To their surprise this was kind of the case. Getting past the first mountain range ahead of them an increase in Davidson-Robina radiation density was detected by DrOS. The radiation was not fluctuating but nonetheless it was becoming more abundant as they went further into the mountainous area. This continued until they could see a wide valley up ahead at the intersection of three different mountains. Melissa told DrOS she could see what appeared to be a semi-translucent bubble up ahead. This bubble seemed to cover quite a large area, which they approached with caution without touching or passing through it. From outside the bubble Melissa could see a large town inside, completely covered but not destroyed at all. DrOS could not see the bubble nor the town with its optic eye, but the Davidson-Robina radiation reading seemed consistent with what Melissa was announcing about the bubble.
She told DrOS that she wanted to touch the edge of the bubble, so they flew closer. To Melissa's surprise there was no physical presence of any kind and her hand went right through. It was like air, an illusion, a trick of the eyes.
Melissa urged DrOS to fly into the bubble. It debating with itself for a few minutes, trying to decide whether it was worth the risk. Based on the little data it had all the data pointed to this being the site of origin of whatever happened centuries ago. DrOS decided to fly in with caution, weapons systems primed and ready for deployment if necessary.
They flew in and the city became visible to DrOS' optic eye, but unlike how Melissa had described it, the city below, like the rest of the world, was in ruin. Melissa too was rather shocked at the sight of the city below, robbed of that shine and essence of beauty it had while she was on the other side of the barrier.
They hovered in place as DrOS scanned the town. As expected, it couldn't detect any heat signatures to indicate life. While the scanning was taking place, Melissa tried looking back at the world beyond the dome, but it was somehow obscured and foggy.
Both noticed a sound from far below them in the belly of the city. It wasn't clear enough to make out so they hovered down towards ground, hoping to get a better earshot of it. As they got closer to the ground the sounds were becoming more clear and they could identify it as singing.
It wasn't akin to any singing either had ever heard before. It was an inexplicably beautiful aria, which brought unwilling tears to Melissa's eyes. DrOS was unaffected but even the mind of Trisha was crying inside the metal body. There was something beautifully harmonic to the sound, it was full and vibrant, a conglomeration of voices combining into a divine choir that could only have been described as the purest white light by those who heard it.
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The sounds resonated wildly across the bubble yet Melissa could feel the music's origin calling to her, drawing her in. DrOS could identify the sound and could vaguely determine where it was coming from but was not at all drawn in. Melissa led the way as she was entranced. Just to be sure DrOS transformed its right arm to reveal a massive weapon inside.
Melissa led them to a large destroyed building near a lake, what remained of the exterior drew a circle on the ground. While the exterior was little to look at now, the foundation was still rather solid. An opening with decaying stairs leading underground was plainly visible from where they were standing, from which the choir singing could be heard with more clarity than before.
The two traveled deeper down the stairway, following the sound, led by enchanting music into corridors and hallways that were getting progressively less destroyed and decayed. Some were still white and meticulously clean. The sound only got louder the deeper they went, confirming this was the right way. As they approached what seemed to be a laboratory facility, individual parts of the choir could be distinguished. Through the aria, hints of a far less refined voice could be heard, which DrOS identified as an older male voice. What he was saying was not yet identifiable.
DrOS picked up Melissa with its left arm and jetted on through the corridors, following the echoes of the almost vile male voice amidst the angelic choir.
"... I knew of once the sun, the moon, but now to me they're lost..."
As they sped through the corridors the man's voice was becoming clearer.
"... with all the time I've spent down here I've never seen the stars..."
Through the dense walls DrOS' scanners picked up no signs of life but the sounds, now almost deafeningly loud, could be only meters away.
"... I sweat, I bled and I shed my tears for all humanity..."
The corridor ended in a large control room with many broken consoles along three of its walls. The last wall was comprised of many thick but completely shattered window. Had they been intact, they would have been able to stop most explosions; yet this did not seem to be the reason they were shattered. A heat signature finally registered on the other side of those windows, far below in a gigantic open area between the largest machinery either of them had ever seen.
" ... we went so far, to be so great and now we broke the earth..."
With caution the robot walked over to the windows, Melissa still in hand, to see over the ledge at the man, clumsily singing, alone in the vast emptiness.
" ... and now I broke the world."
The robot jumped through the window and with a soft and slow descent startled the man out of his weeping song and the arias too stopped immediately, releasing Trisha and Melissa from their trance.
There was silence as the two parties stared at each other, equally surprised.
The man, still facing DrOS and Melissa in silence, became suddenly aware of his lack of clothing compared to the two fully clothed women in front of him. In his surprise he had not yet noticed that DrOS, in the shape of Trisha, was not human. He walked over to a chair that had a lab coat on it and put it on, covering himself a little.