"Tycho, how does the Light work?" The Risen asked.
"That is perhaps one of the broadest questions I have ever heard." The Ghost replied and turned to look at his Risen.
The Risen grinned under their helmet. "Fair point. I meant, how does it reach so far out here? I can barely see the sun, we're so far out, and yet the Light doesn't seem to be diminished in the slightest." To demonstrate her point, the Risen shaped her Light into a glowing sphere that hovered above her palm and shifted it through the hues of energy, from Arc to Solar to Void and back along the cycle, casting the inner walls of the ice-cave in a rainbow of light unlike any the planetoid had ever seen.
"I'm the conduit for the Traveller's Light," Tycho said and swung around to the other side, "So you're really not that far away, Leela."
Leela nodded and dispelled the sphere. "But you're a whole star system away from the Traveller. I suppose it doesn't matter right now."
Leela set about dismantling her campsite, leaving the heat-lamp for last so she could work without numbed fingers. The planetoid, being so far from the sun, was deathly cold. Without the heat-lamp and her suit, she imagined she would be dead in minutes, if not faster. Tycho could bring her back if the cold got her, but that would be a vicious cycle of death and rebirth until they could return to their ship. It was anchored within a massive hollow of ice, protected from the howling wind that scoured the surface. With her tent strapped over her back and the heat-lamp clipped onto her waist, Leela flicked on her suit and walked out of the cave.
The wind and the cold outside shocked her senses before they were dispelled by the Solar energy coursing through the suit. The ice-cave was in the shelter of a valley, so the wind blowing through it wouldn't tear the suit from her body. A ridge of ice had somehow forced against the wind, breaking the worst of it against itself and leaving the valley somewhat protected. Even so, walking into the wind was slow going and it took most of an hour before Leela could walk past the threshold of the cave she had seen the night before. The floor of its interior was concave with a flat centre and raised edges. She beat the worst of the snow off her suit and made to venture further inside.
"Did you hear that?" Tycho asked. Her Ghost was spinning in place, looking around the chamber.
"Unless you mean the wind, no, I didn't." Leela responded and stopped, hand falling to the gun on her hip. It occurred to her that, although the firearm was in a protective holster, she had not fired it since she had left the City.
The Ghost was quiet for a moment while he scanned the space. "Maybe it was just the wind then." He said and returned to her side.
They planted a tracking beacon in the floor of the ice-cave then proceeded further in. The howls of the wind outside abated, though the cold did not. Leela gently patted the shoulder of her suit, thankful again for the cache of tech she had found back on Earth. The steady pulsing of the Solar energy in the conduits of her suit flashed orange light along the icy walls, mixed with the light of Tycho's scans.
The tunnel was straight with a decline and no offshoots, so Leela walked steadily onwards, the rack of tracking beacons in her belt. She would be lying if she said that she felt no fear, but the fear was mingled with excitement and a feeling of adventure. She had already travelled across most of Earth since her awakening, and now she was taking her adventures to the stars. Perhaps she would return to the City with her findings or perhaps she wouldn't. That was a question to tackle in the future. For now, she wanted to enjoy this step of her journey, cold and frigid it might be.
The tunnel continued for half an hour before discharging her and Tycho into a large space. It extended far above their heads, further than Leela's flashlight could illuminate. The walls to their left and right curved and extended near a hundred metres in each direction, the ice almost straight as it passed along. Leela had her suspicions already, accompanied by a giddy feeling that went straight to her head. Her suspicions were strengthened when she spotted chunks of ice raised off the floor further inside the space. On closer examination she could see the countours of shaped stone beneath the ice. She tried to chip away at the ice with her climbing pick, but it was like hacking at steel. The pick had had no trouble with the weather-worn ice on the surface, but down here it seemed it would not be as useful.
"What do you think this was?" Leela said and turned to Tycho. Her Ghost was drifting along a metre above her, occasionally sending off a scan towards the ice-covered walls.
"I wish I could detect any machinery, anything to read," Tycho replied, then drifted down to her, "It reminds me of one of those transit halls, the ones by the railroads."
Leela nodded. "I was thinking the same thing. Maybe the tunnel we took to get here used to have rails, or they were covered by the ice."
Tycho scanned the space again. "But if that is so, why do I not detect any machinery, any computers?"
"Maybe the ice and frost destroyed them." Leela said and peered closer at the stone under the ice. It was a simple stone platform, raised perhaps a metre off the ground. She could see no symbols or decorations, but it was possible that they had been worn down by the ice.
"I wonder where all the people are?" Tycho said.
"We're not on Earth any more, Tycho." Leela said and brushed at the icy surface.
"You know what I meant. This place was shaped by hand, and certainly not human ones."
"And it doesn't look like anything I've seen by Cabal, Vex, Fallen or Hive."
"An old Awoken outpost, perhaps?" Leela ventured and looked up at the distant ceiling.
"Why so far out? And again, doesn't match their style." Tycho said, then looked at Leela. "Are you listening?"
Leela absentmindedly shook her head and pointed up. "Light." Was all she said.
Tycho swivelled upwards and turned on his searchlight. Some was reflected by the ice, but enough got through to illuminate what Leela had spied in the darkness. A mural or painting stretched across the ceiling from wall to wall. Each corner seemed a new scene in some narrative, as creatures depicted some story or scene from history. The ice covered much of it and had worn away more, but the creatures appeared to have four arms each, as well as other appendages, though the finer details were lost in the distance and ice. The centre, however, was clear; a spherical object anchored the scenes, bathing them in rays of light.
"The Traveller!" Tycho exclaimed.
It did remind Leela of the Traveller, stationed as it was on Earth. It was well known that the entity had visited many other civilisations before it came to rest on Earth, and it seemed this humble planetoid was one of them.
"This is an incredible discovery!" Tycho exclaimed and turned to Leela.
"Tycho, turn that away or you'll blind me." Leela shouted, hand in front of her to ward off Tycho's searchlight.
"Oh, sorry, I just got so excited," Tycho replied and turned back up to the mural, "the Traveller must have come here before it was detected around Jupiter."
Leela looked around the empty space. "Whatever it did here hasn't lasted, there's no one here."
"Maybe it's all further down, and they just haven't used this space for a while." Tycho replied, light now fixed on the mural.
"Fly up there and get us a closer look, I can hardly make out anything from down here." Leela said. As the Ghost drifted upwards, she glanced at the tunnel exits she had spied on the far side of the chamber. If this planetoid was still inhabited, how would they take to a surprise visitor from the stars? Well, she thought, a second one at least, one much smaller.
Tycho came back down and projected a series of images onto a pane of dark ice. The first was of one of the creatures; they seemed to have four arms of varying shapes and sizes, and some kind of trunk or appendage sticking out of what Leela presumed to be their head. Two fat legs supported them. She couldn't be sure if all the creatures were the same race, as there was a certain element of randomness, of chaos, to their depictions. Yes, she felt certain that was the right word.
The next picture was a wide shot of some larval creature rising on new legs, supported by the rays of light from the Traveller, until it stood tall with its fellows. Another picture depicted great cities of square blocks rising to meet the light. The final picture was of the centre of the mural, the Traveller. The entity she remembered from Earth looked more battered than this pristine sphere.
"Judging by the scenes, perhaps the Traveller helped these creatures gain sentience, raised them from beasts to make places like this." Tycho said and dismissed the display.
"Conjecture," Leela countered, "but I agree it seems to be telling a story like that. Let's reserve judgement until we know more."
After taking a few more photos, the pair planted a transit beacon in the space between the tunnel exits and picked one at random.