Deus Ex Machinarium

-*This was not a good idea* - Birdekk complained, again, as he did since they left the camp a candle ago.

-*To the contrary*- ecstatically commented Anh - *This is a great idea!*

-*Running off guard duty in the middle of the night?*- the eldest continued berating the dominant -*This is a terrible idea. Horrible, terrible, horrendous and borderline treacherous.*

If someone were to witness what was happening, they would see a figure of a tanai floating through a dark forest in the middle of the night. Lit by a simple lumehex of Anh’s, Zoon’s glow and tinted blue by Dux’s light, as the smaller of Sathor’s moons was already high in the sky. The only noises would come from the forest’s fauna, croaking, rustling, flying, and running through the woodlands. There would be no speech involved, just a figure flying through. Yet, in the mind space of Anh, the exchange of thought, which was as close to words as it could be for the kinfolk, ceased for a good few moments.

-* Fine* - Anh finally said - *apart from the sensational tone, why would it be ‘treacherous’?*

-* Because Brandt trusted you to guard him* - chimed in Greoo -*and you betrayed that trust because of this escapade*

-* He’s going to be just right*- Anh dismissed her -*nothing can happen to him here. In the meantime, I’m bored out of our mind.*- he exclaimed enthusiastically -*I’m not going to be wasting an entire night. We’ve done enough of it already.*

-* I sympathize, I really, truly, and without any doubt do” - said deflated Birdekk - “but this is the time to keep to our obligations*

-* Implied obligations, but still* - added Greoo - *we ought to keep them, it will benefit us in the future*

-* I intend to not listen to you*- scoffed annoyed Anh -*this will take a candle at most. Nothing bad is going to happen! We shall continue, I shall not suffer boredom anymore!*

Both kin growled in unison and disappeared from Anh’s immediate perception. Unabashed by their opposition, the tanai continued on his way. He floated along the overgrown road trace and listened to the ambiance for about half a candle when the wall of trees on both sides eased off, revealing a clearing.

-* I can’t see much* - said Anh in a manner not expecting response - *Is this the place we are looking for?*

-* If you can’t see, how are we supposed to?* - snarkily replied Thernohh -*Let’s rummage around and see what we’ll find.*

-* I was about to say, that we should do that* - said Anh grumpily - *it was a rhetorical question*

-*Sure. Now get to work!*

Anh started first, by tracing the overall shape of the clearing. It was roughly quarter by half kimers, although the woods around it were taking over, as younger trees were already growing on the outskirts. The meadow must have been wider in the past.

Going through the clearing, Anh noticed peculiar holes dug into the ground. Now heavily eroded and overgrown. It was difficult to notice all the details, despite having artificial light and the glimmering cooperation of both moons. From what he could see the holes were rectangular and arranged in a grid. Each hole was about ten by fifteen mers and spaced about five apart. Somewhere between them was a slightly tilted obelisk of an unusual shape. It was rectangular, about two mers at the base, and about three tall. Anh brought his light to it. Its surface seemed impossibly uniform, despite being overgrown and weathered.

-* Tow. What are we looking at? Take a guess.* - asked Anh -*Obviously, we don’t know. Yet. Hopefully.*

-* Please, fly on top and shed some light on it.* - Tow casually replied. Anh complied. He flew where his kin asked, and illuminated it as well as the lumehex could. Further details emerged. The surface of the top was different, more coarse, and weathered. What also was evident, were metal spikes stuck into its material.

-* Now please give me a better view of the details. Start with those things sticking out over there.*

These were sticking out of the monolith for about three cemers and were cut off using a high-power pyrohex, as the melted tops indicated.

-*I think* - said Tow after a long investigation -*We are dealing here with a large block of poured mortar. There were experiments about this some time ago. I think “Methodica Concreto Porvm IVE”.*- images of sketches presenting rectangular vessels, half a mer in size in any direction, filled with some substance and annotated by tables flashed in their shared mindspace - *The conclusion was that one could replace bricks with only mortar once said was mixed with sand. There were several proportions tested even.”

-*Interesting* - mused Thernohh

-*Yes indeed. It was also concluded that it would be exorbitantly expensive to do and the building would be quite brittle. I fail to see the purpose of those iron rods though. Also, this thing is old. I mean, it must be, look how weathered it is. To add to this ‘also’, it is, or was, a base of a larger structure.*

-*So. The question that needs asking…* - Anh hung his train of thought and his unvoiced problem was allowed to linger a little until someone picked it up.

-*I can’t tell if it is precursorial.*- finally answered Tow -*But considering that I doubt anyone can make such a structure, especially here, the conclusions are obvious*

-*I don’t want to interrupt, as this is very interesting* - despite what he said, Birdekk cut into the discussion between Tow and Anh and did so quite unpleseantly - *We've been here long enough. We definitely don’t want to meet Brandt awake and aware of our escapade. Hopefully not ‘ill fated’ one. We need to go back. I think we’ve been here for a full candle already.*

-*Birdekk is right. We are going to get plenty of time to study this.* - confirmed Tow -*we ought to return to the camp.*

Anh stared at the obelisk for a few drips, then reluctantly turned around and directed himself back.