The gateway brought him to a small room with white uniforms hanging from the wall. He grabbed one, slipped it on, and walked out the door into a hallway. Scientists went by, ignoring him. He saw a couple of guards down the hall, on either side of a large metal hatch, and that made him nervous.

  This was risky. But considering the nature of this place, Zax guessed few people knew the SSO had a gateway hidden in her back wall. It would take them a long time to figure out where the woman’s visitor had gone—assuming they figured it out at all.

  His scrambler was active again, which would make things easier. While he did not mind killing when necessary, he preferred not to spill blood if it could be avoided.

  He decided to head toward the guards, behaving like he knew where he was going—if they were posted there, it must be to protect something. And only one thing was worth protecting here... the very thing he was looking for.

  One advantage of a secret base was that only authorized personnel would know about it, so the guards barely spared him a glance.

  On the other side of that door was a spacious area filled with scientists and strange machinery. But what caught his eye was the giant egg-shaped device that floated in the air in the center of the room. Black and smooth, with spots of color here and there—though not so many. Cables hung from it, running to some of the closest machines.

  His steps took him closer without him even noticing. The thing fascinated him. He could almost hear it calling to him—which was preposterous, of course. It was as much a machine as those others that surrounded it.

  “I’ve never seen you before,” said a voice from behind him. “Are you new?”

  Zax tensed.

  He turned and saw a tall and thin man with black hair and glasses. Jotting down notes on a touchboard, the scientist glanced at him curiously.

  “Khorah sent me,” he said. “To assess your progress.”

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  “Really?” The man frowned. “She was just here yesterday.”

  “I am well aware,” lied Zax. “But as you know, the situation out there has become quite dire. We will require daily reports from now on.

  The scientist sighed. “That won’t make things go faster. If anything, it’ll put everyone on edge and slow us down. Besides, that thing has been here for over a hundred years and we have barely made any progress since. You can’t expect us—”

  Zax held up a hand. “Nevertheless, I’ll have your report now.”

  The other grunted. “Fine. We still don’t know what makes it float. We still don’t know why it makes no sound. We still don’t know how to control it. Happy?”

  “What do you know?”

  The scientist rolled his eyes. “Next to nothing, that’s what. It’s made of pure thilium and a bit of metal, that’s about it.”

  “Pure thilium?”

  “It was in my previous reports.”

  “I’m sure it was, but the SSO reached out to me two hours ago and I haven’t had a chance to go through all the documents yet. So how about you act as if I knew nothing?”

  The other sighed. “You wouldn’t be that far behind us.” He shrugged. “Whoever built this thing seem to have discovered a way to turn thilium into a solid form, and—”

  “You mean it’s not only used to power the device?”

  “We’re not even sure they use thilium for that.”

  “Then how is it powered?”

  “Probably thilium, we just haven’t been able to confirm it.”

  “Do we know how they made it solid?”

  “No.”

  “Do we know where the device comes from?”

  “No.”

  Zax crossed his arms, staring at the egg-shaped mystery.

  “Do we know how old it is?”

  “No.”

  “So you know nothing?”

  “That’s what I’ve been telling you—and Khorah.”

  “I’d like to look inside.”

  The scientist shrugged and waved toward the Drill.

  “Be my guest.”

  Zax stepped inside and his heart started beating faster.

  “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  He jumped at the voice, not having noticed that the other had followed him in.

  “I... I just hadn’t expected this.”

  “It is quite a sight, isn’t it?”

  Indeed it was.

  The inside walls were just as black as the outside—though here, from up close, he noticed they were not quite so smooth as he had first thought. On the walls were panels, dials, screens, but not a single cable. In the center, two seats surrounded by consoles. The consoles were triangular, as were the seats.

  It all was very alien... and yet so familiar.

  “I’ve seen enough,” he muttered as he brusquely rushed past the man and stepped out of the device. “I’ll make my report to Khorah. Thank you for your time.”

  Without waiting for a response, Zax hurried out and returned to the small room with the gateway. But instead of using it, he brought out his portable one and a few seconds later, he was back in his apartment.

  After disabling his scrambler, he sat at his desk and stared at his TriVid screen for a long time, lost in thought.