Deathstalker 07 - Deathstalker Return

out, even before Jenny Psycho nursed it here and crash-landed it in the jungle. Systems are failing, the power plant is fading, the very stone is crumbling. I activated the systems one last time, in service to Clan Deathstalker. Now, it is time… for me to rest. Allow me to wish you all good luck. You're going to need it."
    The silver spotlight snapped off, taking Giles with it, and without them the great and empty hall seemed much darker.
    "Castles can be rebuilt," said Lewis. "Systems can be repaired. Power plants can be replaced. Whatever happens on Haden, I will come back for you. You are the history of my Family."
    He waited, but there was no reply. Jesamine tugged urgently at his sleeve.
    "I really think we should get moving, darling. If the power plant is on its last legs, there's no telling how long we've got before everything starts shutting down again. I definitely don't want to be stumbling through these corridors in the dark. We might never find our way out."
    "Wonderful," said Brett. "Something else to worry about. I know, shut up, Brett."
    "I hoped I'd have more time," said Lewis. "To walk the passageways and galleries of the original Standing of my Clan; to feel like a real Deathstalker… But there's never enough time for all the things we need to do. Let's go."
    As they left through the main doorway, a glowing arrow appeared, floating in midair. It drifted away before them, and they followed it through many intersections and down nine levels. Lewis kept careful note of all the twists and turns, just in case. Rose was walking point beside him again, gun in hand, while Jesamine and Brett followed behind. Guide brought up the rear. He hadn't spoken a word since they entered the great hall. He had been made an observer in his own world, a bit player in someone else's story, and he didn't know whether to feel bitter or overawed. Great forces were at play here, and perhaps the best he could hope for was to be overlooked, when gods went to war.
    They came at last to a solid steel door with no obvious handle or lock mechanism. The floating arrow disappeared. Brett was all over the door in a flash, checking it minutely from top to bottom, but eventually had to admit that there was nothing there for him to work with. He kicked the door in frustration, and then hobbled away to lean on Rose and cry bitter tears as he massaged his bruised toes.
    Lewis looked at the door for a long moment, and then said his name aloud. The door swung silently open
    before him, revealing the familiar blurred shimmer of a stasis field. And then that snapped off, like a bursting soap bubble. And inside…
    "What the hell is this shit?" said Brett.
    "Tech, of some kind," said Lewis.
    "But I don't recognize any of it!" wailed Brett. "There's nothing here that looks like anything I'm familiar with, and I've been around. I thought there were supposed to be weapons here! Big, nasty weapons!"
    "Some of it could be weapons," said Rose. "Let's try turning a few things on, and see what happens."
    "Let's not," Jesamine said, very firmly. "There's no telling what some of this… stuff might do. And I really don't think we should turn anything on until we're sure we can turn it off again."
    They all looked at the enigmatic shapes and forms laid out before them—obscure structures of glass and steel and crystal, and other materials that couldn't easily be identified. Lights came and went, strange energies pulsed, and here and there pieces moved in unsettling ways, rotating through strange angles, and none of it made any sense at all. Just looking at some of it made their heads ache, as though they were looking at things too complicated—or too subtle—to be understood without some really sophisticated equipment as a mediator.
    "This is why Giles never used any of it," Lewis said eventually. "Even a thousand years ago, this would have been beyond him. We forget just how advanced the First Empire was, and how far we've fallen since then. Maybe… our Empire is doomed to fall too. Only this time, there won't be anyone left to start the long climb back up again…"
    "I just had a spooky thought," said Jesamine.
    "Oh, don't you start," said Lewis.
    "No, listen: could the Terror be something left over from the First Empire? Some awful Doomsday weapon they unleashed, and then couldn't shut down? Maybe that's why the First Empire fell?"
    "I don't think so," said Lewis. "If I'm understanding what the voice said correctly, the Terror is older than