Space is only what the scanners show. What they’re showing me now is puzzlingly. A perfect planet, all the buildings, statues, stairs, corners and streets cut to the perfect angle for uncanny efficiency. Nothing is alive on this planet, there isn’t air to breath, the water is stagnate. One of the many things the scanners won’t show is how there is vegetation and water on this planet with nothing on the molecular level. There’s no gravity either.
I’ve already sent this info to the captain. I can see on the stream that she’s messaged, Terrence, Arla, and Baum. Opal was already awake in her room. Concie is slipping us through an electrical solar flare. The captain has already given her the order to stop when we past it.
Pilots are bred, not born. Children who hit high on certain P.G.D. tests, are donated and put into the Weld. The infant is put back into a womb of sorts. The child is living a perpetual dream. Concie is our pilot, she’s imagining something that can’t be explained to us because it’s a world built to be able to fly this ship.
Once the ship has stopped we link up. All of us fully projected into rooms of our own designs. I’ve sent them the downloads they need about the planet’s data. Arla is the muscle of the team, nothing to kill there. Baum needs all of the mineral data. I can’t make sense of what everything is made of but hopefully he can. Terrence could hopefully read what’s carved on the walls and figure out who seems to be on every statue. Opal is backup, a task manager, wherever there is trouble you send Opal there. This mission we don’t need her. The captain is next to me. Opal enters. Baum is connected but doesn’t have a room. He goes straight to work.
Most structures on cycled planets are synthetic organic materials. Created to grow into a home, but these are cut stones. Fine cut stones. Not like crummy ancient pyramid cuts, these stones are held together like two magnets. They’re separate pieces yes, but have been grinding on each other for many millenniums. The statues aren’t shaved, outlined laser cut, they aren’t even printed. It’s like they’re plucked from a tree and set down in the best spot possible for everyone to see. I’ve sent Terrence all of the survey data, every carving, statues, letter and symbol. Finding matching symbols means you found a school, one of sentient creatures’ most common trait. Education isn’t something to fear, knowledge is. An intelligent person comes up with a solution, a group of geniuses discover the unknown, and the love for it all keeps it going.
We’ve pulled up behind the planet’s moon. I don’t need to be invisible to scanners because there’re none. Everyone knows their parameters and is going over the data. I’ll get a complete tag on everyone and we’ll all meet back into our rooms. We all teach each other what we should know to explore. We’d have to go down in sealed suits with joint movement propulsion to be able to get around. Only three should go down if any. Hopefully we leave this cemetery
Captain logs that we won’t touch down for this mission. It’s a strange planet yes, but we have enough scans and other data to research this planet while traveling. Terrence’s request to get a sample of a building is denied, and Baum’s request to leave an orb is denied as well. Concie doesn’t want to stay around this planet any longer than she has too. Arla doesn’t have a mission here, and I’ve sent every piece of data to who needed it. I’m already looking for the next planet, but I’m interrupted by a program notification.
Terrence has blinked himself down to the planet, he uploaded a dummy into his room. I knew he sat in that leg up position for too long. I’ve just told the captain that I can’t wink him back up, he’s inside the main building with his orbs. The biggest building on this planet is a majority of its largest land mass, which is ten million square miles, the buildings is shy nine million square miles, it curves and extends in all ways.
The other half of the planet is a garden, an awkward monolith of artificial plants, statues of the same creature placed in certain areas, and in different poses. The one’s carved into the monocity, the face has the look of unearned benevolence, and earned status to have a statue. A tree was never grown here, the greens never needed to be maintained. Water doesn’t need to be cleaned and isn’t needed by anything. Everything is placed. All of the planet’s water is the equator, it circles around the planet like a belt.
Concie and I are staying on the ship while everyone else steps dirt. Concie has to be put in sleep mode, she doesn’t like being around the space of this planet. She told the captain and Opal that everything about this solar system is unnaturally placed. It’s placed in an order but no particular order. Arranged like a bouquet of planets and moons with an ageless Sun. Everything reads normal until we scanned this solar system I understand why Terrence went down but I don’t understand why the captain wants to go down to retrieve him. He’s made his choice, we can’t drag him back in shackles, why not leave him there to rot? Can we really mean that much to the captain? The captain was going to go alone but they all requested to touch dirt. She’s taking who she needs. Concie can’t go and I need to stay to keep them in the loop. They’ve just arrived in the Ducts and transport is waiting.
We’re running a tether extraction, we can blink them into the saucer and wink the saucer with the crew into the landing bay. They’ve just hit atmo and will comms me when they ouch.
“Walpura, we’ve touched down. We have your tracking information on Terrence, we’ll contact you when we have Terrence.” The captain says.
I’m watching them fly out of the saucer, everything is being recorded but there isn’t any sound. There isn’t anything but themselves for the particles to bounce off of. Opal has overwritten a view of the orbs to follow them and gives them a parameter for me to call out trouble. I get caught up in exploring as well. From what the carvings on the wall say about this being or beings is that they have done all. They made the rain fall, put the sun in the sky, and is deserving of praise. There’re two one hundred foot walls with the being on the statues in the distance and others bowing toward the being. Could this be a temple for a God?
One of the probes has found Terrence studying a wall in a deep portion in the main building. He’s thrown rocks at the probing trying to make it flee. He’s hacked into the probe’s computer and shut it down remotely. I’m can’t see him and I assume he’s on the move. I radio the captain to inform her of Terrence’s proximity. The move in double time trying to get to him and they find him hovering before a massive sealed door. The crew crowds around him. A few more probes have circled above them.
“Do I have to detain you or are you coming of your own will?” The captain asks.
“I believe when I tell you what I’ve discovered you will want to stay captain.” Terrence says.
“If you can do it before Opal detains you, you might be right. Opal if you’d please.” The captain says. “This is a tomb. The language is close to a species we found before. This is the tomb of the Emperarch Esonwune Segobia. That’s what it says all over these walls. His final resting area is beyond this door. If I can get it open it should have everything we’re looking for.”
“Halt Opal.” The captain says. “What exactly are we looking for? You don’t know what’s behind this door and you want to put us in danger for your curiosity. If you choose to open that door I will leave you here Terrence.”
The enormous doors open inward without any sound. Just as the door is opening a loud hissing pops into the room and we can feel gravity slowly pulling us down. Terrence has already walked into the room and they have followed behind. This room is unlike the entire planet, nothing has been done to it. No carvings on the wall, no patterned walk paths, no statues, just blank walls. This didn’t give anyone a reason for fear, what did was the electrical twister that was forming outside the room they were just in.
“Captain, there is some serious interference going on in the room outside.” I say.
Just as the crew runs to inspect the anomaly its reason is shown. Grey beings with gangly limbs, and mindless eyes are pouring out of the electrical hole. Giant beings with great golden armor and sharp coverings for their claws on their hands and feet come through the hole as well. The grey beings march in unison toward the empty room. The crew hid in the left corner of the room, hoping they can sneak out when they get into the room.
Twenty maybe more grey beings stand before the wall at the end of the room and begin to push the wall. The wall is moving outward in the direction they’re pushing it. Other grey beings are on the surrounding other walls and have started carving into the wall with their fingers. The orbs in this area have already been destroyed by the guards. Six mindless grey dolls run out of the room telling the guards about the intruders.
The captain gives the order to attack, all weaponry is permitted. Palm charges, and electron bolts. The crew is running out of the room in a single file line. One of the golden guards bellows a roar that breaks an orb. The giant’s stride makes the crew stumble, the electron bolts Opal shoots at them dissipates around their armor. I’m guiding the crew to the exit, double checking my directions and pulling as many orbs as I can back to the saucer.
Opal has just told the captain to keep moving, Opal has a plan to keep them off their tail until they get to the saucer. She turns toward the golden giant of claws and teeth, she waits until the beast gives another grand yell. Once it does Opal sticks her hand inside the mouth, releasing a bolt strong enough to propel him backward. The guard’s body shakes making everything reflected in the golden armor look like a lens effect. The guard has a hard sneeze of smoke and spit, it props itself on the wall trying to gain stability.
Opal rushes to the guard and plunges her left arm into the giant’s eye and releases another electron charge. The giant’s cry is heard by the crew and I tell them to keep moving, Opal has it under control. Opal removes her hand from the smoking socket and prepares for the next two that are coming. One of the guards holds up his claw toward Opal, the claw launches from it paw with no means of propulsion. Opal jumps to dodge the claw but never saw the one launched from the guard who she thought she killed. The golden claw slips through Opal’s abdomen, as it’s exiting blood smears all over the claw. Opal lands on the ground in two pieces.
The light at the tunnel’s end is enough motivation to keep the crew running. I put an orb outside the exit and flew the saucer by remote control to be closer to the crew. The door to the tomb doesn’t close dreadfully slow but with a damning quickness. The door becomes a wall locking the crew inside the tomb of another.
The orb’s audio is still picking up transmission and I can’t imagine what is happening to the crew. Their screams are laborious and harsh, the tear of flesh, the snapping of bone, and the chewing of meat all have a sound of their own. I command the orb back into the saucer and I wake Concie and tell her to get us out of here.
As we’re slipping through space we have received a transmission. I’m using Terrence’s notes and translating the message. It takes me a better part of a day to understand the message, no, the threat that has been promised.
“You abominable creatures have soiled the unfinished tomb of our great Emperarch Esonwune Segobia. Only death will cleanse you of your sins.”