The fourth biochamber had a climate similar to the first. Its vegetation seemed more wild and ragged, as if they didn’t maintain it to the same standard. There were no Olyix near the tunnel entrance.

I scooted into the cover of the shaggy trees and sent the swarm out in a circular formation, scanning for signs of life. A hundred-meter perception bubble revealed dozens of birds, hundreds of insects, but no large alien bodies moving around. My peripherals swept the electromagnetic spectrum, which was almost silent.

The trees threw heavy shade on the ground. It was useful cover. I stayed underneath the branches as the swarm reshaped into a row and began a circumferential sweep—the first of many. Sandjay was already plotting a methodical spiral course that would see them cover the entire interior. Looking up through the gaps in the leaves, I saw a distinct clearing along the equatorial line. The trees had given way to a perfectly circular patch of mustard-yellow moss. At the center was a five-sided pyramid structure, an easy hundred meters high but only twenty meters across the base. I’d never seen any kind of building in the other three biochambers. When I shifted position to get a better view, I caught sight of another clearing, also on the equator. I moved out into an open area between the trees. There were five identical clearings, each with a tall structure in the middle. I diverted the swarm to the nearest one so they could relay high-resolution scans back to me.

The Assessment Team

THE ASSESSMENT TEAM

FERITON KAYNE, NKYA, JUNE 26, 2204

“Okay, and?” Callum asked in fascination.

“Those structures in the center of each clearing were like slim Aztec temples, or very tall obelisks,” I told my rapt audience. “Personally, I prefer the second option. They didn’t seem to have any kind of entrance, at least not at ground level. And there weren’t any openings higher up, either. But the clincher is the hieroglyphics. The exterior of each one was covered in them.”

“Have you translated it?” Eldlund asked eagerly.

“No,” I admitted, letting a hint of frustration show. “This isn’t like a code, or an ancient human language. There is no possible Rosetta stone available to us here. The symbols are plain enough, just lines and shapes, but they are completely alien. There’s simply no way of interpreting them. The only way we’ll ever get to find out what they say is to ask the Olyix. And we can’t really do that.”

“I don’t get it,” Loi said in a petulant tone. “Why would they keep them secret?”

“The one thing the fly swarm did determine for me was the type of stone they were made out of,” I said.

“What is it?”

“Sedimentary. It had a granular structure. There were no sharp edges left anywhere, and a lot of the symbols had worn down. Which is significant in that placid environment.”

“So?” Kandara demanded.