Read The Ruins of Mars: Waking Titan (The Ruins of Mars Trilogy) for Free Online

the Martian workers who shaped these caves.”
    Each taking the handle of a wheeled cart, the three explorers set off down the darkened tunnel, the pings of their Augmented Vision painting the walls awash with invisible blue light. Mathematically even on all sides, the tunnel was like a perfect mirror of itself. Whether it be gently sloping out or curving in, each detail, each subtle change in one wall was reflected on the other.
    Pointing this out, Braun launched into a long-winded lecture, attempting to educate YiJay to the importance of such a seemingly boring design feature. She listened out of respect, but in all honesty she cared more about the humanity of Braun’s enthusiasm than what spawned it.
    Soon, the three explorers entered the Statue Chamber, bright tripoded lights flicking on ahead of them. Harrison and Marshall set about unlocking their crates without so much as a glance at the towering statues, but YiJay was frozen in total awe.
    Lit from the brilliant glow of the tripoded light stands, the chamber was an immensely vaulted room with gently curving walls. Like the inside of a domed cathedral, the ceiling gradually rounded out, a small dimple in the rock above marking its lofty zenith. Casting murky shadows on the floor, the statues stood tall, their presence immediate and overwhelming.              
    YiJay dropped the handle of her cart absently and walked forward into the chamber on quivering legs. Above her, looming like gods were the twin three-eyed statues, their ethereal faces flat and calm. Reaching out a gloved hand, she traced her fingertips over the smooth surface of their graceful legs. With a detached sense of wonder, she walked a circle around the giant structures, her lips splitting into an uncontrolled smile. Stopping to look at the smaller statue of the kneeling woman, YiJay blinked back tears as she stared into the stone eyes of the reverent face.
    “YiJay?” called Marshall from the mouth of the chamber. “Are you ready to set up the Eyes?”
    “Y-yes,” she stammered. “I’ll be right there.”
    Stiffly, as if half-asleep, she walked back to the mouth of the cave and rejoined the others as they began unloading the equipment from the large silver boxes. Removing the temper foam buffers, Harrison reached inside one of the crates and retrieved a long thin box made of black metal.
    “I’ll take that,” said YiJay, her shock and awe instantly overcome by the cold calculation of her duty.
    Handing her the small container, Harrison and Marshall set to work on the rest of the crates, organizing their contents on the cave floor. Coils of wire, long poles, tripod leg stands, containers of electrical equipment, and Utility Tablets were arranged into groups like the pieces of some complicated puzzle.
    As the men worked, YiJay opened the hard-shelled black box Harrison had handed her and smiled. Inside, like oily gray pearls, were ten rows of small glass spheres. Affixed to the back of each apparatus was a three-pronged filament that caught the reflection of light and twinkled like golden sparks.
    “There should be another box like this, and a third one that’s blue,” she said, her hand outstretched and expectant.
    Rummaging, Marshall produced the two containers and placed them on the ground by her knee.
    “Okay,” she breathed, nimbly checking the contents of each box. “Ralph, you will install a patch on the generator to power the Eyes. Harrison, you will hand me what I ask for when I ask for it.”
    With a salute, Marshall got to his feet, gathered his equipment then turned and walked back down the tunnel to where the generator was stationed.
    Easing himself closer to YiJay, Harrison used a fingertip to open the lid of the black box housing the gray spheres.
    “Be very careful,” she warned.
    “How do they work?”
    Removing a flat motherboard from the blue box by her knee, YiJay quickly slid it into the open backside of a Utility Tablet.
    “They do many things, but