The ship continued through the three week course with no problems and arrived at the planet. Gilliam deactivated the pods and one by one they awoke. They were now on the dark side but according to Gilliam were directly over what appeared to be the temple. It was pitch black except for the cockpit lights.
"Gene"
"Yeah Gilliam?"
"I'm detecting a discrepancy moving towards the planet but I cannot scan it... There may be opposing magnetic fields here that are scrambling my sensors", he said in his normal calm tone
"Probably just a comet, forget it", he said waving his hand
"Daylight in 30 seconds" Gilliam reported, then counted down
As he neared single digits, the light slowly came across the face of the planet. They looked upon it with awe. It resembled Earth. There were icecaps, brilliant blue oceans, and brownish land masses, but they could also see massive jungles and deserts that stretched for thousands of miles, unlike any planet colonized by people, where most trees had been cleared.
"It's beautiful", exclaimed Melfina
Rotox came to the window after just getting up,"Yeah, I like to think so too. It's good to be home."
"Gilliam", Gene ordered, "start landing procedures now."
"Yes Gene"
The ship gave a soft jerk and descended. Blueish clouds rolled over the windows and steamed from the friction heat of falling so quickly.
As the ship neared the ground, it opened the landing gear and gently touched down. Jim ran a test on the air outside and dubbed it breathable. Gene lowered the cycling latter and looked out. They had landed on the edge of a desert and faced a jungle that abruptly started just before them. There was almost what looked to be a tunnel through the jungle. The trees grew about 15 feet apart but overhead the canopy blended together into a green blur. They rode the ladder down one by one, jumped off, and gathered in the living tunnel. They didn't have to go very far when they came to a large wooden barricade that reached the roof of the tunnel. Climbing over wasn't an option, not even for the most agile of them which was Aisha. Some spots LOOKED solid but still could easily have given way.
"I remember this too", Rotox said as he walked up to the structure. He put his arm inside a hole between two massive logs and gave a solid jerk.
Something on the opposite side groaned and rumbled and all of a sudden a fault that was invisible to the naked eye appeared in the middle of the barricade and it opened outward like a massive door. Beyond that was the city. Jim had once seen an extremely old book on the ancient races of Earth. This city had some striking resemblances of what he remembered of the Aztecs and Toltec. The architecture was made of stone with ornate carvings literally everywhere. A canal cut the city into quarters, two of which bordered a deep valley that left the water from the canal to turn into a majestic waterfall. The only difference he could see were things that were obviously electronic that melded into the scenery using amazing camouflage.
Jim was curious as to whether this race had borrowed its look from the Aztecs and asked Rotox
"We lived like this for thousands of years before we ever knew of the race of which you speak, but once we did notice them, we took interest. I'd have to say that if the Spanish never wiped them out, by this point in time they would have been a lot like what my race was. Each of our cultures were more in tune with nature and its cycles than others. The style and mentality of life that both our nations had, once passing a certain point in development becomes very potent, the only thing is, is that my race had the time needed to pass that point and theirs didn't. You see what I'm sayin?"
Jim gave a questionable nod and Rotox laughed, "If you really care, I could explain it more some other time". He knew that Jim was genuinely curious but undoubtedly confused even though he thought the concept fairly simple himself
----
They entered the city square and paused. Something felt strange. Suzuka noticed it first and scanned over the buildings that were only starting to get overgrown.
Aisha couldn't place it, but there seemed to be a static in the air and she also suddenly realized it was completely quiet. No birds. No Animals. Nothing but the sound of the breeze in the ancient canopy above them. The entire complex suddenly seemed more foreboding. Shadows seemed to have crept into places where they hadn't been before and everything seemed to have been covered in a fine layer of dust that she hadn't noticed.
Then there was a noise that disturbed everyone, it was the innocent laughter of a child. It echoed from all directions as if it were coming from a different time. It was suddenly engulfed by the sound of a city; People's footsteps on the flagstones, people talking, vendors shouting, a whole wide multitude of noises from a city of people that wasn't there.
Then suddenly they appeared. Shades that flickered in and out of existence. They weren't threatening at all while they went about the daily lives that they had lived in the past. Rotox sank to his knees as he saw people that he had known, kids that he had talked to while at his post, elders known throughout the community, and as he peered into the shadows, he saw his mother and father crossing the square. These were the people that it was his duty to protect, and he had failed them. He choked back tears and struggled to his feet just as the entire populace stopped and looked at him. The air seemed even more still now than ever before.
The shades began talking in unison in a slow and commanding manner. They spoke in the old language and Rotox listened. The others saw him scowl at times, but why they couldn't begin to tell, they just stood there and listened to the voice of his empire speak.
They stopped abruptly and with the breeze they turned to dust and disappeared
"Thank you", he said under his breath and with that he turned away and continued on
The others shrugged and figured that he had just gotten a lot of information that weighed heavily upon him.
They continued down a main street that went about another half-mile to what they guessed was the temple. It was rectangular in shape with at least a hundred steps going up to the main structure which was absolutely huge. Like the rest of the city, it was all made of stone but Jim saw no pillars and he wondered what supported the whole ceiling, it must have weighed tons.
"Hey Rotox, what's holding up the roof?" Gene finally asked
"Magic", he said, gesturing with his hands. He felt much better after getting away from the stagnant feel of the square. "I'd explain it more but I never really understood it"
"What do you mean you don't understand it?" Melfina asked as she snapped out of looking around
Rotox looked slightly confused, "Ummm, well lemme put it this way. You've all gone to school at least some point in your lives. Right?"
"Yeah but that didn't last long", Gene said
"Well, think of it this way... Not all kids are good at math, very few in fact, but find their niche in other subjects. Well, consider magic to us as math to you. Get it? Only a few of our people had developed the ability of any real casting, I wasn't one of them."
"Oh I see now", Melfina said
They now stood upon the threshold of the temple and peered inside. It was, like some points in front, unsupported by pillars even though you could park about 2 medium size ships inside. Any normal structure would have caved in the day it was made, but this was solid.
They continued inside and saw the vault door in the distance laying upon the floor in two pieces.
Suzuka strode over to it and examined it, "It must be at least five feet thick", she thought out loud
Jim also examined the massive stone door. He saw many hieroglyphics etched into its surface and he ran his hand over them.
Rotox continued into the next chamber. Aisha and Gene followed and found him in front of the pod that they had heard so much about. Its technology did seem out of place in the stone structure. They came closer and saw that it had exploded outward like some sort of cocoon. Then they looked about them and saw about half a dozen skeletons.
"The scientists", Rotox said and continued toward the tunnel that lay directly behind the pod.
"Come on guys", Gene yelled back to the others, "Don't get left behind"
They entered the tunnel and walked along. The walls were ornately decorated with murals showing battles and the lines of Emperors. The tunnel was very dim but the hall was clear of rubble or debris so the going was easy, especially since they were descending the whole way.
They walked for a while longer before coming upon a massive hall, it must have been three times as large as the entrance hall. In it were ships, just as Rotox had said. They were all completely black and varied in shape and size. Some, Gene could tell, were fighters, others were freighters, and some were escort ships.
"There's a miniature fleet in here!" Jim exclaimed, "We have to take at least one of these back!"
He walked over to one of the fighters and looked at it. The fighter was about two hundred feet long, very sleek and well outfitted. Rotox walked up behind him and shouted a command from a different language. The ship obeyed and its cockpit opened.
"Amazing", Jim said as he looked inside
Again Rotox shouted a command, this one sounded slightly different. They waited but nothing happened
"What'd you say?" Aisha asked
"I told it to display arsenal", he said, "Give it a second, it hasn't run in over a thousand years"
They waited a second longer before hearing hundreds of electronic noises. Six large missile decks slowly descended from the underside of the ship, each held about five missiles that were large enough to destroy and entire warship that could have been five times as large as the fighter. Ten smaller missile decks did the same in various other spots. Flaps opened on the nose and wings and large pulse cannons slowly got pushed out wards. On the tail end, a small elevator displayed a number a various mines. And on the top, a huge turret exposed itself.
"Wow!" Aisha said, "That looks like it could take on one of the Ctarl cruisers, and that's no simple task mind you"
"I think we'll take this one", Gene said with a grin
"OK then. There ought to be an aircraft elevator around here. I can pilot it back, but I think we should worry about that later", Rotox said
"Sounds like a plan", Gene said, "But I think we should take a break here for a little bit"
"Sure"
"I'd like a chance to look around at the other ships for a while" Gene said as he walked away
The rest of the group dissipated to go look at the other strange ships. Rotox followed Aisha and watched her go to the transport ship. He strode up to her.
"You havin fun yet?" He asked
"This is amazing!" she said and attempted to repeat the command that Rotox used on the fighter to open the hatch. Nothing happened
"No, this one's different, they don't all use the same commands" he said and whispered a new one into her ear, "try again"
She did and this time it worked.
"Excellent!" She said and ran inside
Rotox walked towards the back of the subterranean hangar. He saw, just as he expected, another door. He took his time walking over to it. He looked at the lock that was made up of a slab of crystal and put his hand upon it. It began to hum as a blue light ran the length of his hand. A loud click resounded throughout the hangar. The others came up to him, having seen enough of the ships for now.
"What was that sound?" Melfina asked
"Why, it was the sound of the bank opening, of course..." Rotox said as he pushed the door open. A brilliant gleam of light shot through the door and made everyone except Rotox flinch.
He proceeded through the door, "Welcome my friends!" he said extending his hand into the blazing light, "Welcome to Eden!"