
"Tian Xing? What are you doing?"
"Oh, sorry, senior. I think I have a way to activate the portal."
"Portal? Huh? What are you talking about?" Then it dawned on her. "So this is why the archeological team disappeared? They were transported somewhere else through this…portal when they accidentally activated it?"
She caught on quick. As expected of an agent of the Department of Strange Phenomenon and Radical Unusual Encounters. She had probably witnessed a lot of other mysterious situations with her very own eyes. That made things easier. "That's right."
"Hmm, I see." She regarded me with an incredulous expression. "But how are you going to activate it without the key?"
"I might not have the key," I admitted and held up Aegis before plugging her into the portal. "But I have the next best thing – a universal lock pick."
Then a blinding flash of light erupted from the portal and engulfed us.