James Axler – Parallax Red Parallax Red

Sindri touched it, and a man-size section of the hull slid aside, revealing a hollow interior. The door panel lowered to form a short ramp. He walked across it. “I’ll take you to the scene and the perpetrator of the human arrogance that brought all this heartbreak about. He’s had no visitors for a long time.”

Kane peered into the opening of the bullet car. There was nothing inside but four padded seats. Sindri was already strapping himself into one.

“Doesn’t appear there’s enough room for all of us and your escort,” Kane said. “Who stays behind?”

“Oh, get the hell in,” Sindri snapped. “The vehicle is automated, so there’s nothing you can do once we’re under way. We’ll arrive at our destination regardless of whether you behave yourselves. However, we will be met there, so it’s in your best interests not to attempt anything unpleasant during the journey.”

They climbed in, Kane sitting down beside Sindri. As soon as Brigid cleared the entranceway, the panel slid silently shut behind. Within a moment of buckling their seat belts, they felt a slight shock that pressed them against the padded chair backs.

“Are we moving?” asked Grant.

As if on cue, a curving section of the forewall became transparent. They saw the walls of the chute racing past and around them at a rate of speed none of them could estimate, but that was obviously quite high. Overhead light fixtures flicked by so fast that they combined with the intervals of darkness between them to acquire a strobing pattern.

“What’s our destination?” Unconsciously Kane had raised his voice a trifle, then realized it was unnecessary. There was no sound of motors or rush of wind to speak over.

Sindri didn’t answer for a moment. In that brief beat of time, the bullet car burst out of the tunnel into the full, pink-hued daylight of Mars. The track stretched out far ahead in a straight line, leading to the base of the colossal pyramid.

Sindri nodded toward it. “There.”

Even though Kane had seen it earlier, he couldn’t help but gape a second time, just like Brigid and Grant.

“The so-called D and M Pyramid,” Sindri said. “Named after DiPetro and Molenar, a pair of computer photographic analysts in the twentieth century. It is one mile high by 1.6 miles broad. Unlike the classic Egyptian design, this one is a pentahedron. Five sided.”

As the bullet car sped along the rail, Kane saw crum-bling ruins around the foot of the immense pyramid. The structures were huge, but dwarfed by the monument. Walls had fallen in, and the stone blocks were scoured smooth by windblown sand.

Kane leaned his head back, studying the long spire affixed to the pyramid’s apex. Like an unimaginably huge needle, it seemed to pierce the wispy clouds.

The rail curved lazily to the left, toward a corner of the pyramid. A great cavity occupied a large portion of the base. High heaps of debris were piled on either side of it. The track disappeared into the hole.

Sindri declared, “No, the colonists did not breach the walls. The damage showed up on the Viking photos.”

“What caused it?” Brigid asked.

“More than likely, explosive penetration, probably an Archon missile.”

The bullet car plunged noiselessly into the cavity. Lights shone intermittently overhead, small splotches of illumination that did little to alleviate the deep shadows.

The track tilted upward at a gradual incline until it reached a ninety-degree angle. The speed of the vehicle did not slacken. Kane felt the same kind of lifting sensation in his belly as when he rode inside a fast-ascending Deathbird.

After a minute, the track’s angle decreased in sharpness until the car rode straight and smooth again. Through the foreport, they saw walls constructed of individual stone blocks three times the size of the vehicle that carried them. The bullet car’s speed dropped rapidly until it slid to a halt beside a broad platform.

“This part of the pyramid has been adjusted to accommodate humans,” said Sindri. “Complete with synthetic-gravity generators and oxygen-circulation pumps. You might find it a bit nippy due to the extreme altitude, but the thermal controls inside your suits should be able to compensate.”

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