Ivan wasn't so sure.

Ivan raised his hand, silently ordering everyone to halt. Then he pointed to the floor ahead.

Even though they were still far away from what littered the ground, he could tell what the indeterminate jumble actually was.

When you've seen battles, when you've seen bodies piled high, you know.

"What is it?" Jordan asked. His rifle was raised, sweeping the area.

Annie came up to his side. "What's wrong?"

Ivan gestured to the shapes that covered it as far as he could see in this weirdly lit chamber.

At some point, the mammoth entranceway curved to the right.

But in front of them ...

Bodies. Hundreds ... thousands of bones.

He had nothing to say ... not without a closer look first.

He turned to Jordan.

"This is not looking good."

A nod from Jordan and he moved forward. Annie quickly moved forward, too.

They didn't have to tell the others to hang back, as obedient as school kids, the silent command to stay put easily enforced by the shapes of bodies ahead, dark shapes silhouetted against the blue light.

Ivan, Jordan, and Annie walked together, each instinctively moving their rifles to a ready position, sweeping from side to side, covering all possible approaches.

Until they reached the first of the bodies.

There were two figures. Humanoid, but clearly not human. Even in death, they were locked in a death battle, hands-or claws-wrapped around each other. One on a throat; the other with a clawlike hand meshed tightly against the other's face.

Their battle, frozen in time.

Such scenes were replicated everywhere they looked. More corpses locked in a wild melee ... a fight to the finish. Some of the corpses looked as though they had exploded by massive gun or energy blasts. Others were desiccated masses with exposed brittle bones, their innards long ago rotting in the dry air, turning to dust.

Annie was the first to speak: "What ... the hell happened here?"

Ivan shook his head.

"A lot of different types. Aliens. Different species," he said. "It's like they ... like they all came here from various planets to fight and they all died."

A chill ran up Ivan's back. The implications were staggering.

He had seen death and destruction. But this completely chilled him.

He looked up at the cavern ceiling. The vines were still vibrating harmlessly. The slight quivers still seeming somehow benevolent ... welcoming.

But could the strange vines have anything to do with it?

A battle scene-but not really.

More like scores of scenes from many different battles, a jumbled war as untold alien creatures fought to the death.

Ivan looked ahead, beyond the vast field of dead, to something he had been too preoccupied to notice before.

The expansive walls of the side of the chamber were no longer widening.

And he saw something on those walls.

Without waiting for the others, Ivan started walking through the field of death.

SIX.

THE MACHINE AWAKES.

40.

INSIDE.

Ivan moved forward, picking his way carefully around the twisted figures lying on the ground as best he could; but there was no escaping the occasional step on a loose bit of bone or a fossilized twist of skin.

The crunch of his steps echoed hollowly in the chamber.

Jordan followed close behind.

"You see it, too, don't you?" Ivan asked.

"Uh-huh."

As they both moved forward for a better look.

"What the hell is this, Delgato? Best guess?"

Ivan shrugged.

The smooth walls of the cave entranceway gradually faded from rock to ... what? Support struts and panels and various odds and ends of what looked like metal grew out of the wall until the insides of the cave looked more like a massive machine.

Huge polyhedral shapes filled the walls, all different sizes and colors. Some connected, others standing alone; some had toothlike protrusions as if they functioned like gears while others had sides as smooth as glass.

They were of varying sizes, but all were huge As the others joined them, everyone were perfectly quiet ... awestruck.

And that, Ivan guessed, was a good thing.

"I was hoping you had an idea, Jordan." He turned to Rodriguez. "You ever see anything like this, Doc?"

Rodriguez shook his head, his eyes wide with wonder ... and curiosity.

Ivan looked back at the gunner, then the rest of their crew.

"I'd say we're inside some kind of machine."

"One that no longer works?" Annie offered.

"At least it isn't working right now."

Ivan looked to the right where a trio of hexagons, glowing blue like the walls they protruded from, were locked together, engaged and ready to start turning.

"Someone throws a switch somewhere," he said, "and they'll move, and..."

A shudder ran though him when he suddenly pictured his brother's hand on that switch.

"Yeah," Jordan said. "And do what?"

Annie kept looking around.

Sinjira muttering, "Wow," as she recorded everything. "Place is getting freakier by the minute."

"Getting?" Ivan answered.

"What about your brother?" Jordan said.

Ivan felt better, knowing he wasn't the only one thinking of Kyros.

"This is another trap. Gotta be," Ruth said, her voice high. "We nearly got killed trying to get down here, and then-"

"He surprises us with whatever the hell this is," Ivan finished for her.

Annie turned around, looking back at the vast expanse littered with so many dead bodies.

"Maybe we'll join them," she said.

Jordan shook his head. "And maybe not, but"-he turned to Ivan-"I say we get out of here pronto."

Ivan shook his head.

"You think if Kyros set up all these bodies, he'd simply let us walk out?"

He fished his commlink from his pocket and pressed the CALL button.

"Kyros? You in here? You hear me, brother?"

Nothing.

Not even static.

Sinjira, Rodriguez, and Ruth huddled close, their eyes wide as they waited and-like Ivan-wondered from which direction the surprise would ultimately come.

Ivan smiled reassuringly at Ruth, trying to chase some of the fear from her eyes.

Again, into the commlink: "Kyros?"

Still nothing.

Annie started: "Maybe he's not-"

Before she could finish her sentence, the speaker in Ivan's hand came to life. The voice was as clear as if Kyros was standing next to them.

"I'm right here, brother. Just a little bit farther, and we'll be reunited."

Ivan hit the MUTE on the device.

"Do we trust him?" he asked.

"He's your brother," Jordan said.

"Not much fucking choice here..."

He restored the link: "Show yourself, Kyros. I have what you want. The data crystal."

Kyros's laugh filled the room, sounding as if it wasn't coming only from the commlink.

Ivan had the brief impression that the vibrating vines overhead were transmitting, amplifying his laugh.

Looking from face to face, bathed in the weird blue light, Ivan and the others waited to hear what was so damned funny.

"You actually think I need you to bring me the crystal? I could have gotten Nahara and that crystal whenever I wanted."

"He sounds sick," Annie said quietly. "Deranged."