Dr. Post was the first to recover from the shock of seeing Kaiwulf. "Help me up, will you dears?" She gave Jee and Dane each a hand. Together, they helped her to her feet, and remained behind at her gesture. She took a tentative step.
Wary as a buck facing a hunter, Kaiwulf presented his knife hilt first, ducking his head in a short bow.
Dr. Post accepted it.
"It is honored with blood." He brought the back of his hand to his mouth, and licked blood from a wound.
Jee craned her neck to get a better look at Kaiwulf. His skimpy leather revealed far more of his tanned, brawny body than it hid. She started to move closer, but Dane laid a hand on her arm and shook his head in warning.
The woman with Kaiwulf knelt at Dr. Post's feet. Kaiwulf followed suit. The wolves went to him, whimpering and licking his hands.
"My people not worship. Forgive." She bowed her head and held up the palms of her hands. "We trust pain."
Dr. Post bent to take the woman's hands in her own. "My dear, I'm--"
"Dr. Post." They all turned toward the voice as one of the Smithsonian staff entered, his face flushed. Seeing the woman bowing to Dr. Post, he stared.
"It's all right." The doctor brought the woman to her feet. She turned to her staff member. "What is it, dear?"
"I-- I'm sorry. I overheard Mr. Morris signaling a ship in orbit. He intends to bring them down right away. It's military. He doesn't know I heard."
"Go back to camp. Stall them any way you can. Say nothing about this."
"Yes, Doctor." He turned and fled.
Jee groaned. "I knew I was going to have to earn this money the hard way."
Dane reached into a pocket, and pressed what he found into Dr. Post's hand. "You may want this."
She looked down, met Dane's gaze, and smiled. Taking the woman's hand, she patted it. "I'm not the Saint of Silver. Nor am I Queen Ioca."
Kaiwulf took a step forward, straining to hear. The woman put out a stern hand, and Kaiwulf moved back.
"I'm Dr. Viva Post, of the Terran-Colonial Smithsonian Society, the Department of Extra-Terrestrial Excavations. I came here to study your Gates of Life. I did not come to accept worship."
"You not -- Saint?"
"I'm Dr. Viva Post. And your name is?"
Her gaze flicked up Dane's length before she turned to Jee. She once more faced Dr. Post. "Simora, People of Shadows. You not Saint?"
"No," she repeated. "Please, call me Viva. It means life."
"Viva." She laid a hand against her own bosom. "Honor speak. You power, among people?"
She hesitated. "Do I have power among my people? Yes. Though not as much as you, Simora."
"You come from sky." Simora insisted. "Come in burning god. Like Saint."
Dr. Post shook her head. "I promise, Simora, I am not the Saint of Silver."
"You seek People of Shadows. You walk among People of Light. Kaiwulf people. You not from Saint?"
"No. I heard about Kaiwulf from the people the village. His mother's people. They told me about him."
"People of Light fear People of Shadows, but Kaiwulf mother is wise. She know we seek light. She give Kaiwulf key. People of Light not want Shadows have key. Kaiwulf run to give us." Simora looked back at him with a tender smile. "When he bring broken key, Gates close."
"Why are you called the People of Shadows?"
"When Saint bring pain, people hide in Shadows till gone. Bear children in Shadows. When we not come, Saint destroy other Gates. When Gates close, People of Shadows not walk in light."
"You mean in the sun? The light in the sky?"
"Yes. Our small ones not see light. Kaiwulf's people not see shadows. They not make thought-gifts. We think you Saint. Wake Gates. Give back sun."
"So you walk under the Gates in order to be able to go into the light."
"Key broken. No light now."
Dr. Post turned to Dane and Jee. "The Gates somehow enable them to phase shift. I think they're losing the ability in their newborns."
Dane swore under his breath. "Can it be fixed? Maybe with a new key?"
"Perhaps." She turned back to Simora. "May I speak with Kaiwulf? I want to present him with something his mother wanted him to have."
Simora made a short gesture.
Kaiwulf moved to Simora's side.
Dr. Post took Kaiwulf's hand, turned it palm up, and placed the broken key in it. "I think your mother wanted you to have this."
Emotions flickered across his face in rampant order. He turned to Simora. Together, they examined the key. His green eyes wrinkled at their corners as he smiled. He spoke, the words rapid. Dr. Post's translator made a few beeps, but did not provide words. He bowed toward her, lowered his head to Simora's, and whispered in her ear. He faced the stone behind him, and motioned with one hand.
An older man who resembled Kaiwulf appeared to step through the stone. His eyes were identical to Kaiwulf's, clear green, and innocent.
Kaiwulf put an arm around the man's shoulders. "My father, Driac."
"Driac." Dr. Post did not offer her hand, but bowed to him.
At Simora's gesture, he and Kaiwulf retreated. They examined the key, pulling up the one on the necklace to see how they matched. Kaiwulf grinned at Dr. Post.
Simora indicated Driac. "Kaiwulf is husband son. Our girl child born with no life. Sign I honor husband son. Kaiwulf broken spirit, pain mother death. I be new mother."
"When you said that his people made gift-thoughts, do you mean the way Ceylandra did?"
Simora seemed shocked. "You know this name?"
"Kaiwulf's people told me Ceylandra could create things you could touch and smell and see by thinking about them. My people called her people Phanes."
"Ceylandra bear many daughters. One saw shadows. Others light. Her daughters took our sons. Many daughters not return shadows. Kaiwulf mother love Driac. Knew her people need join People of Shadows. Driac wise. Love her. When she die, all mourn. Kaiwulf bear mother gift, father gift." She beckoned to him. "Kaiwulf, honor Viva."
Kaiwulf moved to her side and held out his hand, a bouquet of wildflowers appearing as he did.
With a delighted gasp, Dr. Post accepted them. "You're a Phane."
He smiled at Simora, who rested a hand on his hair.
Dr. Post glanced at Jee and Dane. "On Driac's side, Kaiwulf has the ability to shift. To go from the light into the shadows."
Simora nodded. "Yes."
"And on his mother's side, he can create gifts, like these flowers, from thoughts."
"Yes."
Dr. Post gave the flowers to Jee, who found to her great surprise they were more than mere illusions. "You can smell these things." She held them up to Dane. He jerked back his head, but took a hesitant sniff.
"No wonder the villagers can't phase shift. They're Phanes." Dr. Post turned back to Simora.
Dane touched Jee's arm. "I have a feeling we're about to receive company."
Off to the left came a dull glimmer of light.
The flowers faded from Jee's hand. She pulled a fat-nosed blaster from her coveralls and sidled closer to the entry to watch. Dane darted to the opposite side, withdrawing his own weapon.
"No weapons," Dr. Post insisted. "I didn't bring you here to create violence."
Simora took Dr. Post's hand. "Come to shadows."
"How can we do that?"
"We hold you." Kaiwulf told her. "Take you to shadows."
Simora felt the fabric of Dr. Post's suit. "This not pass to shadows."
"If I take it off, I won't be able to walk."
"I carry Viva, Simora." Kaiwulf tapped his chest.
"Hurry up," Jee sang out. "They're close."
Dr. Post zipped the sealer of her suit, and pulled down the top, shrugging if off her shoulders. Underneath, she wore a thin one-piece suit of stretchy cotton. "Is this... Will it 'pass'?"
Simora felt it. "Yes."
"Kaiwulf, may I lean on your arm?"
He braced her, an arm around her back as she allowed the suit to open below the waist. Once the leggings had unsealed, she crumpled.
Kaiwulf swept her up, cradling her close to his body.
She linked her arms around his neck. "Am I too heavy?"
"Heavy like child."
"We hide," Simora told Dr. Post.
"Jee, Dane," Dr. Post called them closer. "Hurry. The suit. They'll see it."
Jee grabbed it up, stuffed it into a crack in the stone, and then added her weapon. "This won't go through either. It's plastic."
"The translator, too." Dr. Post took it off.
Jee hid it. "How will we be able to understand what's going on?"
"We'll have to chance it."
Dane shoved his weapon in after the other items and joined Jee.
Kaiwulf placed his mouth next to Dr. Post's ear and whispered.
Simora held up a hand to Jee. She took Dane's hand and walked with him into the stone. A moment later, she returned and held out a hand to Jee.
Jee braced an arm against her stomach, expecting anything from simple dizziness to the gut wrenching nausea of jumping through hyperspace. She felt nothing, but color faded from view, as if she existed inside a black and white holofilm. Jee comprehended the term Shadows with sudden clarity. It wasn't a description. It was a world of its own.
Together they walked toward the stone wall, and kept going - through it. Water roared past her ears. Sunlight sparkled through it. Dane was kneeling beside the archaeologist. Kaiwulf, Driac, and Simora placed their hands against the stone wall, forming a semi-circle that became translucent. The TRAIL agents stood close together to watch.
People with lights moved into the stone chamber beyond. Men's voices echoed off the stone, ringing in the close confines of the cavern.
Jee huffed. "Typical uniforms. Barge in without a thought about who might already be there or what rights they might be violating." Morris ordered the others to spread out. In a cavern the size of a small room, it took no time to accomplish.
After a minute, the men returned the way they had come. Kaiwulf smiled at Dr. Post while she beamed back.
Once back inside the cave, her translator at hand, Dr. Post remained in Kaiwulf's arms. "Have you watched me work the way we just watched them?" When he nodded, she fingered the shaft-like key he wore on his necklace. "We have to find a way for your people to come back into the light."
"What about the military?" Jee motioned toward the cavern's exit. "They aren't going to disappear the way we did."
"I have the full weight of the Smithsonian Society behind me, Jee. There are ecolaws preventing interference in the normal culture of distinct people groups. We can make that stick here, now that we understand who these people are and what they're capable of. This is an historical moment. We have evidence of how these gates work, what they were used for, and even a bit about who used them. This will change everything about archaeology. All we have to do is protect the key until we can repair or replace it."
"We honor key," Kaiwulf assured her. "Keep it safe." He gazed into her eyes. "Keep you safe."
Jee nudged Dane. "Well, Dr. Post, you have your invisible man, and if you'll forgive the pun, he's not hard to look at. I think we're through here."
Once they had parted company with Kaiwulf and his family, Jee and Dane helped Dr. Post back into her silver strength suit.
The doctor accompanied them back to camp, and met with them in her office. "You, my dears, have earned your pay. I'll tell the home office to release funding."
Dane stooped beside her chair. "May I ask a personal question, Doctor?"
"I believe you've earned the right, young man. What is it you want to know?"
"The Terran-Colonial Smithsonian Society couldn't be paying you well enough to be able to afford the fees TRAIL gave us for this job. Who's behind this?"
"Oh dear." Dr. Post clasped her hands together. "I've wondered that myself, but when I asked, I was given a speech about the privacy of interested parties, and a run-around about jurisdictions of governance for items recovered, and so forth. Bottom line, I could have the funding, and keep the rights to publish, or I could know who did the funding, and give up the material. I chose to publish."
"Any hint as to who or what it was? Names on bills of lading, things like that?"
"Nothing. Except--" She considered it a moment. "No, that wouldn't matter, I suppose."
"What wouldn't?"
"I didn't recognize the name of company that made my strength suit. I've used those suits ever since my accident. This one was far better than any of the others. I looked into the manufacturer, so I could order more. The name was on one packing slip, and it took some work on my part to find out anything at all. However, they seem to be a private consortium. They make almost everything you'd need for exploration and excavation. Not mining, mind you, but the type of excavating we do. For such a big company, they're almost unknown. Rather a mystery to me. Apparently, they've funded digs all across the Colonies of Man. They seem to be researching the gates. Why, I can't imagine. Something like this would have no corporate application that I can see."
"What was the company?"
"Odd name. Shibboleth Research, Inc. Does that mean anything to you?"
Dane rubbed his chin, considering. "No, but thank you, Doctor. It might at a later time." He stood.
"So, Dane." Jee cracked her knuckles."Does this mean we're done?"
"We are, and this is a first. A mission where you didn't shoot anybody."
Jee rubbed her hands together. "That means no paperwork, doesn't it?"
Dane cracked a grin. "How about that?"
Jee let out a long whistle, and lifted a fist. "Vacation, here I come!"