Read OMEGA Conscript for Free Online

I'm familiar with. The density of it is insane, and yet it's lightweight."
    I replied, "If it's all located at the same depth, that would suggest that it all came from a single period in time. Does it appear to be man-made?"
    After a short dig, Garrett retrieved a fist-sized sample of the material.
    Garrett nodded. "Oh, it's definitely man-made. You can see it by the uniformity of the layers. It has a slight radioactivity to it, but that's probably just from being on this planet. Here, look at this piece, it looks like some kind of glass or gemstone layer. Curious."
    I gestured toward the Jess . "Do you have anything on the Jess that will analyze it further?"
    Garrett again nodded. "Well, I can hold it directly in front of one of the scanner pods. It should give us all the information we need as to its makeup."
    After a quick scan, Garrett pulled the resulting data up on his arm pad holo-display. "Hmm. It looks like Tantric ore, only the molecules are all aligned in the same direction."
    I replied, "Tantric?"
    Garrett swiped at his displays. "Yeah, Tantric. It's a soft ore, fairly rare. I've never heard of a use for it. You can smelt it, but the resulting metal tends to crack apart and crumble. This, however, isn't normal. Somehow they have all the molecules lined up and tightly packed together. The scanner says this embedded material is aquamarine. I can't even guess as to what its purpose would be."
    Kerba came over the comm. "It's here! The fortress! I have a wall made of that same material you are seeing down there. It's been knocked down and covered up, but it's unmistakably a wall. Looks like it encompasses an area of about five kilometers in circumference. I'm seeing other materials in the fields surrounding it! This has got to be Megiddo!"
    We soon had the Jess setting down above a debris field that stretched for kilometers.
    Garrett handed me a utility shovel. "I hope you know how to use one of these. Everything looks to be buried. You can use the scanner on your arm pad to located items within ten meters or so of you. If an item piques your interest, dig it up."
    My first dig yielded a piece of metal that I could not identify a purpose for. One side had been melted by a high heat, while the other had a smooth, machined edge. A second artifact was far more interesting. The forearm and glove of a battle-suit lay holding what was unmistakably the destroyed remains of a blaster.
    "Garrett!" I yelled. "Check this out!"
    I gently picked up the combination of a forearm, hand, blaster rifle grip, and partial stock. "This has got to be exactly what Kerba was talking about. I believe this planet is the location of the War of Wars as he thinks. If so, that's a huge archaeological find."
    Garrett half smiled as he turned away. "Yeah, but will we find a helmet out here?"
    As I looked over the blaster grip, I replied, "I don't know, but—"
    Garrett looked back. "What is it?"
    I turned the forearm of the battle-suit around so that Garrett could see up into the arm of the suit. "This is an android!"
    Garrett gave a confused expression. "What?"
    I held up the arm with its exposed circuits, steel bars and obvious hydraulics. "This arm is from an android. They had machines fighting on this field!"
    Garrett looked over at the Pockna, parked half a kilometer from our location. "I wouldn't show that to Kerba just yet. Not that he isn't finding pieces just like that, but if it's unique, I'd rather keep it quiet for now."
    I carried the mechanical forearm to the Jess and placed it in the cabin, returning to the field for further investigation.
    Garrett called out. "Hey, Knog, come over and help me dig this up. I think we might have a full blaster rifle buried here."
    Five minutes later the intact rifle was lifted from the hole. The tip was unlike those produced by the Orwallians. Instead of wide and round, two nodules protruded from the end of a shaft. The telltale rings of the amplifiers were nowhere to be found. And the power cell ...