Chapter 2 - The planet

The ‘outside’ (that is, still inside of the dome), was paved with concrete tiles in a geometric pattern. Genetically-engineered trees sprouted at regular intervals, their green crowns full and almost perfectly round. The dome wall was almost fully transparent, and the slightly orange-tinted sun shone brightly through it. Weaving between the densely-packed domes was a network of well-paved asphalt roads. Sleek electric cars and buses of various colors silently and quickly sped past. The buildings inside each of the domes were sleek but hastily-built, looking like simple cuboids and prisms of metal frames and plexiglass windows. The air felt oddly different from that on the space station, but the temperature was similar.

"Iss this not a dessert planet? Why iss it sstill deathly cold…?" Nheka hissed.

"It’s winter," Kayden replied. "Also just you wait until we reach Earth," he chuckled, "it’s a cold place, at least the parts I visited. I heard it used to be even colder. To think that island, Greenland, once didn’t live up to its name."

Nheka was ready to say something, but knew that such things were still a sensitive topic for humans and refrained from commenting. An awkward silence followed for a short while before Kayden finally spoke up.

"Oh right, I remembered. My uncle Jonathan, one of the first explorers of this planet, told me he’d gladly take us two on a tour of the tunnels under Green Mountain. I’ve been there but it’s been a while, they probs opened some previously-sealed tunnels to the public now or something. It says it’s closed for maintenance but he’s willing to take us on a special tour."

"Interessting, ssounds good… are there any interessting baubless there?"

"No, they stored them in a sealed part of the complex. Security and research reasons."

"Ah..."

After quickly phoning up his uncle and learning he was currently free, Kayden called a taxi and the two started waiting for it to arrive. After five minutes, the car parked beside the transparent door in the dome that led to the similarly-enclosed road. It was colored a dull orange, and a huge bubble-like window took up most of the wedge-shaped front of the lengthy vehicle.

"To the eastern eva depot, for two, please." Kayden said as soon as the vehicle’s doors opened. He swiped his datapad across a scanner located on the inside of the door, and the two got in. Both the driver, a dark-skinned man in his forties, and the human family in the back seats gave Nheka glances as she took up most of the middle row, with Kayden having to sit right on the edge. The taxi then started moving.

Habitat and smelter domes quickly gave way to desert dunes interspersed with artificial oases, dotted with various light brown rock formations, poking out of the sand like fingers and broken ribs, all zooming past at blinding speeds. There was little other traffic. Not far ahead, the ribbed boundary enclosing the road came to an end, and the taxi came to a stop.

There was a thin, similarly-enclosed path behind a door on the side, leading to a small collection of square metal buildings interspersed with various communications and maintenance equipment such as a few satellite dishes and piles of tires. There was an unlit red sheet-metal sign with large bold letters atop the largest building:

ANTEUS

A few squat desert buggies were parked next to the depot, their reflective hulls surrounded by external frameworks of pipes connecting four huge wheels. Kayden and Nheka walked forward, and as soon as they entered the building, they were greeted by a white-plated android with a singular camera for a cyclopean eye behind a desk. The room resembled the space elevator’s exit in design and furnishing. There was nobody there except for the robot and some very bored-looking security guard who just gave them a glance.

"Hello! How can I serve?" the service assistant intoned in a monotonous voice.

"Two Green Mountain Tour tickets, please," Kayden replied and paid for the trip in the same manner he did for the taxi. The whole time, Nheka was staring at the robot with clear disgust visible in her beaked expression.

"Ssoulless machine," she mumbled as they exited towards the rovers. Kayden raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

Both of them had to don respirator-like mouth masks and large oxygen tanks to exit the building through the airlock, for though the pressure outside was safe, the composition of the atmosphere was almost pure nitrogen and carbon dioxide, with too little oxygen to breathe. Thankfully, there were different sizes available.

Jonathan stood there, outside. He wore a white jacket with a hood, and similarly-colored baggy pants. In addition to a mask, he also wore wide goggle-sunglasses, to protect against sandstorms. Jon had a similar skin color to Kayden, and his hair was slightly grayed.

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"Hey there Kay!" the uncle said, in a medium-low-pitched voice. "I see you brought your new friend here."

"Hey Jon. Not new actually, we talked for months via mail."

Nheka just nodded and shook his hand. She was not used to speaking with a respirator.

"Ah, one way or another, let’s go!"

***

The buggy was unpressurized, and the hull’s only purpose seemed to be to keep sand out of the interior, which mostly consisted of perforated plastic seats, lockers with various supplies, and a single, dim light on the roof. It was clearly an utilitarian vehicle. They looked out of the small, square window as the vehicle rode up and down the dunes, with Jonathan in the driver’s seat, edging towards the mountain on the horizon. Its sheer cliffs, jutting out of the desert, were indeed very noticeably tinted dark green, and its peak, which used to be completely bare, had started to show a tiny bit of snow right at the tip, evidence of the efficacy of the nascent terraformation efforts.

As the vehicle approached the cliff, the three caught a glimpse of two figures walking towards it on foot, but didn’t pay them much attention.

With a jolt that nearly sent its two passengers out of their seats, the packed buggy parked in front of a tall but thin, rectangular tunnel leading deep into the mountain. A small information stand stood next to it, lonely in the sand. The group left the vehicle. The sign read:

Welcome to the Green Mountain Tunnel Complex! This structure was carved into the cliff roughly 15000 years and two Cycles ago. Though all useful artifacts and things that could help us identify their species have been looted by previous explorers or decayed into uselessness, the monumental underground architecture in the artificial caverns below is sure to dazzle all visitors. The structure has been deemed safe for unguided traversal. Do not litter, by penalty of 25✧ fine

~~NATC

There was another security guard posted in a small, wide-roofed structure outside the entrance, wearing white clothing with black highlights. She frowned as she looked about to say something to the trio, but seemed to recognize Jonathan and let them pass.

The three followed the tunnel down, lit by small yellow lamps mounted to the tall ceiling. The stairs were uncomfortably large for Kayden and especially Nheka, but Jonathan seemed used to them and went down faster. A faint spiral design was carved into the walls, weaving all over the rough stone. They soon entered a massive chamber, held up by spiral-patterned columns so thick that one couldn’t wrap their arms around. Now-featureless humanoid statues, ten times taller than the travelers walking around, dotted the rest of the room, their faces and bodies turned vague and smooth by the passage of millennia. Perhaps this was a temple of some sort… Kayden was here several times before, and his awe had long worn off. But Nheka was absolutely shaken by the sight of the immense structure, more used to the cramped, twisty corridors her culture tended to create. It was as if the ceiling was a black sky with a dozen suns, rather than something carved by sapient hands. The group spent a while looking at various statues and assorted ornaments.

"...and here is what we provisionally call, until we decipher the precursors’ language, the Stone Nightmare," Jonathan said, pointing at a statue shaped like a monster’s head with a gaping mouth, "...and here we see what might be a hint to their fate: Flamerider with its rays searing some figures on the ground. A freak solar flare could have destroyed their colony’s technology, prompting them to retreat underground and slowly die out."

"Why can’t it happen now?" Nheka hissed.

"Oh, first of all it’s going through a calm stage in its long-term stellar cycle so we are not at much risk, by the time there is enough danger I hope we will have the technology to perform stellar surgery. Second of all, there are preparations made in case such a rare event does happen. Every residential home has a bunker under it, and there are technology caches buried underground."

"I ssee…"

This went on for quite a while, until Jonathan said that he needed to take a break, and Kayden was left alone with Nheka. They wandered around, examining things, for a small while. The maintenance workers occasionally walking around looked friendly enough, but kept looking at them oddly.

***

A maintenance worker in an orange jumpsuit and safety goggles swiftly passed by, rolling a large crate behind him on a pallet jack. As he made a sharp turn to avoid a pillar on his way, the crate tumbled off, and the lid swung open with a clang… various baubles immediately recognizable as precursor artifacts immediately came pouring out: tablets, things that looked like odd versions of blaster pistols, various electronics. The worker immediately started collecting them back into the crate, cursing under his breath.

Kayden at first didn’t think too much of it, but then he remembered what Jonathan informed him of beforehand, that those artifacts were meant to be kept in the complex until further notice, and placed under guard until then. Something was up…

"Hello sir," he said, "may I ask about what are you doing?"

The worker hesitated a bit. "I… we’re on… we’re, uhm," his eyes darted around under his glasses. "Doing important cleaning work," he said, then pointed to the crate, "this stuff was found to be useless… toys and trinkets… and is being… transferred to a warehouse in the city…"

"I saw what fell out. Weapons and tech."

The worker paused for a second, then completely blew a gasket. "Go away! You’re not supposed to be here! Who the FUCK let you and that stupid lizard in? None of your business. Go away now or else!" He reached into his toolbelt for some heavy-looking instrument, and Kayden hastily backed off.

Nheka quickly paced towards the two, having picked up the sound, but Kayden grabbed one of her four hands and led her back towards the exit.

"Don’t feel like being here longer. Will explain later. Something very fishy is going on. And that something fishy is– they’re stealing shit. There are cameras, I think. I’ll call the police. Don’t like ‘em since that one time but I guess I have to. Let’s go up, the reception here is shit."

As the two went up the stairs, Nheka suddenly turned around and hissed "I ssee people in gray cloakss and khoods…"

Kayden turned around, too, and squinted. "Nobody’s there. I think your air tank might be running low or something. Let’s go."

***

Jonathan was outside. After Kayden recounted the events and his suspicions to him, he was shocked.

"What? WHAT? They… they… that makes no sense… how would they– only if they are insiders, my former colleagues… I could try and do some digging. Figurative digging. We got to solve this. Thank you so much Kayden, and what was your name again lizard lady…"

"Nheka of Khejrkiu."

"Nheka of… what? Can I just call you Nheka?"

"Yess…"

***

The dune buggy and taxi ride back was uneventful, and Kayden did not answer questions of "why so soon?" that the guard asked to him in the depot once the pair took off their masks. The mountain shrunk below the horizon, then the desert gave way to the city domes. The taxi, a different car from before, stopped at a medium-sized dome near the center of the city, containing a triangular-prism-shaped apartment building with octagonal windows. Around it was a bright green self-mowing lawn. The vehicle doors slid open, and the two travelers entered the dome.