“That’s a Baba tree. The Sola birds love the fruit it produces,” she explained.
“Sola birds?” he repeated, staring in wonder at the vibrant blue, red, orange, green, and yellow-feathered birds.
“If you listen when they sing, it’s like they are saying so-la, so-la,” she said, singing the last part.
Behr listened as the birds imitated Raia. Their song wasn’t loud or harsh but soft and melodic. A few birds started the song but more joined in the chorus, and their music pulsed as if it was the jungle’s heartbeat.
“This is incredible,” he confessed.
“There’s more,” she quietly said, grasping his hand and lightly tugging on it.
He allowed her to pull him along. As they rounded the structure, he saw a thirty-foot-long arched roof held up by a series of round pillars protecting the dome’s entrance. The diversity of plants, animals, and insects awoke the scientist deep inside him. He couldn’t help but admire the flowering vines spiraling around each pillar. Tiny rodents scurried for cover, and a wide variety of insects fluttered from one flower to another.
I could spend a lifetime studying the flora alone, he thought.
Another pang of regret struck him when he thought of his father and how much he would have loved being here. This was one of the worlds his father had lived to discover. From the bits and pieces that Raia had shared about Ander, he suspected that the man had felt the same way. He could appreciate Ander’s intense fascination with the planet.
They entered the dome. He noted the interior was composed of rows of partially sheltered stadium-like seating. Behr walked around Raia and slowly explored the upper perimeter. He carefully studied the interior, noting the center platform at the bottom.
Over time, the foliage from the jungle had crept inside. Vines covered most of the low interior walls. The ceiling of the dome remained intact, though more vines fought to cover the immense pillars supporting the dome and portions of the floor.
“When I first saw this place, it made me think of the amphitheaters where Ander took me to see live performances. I can almost see a troupe of players decked out in fanciful costume. The only thing I can’t understand is why anyone would build something like this so far away from the city,” she said.
Behr paused by one of the pillars to study a carved figure frozen in time. It was clearly a Tiliqua from the short stature and double heads. The Tiliqua was holding a large tablet, representative of their species’ business acumen. He continued around the upper level, pausing and studying each figure featured inside an alcove.
Stunned disbelief struck him when he reached the all-too-familiar pose of a male and female Marastin Dow. The woman was casually dressed in a pair of trousers and a mid-thigh tunic. He lifted his hand and ran his fingers over the digital scanner that she was holding. The man was pointing upward. Behr followed the direction of the statue’s hand. His breath caught in his throat at the realization of where they were at.
“This was not a theater for the arts, but one of science and learning. This was a place where some of the greatest minds in the galaxy once gathered,” he called out, staring up at the map of the stars.
Raia turned from where she stood in the center of the amphitheater and looked up the ceiling. Now that he mentioned it, she took her time observing the different statues. There was a statue for almost every known species in the galaxy.
What she didn’t understand was if so many different species had lived here, why did they abandon this section of the star system? The city had been devoid of any diversity. Ander searched high and low for evidence of who had lived here. The only statues in the city were the two warriors on each side of the waterfall.
She climbed the steps until she was standing on the platform. Patterns on the floor reminded her of star charts. She twisted and turned, as if dancing to silent music, as she tried to identify each star system.
“The Valdier, the Sarafin, the Curizan, and… this one. I don’t recognize the others,” she murmured.
She stepped toward the center of the platform, following a deep line carved into the thick stone. A tingling sensation against her skin made her touch the pendant hanging from her neck. Surprise engulfed her when she noticed it was pulsing.
Lifting the pendant from the valley between her breasts, she started in surprise when it pulled away from her hand and floated in the air. It was pulling her toward the center of the platform. She resisted the urge to follow the tug.
“Behr, my pendant is doing something really strange!” she called.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him hurry down the steps. He stepped close and examined the pulsing crystal hovering in the air. Raia pulled the chain over her head, keeping a firm grip on the metal rope when it drew taut.
“Let go of it,” he said.
The chain rubbed against the skin of her fingers before she released it. She slowly followed the pendant as it floated through the air. It reminded her of a ship caught in a tractor beam.
Or Chummy on an average day getting into the cookie cabinet, she silently mused.
The moment the pendant reached the center of the platform, a thin laser beam of light burst from it. She blinked and looked down. Behr stepped close to her, pulling her aside when red lights fanned out along the thin lines carved into the stone. They stumbled back when a pillar rose from the center and the holographic form of a woman appeared.
“Welcome home, explorers. If you are receiving this message, then our people have survived. There is much to explain,” the woman said with a serene smile.
Raia reached for Behr when he pulled away from her and stepped forward. His eyes were glued to the woman. A vein along his temple throbbed, and his throat moved as if he were trying to say something. Concerned, Raia reached for him.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Look at her,” he murmured, his eyes focused on the woman standing on the platform.
Raia looked at the woman with a frown. It took a moment for her to understand why he was so shocked. She kept looking from him to the hologram and back again.
“She’s a Marastin Dow,” she finally said.
He nodded. “She is much more than that. She is… was… my mother,” he announced.
Chapter Nine
Raia ran her fingers through her damp hair as she exited the bathroom in her cabin. Her mind whirled with everything they had learned today—and her heart hurt for Behr. They had listened to the woman’s introduction a half dozen times. Before leaving, they searched the building and found a hidden compartment embedded in the column at the base of the hologram projector. Inside was a computer crystal containing more information.
Neither one of them had said much on the way back to the freighter. She had piloted them, while Behr sat in silence, fingering the disk. She had prepared a light dinner, which he barely touched before he disappeared into his cabin.
Behr hurting? Chummy asked, peering up at her from her bed.
“Yes… he is hurting,” she murmured.
You make better? Chummy asked.
Raia smiled. “He’ll be alright. He just needs a little time,” she said.
Snuggles help, Chummy suggested.
Laughing, Raia affectionately scratched Chummy behind the ear. “Yes, snuggles do help. It looks like you and Pi found quite the assortment of treasures today,” she teased.