Have you ever questioned the meaning of your existence?

Of course you have. Let your mind wander long enough and, chances are, your thoughts will drift towards things such as the nature of the universe, and why it is you are who you are. Myself? I think about that sort of thing all the time, though my thoughts never stay there for long. Too many other things on my mind. Too much I need to take care of around here.

You see, it's just me, Ch'rch, and my friend, Balak. We live out in the middle of nowhere, living of whatever food we can grow, and occasionally, wild animals. It gets lonely, sure, but we get along well enough, and it's pretty peaceful out here, too.

"Balak, I'm headed out for a walk. You gonna be alright here by yourself for a while?" I yelled out from the front door.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. But while you're out, could you keep an eye for any animals? Runnin low on meat, so we could use anything you might find." He replies as he heads down the steps towards the front door.

"Sure thing. Be back in a bit." I say as I grab a blaster and head out.

I get a little stir crazy at times, so these walks help to keep my spirits up. Besides, the scenery out here is really nice. A lush, green forest surrounds us, but it's not too thick, so you get a pretty good view of the fields beyond. We try not to wander too far out because it's easy to get lost once you lose sight of any landmarks. The only defining feature of the skyline is a small mountain range. I hadn't been out there yet, and as far as I knew, neither had Balak. Figured I'd head out there, since I was growing tired of the usual surroundings.

As I was trying to keep an eye out for any movement, signifying an animal, my mind began to wander, as it usually does. However, my thoughts were quickly drawn to a distant hum I began to hear. It was extremely faint, but very distinct. I had never heard anything like it. It drove into my mind, taking precedence over any other thought in my mind. I followed it along the edge of the mountain range, until I came to a small cave.

"Wonder how long this has been here?" I wonder out loud.

As I head inside, the hum begins to grow louder. Something is drawing me into this cave. Once my eyes adjust, I see a faint glow in the distance. My thoughts were racing, but not a single coherent thought was in my mind. I felt as though I was no longer in control of my body. All I wanted was to know what was in the cave.

Sitting on a small rock, as though they had been placed, were two metallic objects. As I got closer, the hum grew loud to the point of overriding every other sound. As soon as I thought my eardrums would burst, the hum stopped, and I felt my thoughts return to me. Quickly, I grabbed the two pieces of metal and got out of the cave. As soon as I was back in the light, I realized what I had found.

I ran back as quickly as I could. Balak had to see this.