Shan Alios stood on the balcony of his apartment overlooking the bay. He held a drink cupped in his long slender hands, raised it thoughtfully to his lips. The crash of waves on the shore below broke the hypnotic effect of the still night air. The reason for his insomnia was an enigmatic message from his father, Daniel. The only part that made sense was the emergency code that him and his twin sister Lisa, had learned as children. This galvanized Shan into action, canceling his appointments for rest of the month, and booking passage to Tutia. He sensed a presence behind him and turned to see his partner, Karla, silhouetted in the moonlight.

"Coming back to bed?" She asked.

"Yea." He replied and swallowed the remains of his drink in one gulp.

The next morning Shan checked that he had packed everything and the apartment's AI, or Artificial Intelligence system, transferred the luggage to the waiting taxi. Shan kissed the still sleeping Karla goodbye before heading downstairs himself. During the thirty minute journey to Heth's sole shuttle port, Shan saw a crimson sun rise over the sapphire bay, and thought what a beautiful day it was going to be.

Shan walked towards the Check-In counter, an automatic trolley following him like a faithful dog. The trolley deposited the luggage on the conveyor belt while Shan handed his ticket to the Quan female attendant.

"Thank you Mr. Alios, your baggage will be available when you board the liner. Have a pleasant journey." She said, cordially.

Shan just nodded as he collected the boarding pass, before continuing on his way to the departure lounge. He had to pass through a security check point, prior to reaching the lounge itself. He found the place about half full, a tour group from the look of them. See twenty worlds in twenty days and get to know none. Great for the dinner parties Shan thought, but there again he was always a little cynical about such things. Finding an empty seat opposite the large window, overlooking the shuttle, Shan sat down. Akin to an ant queen surrounded by her workers. The shuttle waiting patiently as the ground crew scampered all over it. It was typical of its kind, an aircraft in many ways, only the anti-gravity engines clustered around the tail section, revealed its off-planet capability.

Eventually it was time to board, and everyone made an orderly move towards the boarding gate, pausing only to hand their passes to the attendants. Shan located his seat and settled himself in, beside him were a young couple, clearly on their first trip off-planet. They engaged some prosaic conversation. The sorts of things' strangers say to each other. The shuttle finally departed, its conventional engines lifting it to a sufficient speed and height where the anti-gravity engines took over, boosting the shuttle into near orbit, and a rendezvous with the space station. The whole journey took a little over three hours.

Shan arrived on the space station ninety minutes before the space liner, Courtier's Pursuit, was due to depart. He reported aboard the liner and a steward drone escorted him to his state room. He called Karla to wish her luck with the conference she, disappointed he was unable to be there. The Courtier's Pursuit departed on time and it would take the liner ten days to reach Tutia. Shan could have been there in forty eight hours using his own yacht but it was in dock for its annual survey. Reluctantly he had to endure the zigzag route taken by the Courtier's Pursuit.

Shan used the trip to catch up on routine correspondence and also to review information on Tutia. The planet was one of Falkarian-Quan Joint Sovereignty so-called Colonial Territories with a population around twenty million. Its most remarkable feature being the large number of ancient settlements clustered in or around a mountain range know locally as the Grandyn Heights. There were rumors that a Seeder settlement lay hidden under the ruins of the other settlements. The Seeders a mysterious race that supposedly brought Shan's human ancestors to Falkar, thirty thousand years ago.

Daniel Alios was as one of the Joint Sovereignty's leading xeno-archaeologists and specialized in the Seeders. His career had followed the trail of this mysterious race both inside and outside the Joint Sovereignty's territory. For Shan and Lisa their childhood had been one great adventure, traveling with their father on his expeditions, who somehow had managed to balance work and family commitments. Their mother had died when the children were ten years old.

Shan collected his luggage from the baggage claim in Tutia's main shuttle port.

"Shan, son. It's so good to see you." A small wry man stepped out of the crowd and gave Shan a crushing bear hug.

"Hi Dad, good to see you too. Karla says hi." Shan replied and they stepped back to get a better look at each other.

Daniel looked more like he was Shan's brother than his father. This was due a number of factors including the youth drug Extend.

"Saw Lisa a couple of weeks back." Daniel said as he ushered Shan out to an Air/Ground Vehicle, or AGV.

"How is she? I haven't seen her in two years." Shan asked.

"Fit and well. She took me on tour of that destroyer she commands, felt like an admiral." Daniel replied, smiling at the memory.

Unlike Shan, Lisa had their father wanderlust. Somehow it was not surprising she had joined the Joint Sovereignty's navy. They stowed the luggage in the boot of the AGV and departed from the port's car park. Outside the port's restricted airspace Daniel got permission and the AGV lifted into the air for the journey to the excavation site.

"I apologize for the cloak and dagger crap but there was no other way." He explained.

"That's all right dad, you wouldn't have included the code if it wasn't important." Shan reassured him.

"I'll tell what I can now and the rest will have to wait until we get to the dig." He said.

Shan nodded, this appeared to be getting serious and from the look on his father's face Shan realized it had to be very sensitive.

"As you may be aware, about three and half years ago an earthquake in the Grandyn region north of here, exposed a number of new sites on top of a plateau known as Grandyn's Table. The first scientists onto the plateau were mainly seismologists and geologists. What they found caught the attention of the Joint Sovereignty Museum, which sent out a team of its own. That team confirmed the earlier report, then yours truly, was duly dispatched to assess the site and develop it. This site has proven to be a real treasure-trove in the quantity and quality of artifacts discovered. I'll show you some of them when we arrive. Moreover, three days ago, an excavation crew broke through a sub-basement about forty five metres below ground. What they found there surprised me and is the reason why I sent for you." Daniel explained.

"I take it then that this crew discovered some kind of Seeder occupation."

"Yes, I had always thought the rumors were wrong in this case."

Shan looked at his father there was something about this site that deeply concerned Daniel.

"What did they find? A Seeder body?" Shan asked.

"No, but something almost as dangerous." Daniel replied.

Shan looked at his father, finding a Seeder body in itself was not bad. However one of the Joint Sovereignty's neighbors, the Praelyn, believed the Seeders to be their gods and were just as likely to start a holy war, or Jihad, just to secure any relics. The rest of the trip took two hours and to relieve the boredom they exchanged news and gossip.

Towards the end of the trip, Shan saw the gigantic plateau that was Grandyn Heights, rising up before them. The AGV lifted itself easily up the side of the plateau and over its lip. Shan could now see the excavation site as Daniel did a circuit, giving Shan a good panoramic view. He saw humans, quan and drones at work around the site. It resembled a construction site rather than an archaeology site.

"We've had to bring in some big equipment, some of the artifacts are massive compared to those we discovered in the past." Daniel said as he brought the AGV into land beside the site headquarters.

After unloading the AGV, Daniel led Shan over to the group of buildings comprising the site headquarters. Daniel introduced Shan to the senior members of his team, he also met a marine brigadier and a quan female who somehow, avoided stating who she was or what she did. The introductions completed Daniel showed Shan to the rooms that would be his living quarters.

"OK dad we're alone now. How about letting me in on the mystery." Shan said once he had unpacked his luggage.

"You're a xeno-linguist, at least until you took over Fayan's business, correct?" Daniel asked referring to Shan's maternal grandfather.

"Yes, I still keep current. Glairion is a good Chief Executive, and runs most of the business, so I'm still able to occasionally work for the university." Shan replied.

"Good, I think we may have found something to stimulate your interest. The site contains a reasonably intact computer mainframe, and some written documentation. All of which appear to be Seeder related." Daniel explained.

Shan stood there transfixed the implications were enormous. His earlier thoughts about the Praelyn suddenly took on a deadly reality.

"Hell dad, that is just the sort of thing the Praelyn need to start a Jihad through this whole region."

"Yes, that's why we have the military here." Daniel said.

"Not to mention the Security Service." Shan interjected.

"Yes, I told her that you would have deduced what she was. Now you can understand the need for subterfuge. The military have provided marine brigade a semi-permanent basis. They've been quite good in fact, to the extent of assisting with the dig itself. A scout team, or whatever they call themselves, actually discovered the entrance to the sub-basement during their off duty time."

"Great, but how come I'm here?" Shan asked.

"Because Shan, you were one of my best students, and I detest seeing such talent going to waste." A deep resonant voice stated and Shan turned to see an aumech floating in the doorway.

Aumechs are AI enhanced machines, regarded as full citizens under Joint Sovereignty law. This particular aumech called itself Del. Shan had known it since his first day at university, the aumech was on the faculty as a tutor and had taught Shan much of what he knew about the characteristics of xeno-linguistics.

"Hello Del, it has been a long time. If you're here, what do they need me for?" Shan asked.

"The reason is simple, I need your help Shan. I'm having real difficulty with deciphering the basic language structure, amongst other challenges." Del replied.

"Interesting." Shan eyed the aumech, he knew that he wasn't going anywhere until he had solved this mystery.

They walked from the accommodation block to the location of the sub-basement. He saw marines either patrolling, relaxing or assisting some of his father's xeno-archaeologists. Despite all this Shan got the impression that the marines had managed to keep their presence low key if not invisible.

They reached the outer entrance to the sub-basement. Inside Shan encountered stringent security measures, marines, this time heavily armed, patrolled the interior, while automated sensors examined everything else. He had only seen similar precautions in bank vaults and the research laboratories of his grandfather's company. Finally after three security check points they found themselves in the sub-basement proper. The room itself was an anti-climax, the mainframe system looked like a collection of deteriorating metal and glass containers. On a desk in one corner were the documents themselves. The whole room was less than forty metres in total area. An emergency shelter sealed the room, keeping the room close to its original atmosphere. Fortunately, the air was breathable and they did not have to don protective suits.

Shan could see technicians huddled around a couple of the containers, wires and racks strewn about in an apparent hap-hazard manner. The documents were in orderly piles.

"Hello again. A bit of a let down don't you think after all that security?" Asked the quan female who was with the security service.

"Yes a little, what do I call you, something exotic or do you have a number?" He replied smiling.

"Call me Sha'Kea. Not much to start a war over is it." She explained indicating the mainframe and documentation, ignoring Shan's comment.

Shan just nodded and walked over to where Del had positioned himself. Shan began to carefully inspect the documentation. The sheaves were a thin metallic film with strange symbols, a combination of hieroglyphs and script by the look of them. Some of the symbols were familiar, having been discovered on other suspected Seeder artifacts, while others were completely new to him.

"I see that you recognize some of the symbols and characters, I have not been able to correlate them to any known language or what they might represent. Moreover, I am at a lost as to whether, they depict one language, or two separate languages, blended into one." Del explained as Shan continued his inspection.

Shan found a stool and sat down choosing a page from the nearest pile and began to study the material in greater detail.

"Could they be the same language but from different time periods?" Shan asked after a few minutes.

"Possibly, but I thought that one set could be a alphabetical system, the other an numerical system. At this stage it is hard to tell which could be which, even if that hypothesis is correct. One thing I am sure about, and that is, they are from the same species, the similarities between the two styles tend to indicate this." Del replied.

Shan looked at the aumech this was one of the greatest linguistic finds of the century. They had found a brand new language and possibly a trace of a new species. Shan turned to see his father who was standing off to his left, Daniel just cocked his head.

"OK dad you've hooked me, I'm yours. I have just two conditions." Shan said.

"What exactly are they?" Asked Sha'Kea.

"Firstly, I need Karla here. Secondly, I want my yacht when it is out of dock. The thought of another ten days on a liner doesn't excite me" Shan specified replacing the sheaf back down on its pile.

"I think we can agree to those terms, don't you agree, Daniel?" Sha'Kea replied, smiling and shook her head as she started to leave.

"Ah, yes of course." Daniel answered, caught a little off guard.

"One moment please Sha'Kea. She won't come without a personal message from me." Shan clarified.

"Of course, your family has a penchant for intrigue. It's lamentable none of you went into the intelligence profession." Sha'Kea remonstrated as she graciously awaited Shan's message.

Daniel looked at Del, relieved that their gamble had worked. They could now concentrate on testing their hypothesis that this was a Seeder settlement.