[Galaxy Of Fear] - 09(9)

“Fandomar,” Hoole said after he’d examined the statue for a moment. “I was not aware that the Ithorians made statues like this. Most Ithorian artwork involves plants and animals. What do you make of this?”

Fandomar raised her hands. “I couldn’t say.”

Hodge held his glowrod up to the statue’s face. “I’ve been around Ithorians enough to know their expressions. This one looks angry

or frightened. Or both.”

“It’s like a warning,” Tash said.

Zak scoffed. “There are a lot better ways to warn people,” he said. “How about a holographic message? Warning beacons. Signs.”

Hodge answered. “All that kind of stuff was here. At least we think it was.”

He pointed to a section of the tunnel wall near the statue. Someone had cut an alcove into the smooth rock. In the alcove they saw the remains of a generator and a few strands of cable. The cable wires had been cut.

“This is how we found it,” the chief miner explained. “Me and my boys don’t normally go into worm holes. But we got readings on a good supply of minerals down here, so we risked it and found this. That doorway is sealed shut. We didn’t know what to make of it.”

“Maybe you should report it to the Ithorians,” Tash suggested.

“We did,” Hodge said, nodding toward Fandomar.

Fandomar blinked. “My people had no response.”

Hoole looked from the statue to the cut wires and back to the statue again. Finally, he said, “I believe the statue is a warning. I suspect it is some sort of fail-safe in case the power supply for the true warning device ever failed.” Hoole pointed to the base of the statue. A long rectangular section of the stone looked discolored. “It looks like someone removed something from the statue. Probably there was a written warning carved into the stone.”

Tash bent down to examine the spot. There had been a sign there. She could see that part of it had broken when the mysterious intruders had snapped it off. Even if Tash could have read the language, only parts of the words were visible.

“So who removed the warning?” Zak asked.

“And who put it here in the first place?” Tash added.

“Ithorians, obviously,” Hoole decided. “I would guess that what lies behind that door is a tomb. But the question is: Why would Ithorians, who rarely leave their home planet, fly out to this barren asteroid field to bury someone, or something, in the bottom of a worm tunnel?”

Hodge grunted. “I was hoping you could help, being an anthropologist and all. I guess there’s only one way to find out what it is.”

Hoole shook his head. “I think we should get the permission of the Ithorians before doing anything here.”

The chief miner replied, “It’s not really their call. Me and my men own this rock now. I’ve been itching to find out what’s behind this door. Whether it’s a tomb or not, I figure there must be something important down here for someone to go to so much trouble. Could be worth a lot of money. If you can’t tell me, I know another way to find out.”

He strode past the statue toward the sealed door behind it. Tash noticed he had brought a long metal bar with him. It looked like a cross between an ax and a pry bar. With an expert thrust he jammed it into the door frame.

“No!” Fandomar suddenly shouted. “Stop!”

Hodge ignored her and pried at the door. The seal looked very old, but it held firm. He leaned his weight into his next push. A tiny crack appeared in the seal.

At that moment, Tash heard a tremendous BOOM! from behind them, and the solid rock beneath their feet shook as though a groundquake had begun. A cloud of dust shot up and hung in the air like a curtain.

When the dust cleared, they could sec that an enormous block of stone had dropped from the ceiling of the tunnel and crashed to the floor, closing off the way they had entered.

They were trapped inside the asteroid.





CHAPTER 5


The five explorers hurried toward the stone and pushed. It wouldn’t budge.

“A trap,” Hoole muttered into his comlink. “I should have suspected. This tomb, or whatever it is, was not meant to be opened.”

“I gotta agree with you now,” Hodge said. “No more messing with the door. ” He flipped a switch on his comlink. “Alpha Station, this is Hodge.” He waited. “Alpha Station, this is Hodge. Do you copy?” The only answer he got was static. He grunted. “The signal’s not getting through. The rock’s too thick.”

“They’ll come looking for us, won’t they?” Tash asked.

“Yeah,” Hodge agreed. He checked the monitor attached to his wrist. “I hope our air holds out long enough.”