NOTE1: Hello everyone! Welcome back to another chapter of The Lost Civilization! I really felt like writing the 4th chapter somewhat faster, so… here it is! I will answer a few reviews first. Since many reviews were from anonymous sources and I can't PM them 'cause they probably don't have an account, I will post here some answers (only questions that won't spoil future content). But let me first thank you all who reviewed! Your supports and feedback really means a lot.

Q1: Spartans mating with Asari! Nope! I didn't even mention the Spartans. We only have the good ol' ODSTs rolling at the moment.

Q2: Again, this story IS NOT about factions roflstomping other factions, about war, about technologies. It's about exploration, discovery, evolution.

Q3: DNA test! Hey, come on, they don't have a sample. YET! Will they find one in the future? Well, if you know a bit about paleoanthropology you might know the answer to that one.

Q4: Flashbacks? Nope! But I will have one or two chapters dedicated to what happened to the ODSTs. Perhaps in the very next chapter.

Q5: The still persisting question about Humanity. Well, I don't want to spoil anything, but don't expect a utopia either. Won't tell you anything about the location of the UNSC, about the existence of the Systems Alliance, about the Covenant. I'll reveal it in later chapters. After all, it's been 90,000 years since the Great War. And wars leave scars.

NOTE2: If you're one of those people who are into looking for hidden messages, I've left plenty of clues as to what might have happened in the past. You only have to read with attention and some very plausible ideas could pop in your minds. I only ask of you not to spoil it for others. Use a possible spoiler tag if you want to say something about it in the reviews. Thank you!

Chapter 4: A Common Ancestor II

Thessia, Cradle Valley

2130 CE

It took time, but they were successful. All bones have been revealed and retrieved from the cave. The camp had grown twofold in size since they first set up here in this forest. They had to cut down a few trees to make more room. A dozen more assistants and technicians came to help with uncovering everything in the cave and analyzing the findings. Treeya Nuwani refused to come, continuing her own excavation. She had uncovered many metal tools and was now exploring the cave they were excavating. Prognostics had it that it was linked to the cave Liara found the aircraft in. It must be a huge cave for there were two and a half kilometers distance between the two dig sites.

Two full skeletons were in front of her eyes. The bones had been arranged in such a manner that it would reconstitute the original skeleton as it was unearthed. The skull of Alpha, as they nicknamed the first skeleton, left her bewildered. Beta, the second skeleton, was much more in line with Asari physiology.

Alpha was a head taller than Beta, had larger and heavier bones, was much more muscular and powerful… If she was to throw an educated guess, Liara would say these two were individuals of two different genders of an undocumented species – either an Asari race, or, as what the murals suggested, extraterrestrials.

Why did she not discount yet the possibility of them being another Asari race? The overwhelming similarities between Beta and the Asari skeleton. She, for Liara truly believed it was a female and Alpha was a male, had a much more vertical frontal skull bone than a receding slope like Alpha, just like Asari Sagax. She had smooth brow ridges, a small mastoid process, the orbital margins were round, the chin was rounder… all like a modern Asari skull.

But, what definitely placed Beta in the female camp was the pelvis. The pelvis interior was pretty voluminous compared to Alpha, and the angle of the pubic arch was obtuse. Beta definitely was a female, sporting the trademarks of any species' females that give birth to live offspring. Unlike Alpha, Beta seemed built to carry a baby in her belly. Just like an Asari. Turian females are like this, Quarian females are just like this, Drell females have a pelvis that follow the same principle.

Liara's senses were numb to the outside, to the people talking around her. She was literally suffering of what one might call 'tunnel vision'. They were debating between themselves the implications of the differences between Alpha and Beta. Liara did it with herself. Hypothesis were proposed and analyzed by her mind. The most plausible clause, aside from the possibility that they might be aliens, is that they are individuals of an Asari species that went extinct along with Asari Rudis during the last major climate change some two hundred thousand years ago. Perhaps the Asari were a species with two genders, but the males died off due to various reasons. They were capable of reproducing through melding even if their species had males. This was what she thought to be the most plausible theory.

Or that would be the case if they didn't have some metals, circuitry lobbed in the back of their skulls. There was no way they could get it off without specialized tools and not ruin the skull. This significantly tipped the hypothesis that they are aliens. Unless there was an advanced Asari civilization in the past. And they somehow triggered the last climate change and it destroyed their civilization. 'Goddess… I should be looking for more clues, not imagine the past.'

"How's the translation of the inscriptions coming along?" Nyxeris asked a student who was working on analyzing and translating the carvings and paintings.

She turned to look at Liara's assistant before answering. "It's going well, professor. Very well, if I might say so. The resemblance between modern languages of our people and the symbols here is astonishing."

Nyxeris leant over the photographs taken inside the burial chamber. "Incredible… the first written record of our species…"

"And that's not all," the student said and gently took a collar wrapped in protective plastic in her hands. The plastic was transparent and the collar had multiple bones attached to it. It was very similar to ivory. Each bone had an inscription on it. "Every bone has a message carved in it. There are 9 bones, each one with unique inscriptions. We were able to translate some of the words."

"And?" Nyxeris asked, her curiosity piqued.

The student pointed to the first bone from the left. "This ivory has SHEPARD JOHN inscribed on it. We know the first word is a very ancient word for herder, guide, watcher. Don't know the second. Then, on the second, is WILLIAMS ASHLEY, which we believe is derived from multiple words that, when used together, mean wise and caring. The third one here," she pointed at the carving of ANDERSON DAVID EDWARD, "we believe it's for… for the equivalent of the father figure in a family. You know, like the Turians have. The fourth," VEGA JAMES was carved on the fourth piece of ivory, "may be a synonym of strong and powerful."

"Interesting… the others?" Nyxeris asked as she looked at the other pieces of ivory. Various words were carved into them: CORTEZ STEVE, JENKINS RICHARD L., ALENKO KAIDAN, MASSANI ZAEED, and BAILEY ARMANDO-OWEN.

The student lifted her shoulders to convey the fact that they don't know yet. "We don't know their meaning. They could be names for all we know… or some lucky charms, something with meaning for the deceased."

"Keep looking into these. Maybe you find something for these all," Nyxeris advised with an encouraging smile. "Write it all down and send it to my email."

While every other team was doing its own thing, Liara turned her attention to the case they brought up, the one with the letters UNSC on it. A few of her subordinates were trying to carefully open it without damaging the inside for hours now. Liara decided to check on them.

"How is it going?" she asked the matron in charge of the little operation.

"We're almost done," she answered with a voice filled with hope. "It was a nightmare, but we did it."

"Why did it take so long?" Liara asked.

"This case has two lock points that keeps it closed, like any briefcase. But these are so old that we had to literally clean and closely force them open with small sickle probes. We couldn't use something to cut it because it would severely deteriorate the content. We went the extra mile to preserve as much as possible of the case," she explained to Liara.

A gasp was heard from the desk where two Asari were working on the case. Liara and the matron walked to the desk to see it finally open a few millimeters.

"You cleaned the back too, right?" the matron asked.

"Yes, we did."

With a nod from Liara, she slowly lifted the upper side of the grey case. Light flooded the interior for the first time in 90,000 years. It was filled with various items. A plethora of items. It would take them a day to sift through all of them, Liara reckoned. But, one thing caught her attention above everything else. She reached and gently took it in her gloved hands. It was a fine piece of plastic. Time took its toll on it, as it had degraded to a certain degree, but it was still in good shape. It was a picture, she recognized. 'Definitely aliens,' she decided after seeing what it depicted.

A group of aliens with helmets similar to the one found lying on the tomb, clad in what seemed a mix of heavy armor plates and light insulation, with weapons in hands, posed together. They were posing triumphantly over a desolate background. But what got Liara's attention even more was what one of them was holding in his hands. The one in the middle had no rifle in his hands, but the severed head of another alien with split jaws and a bloody knife in the left hand. His right foot was planted on the bleeding neck of a creature massive as a Krogan. And it was wearing what looked like advanced armor.

Violence… members of an intelligent species killing a member of another intelligent species. This was war. But a war for what? Had these bipedal creatures invaded the Krogan-like ones? Or was it the other way around? The desolate background of a city in flames and smoke wasn't exactly telling who was invading who. Or perhaps the cause of the war was totally different.

Liara glanced over the back side to see if there was more, but it was only some writing. She didn't understand the writing, she'd need somebody specialized in languages to do it for her, but she wondered what it could mean. There was written: Anderson, Shepard, James, Zaeed, Bailey, Ashley, Jenkins, Kaidan, and Campbell – Zaeed's first hand to hand duel against an Elite – Fumirole, April 22nd 2552.

NOTE3: Thank you all for reading the latest chapter! I know I promised to give more love to War of the Worlds, but I simply had too much desire to write this one. And battling health issues cut more of my writing time. Apologies!

NOTE4: I promise I'll address every review (from registered users) via PMs! I know I didn't do it lately. I hope you won't hold it that much against me :( As for the reason why I'm publishing short chapters for this story: I simply don't have the time to write kilometric chapters like I do for The Iron Heart of Man. I have a limited timeframe which I can invest in these stories. I also believe this story will not break the 100,000 words milestone. I don't expect it to. I'm not creating a whole new different alternate universe to invest tons of time and words on describing them like I did for TIHoM. You know the characters, you know the stories, I'll simply give you information as the story goes on on what changed in this timeline. Thank you!

A STORY BROUGHT TO YOU BY Apollonir