An hour later they arrived in the Kamundus-3 district in North Kypro. "That is an amazing device," Jenna said as they climbed the stairs out of the mag-way. "I can see that com-zone life would be practically impossible without it."
"There is public sky-trans too," Orion informed her, "but it's mostly for Keneso."
"I think we go this way," Fel said, pointing to the right along a busy avenue.
Fifteen minutes and multiple turns and crossings later they found themselves on a small, quiet street which was still lined with old-style buildings; they were not even a quarter the size of the more recently built towers. There was a small quaint park on one side where a few children played, watched by a few parents. A few old people sat on benches, and were still.
The Lin-Kaars ridge dominated the sky to the north. Its steep sides, sheer cliffs and trees formed a comforting scene which they rarely had the pleasure of seeing -- the smog of the com-zone only allowed a view at close range. They stopped and stared at the natural phenomenon for a full minute before continuing.
"Could be that," Fel indicated left with his chin then glanced back at his wrist-com.
They walked down the street another hundred paces then up a small flight of creaking metal stairs. Orion quietly opened the aging, wood-framed door which squeaked pleasantly on its hinges. The small shop was dimly lit; antiques of all kinds lined the walls all the way up to the ceiling. Shelves containing strange and intriguing objects cluttered the space in between. An old man with a ring of white hair around his head looked up from a com-tablet. He squinted, causing the wrinkles on the sides of his eyes to deepen.
"Hullo, there," he said, his surprise evident. People their age rarely frequented his shop.
"Uh, hullo," Orion said. He looked back to his comrades. Fel motioned for him to do the talking. Orion walked up to the counter. He smiled awkwardly. He had never visited a place like this before. He cleared his throat and began. "We..." he glanced back as if to verify that his friends hadn't disappeared, "...we have a couple of items that we wanted to have checked... they're old items," he emphasized, "antiques, I think." The small shop was still and silent for a few seconds while glances were exchanged.
"Well," said the old collector, with a note of hesitation, "let's have a look, shall we."
Orion nodded as he fumbled around in his side bag and drew out the folder which contained the maps. He laid it carefully on the counter. "And there's this," he said, showing him the projector. Orion carefully placed it in his hands. The old man wrinkled his brow as he turned it over a few times. "I'll have to say that I've never seen anything like this before. You might try a jewel shop or maybe a geo-center." He gave it back to Orion, who gave it to Fel.
The collector then turned his attention to the folder and his eyes brightened. "Hmmm... now this is something I am familiar with, although I don't recognize this symbol," he gestured with his finger at the tree in circle embossment. "Probably an older company which I am not familiar with, very interesting, may I open it?"
Orion nodded and glanced back again at the others. Looks like we're getting somewhere, he thought.
"Now, this is something," the old man's face lit up as he unfolded the maps and laid them out on the counter. "Look... each map bears the tree in circle symbol." He indicated at the bottom left hand corner. "It's part of the original printing. Very good...that increases the value." He carefully scanned the markings as he stroked his chin. "Well, this is good. I must say I have rarely come across charts as old as these in such good condition. Yes, yes, could be an old hexolium mining company that no longer exists. Although," he said with a hint of adventure in his voice, "they could be old pirate charts." He nodded significantly. "They're certainly not from the science firms or the Qonaar. Oh, look at this," he said, pointing to some inscriptions in orange ink handwriting at the top right-hand corner of the map of zone ZL-31.
The four young people edged closer.
"This...is a summons," he explained, "a very old one too," his voice grew more dramatic, "and definitely not official." He looked up at the four pairs of round eyes on the other side of the counter, "I would say," he lowered his voice as if they were discussing shady business in a spin-house, "definitely... hexolium pirate charts." Their eyes grew larger still. The old collector seemed to derive pleasure from his audience' reaction. "Yes," he said pensively, "who knows what goes on up there... in the forbidden zones."
The four young people turned to look at each other as the old man studied the summons.
"I'm afraid I can't make this out though. It seems it's somehow encoded." He looked back up at them. "But then, the hexolium pirates always do use codes of various kinds to keep their best rocks safe." He chuckled, "In any case, whenever this summons took place, it must have been a long time ago. By the looks of the charts I'd say... about one-hundred fifty cenro."
He straightened his posture and placed both hands on the counter. "I could get you a very good price for these," he said confidently, turning to business. "Good condition, original folder and insignia. It would take a few calah, but I have a buyer that I'm sure would be interested." He smiled at Orion who had done the talking.
"Um..." Orion hesitated, "I don't think we're ready to sell just yet. We'll probably hang on to them for now; we just wanted to get an idea of the... value, and... age."
"Well..." the old collector said somewhat crestfallen, "when you're ready, you know where to come. I'll fetch you the best price possible; I'll guarantee that."
"Thank you," Orion replied, "thanks for your help."
"Not a problem... you know," the collector said as an after-thought, "you might be able to decipher that summons if you use the com-drives at the Central Archive Building. You won't find cipher programs for this on the info-lines."
"Thanks again," Orion said, "when we're ready to sell them, we'll contact you."
The last Orion saw when he glanced over his shoulder on his way out the door was the perplexed look on the old collector's face, as if he were wondering why a group of Cholan young people would want to hang on to something like old mining charts when they could make a good chunk of quick credit off it. They exited the shop and walked to the end of the block.
"Whadaya think?" Orion asked.
They studied each other's faces. It was clear that between them they had a variety of opinions.
"I think it's pretty neat." Fel said, the excitement evident in his voice.
"What?"
"That they're old pirate maps!"
Celli looked dubiously at him. "I don't think they are."
"But you heard the old man," Fel countered.
"I don't think hex pirates made our necklaces; and they certainly didn't create the circumstances that brought us here."
"Well, what else could it be then?"
"The Merenthaal agents," Celli stated matter-of-factly. "Do you have a better theory?"
Orion smiled mischievously, "Oh, so now you believe all of that is real."
"Perhaps," Celli said defensively, "at least it's the most logical explanation so far. Coincidence is out of the question at this point. I think someone else is involved and I'm honestly curious to see what's going to happen next."
"There!" Orion said triumphantly, "Proof positive! You do believe!"
"And you don't?" Celli retorted.
"I'm not saying I don't," Orion laughed.
"Then you do," Celli pointed an accusing finger.
"I'm not saying that either. I'm waiting to see what happens."
Jenna watched the exchange with amusement.
"Okay," Celli concluded, "Let's see what happens; let's go to the archive building right now and decipher this summons, it just might give us a clue."
"Maybe it will." Orion said, extending his arm in the direction of the nearest mag-way station "After you." Celli lifted her eyebrows in an uncommon display of confidence and began walking. The others followed. Fel looked at Jenna with a knowing smile. Orion followed with a smirk on his face.
***
They walked up the wide staircase that led to the entrance of the Central Archive building. "It's huge," Jenna remarked as the doors opened automatically before them.
"Only a small part of this is open to the public," Celli explained, "most of it is used for the Order."
The com-gates registered their identities as they entered. A camera instantly made a 3D scan of Jenna when the com failed to register a com-chip implant. The information was sent to the Kypro Monitoring Center for processing. It sometimes happened that one's com-chip malfunctioned. In this event the central com would process their image and search the database and compare it with other scan failures until it obtained a positive match then contact the individual for a chip replacement.
Orion smiled at the receptionist, "Hi, we need to check a summons from a pirate chart – an old one. History project." He shrugged.
"Third floor, hall D-5," she pointed to another wide stairway on the left. "You need to use the green set in order to access the cipher program, and I'm required to tell you that all cipher scans are logged in and recorded."
"Oh, that's okay," Orion said as casually as he could. "D-5, right?"
The receptionist nodded, and looked back to her com-display.
***
"Not many people using the green set today," Fel observed, "better for us I guess." The only other person on the set of twenty light-green coms was a middle-aged woman who was busily shuffling through a pile of papers and entering data.
Celli sat down and pulled up a chair. "Okay," she whispered to herself and prepared to submerge into the alternate universe of data. She was anxious to see what would come of their research, realizing that she would be terribly disappointed if nothing did; if the trail ended here; if they faced a dead end. It would take quite a while to adjust to the way the world was before she saw the safe, in the dirt, in the cave.
Celli accessed the com and began working.
The others crowded around her waiting for the results. "I'll have to get used to this format," Celli mumbled, "it's different from the ones at work. Okay, here we are, could you open the map, please?" Orion quickly complied and Celli entered the data then waited.
The com presented various options as it worked through the codes. "Don't hold your breath guys," Celli looked up at them, "this might take a while."
"I get the hint," Orion said, displaying his palms.
"No, it's not that," Celli answered sarcastically, "I really don't mind you guys hanging right over my head while I'm trying to work, but you might want to make yourselves comfortable over there while I do this." She pointed with her thumb over her shoulder at a bench along the wall. The others moved backwards toward the bench, their eyes still on Celli's screen.
Ten minutes had gone by when Celli slowly withdrew her fingers from the keyboard, sat back, exhaled, and stared at the screen, "that can't be possible," she said in a whisper. She suddenly felt as if she couldn't get enough air into her lungs. The same feeling rose to her chest as when she first set eyes on the sphere. She looked over to where the others were now engrossed in a quiet conversation. "Guys," she said. No response. "Guys," she said a little louder. They stopped talking and turned their heads. She motioned for them to come.
"Look," she said once they were again closely huddled around her. This time she didn't complain about their proximity.
"What does that mean?" Fel asked, scrunching his eyes at the incomprehensible symbols on the screen.
"It means that the date of the summons was not one hundred fifty cenro ago," she sat back and stared at the display. "It's tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?!" Orion echoed in shock. "What do you mean tomorrow? Are you sure you got it right?"
"I checked it four different ways using four different systems; each one gave me the same answer." She stared intently at the symbols. "That's what the handwritten code means: cenro 8456-G; Lem-regta, calah 72." She took a shaky breath. "That's tomorrow."
"But how could someone make a summons for one hundred fifty cenro in the future?" Orion's tone was skeptical.
"How could our names be inscribed on our pendants?" Celli pointed out.
"How could any of this happen?" Fel said, "if..." He didn't finish his sentence.
"So now you believe too?" Orion asked his gunner.
Fel stared seriously at the message on the com screen. "I think so."
"Here's the exact location and time of the summons," Celli put her finger on the screen, "right here on the north side of this large asteroid in the middle of ZL-31. At 13 and zero." She removed her finger from the screen and placed her hand in her lap.
They stared in silence at the technical image of a huge rock in the asteroid belt and the information symbols surrounding it. All that could be heard in the hall at that moment was the lady entering data on a neighboring light-green com.