Venus Andromedae's Arc

Chapter 3 of 3

They walked through the eastern quarter together, following the coordinates Venus had marked three weeks ago. The streets were narrower here than she remembered, lined with scaffolding and half-built storefronts. Kieran kept pace beside her without asking questions, and Venus found herself grateful for the silence. Then they turned the corner and Venus stopped. A command tent stood directly over the constellation site, purple canvas stretched across brass poles, observation deck rising above it. Workers moved around the perimeter with drills and pickaxes, tearing into the ground in precise rows. Venus pulled out her grandmother's chart and checked the coordinates twice. The excavation sat exactly where the twelfth constellation should be. She watched a drill punch through stone and felt something cold settle in her chest. Whatever had been there was already gone, or about to be. Kieran touched her shoulder. "We can ask them to stop," she said quietly. Venus looked at the tent, at the workers, at the careful grid they were following. Someone else knew this site mattered. Someone else had found it first. She folded the chart and put it away. "No," Venus said. "We find out who sent them." Venus walked toward the nearest worker, a woman operating a massive drill automaton encrusted with crystalline dust. Red light pulsed from the ground where its arm punched through the earth, scattering fragments that caught the afternoon sun. Venus held up her hand. "What are you digging for?" The worker cut the engine and wiped her face. "Foundation survey. City planning sent us out three days ago." Venus felt her stomach drop. "Did they tell you what they were looking for?" The worker shrugged. "They never do. Just gave us a grid and told us to go deep." Venus looked at the fractured ground, at the red light bleeding from the cracks. She knelt and picked up one of the fragments. It was warm in her palm, etched with markings she recognized from her grandmother's notes. Star chart notation. Elven script. The constellation hadn't been destroyed. It had been here all along, buried deep enough that no one would find it by accident. Someone had known exactly where to dig. Venus stood and pocketed the fragment. She looked at Kieran. "The twelfth site isn't gone," she said. "It's under them. And whoever ordered this dig knows what it is." Kieran stepped closer to the excavation edge and pointed at the scattered shards glowing faintly in the dirt. "If they knew what was here, why tear it up?" Venus turned the fragment over in her hand, feeling its warmth spread through her fingers. The answer settled in her chest like a weight. "Because they want to destroy it before I can confirm it." She looked at the workers, at their methodical grid, at the way they were following coordinates that matched her grandmother's chart almost perfectly. This wasn't random construction. This was deliberate erasure. And whoever ordered it had access to the same knowledge her grandmother had spent her life protecting. Venus tucked the fragment into her bag and met Kieran's eyes. "We need to get under that tent tonight," she said. "Before they dig any deeper." For the first time since arriving in this city, Venus wasn't running from what scared her. She was running toward it, and she wasn't alone.