The Triple Stars Trilogy

Chapter 8-1

They positioned the Dragon away from the mass of the star while they shot an unmanned lander into the sun"s hazy corona. Since they"d learned about the constructions found within stars, they"d worked to amp-up the landers" protective capabilities. By boosting the energy hull far beyond its normal maximum, they"d calculated the little craft could survive for a maximum of six hours; after that, the extreme temperatures would mean the vessel"s obliteration. As with the probe, conditions within the star would seriously degrade the comms they"d receive.

Selene, Ondo and Lilith watched the noisy, indistinct video coming from the red giant. The Heliolith was a shifting black shape, detail impossible to discern. The lander had been programmed to orbit it, scan it with every sort of sensor it had, attempt to touch down. Their best calculation was that the rock was around a kilometre in diameter. Its black mass filled the screen, but it was impossible to tell if the lander had actually reached its surface. For all they knew there was no surface, and the impossible object"s outer layer was molten. Selene still half-believed the rock wasn"t there at all; that the trace they were seeing was some illusion, a siren luring them to their deaths.

The vessel returned after three hours, the Dragon swooping into the sun to pick it up. They pulled data from it as they approached, filling the Cartography room with images.

It was immediately obvious the rock was artificial, or at least had been heavily modified. It was a perfect sphere, its surface glowing brightly in the heavily ionised environment once Ondo had filtered out the surrounding noise. The lander had been unable to discern detail on the object. Mass, density and structure were impossible to detect. Clearly there was some technology keeping the object intact, but they had no clue what it was or how it worked. The lander had attempted to touch down but been unable to; something had repelled it once it reached a distance of around two hundred metres.

The object fascinated Lilith. Once again, she delighted in touching the three-dimensional image swimming in the room. “How long has it been inside the star?”

“It"s impossible to say,” said Ondo. “Perhaps it"s just been put there, and perhaps it"s been there for millions of years.”

“We are going to go take a proper look, aren"t we? We can"t just leave.”

“The lander handled the environment well,” said Ondo, “but I can"t guarantee it will do so again.”

“There"s also not a lot of point if we can"t touch down,” Selene added. “We"d be risking ourselves for no gain. We"ve got all the data possible from the outside; unless we can get through its energy hull or whatever the hell it is, we"re stuck.”

Lilith looked thoughtful. “Whoever built it had to have a way to get to its surface, otherwise what would be the point?”

“They may have wanted to make damn sure no one else could go there.”

“You said you had to do something to get inside the Depository.”

“Nothing stopped us entering the structure, although the inner doorway only operated when I had the Maes Far bead with me. I suppose…” She tailed off. Was that it? The beads were artefacts from the same technological culture so far as they could tell; carrying them might allow them entry. It was worth trying.

Ondo"s thoughts had clearly been racing along the same lines. She caught the glint of excitement in his eyes.

For the hundredth time, she checked the telemetry from the nanosensors. Still nothing. “Fine,” she said. “Let"s give it a go.”

Selene and Lilith took the lander back into the sun. Ondo could flee in the Dragon if Concordance ships showed up, and neither of them trusted Malleus enough to take him with them. Not that he appeared to want to come.

Ondo triple-checked the integrity of the lander and gave them a maximum of three hours inside the star. “If you can"t get to the surface by then, give up and come straight back. The environment in there is so hostile any slight malfunction in the lander would mean your immediate destruction.”

“And the loss of the beads.”

Ondo waved her words away. “I don"t care about the beads. I care about you.”

Selene cast a glance at Lilith, but she seemed as excited as ever about the prospect ahead. Her new life was still an adventure, a series of marvels.

“Three hours,” said Selene. “And if Concordance come, you get away, yes? No point trying to rescue us and getting yourself killed. You have the Augury; you could escape into metaspace and study it to your heart"s content without me telling you not to.”

There was no discernible point at which they crossed into the body of the sun, the star"s outer layers being so diffuse. External hull temperatures climbed through the thousands of degrees. At least if something did go wrong the end would be swift. The stars behind them faded and the whole universe became a searing blaze of light. They were inside the sun. Apart from the infinite gravity of a black hole it was hard to imagine a more hostile location.

The Heliolith became slowly clearer as they neared, its shifting, wavering edges becoming harder and sharper by the moment. Plasma flared around it, swirling around it in superheated eddies. If you could forget for a moment how deadly the environment was, it was quite beautiful.

Selene tried to communicate with the Dragon, pass word back that they were approaching the Heliolith. She couldn"t tell if the messages were received. All she got in response was a storm of white noise, the occasional burble as an isolated syllable broke through.

They reached the nearest point the lander had been able to approach, two hundred metres from the surface of the object – if it even was the surface. Selene held the necklace from Lilith"s world, as well as the two individual beads they"d acquired: one from the ice of Maes Far, one from the devastated world near the dead star. The lander jerked once, buffeted by some current in the plasma, then continued to edge forwards. They were through, approaching the surface.

“We"re through,” said Lilith. “It recognizes the beads, thinks we"re friends.”

“We"ve also lost nav. The Heliolith is controlling us.”

Lilith shrugged, like it was unimportant, like it was precisely what she"d expected.

The touchdown was gentle, the surface of the rock completely smooth. Selene studied external sensor readings. “There"s actually an environment out there. Nothing breathable, but the surface is shielded from the heat and radiation.”

“Then let"s go and explore,” said Lilith.

“Do you seriously want to go out there?” They still hadn"t embedded the flecks in Lilith"s brain, so she hadn"t seen the full picture of how hostile things were outside the rock"s protective shield.

“You"re asking me if I want to walk on the surface of an impossible sphere of rock inside the body of a star? You"re damn right I want to go out there.”

“You do understand what will happen if things go wrong?”

“Sure, but there"s no way we can come this far and go no farther, is there?”

“When we"re out there, do as I say, yes?”

“Of course.”

They wore full suits even though it wasn"t going to make much difference if the environment did fail. Selene lead the way. The sky above them – if that was the right word – was a uniform whiteness. Somehow there was light, a constant pearly glow, casting no shadows. The place was eerie, the only sound Selene"s own breathing and that of Lilith in her ears.

Two hundred metres above their heads, the unimaginable volume of superheated ionised gas pressed down, held at bay by an alien technology of which they had no understanding. Selene could almost feel the raging pressure of it. Best not to think about it. Gravity was only a little lower than she was used to, therefore artificial on such a small rock. The surface beneath her feet was smooth as they walked away from the lander. There were no buildings or structures of any sort. No markings at all; the rock was a perfect, unblemished sphere. They walked for several hundred metres but found nothing.

“We need to get inside somehow.” Lilith"s voice was strangely intimate in Selene"s earpiece, as if she were whispering to her.

“I don"t see any open doors, though. Let"s retrace our steps to the lander. Then we can head off in opposite directions and meet on the opposite side of the sphere.”

She half-expected the lander to have vanished, but it dutifully appeared over the horizon as they made their way back to it. There was no magnetosphere by which they could work out directions, and there obviously weren"t any stars by which they could navigate. They"d have to rely on trying to walk in a straight line. If they missed each other, their suits" accelerometers and gyroscopes would keep track of their paths and allow them to return to their starting point.

Assuming the normal laws of physics applied around the Heliolith.

They headed away from each other, keeping in voice contact for as long as possible. Lilith"s words soon faded into a background fuzz as the lander disappeared over the horizon, signals refusing to bounce off the glowing sky.

Forty minutes later, Selene saw Lilith"s bulbous mask appearing over the curving limb of the tiny world. The sphere was exhibiting normal geometrical properties. They"d done a pretty good job of maintaining the right vector – either that, or they"d both strayed by the same amount. Lilith"s comms signal came back at the same time.

“Anything?” asked Selene.

“No, I"ve seen nothing. You?”

“Nothing. It"s as featureless and enigmatic as ever.”

They walked together back to the lander, Selene trying to think of an answer. Any answer. Time was running short. Perhaps they could use the lander to carry out a low-level search pattern, cover the whole surface. Except, they"d lost control once inside the barrier layer. The Heliolith had brought them down where it wanted them to land. They"d most likely have to walk their search pattern, and there wouldn"t be enough time to cover every square centimetre of ground.

“Hey, look at that.” Lilith"s delighted words cut through Selene"s thoughts. She looked up to see that the lander was back in view. And, standing a little way from it, there was a plain rectangular doorway. The white surface of the planetoid was visible through its empty frame.

“Why couldn"t that have just appeared when we arrived?” asked Selene. “The rock had to wait while we wasted our time tramping around?”

“Perhaps it"s the Recorders" idea of a joke.”

“Yeah, great. f*****g hilarious.”

They walked around the frame. Selene could see the lander completely clearly when she stood on the opposite side. The doorway at the Depository had worked the same way, meaning it might be possible to step through and end up somewhere else entirely. Warily, she tried waving a hand in the doorway, then stepping through. Nothing at all happened; she arrived at Lilith just as she would if there"d been no frame there.

“It has to be a way in,” said Lilith.

“Let"s see if carrying the beads on our person makes any difference.” They returned to the lander where they"d left the objects. The necklace was strongly made, each bead held by a metal clasp. Selene removed the gauntlet on her left hand and, feeling like she was desecrating a treasure, levered the single, ancient bead out. She passed it to Lilith and kept hold of the other two.