Rachel bent down again before the artifact and used her hand flashlight to send quick, on-off signals toward the three crystal “eyes,” as she thought of them. A wait, then—it flashed back, the same pattern. Rachel wondered if it ran on the hydrogen sulfide that filled this chamber—a convenient energy source, just as in the thermal vents on Earth. Ancient chem wisdom. Deadly to us, of course.

She waited, watching the artifact. No change. On an intuition, she started her shoulder video camera. The quick flash of it activating brought a response from the three “eyes”—and they started sending short flickers, in a rippling sequence that darted among the three, long and short bursts in a complex pattern. Her instincts told her immediately: a code string.

It ran several minutes as she watched intently, holding her camera view steady, not saying a word on comm. Data time, yes!

She wondered if this was why this artifact was deep down, somewhat isolated from the Marsmat. For security? Or… awaiting the right messenger? The strange long code string stopped. The “eyes” went dull, done.

She backed away, looked around. The team was far down the cavern now, their beam lights a diffuse, reflected glow. Then over the comm she heard excited talk.

Zuminski called, “Fraq! Stay where you are.”

Rachel listened as Zuminski shot questions at Fraq. The alien gave one-word answers—revealing nothing, as had become his habit. She used the time to carefully inspect the artifact, which now stood inert, with no glimmer from the three crystals.

Now was her last chance, she saw. Rachel carefully fetched a small thing that looked at first glance like a rock, much resembling the rough gray igneous walls of this grotto. She had fashioned a simple stucco wrap around the device inside, then dirtied it up.

She found the small button near its base and clicked it on. The device murmured in her hand, opened a port, and sent out a verifying dart of light. She put it about a meter from the artifact, sighting it carefully at the three crystal lenses, then stood up and checked the angles—just in time. The team was materializing out of the mists, their glow lighting up the area. She stood between them and her camouflaged device. “Stay away! Keep your distance.”

She didn’t want this locale any more disturbed than it already was.

Splashes behind her, too. She turned, and Zuminski was coming out of the misty end of the large vault. “Where was he?”

He eyed the artifact and crouched to take more pictures of it, and Rachel shifted slightly to make sure her legs blocked his view of her device. “Trying get away, I think.”

“Let’s get him out of here.”

Zuminski whispered, “Bastard. He’s coming behind me.”

Rachel kept her hand up, palm out, to stop the team. She could tell from their faces that they were worried, angry, tired, or all of the above. Beyond Zuminski she saw Fraq waddling forward in his custom pressure suit. His gait reminded her of penguins’ wobbly walk.