Lost in Barbarian Space(28)
“The nanami cause the change. We can’t control it. It means our emotions are running high.”
“That’s fascinating.”
“But inconvenient in a fight.” He looked her way. “It gives too much away to your enemy. Warriors spend as much time learning control as we do sword-fighting skills.”
When they landed at the next spot, it wasn’t snowing, although a blanket of ice and snow covered the ground.
They climbed out. She watched Colm look around. “Anything?”
“I don’t sense anything.” Another flicker of gold through his eyes. “Even with the aid of my nanami, I don’t detect anything.”
“Good. Let’s hope it stays that way.”
They moved in organized search circles, Derek’s scanner making a steady beeping noise. Colm and Honor kicked at the snow in places. Dr. Behati scribbled notations on his Sync.
“It’s like looking for space pirates in an asteroid field,” Derek muttered.
“Or danari beasts in the Forest of Kern,” Colm added.
Derek blinked. “Ah, I’ll take your word for it.”
After some time, disappointment began to settle in. Thus far, they’d only found rocks and lumps of deep-blue ice below the snow.
Soon, Honor realized she couldn’t see as well as she had been. A dense white fog had drifted in.
“Colm—”
“I see it.”
The scanner made a loud squeal that made Honor wince. They converged on Derek, who was crouched by a mound of snow.
“It’s a good, solid reading—”
They all scraped around the snow…and discovered another rock.
The young agent’s shoulders slumped. “Damn.”
“Keep looking.” Honor looked around. “But don’t wander too far off in this soup. I don’t want to lose anybody.”
As Derek and the doctor moved off to continue the search, Colm knelt by the rock.
Honor frowned. The rock did look…odd. More regular than the other ones they’d found.
Colm touched it. Then gave it a solid hit with his fist.
It crumpled.
Honor sucked in a breath.
“My God,” she breathed, kneeling beside him.
It was no rock. It was a metal lockbox.
Chapter Eight
Honor stared at the lockbox. It was made of a shiny silver metal and completely covered in a cracked web of ice.
She knelt and scraped the ice off with her gloved hand.
“There’s something written here.” She scraped more ice away, revealing faint letters that were engraved into the metal.
Property of the Valhalla.
“It’s from the ship.” Excitement zinged through her bloodstream. She looked up and Colm pressed a hand to her shoulder. Damn, it felt pretty darn good to have him with her, sharing this moment.
“Colm, it’s from your ancestors and we just proved the wreck of their ship is here on Ansar.”
He squeezed her shoulder. “I wasn’t sure treasure hunting would be this interesting.” He smiled from under his fur hood. “I was wrong.”
“Let’s get it back to the marlin. We’ll have to find a way to open it back on the Drake.” She tried to move the box but it was heavy and the base of it was stuck into the ice. She sat back with a huff. “Looks like I’m going to need a dynolifter, and probably a laser cutter—”
Colm reached down, gripped the box on either side, then heaved. Ice cracked with a loud snap, and the box was free.
“You’re handy to have around, warrior.”
“Of course.”
She rolled her eyes at the unabashed arrogance, and stood. They made their way back through the snow to load the box in the back of the marlin.
While Colm maneuvered the lockbox into the storage compartment, Honor touched her visor. “Derek, we found an artifact. We have it loaded. Did you find anything else?” She waited for the agent to respond.
“Copy that, Agent Brandall. We have nothing else to report.”
“All right, let’s head back to the Drake. If we’re lucky, there might be something in this artifact we found that might narrow down where the rest of the ship is.”
“Acknowledged.”
Moments later, Derek’s form appeared out of the fog. He tipped up his visor, his face creased in concern. “Is Dr. Behati with you?”
Honor froze. “No, I thought he was with you.” She looked around. The fog had an eerie feel to it now and it was getting thicker by the second. “Dr. Behati, do you copy?”
Nothing.
“Dr. Behati, please respond.”
Having finished stowing the box, Colm appeared. “What’s wrong?”
“Dr. Behati is missing and not answering his comms.”
Colm’s face turned grim. “Let’s find him.”