The entrance

CHAPTER 11 — The Entrance

Zekra's sky took time to turn black.

First, the purple intensified to a color that had no equivalent on any other planet Marek knew. Then the turquoise mists disappeared one by one, as if someone were turning them off from within. Then came a transition of three or four minutes where the sky was both things at once and neither completely.

That was the moment.

The four advanced across rocky terrain in silence. No lights. No talking. Zarpon went first. Marek behind him. Sira and Arlo brought up the rear.

The cave entrance was a black wound in the rock. The violet crystals on the interior walls cast a faint light outward, making the mouth of the cave seem to breathe. Twenty points of light blue moved with precision within that glow. The trinita soldiers.

Zarpon raised his fist.

The four stopped behind a rock formation forty meters from the entrance.

Zarpon looked at the sky. The purple was still giving way to black. Approximately two minutes remained.

He turned to Arlo.

Arlo already had the device in his hand. His fingers moved over the components with his usual concentration. No tremor. No hurry. As if he had practiced this movement enough times for his body to do it on its own if his mind failed.

"Ready?" Zarpon whispered.

"Ready," Arlo said.

Zarpon looked at the entrance. The trinita soldiers moved in the pattern he had observed for six years from a distance. Three checkpoints. Shift change in approximately ninety seconds.

"When the last soldier of the outgoing shift crosses the threshold," Zarpon whispered, "activate the pulse. Not before."

"Understood," Arlo said.

"Sira," Zarpon said. "You go behind me. Lateral movement if something activates. Not direct."

"Understood," Sira said.

"Marek." Zarpon looked at him. "If something goes differently than planned and we need the aura before reaching the shaft, use it without waiting for my signal. Your judgment."

Marek nodded.

The sky finished turning black.

The shift change began. The outgoing soldiers moved toward the threshold with the efficiency of something repeated thousands of times. Straight line. No variation. No looking to the sides.

Zarpon counted silently.

The last outgoing soldier crossed the threshold.

"Now," Zarpon whispered.

Arlo pressed. The device emitted an almost imperceptible sound. A vibration more than a sound. The light blue lights of the entrance sensors blinked once. And went out.

"Thirty-eight seconds," Arlo whispered. "Minimum."

"Go," Zarpon said.

They moved.

Forty meters in silence across rocky terrain in near-total darkness. Marek counted his steps without thinking. Ten. Twenty. The incoming trinita soldiers were taking positions inside. Their backs to the entrance. They hadn't completed the rotation yet.

Thirty.

The blind spot on the left flank was exactly where Zarpon had said it would be.

Forty.

They crossed the threshold.

Inside, the temperature dropped sharply. The smell of mineral and something ancient with no name filled the air. The violet crystals on the walls cast a faint light that made everything have shadows in unexpected directions.

Zarpon led them to the left flank of the corridor. They pressed against the wall. Motionless.

Six meters away, the incoming trinita soldiers were finishing their positioning. None looked to the left.

Marek counted in his head. Twenty seconds since Arlo activated the pulse. Twenty-five.

"Corridor," Zarpon whispered.

They moved again. Hugging the left wall. In a line. No more than a meter apart.

The corridor was long. The violet crystals grew denser toward the back, creating enough light to see by but not enough to be easily seen from the checkpoints. Zarpon had calculated it.

They advanced.

Midway through the corridor, something went differently.

One of the soldiers at the second checkpoint left his position to check something on the right side of the corridor. A routine procedure. That tonight happened at the wrong moment.

The soldier turned his head.

And saw Sira.

Not completely. Not with certainty. The light from the crystals wasn't enough for a clear image. But it was enough for the soldier to stop. A second of doubt.

Marek saw it before the soldier opened his mouth. The yellow aura ignited in his right hand without him thinking about it.

Zarpon saw it. He raised his left hand toward Marek. Not to stop. To wait.

Marek held the aura.

The trinita soldier looked at the left corridor for two seconds that felt much longer. Then he returned to his position.

Zarpon lowered his hand.

They continued.

---

The end of the corridor came as a wall of darkness denser than the rest. The shaft.

Zarpon peered over. An eight-meter vertical drop into the second layer. Darkness below. Silence.

He turned to the three.

"First descent," he whispered. "Zarpon and Arlo. Marek lowers us."

Marek nodded. He ignited the aura. Slowly. Controlled. With the specific density he had practiced for holding weight without exhausting himself before needing the aura for something else.

Zarpon and Arlo approached the edge. Marek extended both hands. The yellow energy enveloped them gently.

They began to descend.

Eight meters. Complete silence. Their boots touched the floor of the second layer without a sound.

Marek extinguished the aura. Breathed.

Two minutes. Three if the first one was heavier than expected.

Sira moved to his side.

"Are you okay?" she whispered.

"Yes," Marek said.

He looked at the shaft. Below, Zarpon and Arlo had already moved toward the cover of the rock formations on the east side. Exactly where the plan said.

Marek waited. He counted. One minute. Ninety seconds. Two minutes.

The aura ignited again.

"Go," he whispered.

Sira approached the edge. Marek enveloped her with the yellow energy. They began to descend.

Halfway down, Marek felt something. Not in the aura. In the air below them. A pressure with no visible source. Like when a storm approaches before anyone sees it.

They landed.

Marek extinguished the aura.

Zarpon was already at his side.

"Do you feel it?" Marek whispered.

Zarpon looked into the darkness of the second layer.

"Yes," he said very quietly.

The four looked at each other.

The second layer was silent. But it wasn't the silence of an empty place. It was the silence of a place where something was waiting. And that something knew they had arrived.

END OF CHAPTER 11