The door of the chamber was an imposing, vaulted entrance that was a little more than half the height of the structure. At the moment, it was sealed with a roaring, pulsing cascade of intense, flaring energy. It was impossible to look directly at the hot, flashing bolts of raging purple psi for more than a second or two at a time. Lyra noticed that no one was sitting close to the entrance of the chamber. So much throbbing, churning energy had a disturbing effect on human senses.
One of the men came forward. He was in his late forties or possibly early fifties, a tall, thin, sharp-featured individual in thick, dark-rimmed glasses. A goatee framed his narrow, unsmiling lips. Lyra decided he probably did not have much of a sense of humor.
"Dr. Felix Webber," Cruz said. "The head of the lab. Felix, this is Lyra Dore. She very kindly agreed to help us."
Webber nodded brusquely and managed to look even more irritated.
"Miss Dore," he said. "I've tried several times to get in touch with you during the past few weeks."
"I've been busy," she said. She started toward the door filled with purple lightning. "Let's get this done, shall we?"
"Are you sure you can handle this, Miss Dore?" Webber demanded.
"With one hand tied behind my back." She stopped in front of the door, her eyes slightly averted from the veil of searing energy that filled the entrance from top to bottom. "What did you guys do to close this thing?"
Webber's expression tightened with outrage. "What makes you think it was something that one of the team members did?"
"Let's just say I'm a tad suspicious, because I know how this door works. Someone must have triggered it. You know, you people really should be careful when you fool around with alien ruins like this one. Someone could get hurt."
"Who are you to lecture me on how to deal with alien technology?" Webber snarled. "You're just an opportunistic little tuner who happened to get lucky when you found this ruin. But you didn't have the training, the talent, or the education to appreciate its real value. To you this place was just a source of expensive relics you could sell on the underground antiquities market."
Cruz moved forward. "That's enough, Dr. Webber. If it hadn't been for Miss Dore, we might never have found this chamber."
Webber's jaw clenched. "I don't trust her, Mr. Sweetwater. She has made her hostility toward the company and the lab abundantly clear."
"I trust her," Cruz said simply. "She says she can get our people out. Let her do her job."
Webber swung around to face him. "How do we know she isn't going to make the whole thing explode? Or maybe she'll booby-trap it so that the next time it will close on one of us?"
Lyra wrinkled her nose. "No offense, Dr. W, but you've got some serious paranoia issues. You might want to try a few sessions of Harmonic Meditation exercises. I'll be happy to give you the name of my instructor."
There was some smothered laughter from the others.
Rage flashed in Webber's eyes, but he managed to keep his expression stone-faced.
"I think that's enough, Lyra," Cruz said. "Would you mind opening the chamber?"
"Sure," she said.
She slid the pack off her back and took a pair of dark glasses out of a side pocket. Slipping the glasses onto her nose, she walked directly up to the lightning-filled entrance. The shades dimmed the bright energy to the point where she could look at it directly.
She put her hand on the amethyst wall close to the opening and heightened her senses. The stone warmed under her hand. Vincent chortled in excitement and bounced up and down, delighting in the game.
Energy surged through Lyra, thrilling her all the way to her toes. Her hair stood straight out on end, forming a wild halo around her face. Her shirt lifted a little away from her skin as though caught by a storm wind. She suddenly wanted to fly. She was on fire with power, intoxicated with it. For a tuner, there was nothing like the rush of really hot amber.
But she was also a professional. A lot of people had a low opinion of tuners, but she took pride in being an expert. And when it came to amethyst, nobody worked stone better.
She forced herself to concentrate and began to search for the pattern of the wildly oscillating currents. She found it almost at once. Vincent vibrated with excitement. He was always up for a little psychic thrill. His hunting eyes opened again.
She identified the frequencies needed to control the forces of the lightning that locked the door and sent out counteracting wavelengths, pushing her own energy through the amber charms on her bracelet. The purple lightning flashed even hotter for a moment and then quickly faded. With a few final sparks and crackles and hisses, it subsided altogether.
Her hair tumbled back down around her face, and her clothes settled on her body. The heady sensation of power evaporated.
For few seconds there was stunned silence behind her. Everyone crowded closer, trying to peer through the entrance of the chamber. Purple light glowed from the interior of the ruin.
Five people appeared in the de-rezzed opening, all wearing varying expressions of amazement and relief.
A cheer went up from the group gathered around Lyra.
"They're okay," someone shouted.
One of the ghost hunters walked out first, probably testing to be certain that there would be no surprises for the others. He looked at Lyra.
"Appreciate it, ma'am," he said. "The Guild owes you."
"No," Cruz said. "Amber Inc. owes this favor."
Another man emerged from the chamber. He was in his midthirties, tall and powerfully built, with the sort of rugged features, macho attitude, and short haircut that just screamed cop or private security. He looked first at Cruz.
"Mr. Sweetwater," he said. "Sorry about this."
"It's not your fault, Garrett," Cruz said. "Hell, it's an alien ruin. There's always a surprise of some kind. Miss Dore, here, is the one who opened the chamber. Lyra, this is Garrett Flagg, head of lab security."
"Mr. Flagg." Lyra inclined her head politely.
"Miss Dore." Flagg nodded once, serious and intent. "Sure didn't expect you to come to the rescue tonight, not after what went down between you and the company. But I'm damn grateful. I owe you. If there's ever anything you need from me, just pick up the phone."
"Thank you," Lyra said. She looked at Cruz. "There is one thing I'd like to do before I leave tonight."
"Name it," Cruz said.
"I want to take one more look around inside the chamber," she said.
Flagg frowned uneasily. "Sorry, Miss Dore, but no unauthorized personnel are allowed inside. Access to the interior of the chamber is strictly controlled."
"By Amber Inc.," Cruz said. "As the CEO of the security division, I'm in charge of operations down here. Miss Dore can enter the chamber. I will escort her inside, myself."
"Don't worry," Lyra said, rezzing up another dazzling smile for both men. She was feeling the aftereffects of the highly charged amethyst energy that had been rushing through her moments ago, still feeling reckless. "I'm not going to steal anything."
Cruz gave her a patient look. "I know that."
They waited until the last member of the trapped team had emerged from the chamber and thanked Lyra. Then Cruz waved her inside. He followed, watching her with an unreadable expression.
Another buzz of energy, much lower in volume this time, whispered through her when she walked to the center of the chamber. The interior walls, floor, and ceiling glowed with a muted purple light, just as she remembered. But all of the small relics of carved amethyst amber that had been stacked around the edges of the room were gone.
She turned slowly on her heel, surveying the scene. "What did you do with the stones?"
"They've all been removed and taken to the lab," Cruz said. "Where, as I'm sure you know, we haven't been able to rez a single damn one of them."