A moment later, Grace was back in the cave. The sense of emptiness, loneliness, and despair still with her. However, Chase was watching her with a great deal of concern on his face. He walked over.

“Are you all right?” he asked, both hands taking hold of her by the shoulders in a gesture of compassion.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said, instinctively focusing on the fact that she wasn’t. “The hell was that?” she asked.

“Defeat,” replied the stranger. “It’s what happened here, and it’s what’s coming for your world unless you prepare yourselves.”

“What does that even mean?” yelled Grace, her anger boiling over. “And besides, if you can do all that, why don’t you just… fix it?”

“I have done all that I can,” he said. “Were it within my power, Surely I would do more? You have had my warning; now heed it.” He slammed his palm down firmly on the table. The sound of its impact rang out around the chamber, and then he was gone.

“Okay, so great. That was fucking weird.”

“You’ve got no argument from me,” said Chase. “But look.” He raised his left hand, pointing behind Grace.

She turned around. The door they’d entered through was once again back where it had been,

“Forget about that,” said Grace. “What about this?” This time, she pointed at the wall behind Chase, which now featured an exit that hadn’t been there when they first entered.

He turned around and shone his light down there.

“Let’s go,” he said.

They headed through another set of tunnels that led to an even larger chamber, in the centre of which was a large oblong carved from stone with a flat marble lid. It looked like the sort of thing you Grace would only expect to find in an ancient church on Old Earth.

“What is this?” asked Chase.

Grace had her slate out and was running scans. “It looks like a mausoleum, no that’s not the right word, a sarcophagus,” she replied. Her slate started flashing an alert. “And that’s not all,” she said. “It contains human remains.”

“Human, You’re sure?” asked Chase.

“That’s what the tech tells me,” she said plainly.

“Why would there be a human down here?” asked Chase.

“We don’t know it’s not a human colony,” said Grace.

“We do,” said Chase. “There are no records of any ships ever coming this far out, or of any colony worlds outside the cluster and those around Earth.”

“That’s true,” said Grace. “But it could be, oh, I don’t know, a lost colony or an unknown parallel development… Or time travellers,” she said.

“Time travellers?” asked Chase.

“I don’t know,” said Grace. “All I’m able to tell you is what’s in front of me.”

“I’m not sure I trust what I see as much as I used to,” said Chase. “Not after what just happened.”

“Yeah, that’s a fair point,” Grace conceded. “Shall we get this lid off?” she asked.

Chase walked over to the far end, and Grace gripped the corners and began to lift. There was a scraping sound as the lid moved.

“Be careful with this,” she warned him.

They lifted. It was heavy and difficult to manage, but she managed to just about lay it down to one side without it smashing.

Inside were the remains of a man. His face as pretty much bone, he was not very recognisable with but he was in the old Earth naval uniform, the same one worn by the captain in his final logs. The rank pin on his collar backed that up. It was old enough that anything too unsightly had decomposed.

“It’s Captain Wellesley,” said Chase.

“Yes, it is,” Grace agreed.

“And that might just be the reason we have been having all these problems,” added Chase, leaning into the coffin and carefully lifting a small metal cylinder on a chain from around the captain’s neck.

“The hell are you doing?” asked Grace with a mix of outright horror and disgust.

“Back then, the captain would authorise the ship with the command codes on this device,” he explained. “I’m hoping if I can plug this in, the Trafalgar will obey me.”

“Is that likely?” she asked.

“Not long until we find out.” Chase pulled out his communicator. “Wokoma, Dryden, you there?” he asked.

There was a moment of static as he waited for a reply, and then he heard Dryden respond. “Yes, Commander.”

“We found Captain Wellesley,” said Chase. “And more importantly, we have his command cylinder.”

“Hot damn,” came Wokoma’s reply.

“We’re going to use it to authorise our command of the Trafalgar, but I want his remains taken back to the Alpha Persei Cluster for burial with full military honours. Can you send in a second shuttle from the Mary Rose?” Chase asked.

“I’ll call it in now,” said Dryden.

“Top work,” said Chase. “We’re going to head back to the surface.”

“But what about the cave-in? How are you going to make it back?”

“I don’t think that will be a problem,” said Chase. “I’ll explain when I’m up there.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“You think that was him as well?” Grace asked.

Chase nodded. “I think it’s likely. He wanted to put this chain of events in motion. Let’s go and find out,” he replied, grinning.

Grace knew this was the opportunity of a lifetime. This was the kind of discovery that made the Nomadic look like a tourist trap. “Actually, I’m going to stay,” she said.

“What?” asked Chase. “You can’t stay. You’ve got no way of leaving. I need to get you back to the cluster.”

“Is this because I’m technically under arrest still?” she said.

“No,” said Chase. “How are you going to get home? You understand this is the archaeological find of... well, this is the one the others will be compared to going forward.”

“Exactly. There’s never been anything that compares to this, and I want to check it all out,” said Grace.

“I’m sorry, Grace. I just can’t leave you here without any resources. I’m not saying you won’t have the opportunity to come back.” Chase trailed off.

“By the time I come back, everyone else will have done the same. No, I’m going to stay here,” she told him.

“Grace,” he said, sounding panicked. He began to shout. She thought this was a bit of an overreaction. “Where the hell have you gone?” he yelled.

She was still only metres from him and waved her arms in response. He was oblivious.

“I’m right here,” she told him. She sensed a presence, turning and looking around the room. Standing in the entranceway was the mysterious Napoleonic figure. He held his index finger to his lips and threw her a sly wink before vanishing himself. Grace stuck a hand against the wall just to make sure it didn’t pass through it. It was reassuringly tactile.

“Not a ghost,” she confirmed to herself.

Knowing he was beaten, Chase turned and headed back the way he had come. Grace got her slate out and began running a deep-level analysis of the new tunnels, excited at exactly what she might find down here.

“I’m not invisible forever, am I?” she asked. It was a neat parlour trick, certainly, but it wouldn’t be a satisfactory trade-off if it was permanent.

“No,” echoed a voice.

Grace jumped in shock, turning, only to realise she was still alone. “That’s a weird thing you do, dude.”

Making a decision, she headed down to the caves, where her slate indicated there would be another chamber. This one was full of technology. Computer screens were lit up with various interfaces and then she sat down at the closest one. There was a pair of headphones on the monitors.

On the screen she could see the shuttle from Mary Rose was sending down an additional craft. It had landed next to the Trafalgar landing craft. Chase had already brought the body back up with the assistance of Dryden, and they were loading it into the shuttle to go back to Mary Rose.

Wokoma and Chase then headed back on the Trafalgar shuttle.

Grace looked over the interface. Running her slate she was able to get an idea of how the controls worked.

There were control sticks for the X and Y axes. It was then she realised that one of the screens had crosshairs. She was dealing with a weapons turret. It made a lot of sense. The people operating the planet’s defences must have been far enough underground to avoid bombardment.

She watched as the Trafalgar shuttle disembarked. Dryden did one last walk around the landing pad. The fucker was having a cigarette. Grace had never liked that he smoked. Apparently, he was the last person in the cluster who still did.

Grace looked on the monitor as Dryden threw the cigarette on the ground and stamped it below his boot. This man she’d loved, who had left her on a frozen wreck with absolutely nothing—not even that, with more debt than she could ever hope to repay in her lifetime. Here she was, on the world of a long-dead civilisation, looking at him through the scope of a gun. Without thinking she felt her index finger make its way around the trigger. Grimacing as he boarded the shuttle, she watched as it took off. He was the only one aboard, and no one else knew she was down here. Her muscles tensed with rage. All she had to do was pull the trigger, and he would be gone, atomised. If anything, it would be too good for him.

She grabbed the control sticks and moved the crosshairs. The system whirred into place. Lights came on across the control panels and the automated targeting overlaid the shuttle.

She didn’t even need a good aim.

Wrapping her index finger around the trigger, and she let the moment pass amd let go of the controls. The shuttle broke orbit, the overlay switching from red to blue, indicating it was no longer in range. Grace let out a breath and slumped back in the chair, her muscles relaxing, pent-up tension draining as she watched this. Sure, it’s what he deserved, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

“Dammit,” she thought.