Wared felt his stomach churn as he watched the cone of his flashlight illuminate the now closed door. He swallowed hard.

"What do we do now?" he said with a croak.

Before either of them could answer, dim blue light strips came alive around the walls. A sputtering noise came from above them, from one end of the room to another.

"What the—" Randee started. He was interrupted by gushing cold water that sprayed down on them, soaking them to the bone within seconds. Shea screamed and grabbed Wared while Randee looked around wildly for the source. But, before either of them could do anything, the water stopped.

A door on the other side of the hallway opened, revealing a rectangular room on the other side. Benches stretched along the left wall while lockers covered the wall on the right.

"What is this place?" Shea said as she stepped across the threshold.

"Looks like a locker room," Randee said and proceeded to check the lockers. "Here, there are clothes in here," he said and handed a pile of clothes to Wared.

Wared blinked and looked at the clothes in her hand. Clean clothes, in a locker room of some sort. At some point, someone had been here, someone had used this room on a regular basis.

"Do you think they're still—?"

"Here?" Randee said with a shrug. "I guess we'll find out. I'm sure they won't mind if we change into something dry though."

"Yeah, but what if—" Wared said, his eyes on the clothes in his hands.

"What if what?" Randee snapped. "I'm wet, there are dry, clean clothes that no-one's using them. Doesn't bother me. Let's get dressed, ok?"

Although they changed in silence, Wared's mind was running at full speed, churning out theories as to what this room was for, where they were and what this facility was intended for. He realized that they may be at the very end of the pipe and that much closer to the answer they were looking for. A mix of relief and uncertainty flooded his mind all at the same time.

"Are you two ready?" Randee said, interrupting Wared's thoughts. When they both nodded, he continued. "Remember, we don't know what this place is, or what we'll encounter. Stay alert and stay behind me, ok?"

As they stepped out of the locker room, lights flickered to life in the corridor outside. Some lights continued to flicker, while others didn't come on at all. An dusty smell was evident in the air, reminiscent of an abandoned building that no-one had been to in a long time. The walls that at one point had been white were discolored and the floor was covered with a visible layer of dust and other particles.

"It doesn't look like anyone has been here for a while," Wared said as he covered his face with his elbow.

"I agree," Randee said. "We can't let our guard down though. There's no telling what we might come across. Let's proceed carefully."

Lights continued to flicker on as the moved further into the structure. Doors they passed led to storage closets, equipment rooms and more storage. At the end of the hallway, they encountered another door, this one ajar a few inches, as if someone had left it open on purpose. Randee paused with his hand on the door handle and raised a finger to his lips.

As Randee held the door open, Wared stepped over the threshold followed closely by Shea. Randee closed the door without a sound. Wared raised his eyebrows and gestured in both directions of the hallway that came into view as the lights flicked to life. Where they had just walked through a dusty environment that visibly showed signs of age and deterioration, the corridor they stood in now was immaculate. The floors were clean the walls were bright white, as if they had just been cleaned.

"What's going on here?" Wared whispered.

Randee shrugged his shoulders and pointed towards a door about ten yards from where they stood. They approached it carefully. The sign next to the door said Engineering. It was locked. They passed several other doors, also locked, before they encountered a staircase. Randee paused at the foot of the stairs and listened.

"Come on, let's move," Wared said and started up the stairs.

"Wared," Randee hissed.

Wared turned and crossed his arms. "What, Randee? We're sneaking around here like we're criminals in someone else's house, trying to not be discovered."

"Wared—" Shea started.

"We're here to find answers, right? Let's find them and get out of here. My brother's life hangs in the balance."

"Fine," Randee said with a grunt as he stepped up to Ward. "But, I lead, just in case."

"Go for it," Wared said and took a step back.

Wared and Randee held each other's gaze for a few more seconds. Randee then turned and walked up the stairs rapidly, leaving Wared and Shea behind.

"Take it easy on him, ok?" Shea said as she put her hand on Wared's arm. "He's just trying to keep us safe."

"I know, I know. I just—" Wared paused. "My brother. I need to find the answers we're looking for."

"So let's do it. Together."

Wared smiled and nodded.

"Guys," Randee called from the top of the stairs. "You need to see this."Wared and Shea hurried up the stairs. Shea gasped as they joined Randee.

"What the—" Wared said as his mouth opened wide and his eyebrows shot up.

A large circular room stretched out before them. Illuminated by large, recessed circular lighting, the room was lit by a dim glow. The walls were covered by paintings of distant vistas and the center of the room was occupied by a large globe that stretched from floor to ceiling. Hallways stretched out in four directions.

"What is this place?" Wared said and then pointed towards the globe in the center. "And what is that?"

"There's a plaque," Shea said and pointed towards a small stand next to the glove. As they approached it, lights came on around it, lighting up the globe as well as the art-covered walls.

"Originem Terra Nostra?" Wared said as his finger traced the letters on the brass plaque.

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"I'm not sure what that means," Shea said. "It looks like another planet. Maybe that's the name?"

Wared put his palm on the surface of the glove. Maybe it was a planet. He could make out what appeared to be distinct regions on its surface dotted with circles indicating what he thought were cities. What is this place?

"Let's keep moving," Randy said and pointed towards one of the corridors that branched out from the room. "Look, there's a sign over there that says Command. That's a good place to start."

"Hang on," Wared said and gestured towards the walls. "I want to see this."

"I thought you were in a hurry?" Randee said.

"Listen, this room was obviously important to whomever used to live here. The globe is a monument to something and the paintings on the wall, they signify something. Look, there are several scenes. There's a wasteland, a space ship, what appears to be a new city being built. It all means something."

"I'm sure it does," Randee said. "But the longer we stick around here, the longer it'll take to find the answers we came looking for. You said so yourself, just back there." Randee gestured towards the stairs.

Wared knew Randee was right. He glanced at the walls around the hall and sighed. "Fine, I'll come back to this later."

Randee nodded and lead the way out of the hall. They reached a set of double-doors with Operations written in large red letters. They paused outside the door for a moment as the listened for any signs of life.

As soon as they opened the door, it became clear that the Command Center wasn't completely dead. There was an audible hum emanating throughout the room. Several rows of computer consoles stretched across the room facing several large screens. Chairs were strewn across the floor and paperwork littered the computer consoles and the floor. Shea walked up to the closest one and started fiddling with the controls Wared flipped through the yellowing papers on another desk.

"I wonder what happened here," he said as he picked up a page and scanned one of the pages. "It looks like whoever was in here left in a hurry."

"This screen won't turn on," Shea announced and moved to another console. "I'll try this one."

"Over here," Randee said and pointed to a partially open door that said Commander. Wared followed him into the room.

A desk with multiple screens occupied the far side of the room while a small square table and a couple of chairs were setup on the right side. Just as the larger room outside, the commander's office was also in disarray. Papers were strewn across the table and the desk. One of the screens lay on the floor, it's screen cracked. A closet in the corner was wide open, its contents piled on the floor.

"Look at this," Randy said and pointed at a chart on the wall next to the desk. "It looks like a map of the facility."

Wared stepped closer and easily recognized the circular hall they had found earlier. The four corridors the branched out from the hall were all labeled and identified each section of that part of the facility. Four more floors were labeled. Wared reached for it and pulled it off the wall.

"Let's take this with us," he said and rolled it up.

Shea walked into the room and picked up a pile of papers at random. "The consoles out there seem to be working, I just can't get them to turn on."

"We found a map," Wared said and held the rolled up posted up in the air.

"And this," Randee said triumphantly. Seated at the desk, he held up a piece of paper.

"What is it?" Shea said and came around behind him.

"It's an evacuation checklist. Look, it talks about setting systems to stand-by and so on."

"An evacuation? That doesn't happen unless there's danger," Wared said and rubbed his chin. "So where did they go?"

"Does it matter?" Randee said. "They're not here now, and that doesn't help us."

"But it does," Wared said. "If we're going to find out the truth about the Protectorate, we need to understand what happened to those that once lived here. I mean, who were they? Why did they come here and where did they go? Are they the Protectorate?"

Shea nodded. "He's got a point. We came here to figure out who they are."

"Fine," Randee said with a groan. "Look, what we have out there seems to be the command center. I think this is where they ran this place from. Operations, or something like it. We need to find the place where they kept all the records. An administrative floor, maybe? Some place that would keep everything about this place organized. There will be more details about this structure there."

"Agreed. Wared, can we see the map?" Shea said and cleared a spot on the desk.

Wared unrolled the map on the table and pointed to the circular hall in the center of the hall. "Looks like this one is called the Hall of Memories. We're here," he said and pointed at one of the areas that branched out from the hall. "It's the Operations Center, to the north."

"On the other side of the hall, there's R&D," Shea said and gesture. "It looks like residential areas are located to the west while support services are to the east."

"Support services?" Wared said.

"I imagine that's where they ate and so on," Randee said.

"If I'm reading this map correctly, the administrative section is the next floor up. Here," Wared said and pointed to a whole separate floor.

"What's this?" Shea pointed to a large floor at the bottom of the structure. "It's called Cryo?"

"Cryo?" Randee said and looked closer at the map as he scratched his head. "That's interesting. It may be a short for cryogenics. I'm wondering why they would have a facility like that here. It's definitely worth checking out."

"Cryogenics? Yeah, that feels a little out of place, doesn't it?" Wared said and looked up. "I mean, we're on a planet that's mostly desert."

Randee nodded and glanced at Wared. "Like I said, it's worth taking a closer look."

"Cryo and the administrative area are at opposite sides. One is at the top, one at the bottom. Maybe we should split up," Shea said. "We can cover more ground that way."

"Fine," Randee said. "I'll take Mission Control, you take Cryo. Any objections?"

Wared and Shea looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Great. Here," Randee said and retrieved a pair of walkie-talkies from his backpack and handed one to Shea. "Let me know immediately if you run into any trouble."

Randee wasted no time and walked out of the office before Wared or Shea had a chance to protest, leaving them standing in the quiet office.

"Um," Wared started, "We better head down then, to Cryo?"

Shea smiled briefly and nodded. "Yes, we better. Lead the way."

They retraced their steps to the Hall and down another set of stairs that led to a dedicated elevator. Predictably, the elevator seemed to be out of order so they took the stairs down.

They were greeted by a nondescript hallway leading to a gray door with a white sign on it that spelled out CRYO.

"It doesn't look like much," Shea said as Wared opened the door. They stepped into a reception area with a half circular desk. Glass-enclosed offices stretched out on both sides. Unlike the offices in the Operations Center, the offices were neat. All the furniture was positioned in their proper places. Yellowing papers were piled in bins and random office items had been left as if the occupants of the desks had just stepped out for lunch."

"Whoever worked here, it looks like they had every intention on returning," Wared said and picked up paper from a pile. The corner of the paper crumbled between his fingers. "Look at this. It's a meeting agenda."

"Don't you think it's strange though," Shea said as she flipped through another pile of papers. "In comparison to upstairs. It's all so tidy," she said and gestured around the office.

Each office was similar to the first one, overall tidy. Nothing out of place. Wared felt a shiver run down his spine. That in itself was out of place.

"What's that?" Wared said as they exited the last office. Further down the hall, partially obscured by a burnt out light was a set of double doors. Wared had to step closer to read the sign on the door. OBSERVATION DECK. "Observation deck to what?"

"Let's find out," Shea said and stepped in front of Wared. The hinges of the double doors squealed as Shea opened them. A security checkpoint greeted them on the other side. A small guard seat lay on the floor next to gate. It wasn't difficult for Wared to imagine a stern guard seated on the chair, demanding the credentials of all who entered.

With the guards long gone, Shea pushed opened the gate and followed a narrow corridor that ended with a large metal door. RESTRICTED ACCESS was printed in large red letters. Shea put her hand on the handle and looked over her shoulder at Wared, her eyebrows raised.

"Are you ready for this?" she said and nodded towards the door.

Warred nodded without saying a word. He was ready. Shea put her hand on the handle and was about to push down when the radio squawked.

"Shea, Wared, are you there? Over." Randee's voice was barely discernible through the static.

"Shea here. You're coming in weak. Over."

"I've found something," Randee said after a long pause. "I think you better come up here. Over."

Shea and Wared looked at each other, both of their eyebrows raised.

"Let's check this out first," Wared said and nodded towards the doors.

Shea shook her head. "If Randee wants us up there, we better get up there. Whatever is behind these doors isn't going anywhere."

Wared sighed and put his hand on the door. "Fine. Let's go find Randee."