The next couple of days were busy, as Niko fell into a working routine. Long hours in the lab became his norm as he meticulously worked on the Egg, his world reduced to the lab and the task at hand. Niko’s limited social interactions and the constant surveillance made him feel like a prisoner in a high-tech fortress, his only human connections being occasional brief conversations with Kuryakov or a nod from General Meyer.
Interestingly enough, not many people knew what they were doing. Niko doubted that even the military personnel they saw every day on the campus were aware of the full extent of their research. It was strictly forbidden to talk about the project outside of a few facilities. Still, he wondered how such a huge operation could go unnoticed by the public eye. On the other hand, it was rather plausible. The main reason was, as Niko thought, that even if something leaked to the public, it would just drown among hundreds of other conspiracy theories on the internet and social media.
The sophisticated tools and cutting-edge technology at his disposal allowed him to make incremental progress, but the task was daunting. Every day, he donned his lab coat and dove into the complexities of the alien capsule, running countless scans and analyses without compromising its integrity.
The team often wondered whether the Egg could be opened at all or if it was even an alien-made item rather than some sort of natural phenomenon. Its shape and composition, together with the findings on the MRI imaging, however, confirmed that it had to be made by someone. Also, it did not seem to have a function in its current form.
So, the new task was to crack the Egg open, as they would joke around. Obviously, with this Egg being made out of one of the hardest materials known to mankind and weighing a thousand pounds, it wasn’t as easy as during Easter.
They performed further tests, but whatever they tried, nothing happened. First, they pushed all corners of the Egg with robot hands to find a secret button, but when that didn’t work after hour-long combinations of one, two, and three fingers, they tried lasers, electricity, fire, even guns—anything accessible in the lab.
Edmundsson threw his slippers at the screen in rage after hours of experimenting. And no, that didn’t do anything, either. Any idea was welcome in the end, but the breakthrough came by accident.
As Niko was sitting at lunch one day, it dawned on him after he heard a splash and a muffled scream.
“Goddammit, Lopez! Watch where you’re going, you imbecile,” he heard Edmundsson yell.
Niko turned around to see one of Edmundsson’s famous temper tantrums. This time, it looked like Lopez had spilled coffee on him, and the scientist’s face was already flushed with fury.
“I just washed this suit!” Edmundsson fumed, glaring at the stain spreading across his trousers. “I used my entire water ration for the week! Do you have any idea how strict the rules are around here? And now, you’ve ruined my favorite pants!”
“Sorry, Edmundsson. To be fair, you weren’t looking yourself.”
“Sorry,” Edmundsson said in a mocking voice. “You are going to be sorry. I’m sick of your incompetence.”
Lopez held up his hands, trying to defuse the situation. “Look, it’s not that bad. I’ll give you some of my water to clean it off,” he offered, pulling a bottle from his belt and holding it out.
“That’s it. I will—” Edmundsson started.
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“That is it!” Niko exclaimed, running over and grabbing Edmundsson’s coat. “How come we have the smartest people in the world here, but we don’t see something so simple?”
“What are you saying?”
“Come with me immediately.”
Niko and Edmundsson hurried toward the lab, Niko still pulling on his coat in excitement.
“I demand you explain what is going on here, Tesic!”
“It’s simple — I know how to open the Egg. Your outburst inspired me,” Niko said.
“What on earth are you talking about? And stop pulling on me,” Edmundsson shouted.
Niko finally released him, turning to face him with a wide grin. “One thought has been stuck in my mind for days—why is the Egg here? The most likely theory is what Kuryakov told me on my first day: the aliens probably sent out these missions across the universe, hoping to find habitable planets. But what’s the most precious resource for life as we know it?”
Edmundsson furrowed his brow, still catching his breath. “Water?”
“Exactly! Fluid water,” Niko said, his eyes gleaming. “But the Egg didn’t just land anywhere—it landed in one of the driest places on Earth. What if the Egg only responds to detecting liquid water? That’s why it hasn’t opened yet!”
For once, Edmundsson was speechless. The pieces suddenly seemed to fall into place.
The following day, the entire team gathered around the screens, anticipation thick in the air, as Niko was working on the computer in front of him.
“Come on, Niko, admit it—you’ve been watching too much Harry Potter,” Lopez teased from the back, trying to lighten the tension. Niko gave a brief smile but remained focused, his eyes never leaving the screen.
As they placed the Egg on the platform, its smooth, metallic surface gleamed under the laboratory lights. Then, with bated breath, they began the tests.
First, they carefully introduced small quantities of water, allowing it to trickle over the surface. The Egg responded almost immediately, emitting a series of hissing sounds that seemed to come from deep within.
“You’re a wizard, Niko!” Lopez shouted, giggling to himself.
Slowly, the bottom half of the Egg was lowered into a shallow basin of water. As soon as it made contact, the room was filled with a sharp, piercing hiss. The sound reverberated off the lab walls, sending a shiver down their spines. Instinctively, everyone took a step back.
Suddenly, the upper half of the Egg began to shift. It didn’t just open; it smoothly slid to the side, like a well-oiled machine revealing its inner workings. The movement was fluid, almost graceful, as if the Egg was designed to open with the slightest provocation.
Although not even in the same room, the team leaned in, trying to get a glimpse of the technology that lay inside.
“That was rather unspectacular,” Edmundsson remarked, unimpressed, as if they hadn’t just opened an alien artifact.
“So, explain it to me again — why does it open with water. Doesn’t that seem too easy?” General Meyer asked.
“I guess it’s a test,” Niko said.
“A test?”
“A test to find out if we are in a habitable environment. Fluid water is key to all life as we know it. So, for an alien civilization, however advanced it may be, it probably is, as well,” Niko said.
“Imagine you were in search of new life,” he continued. “Let’s say you send out thousands of these capsules to exoplanets that might have a hospitable environment for life, according to your astronomical calculations. The content of the Egg should then open only in case it finds a suitable environment on that planet. For example, in the presence of water. It is possible, however, that the Egg might also need other components to react, such as oxygen in a sufficient dose. We can’t tell for sure.”
“And then what?” Det. Najjar asked.
Lopez took over. “Then what? Well, they could have some sort of communication device inside the Egg that triggers when opened and sends out a signal to their alien home. ‘Water alert,’” he finished in a robotic voice, while Edmundsson gave him a cold look.
“This is an interesting theory,” General Meyer said. “But if that is the case, shouldn’t we be worried? What if the Egg has just sent out a signal back home?”
“Thanks to you, General, we’re secure,” Lopez replied. “We’re deep underground, and no known signals can reach us here. For safety, Kuryakov and I also set up a device to detect any radio frequencies the Egg might emit. So, if the aliens were trying to communicate with it…”
“Stop with the theories, Lopez. We still don’t know why exactly, and when, this was sent to us,” Edmundsson interfered. “Isn’t that right?”
“That is correct—”
“So, until we know what’s inside, let’s not open the bloody champagne bottles, no?”