Precursor…

I know these logs are useless now, but one day they’ll be worth something. Future university students will curiously pour through these logs like I once did with scholars I fancied.

My interest in the mysterious disappearances of system spanning civilizations started with ‘N’Chago. A dear friend of mine, an older _____ of some stature, ‘N’Chago is a scholar like me. It was him that filled my head with the distant callings of the dead Chznl, those mysterious ghosts of a thousand worlds.

We argued through many nights over the validity of such an empire. How could one such civilization exist, one that eats other civs, without leaving a trace of itself in any significant manner? It was a preposterous claim, yet enticing. Our regular arguments led on through my years in university, too long for one of us not to bow to the other. Unfortunately, he was too sure of his beliefs and I was too young to quit while behind. Thus, my head was filled with tales of this ghostly civilization, and of system wide empires collapsing in less than a century.

No matter the detail, or the civilization it was always the same. A far reaching species would suddenly disappear within the century, all examples of the life form gone without a clue as to why. Only the distant whispering of an ancient warlike species, very strong, and very potent, that would sweep the galaxy and then disappear, made rumors in our studies. Aliens of aliens were those who swore, in old texts, that they saw the rise and fall in equal kind of these long dead civs, the unfortunate victims of this pirate culture.

Many names were created for them. Stargazers, the Gfa called them. Mindflayers, the Sayus warned. Corpse minds, bone rotters, mind eaters, the unaffected, the timeless, the scourge from the stars. They had many names, and many faces. And behind their chaos and piracy were left the dead civilizations long forgotten by the galaxy.

‘N’Chago was an avid studier of these dead civs, and made it a hobby to chase their tales to their sad conclusions. ‘N’Chago postulated these marauders may still be around, somewhere out there in dark space waiting to take the next civilization as its victim. The last mention of such an existence was thousands of years ago and none such collapses have existed since.

He believed following a pattern of destruction would lead him to an otherwise unexplored entry into the journal of such a dominating force. There was an ancient civilization, he theorized, undiscovered somewhere near the Aratid system Cerine, most likely a system-wide civilization. However, seeing as the Cerine system had turbulent times in the past five thousand years, most of the evidence on the substantial system planets was surely destroyed. That is, except possibly for a little ice dwarf far out in the system. Cautlus, he called it.

With his money and research, and my youth, we collected scholars of the same ilk, and pilots to match to take a research ship there. I don’t know how he did it, but ‘N’Chago was quite the diplomat.

Day 1

Celine was an Aratid system which was good for us being ____. As of ____ we are their protectorates. They had a massive library on the colony ship Gtiri. It was amazing. There were ten floors full of amazing stuff. Nothing on what we were looking for though. A stoic station captain named Frias gave us clearance for travel to Cautlus. He yelled at Ntrayu when she acted up. It was quite amusing.

We ventured out soon after.

To me, that was where the fun ended. Cautlus looked like any other planet. When we finally approached, my hopes for any discovery there became very small. The dense iceball killed any naive assortment of feelings I had for the project. Reality was harsh.

After we arrived, the science team settled in, prepped the labs and then launched the probes planet side. The expedition team was excited to head down. They couldn’t wait for the probes to do their jobs. I had to listen to their moaning about it for quite a while.

The probe took weeks to bring back viable data. By then, I admit I too was getting antsy.

But, then it came back. All the usual data rocks, ice, minerals and frozen gasses… but then a sonar of the ice was relayed to us. The images sent showed giant dark masses under the ice. Curiously, we sent thumpers down to the surface in anticipation. What they sent back was astounding…

Completely mapped in sonar was an ancient megastructure. It looked like some kind of city, buried far under the ice, far too deep for anyone to get to, but it was there. I nearly died of excitement seeing the first images. The civilization was real.

Thumpers in other locations were hit or miss, but every new image they sent of a distant buried city under the ice brought us further into the mystery. We knew we had to head down immediately. My mood then changed dramatically.

Day 1 of expeditions

The ship is prepped. I made sure they triple checked it. I don’t want to fry up in the atmosphere.

Day 10

We landed safely, planet side. I gripped the seat until my fingers almost broke. I hate planet drops.

We landed in the Taragi Plateau, a large icefield near the equator. It was the safest place to land, far from bad terrain, and that toxic red ice.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

My first impression of Cautlus? It was a frozen wasteland. I couldn’t believe so little could exist in so much space. And it was cold. Our suits had trouble keeping us heated. The ground was hard packed ice. We could barely build anything on top and our shoe grippers couldn’t break the surface. It was hard not to slip.

I will admit, once I acclimated I found Cuatlus breathtaking. Vast plains of hard ice with faint streaks of red snow… The sky didn’t hold as many stars as we thought it would. The only thing shining brightly up there was Cerine. Bright blue and so far away, I felt a little lonely looking up at it. The constant weak breeze was even a bit relaxing.

Our first outpost was set up that night. We celebrated. The team talked all night with the other scientists still on board the ship. Everyone was excited.

Ntrayu drew on Ch’na’s helmet in the night, a little goofy face. She thought it was really funny that Ch’na couldn’t get it off in the morning. Ch’na on the other hand… She rarely got mad, but this time she let N’trayu have it. Watching N’trayu get yelled at is becoming a favorite pastime of mine.

Day 15

The probes picked up precious metals in the mountains of Regala. We’re headed down again.

Day 30

The mountains were amazing. They were giant ice peaks that dwarfed any back home. There wasn’t much else to look at, though. Metal samples. The usual. No signs of anything else. A beacon was placed so we could find the deposits if we needed to.

Day 33

Myosa and I had a long chat about Cautlus last night in the dining hall. She seems to really be enjoying herself. (Although she wouldn’t admit it, I think she has a thing for N’trayu. Why? I have no idea)

Day 35

We’re going down today to inspect the red ice and see what’s causing the rust color on the ground. We want samples.

Day 45

It was amazing. The plains were so red, and stretched so far it was like we were on another planet. The team didn’t venture too far into the red ice, though. Something about it corrodes our suits. We took samples. There were deposits of fine red dust in deep impact craters, too. Very pretty in a jar. Alas nothing about an ancient civ… My hopes are far from dashed, though. It may take years to find any signs.

Note: Myosa loved it here. We could barely convince her to leave on the last day. We were all sick of it. I needed some RnR ship side, desperately. I haven’t seen Ch’na since we got back. I bet she’s sleeping like a rock right now. I know I’m going to.

Day 60

We visited the north and south poles, respectively. We bore some ice, launched some probes, and set up two more OP’s. The north one we named Highward. I left a _____ of _____ up there in case we have another extended stay. The north pole was so boring. Ice, ice, and more ice. The southern OP actually had snow. It glistened in the dim starlight. There was a faint arora overhead too. It was blue. It was so light, the others couldn’t really see it, but I could.

I aptly named the OP there Blue Peak. N’trayu wanted to call it Point N’trayu. That’s why she isn’t team leader…

Day 120

Nothing to report for a while. Survey after survey. Collecting rocks and ice. Setting up boring stations. The usual.

(Also, N’trayu and Myosa are definitely a thing now. I see them together all the time. Planet side, I think I even caught them holding hands. Poor Myosa.)

Day 122

Me and Ch’na had a long talk today. We chatted mostly about home. I think she’s homesick. Maybe I’ll request some leave time for her to go to G’tiri station. She’s also from Msticka. Who knew? I should have guessed by her eye color.

Day 125

I’m really glad Ch’na and I had our discussion. The more I think about it, the happier I am that she’s around. It’s like having a piece of home nearby. I think, oddly, she feels the same way. Her mood has improved quite a bit.

Day 140

The probes sent something out this morning. There is some kind of cavity beneath the ice on the south pole. We’re going there to investigate.

Day 141

Oh, it was amazing. The things we found…

When we arrived at the south pole station and checked the thumpers, we were stunned. About a tenth of a mile below the ice there is a large set of tunnels and cavities that running water carved out a long time ago. We set up a carver to dig a tunnel for us. When it’s done we’re going in.

Day 150

Today’s the day. We’re headed inside. I’m expecting cool rock art and ice tunnels. Ch’na thinks the tunnels could harbor some kind of life form. I’m not so sure.

Day 152

We’re back…

It was amazing. The tunnels stretched for miles downward, but we have the guts to follow it that far.

They were beautiful, though. Pale blue, like moonlight on Inis 9. We have no idea where the light is coming from by the way. Myosa believes it to be ancient alien technology. Me? I think it has a more natural explanation.

Day 154

We went back down today. I can’t believe it. This place is amazing. In the tunnels, we found a small ice cave. Not only that, we found the surface of the planet! No clue what it’s made of, but it’s dense and rocky.

It was in a cave at the bottom of the tunnels. The cave itself was amazing, too. It glowed blue just dim enough to see without extra light. The cave was big enough to hold twenty people inside as long as they crouched. It must have been a water reservoir a long, long time ago.

There were more tunnels here. They led downwards. Whatever we were standing on must have been a mountain at one point because there was no way the megastructures we saw at the start of our journey were under the surface of the planet. Ch’na wonders if the ice tunnels lead to the cities down below. I didn’t want to find out honestly.

Another big discovery, we found liquid water too! A little pool at the edge of the cave still held a small pool of liquid water. It was about finger deep. And the water was glowing! Little phosphorescent creatures floated around the bottom. We took samples. I can’t believe something could live down there.

But that’s not even the biggest discovery. We found the biggest discovery of all of our careers.

There in one of the walls of ice, Ch’na noticed something strange. It was a shape in the ice. When we looked closer we discovered a little roundworm looking creature, the size of half of our arm, frozen solid in the wall. It was twirled around without a care in the world. Who knows how long it’s been frozen there. How did it get there in the first place?

Myosa posits there was an ocean sea beneath the thick layer of ice, at one point. This thing must’ve lived in it. The planet cooled even further and the ocean froze and all life with it.

This is an amazing discovery. Not exactly the type we were looking for, but still a good one. We cut out the whole block and returned it to the lab.

I’m shaking right now, I can’t believe it. I feel good about Cautlus, now. I feel like, with these discoveries, we’re gonna find something even bigger, something we’ve been searching for for a long time.