At long last, the decline ended at a narrow alcove and a long tunnel that led toa large and heavy door. But my relief soon evaporated when I saw that itstood ajar. For some reason, that disturbed me even more than our grimdescent.

“Well, what are the chances of that?” Cuenyne asked.

(资料图片)

“I don’t like it,” I said with a shudder. “If this is supposed to be the hiding place fora slave race, why is the door just open?”

“Maybe they left and didn’t bother to close it behind them,” the droid postulated,extending his sensor wands. “Or maybe they just wanted fresh air. Try not to get tooparanoid on me.”

“Maybe…”

“Anxieties aside, what do you see above the door?”

Hidden in the shadows and by my own unease, I had missed it entirely. “The SernPrime Equilateral,” I practically shouted. “Must be a coincidental design, unless…”

This was a triangle subdivided into four congruent triangles. The Jedi used it as theuniversal symbol of the Force, but it existed in slightly different forms throughoutrecorded history. The Gree utilized it as a rhombus, the Kwa, as a concave hexagon, theAlashan, as three triangles in decreasing size within a triangle; but the concept was thesame in each case: creative energy, the Cosmic Force, the Power of the Cosmos, and theSupreme Maker.

“Follow me,” Cuenyne said as he glided through the passage. “I’m picking up asignal.”

Beyond the open door was a bare room from which a series of tunnels extended. Aglyph appeared above each, most likely destination signs. Cuenyne ignored all but one.It led to a vast, high-ceilinged cavern, out from which spread additional windingcorridors. Lights came on as we entered, emitted from barely perceivable recesses spreadevenly throughout the cornices and cavetto moldings, though too few to conquer theyawning shadows that blanketed the enormous hall. The ground was smooth, with nosign of the blight that covered the walls and steps of the stairwell. The air andtemperature seemed to be regulated too, indications of working atmosphere controllers.

“Well, there are no monsters, at least,” Cuenyne gibed.

I hadn’t envisioned a lair of Nightshrikes but perhaps a nest of hungry myrmin, butthere was no sign of life or activity at all. The ceiling and walls were decorated inornate sigils and overlaid designs, an intricate latticework of apparent astronomicalimport bearing no resemblance to any known cartography. The lack of stalactitesindicated a sapient-made structure, though four immensely tall, ceiling-to-ground pillars stood in a wide circle in the central part of the vast hall. Others ringed theperimeter, or so I first thought.

“No monsters, huh? What on the blasted Nine Ice Worlds do you call those?”Immense and intimidating statues that I’d first assumed to be more pillars stood insuccession along the breadth and depth of the hall. Constructed of exquisiteartisanship, meticulously detailed and lifelike, each was of some alien being. Uponfurther examination, we could determine that some were recognizable, but manywere wholly unfamiliar. As impressed as I was by the work that went into theirdesign, their grim countenances and presence in this catacomb so far undergroundwas altogether disturbing. I felt watched, like a graverobber tip-tœing through theburial mounds of long-forgotten kings who might at any moment awaken to deliverunto us the punishment for trespassing. Zipping around as he was, investigating,probing, and recording, Cuenyne was thankfully unaffected in this way. 

On closer examination, the pillars were revealed to hold runes and elaboratelycarved scenes, each lit with an eerie glow and appearing to tell some tale. Elated tofind they were of the same Osserian origin we’d discovered on their homeworld, allmy anxiety and exhaustion vanished without a trace. “Jackpot!” I whispered.

“And do you know who those statues represent?” Cuenyne challenged.

“They must be the Firstborn,” I said quietly.

“You don’t have to whisper, Hex. No one’s here but us.”

“I’m not as confident on that point,” I said just slightly above a whisper. I feltjoyous for the first time in a long while. “The Osserians must have sculpted thestatues and pillar glyphs. The pillars appear to be arranged in a kind of chronologicalspiral—arranged in groups of four—emanating out from the most central ones. Wecan spend a long time examining all of this. Are you getting recordings?”

“Dœs a Howlrunner howl?” Cuenyne said.

“Have you found the earliest pillars?” I asked.

“Yes. They tell an origin story. Are you ready?”

“Absolutely!” I declared just above a hushed tone.

“Do you recall the creation myths of the Ssi-ruuk, Kitonak, and Nediji?”

“I do,” I said, not sure what they had to do with anything.

The droid pointed to what was a clear depiction of four eggs, a motif that ranthroughout the earliest pictographs in this section of pillars. “Now, take a look.”Cuenyne pressed down on the glyph above the eggs, causing a hologrammaticrepresentation to appear in the space before us portraying a much larger scene. “FourCosmic Eggs at the center of the universe. Note the shapes. Look familiar?”

Furrowing my brow, I said, “That appears to be an approximation of our galaxy,but what are all these over here?”

“Judging by their size in relation to the main one, I’d say they’re other universes.”

“Don’t you mean other galaxies?” I asked.

“No,” Cuenyne said decidedly, pointing with one of his manipulator arms. “This isus, and here are our satellite galaxies. They’re smaller. These are much larger. Theindication appears to be that this is the formation of this universe.”

“That’s interesting. What’s this starless shadow over here that looks like a deadspider?”

“That’s where we are,” the droid said. “If you click on the symbol, well, let’s justsay you won’t like what you see.”

“Otherspace… Let’s leave that aside for now. And these figures standing over thereabove the universe… the symbol is the same one the Osserians used to signify theCelestials.” When Cuenyne assented, I continued, “So they’re indicating that thesebeings seeded the center of this universe… with what? Cosmic Eggs? I don’t know,Cuenyne. I have to admit I’m a little disappointed to see this kind of primitivemythology represented here. I thought their records would reflect a more rationalapproach to cosmology and history. Apart from a high level of art and technology,this is just more of the same mythmaking. We might as well be trying to interpret theG’nnoch or the Ancient Words of the Sekct.”

“Don’t let confirmation bias dictate how you see things,” Cuenyne stated.

“What do you mean?”

“The Asogians are a highly advanced race, yet they maintain a creation accountinvolving the Cosmic Egg, as do the Kitonak. The Silentium’s ultimate symbol ofcreation is a hyperbolic link inside a circle, which is the same thing. Yun-Yuuzhanbreaks himself into four parts: himself as the godhead, the universe, the lesser gods,and the Yuuzhan Vong. The Zakuul deities of destruction and sorrow give birth tofour offspring demigods. Jorn’s Theorem of the Tetrad Hypergates…”

“And the Ewoks have four season deities… So what? It dœsn’t mean Antikra theEgglayer was a real thing! Besides, there are tens of thousands of creation myths thatdon’t match the pattern.” It came out louder than I’d intended, and the stone facesall about me seemed to leer more fiercely in response.

“Yes, but by and large, the ones that are amongst the oldest races do.”

“If that’s true,” I added cautiously, “it confirms that our Firstborn theory is correctand that they all had contact with one another.”

“Hence, the symbolism of four isn’t accidental. It has import.”

“The Cataro’sila,” I started, thinking aloud, “the Four Precepts; the highestprinciples of the Qieg monks…”

“…the Coral Monks, the Ortolan Monks,” Cuenyne added, “the Recipients of theLight, the Umate Monks, the Monks of Meeg; there are numerous variationsespoused… the Dim-U monks…”

“All of which were likely passed down from the Bendu Monks,” I interrupted, “theoldest of them.”

“Likely, but difficult to prove conclusively so long as the Council believes therewas no space travel before twenty-five thousand years ago.”

“Well, the Columi claim to have developed hyperdrive technology a hundredthousand years ago…” I suggested.

“And how dœs one know when a Columi is lying?”

“He’s speaking,” I chuckled. It was an old and inappropriate joke reinforced by thehabitual dishonesty of too many Columi. “Ok, so the symbology of four has to havemeaning. Perhaps it corresponds in some way to the Four Precepts…” I scratched my beard as I tried to recall them: “Do no harm to any living being; Do not steal; Do notexploit for personal gain; Do not utter false speech.”

“Do you see the connection to the holoshort about the galaxy’s creation?”

“The Fourth Precept? By the Naboo pœt… what was his name… Omar Berenko?” Ididn’t see the link.

“It was attributed to him, Felloux, and even Asenec, but it was later discovered tohave been made by the Ithorian pœt, Soshu Londahl.”

The disturbing holoshort involved two warriors battling across the stars amidst ascene of creation and destruction, amidst various creatures and monstrous ships.After a mysterious glimpse of starry eyes hinting at newly awoken terror, the filmended in the union of the warriors. “A nihilist painting the creation of life throughwar.” It had piqued the curiosity of art enthusiasts for decades, and not a few theorieshad arisen to explain its meaning. Cuenyne had his own. “The theatre of perpetualconflict. Violence as creation and salvation. No wonder it was so popular withorganics. Your kind loves that kind of thing.”

“Londahl was discovered to have been a member of the Liberty Builders,” Iremarked in regard to the well-known secret society.

“Known to have ties to the Order of the Canted Circle, which some of the biggestImperial players had been part of, and which can be traced back to the Apex Society,the Lumenatus Club, the Mecrosa Order…”

“Secret agendas,” I spat. “So, The Fourth Precept takes an ancient scenario fromthe Bendu Monks but presents it with a dualistic, Sith-oriented worldview. Light andDark Sides are equal and necessary components for balance in the universe.”

“Not only the Sith,” Cuenyne pointed out. “Several Force-traditions employ thatmotif: the Jensaarai, for one.”

“Ok, then Sith ideology disguised as pragmatism for the purpose of social control.”

“That’s only the exoteric meaning. The esoteric one is concealed. Notice the titleis The Fourth Precept.”

“Oh, I see! In the Four Precepts, the fourth concerns the avoidance of deceptionand lying. So the author is hinting at the fact that he’s telling an untruth.”

“While the worlds hungrily gulp down our mendacity, they who reside in theshadows laugh…” Cuenyne intoned, quoting its pernicious author, Asenac.

“There are more questions than answers,” I continued, “and it seems unlikely thatthe Osserians are alive to tell us. Even if they’re hiding somewhere down here, they’dbe a very different people. And if they’d fallen into primitivism, we might appear asmonsters to them, creatures from the fabled stories of their ancestors…”

“I doubt they’ve become Cthons,” Cuenyne teased. “There’s more. I haven’t yetshown you the first pillar. It provides the context. I think once you see them all,you’ll see everything a little differently.”