Christie came to on a shuttle and discovered, when she tried to move, that her arms were cuffed behind her back with something heavy and uncomfortable. Out of a nearby cabin window distant hills passed far below them. When she looked around, she saw, with shock, that she was sitting next to Byoran, though he avoided looking at her.

“Hello,” she tried, but got no response.

Further down the small cabin, Rayker was discussing something with a senior VennZech scientist. He appeared to find the subject very exciting.

With nobody to talk to, Christie contented herself with looking out the window, and did her best to memorize the endless patterns of hills and rivers. The shuttle eventually started a descent, and came to rest on a spur alongside a large mountain, one side of which appeared to be a sheer cliff face. Other shuttles had landed ahead of them, and people were already moving along the grassy slope, heading for the summit.

When the shuttle’s door opened, Byoran grabbed her by the arm and shoved her roughly forward down the aisle.

“Oh, steady on—” she complained.

“Keep your mouth shut,” he snapped.

She was marched off the shuttle and stopped near the group with Rayker, as they discussed the terrain around them. When they had finished, men and women unloaded backpacks from the shuttle, and they set off. It wasn’t a difficult walk, but Christie soon realized that the slope of the mountainside resembled one half of a bowl, and she could see every inch of it. Ahead of her, a man was carrying a scoped rifle. Wherever they were going, they would have no problem defending the place.

Eventually, Rayker dropped back to walk alongside her.

“Did you expect this?” she asked, almost childishly. “You didn’t, did you? You don’t even know where we’re going.”

Frightened, hurt, and desperately worried for Kayla and the other Valkyrie, Christie had no idea what to make of her situation. But Rayker seemed happy to talk to her, and information was her strongest weapon. A friendly demeanor was obviously called for.

“Of course I do,” Christie announced with confidence. “We’re going to your mountain lair, to a cave that is, I have no doubt, shaped like a skull. Inside there will be some sort of terrible world ending machine guarded by tigers with laser beams, whilst you sit us around a large table and explain your devious plans. You will obviously want to steeple your fingers and cackle maniacally while you do so, for the look of the thing.”

Rayker laughed. “Tigers? With laser beams?”

“It’s very a la mode for evil villains.”

“Byoran, did you hear that?” Rayker asked. “Make a note please, I must have some of these creatures delivered.”

Byoran remained stone-faced.

“He’s very upset,” Rayker whispered. “Doesn’t like to be tricked by women.”

“Well, who does?”

“I’m afraid you’re wrong on a number of points,” Rayker said airily. “I have no idea how the entrance is shaped, but I will be very much surprised if it has the form of a skull. The Jotnar were not known for such garish decoration. As for the rest, I have no idea what is inside—I have never been before.”

“I see,” Christie said. “In that case, I can only conclude from your helpful clue that we are going to the Omega site; that is, the one site on the Calderan teleportation network that nobody was able to access.”

“Correct,” Rayker said with a smile. “And we shall explore it together, and discover once and for all what they intended for this world.”

Christie looked at her with a curious expression. “Or still intend?”

“Oh no—my benefactor is not a Jotnar. No, he only served them. Of course, they don’t exist anymore. They were wiped out.”

“Hmm,” Christie said disappointedly. “And there I was hoping to meet one of them.”

“To be honest, they weren’t particularly interesting.”

“I don’t suppose you’d mind unfastening my cuffs? My wrists are getting sore.”

“No,” Rayker said bluntly. “I can handle you, but my men have no idea how strong you are. Don’t be petulant; you’ll heal easily.”

Christie sighed. “Very well. Perhaps you can help me on a subject of historical enquiry?”

“I’m not an expert, but I saw plenty of it.”

“Me and my friends had this running discussion about whether the Jotnar were interfering in human history. What with Plato, and Rome, and so on.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Oh yes,” Rayker nodded happily. “That was my benefactor. I was involved in some places, but he had many agents at his disposal.” She thought for a moment. “Though, often a booming voice from the heavens, or in their dreams would do the trick. But, as I said, he’s not a Jotnar.”

Christie raised an eyebrow. “A power crazed immortal, then, like yourself?”

“My dear woman,” Rayker said in exasperation. “I am not remotely interested in power. Who wants that responsibility? It’s so much work, and you need to pay attention to so many details.”

“But your prior activities on Caldera…”

“I am just a servant, and that was part of our new strategy. The League has grown so brittle and narcissistic, don’t you think? Stirling, isn’t it, your real name?”

Christie nodded, but didn’t take the bait. Rayker could easily have identified her without knowing a thing about Valkyrie. “It is true my family experienced the darker side of League politics,” she said. Though I fail to see how hulking monstrosities would be much of an improvement.”

Rayker waved a hand. “Only temporary—just until the military was brought under control.”

“But heavy-handed control, nonetheless?”

“Well, you can hardly change human nature. People can’t be free—look at the awful things they do to each other. Don’t they discuss that in your gang? Your secret girl club?”

“Humanity’s faults might rather be seen as a product of too much authority,” Christie replied.

Rayker glanced at her with a sly expression. “Now, dear, don’t be a drag. Share and share alike.”

Christie shrugged. “Shan’t. Won’t. If my arms were free, I would cross them while I pouted.”

“I see,” Rayker said, her voice a little colder. “But I think you’ll come around once you see what’s inside this place. It will be impressive, that I can promise. I studied the energy systems whilst I had the valley site; something phenomenal has been installed here. And believe me when I say that the Jotnar were capable of absolutely phenomenal things.”

“Some terrifying weapons, too.”

Rayker’s brow furrowed. “Well, yes but so is every advanced society. Why is that relevant?”

Christie hesitated. She was getting way out of her depth, but she had no choice but to continue. “They were destroyed by war,” she said. “Perhaps their last act was to build some kind of super weapon?”

“Nonsense,” Rayker said. “The war was started by your group’s founder. They themselves lived relatively civilized lives, until we destroyed them all.”

Christie stopped as an icy dagger stabbed into her gut. Rayker had admitted to her part in genocide so easily. Maintaining her composure, she said, “hold on. Why would their servants kill them all?”

Rayker studied her, then laughed again. “They really didn’t tell you anything, did they? And that was so typical of my sister. She was as good at manipulating people as I am.”

Christie managed a faint smile. “No physical resemblance, though, obviously.”

“Not after they crafted our appearance, no.” Rayker looked around. “Oh, it looks like we’ve nearly arrived. Come on then.”

Christie took a deep breath, and continued up the slope while her mind raged with questions. Beside her, Byoran was staring at Rayker with an alarmed expression on his face.

VennZech’s security guards made entrance through a small, concealed doorway in the hillside while a crowd of scientists and engineers waited anxiously.

Off to one side, Christie saw another grim-faced man holding the hand of a frightened looking dark-skinned teenager. It had to be the girl the investigators were searching for. But why was she here?

Before they went further, Rayker pulled Byoran aside.

“They may try to take this position, despite the troop landings. I want a full defensive line along the top of the slope.”

“You got it,” he said.

Rayker glanced at Christie and smiled. “And be sure to inform your men, that our guest is not allowed near the entrance. She is to be shot dead on sight, without hesitation. They must not allow her to speak, or try to explain anything.”

Byoran’s hand reached for his sidearm. “I guess you don’t mean right now?”

Rayker patted his arm. “Grow up, please. You are hardly the first man to allow a woman to make a fool of him.”

She grabbed Christie’s arm and pulled her deeper inside the complex, where she stopped to release her cuffs.

“There, you go,” Rayker said. “Now you have the use of your arms, and I don’t have to worry about you trying to escape.”

“I am much obliged,” Christie said, “though I’m not sure what I would find so alluring about the hills outside, when there is so much down here to explore.”

Rayker’s eyes sparked with excitement. “Don’t you think?”

She strode off into the base, and Christie hurried to keep up with her. As they moved, lights activated ahead of them. Whenever they stopped at a junction in the maze of corridors, Rayker studied several glyphs, then took off in the new direction. Soon they reached an elevator with no controls which took them deeper underground. There was no indication how far, and even Rayker seemed to be scanning around for clues.

Christie’s emotions swirled with turbulence. She was desperate to know what had happened to the Valkyrie in the city, and if there was anything at all she could do to help them. That desire was almost as strong as her curiosity to learn more about what secrets the new base was hiding—no doubt the purpose of the entire installation on Caldera.

After the elevator, they soon reached what appeared to be a large control room, where a huge window looked out onto a cavern of immense proportions. At the center, a cubic structure the size of a city block dominated the space. It wasn’t a solid construction, and appeared to be made from a complex pattern of interlocking planes, through which flowed a variety of pipes and sheaves of cables.

“Well then,” Rayker said as she folded her arms. “What do you say to that?”

“I’d want to suggest it was a computer of some kind,” Christie offered. “Though I am far from any kind of expert.”

Rayker glanced at her curiously.

“Well, it’s built to maximize surface area, without any large-scale mechanisms,” Christie explained. “I’m not sure what else would fit that kind of form.”

Rayker drew herself up to a console and cracked her knuckles. “Let’s take a closer look.”

After a few minutes of tapping, accompanied by the odd chuckle and reflective ‘hmm’, she looked up.

“You were half-right. It is a computer. But it is also managing several million singularity-based connections that are feeding it data from remote sources.”

Christie raised her eyebrows. “What kind of data?”

Rayker pushed her chair back from the console and beckoned to her. Crushing her fear, Christie strode over and leaned down to peer at the screen. Scrolling past at incredible speed were a variety of feeds from the cluster net. Videos, articles, talk shows and ridiculous animations streamed past as they watched.

“Gosh, it even has internet?” she remarked. “Computers can do everything these days.”