Slingers (The Slingers Trilogy, Book 1)

Chapter 1

Nolun Metreo considered himself to be a person who always had a decent amount of luck. Not enough to make him insanely rich, but just enough to keep him out of trouble. Now, however, he had realized his luck had just increased tenfold. As the small transport vehicle pulled up to the crumbling stone ruins, he was more certain of that more than anything. After weeks and weeks of searching and theories, he was finally within reach of one of the greatest treasures in the history of mankind: a Dorado Piece. With this, he would be one step closer to unlocking the ancient power, and become the most famous archeologist in the universe. Needless to say, he was a little bit more than excited. He looked around at the other men in the truck with him. Torucco and his crew had been the ones that supplied him with the materials to get on this expedition. He recalled meeting Torucco for the first time in a casino back in Miranda City, after presenting him with the evidence in his journal. Torucco's eyes had gone wide when he saw the implications of what Nolun was telling him. "If what you're saying is true my friend," he said, "then we will become the most famous band of explorers of all mankind!" They both had laughed, and Torucco had agreed to lend his men and resources to Nolun's trip.

Now, they were in the Wastelands just outside of Miranda City, and had all the necessary excavation tools to find the Piece. Nolun couldn't have been happier, but he still felt a sense of unease as they pulled up to the large stone wall. What if his research was wrong? What if he had led them all to a dead end? He shook his head and focused. As the transport stopped, the men jumped out and looked around. "Alright, Mr. Archeologist, what's next?" Torucco looked over at Nolun and crossed his arms. "I don't see any treasure." Nolun smirked over at him. "Well what did you expect, a big sign that says "Dorado Piece here"? It's gonna be a little more complicated than that." Nolun dusted some dirt off of his aviator's jacket and took out his journal. It technically wasn't his, seeing as how he had taken it off of a dead Federation soldier, but it had served as his Dorado journal for the past several years. He flipped to the page that contained what he was looking for. The page showed several symbols on a stone wall. Nolun walked around the large stone construct until he found what he was looking for. The same symbols as the ones from the book, except each one was surround by square indents. "Here!" Nolun motioned the men over and looked closely at the set. Torucco also looked at them. "They could just be FedSpeak graffiti." FedSpeak was the unofficial name for the Federation's new language they created for the new galaxy. It combined portions of the English, Spanish, and Chinese dialects. Nolun shook his head. "Out this far into the Wastelands? Unlikely. Besides, these are way too complicated to be FedSpeak. This is something else...Marker Language." The Markers communicated only in cryptic symbols, which were difficult to translate at first, but those who were well-educated enough managed to decipher their meanings. Nolun looked at these symbols, and then his journal, noticing something peculiar. "These symbols...they're out of order..." He pressed into one of them, and found he could pull it out of it's indent. Then, it clicked in his head, and he rearranged the cubes into the parts shown in the journal. As soon as the last one was in place, the stone wall rumbled, and a portion of it slid upwards, revealing a dark passageway with carved steps leading down. Nolun looked at the men with a smirked. "Well boys, nothing ventured, nothing gained."

The lights brought by the group illuminated the steps as they lead them further down into the depths of the cavern. Nolun lead the group, and Torucco, along with the rest of the men were clutching their weapons tightly, clearly nervous. As they got deeper, the steps slowly started to level out, until they stopped dead at another door. The strange thing about it was, it seemed to be made out of metal, contrasting the stone next to it. Next to it was a latch, which Nolun hesitantly pulled down, and the door opened with a shudder, revealing a room that was bathed in light that seemed to be coming from inside the walls. In the middle was a small circular pedestal that had several rings decorated on the top. Nolun went to inspect the walls, but couldn't seem to find the source of the light. He then went to the pedestal, and found the rings were decorated with Marker symbols. He went into the journal and found a drawing of the pedestal. He checked the compass on his wrist computer. "What are you doing?" Torucco was staring at him angrily. "There's nothing here!" "Hold on." Nolun found true north on his compass, and then saw the corresponding direction on the ring. He touched the rings slightly, and found that they could be rotated. He rotated the rings so that they were in the same combination as the one from outside, and were in the northern section. Then, the pedestal opened up, making all the men in the room spin around. Something was being raised up from inside, and when it reached the top, the group's eyes lit up. It was a golden sphere, the top of which tapered off into small cubes. A Dorado Piece.

Nolun couldn't believe his eyes. The thing he had been searching for had finally been found. He walked towards it, about to take it in his hands, when he heard the cocking of a weapon behind him. "Don't move." Nolun put his hands up slowly and turned around, sighing as he saw Torucco and his men pointing their guns at him. "C'mon Torucco, really? You're gonna go this route?" "You said it yourself, Nolun." He grinned at him, his men doing the same. "If we manage to get this for ourselves, we could become the richest men in the whole universe. And I have to admit, you did a good job of getting us this far, but I think we can take it from here." Nolun smirked and laughed nervously. "What, after all we've been through? I'm hurt." Nolun stole a look at the Dorado Piece. An idea flashed through his mind. Thinking quickly, he dove and grabbed the Piece, which caused all the lights in the room to turn a dark red, and everything to start shaking. The men stumbled, and Nolun took this opportunity to run out of the room and up the stairs with the Piece. Once Torucco regained his balance, he started shooting at him along with his men with their rifles. Nolun drew his high-powered repeater pistol from his holster and fired a few shots back. The cavern was rumbling quite severely, and rocks began to drop down from the ceiling. The Markers are known for their booby traps, Nolun thought. A large boulder dropped down in front of the chamber door behind him, sealing some of the men inside. He heard Torucco and his goons running after him still. Looking up, he saw light ahead of him, and dove out of the door just before the cave collapsed completely, blowing a large cloud of dust out onto him. Lying on the ground, Nolun sighed and looked in his bag. The Dorado Piece glimmered in the sunlight, making him smile. He got up and dusted himself off, walking back towards the transport, hoping to head back to town and finding a way to get off this planet.