“No,” Sindri responded smoothly. “More like hundreds, as in the midnineteenth century. Beginning in the 1860s and continuing to the 1870s, astronomers on Earth reported monstrous explosions occurring on Marsvisible even with the primitive telescopes of the day. The phenomenon ended rather abruptly in 1872.1 believe the astronomers were witnessing aerial bombardments and missile attacks.”
“What’s this got to do with your revolt?” asked Grant darkly.
“I’m getting to that. I learned that only by following the dictates of the Archon Directiveas it was called in the twentieth centurywas man able to establish more than a tenuous toehold here on Mars. They wanted us to plant a colony here.”
“Why?” Brigid sounded skeptical. “From what we know of them, the Archons mastered not only hyper-dimensional travel, but physical space travel, too. Mars and all the planets in the solar system shouldn’t be any more difficult for them to visit than Earth.”
Sindri smiled a secret, mocking smile. “True, as far it goes. But unlike Earth, the Danaan turned Mars into awhat was your quaint term?hellzone, deadly to the Archons.”
Interest instantly replaced hostile impatience, and three pairs of eyes locked intently on Sindri’s face. The little man chuckled appreciatively.
“I thought that might revive your flagging interest. As all of you are aware by nowparticularly you, Mr. Kanethe very essence of Danaan science stemmed from music, the controlled manipulation of sound waves, perhaps the ‘music of the spheres’ as referred to in legend.
“The Danaan, before they left Mars and perhaps even the realm of three dimensions, left a parting gift for the Archons.”
“Which is?”
“A song,” stated Sindri with a smug simplicity. “A song that plays eternally, borne by the winds, serenading and blanketing this entire planet. The melody is too subtle for our human ears, yet not only can the Archons hear it, but it is deadly to them. It prevents them from ever putting a foot on Martian soil. And that is the real reason for the Cydonia colony…to locate the source of the song and stop it.”
He looked levelly at Kane. “You saw the pyramid?”
“Yes.”
“It is more than a monument. It is a gigantic broadcasting tower, transmitting the song of the Danaan to every nook and cranny of the planet, forming an invisible sonic wall which forever bars Archon entry.
“That is why they supported and abetted a Terran colony here, and aided the bioengineering process. We would, by proxy, conquer Mars for them, reclaim it from the Danaan. A precious ruby in the crown of the cosmos.”
Brigid furrowed her brow. “If the song is deadly to Archons, but not to humans”
“I didn’t say that,” Sindri broke in sharply. “True enough, the sonic frequencies were keyed to set up disharmonious resonances in the Archon metabolism. But that was before.”
“Before what?” asked Kane.
“Before arrogant human interference altered the modulations and turned the song into a doomsday dirge for the planet. Remember what I said regarding the factors which caused sterility in the men and women of the colony? The change in the harmonics was one such factor, the primary one.”
Sindri sighed, running a hand over his face. “When I learned all of that, a year or so ago, I knew swift and decisive action had to be taken to save the colony, humans and transadapts alike. Extinction for both groups was less than a generation down the road. I double-checked all my data, correlated it, made sure there was no error. Day upon night, pausing for little sleep and less food, I worked on the findings, to make them utterly convincing to the so-called Committee of One Hundred. But I also knew I could not go to them with the tragic news without bringing a solution. In the database, I learned of Parallax Red , and of the gateway unit which linked the colony with it. What I didn’t know until later, was that I was not meant to know of either one.”
The man’s lips twitched, as if he had a nervous tic. “Do you know what the committee did? First they laughed at me. Then they claimed I had lost my mind. In brief, they could not and would not believe me.
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