Explorers of the Universe

Chapter 2: Ghosts and Missions; Landing on Aegis 7

Later On

Back in the hyper sleep chamber, the crew was awakening rather well. At the moment, they were getting over disorienting and slight heaving. One of such an example was Gwen, as she sat on her chamber, heaving in a plastic disposal box. Rei was currently helping her out, as she massaged her back, and eased herself. "Gwen Tenalds, it'll be alright," she explained, as Gwen continued to heave, "You've been in Hyper Sleep for over a year now. It's only natural you're vomiting liquids."

"Hey, Gwen," Isaac weakly called out. She turned to look at him, as he smiled, "We finally made it." Gwen nodded, but then blew chunks again in the box.

Isaac chuckled at that, but then was pushed out of his seat. He turned around and saw a Caucasian boy around his age and build, with short cut blonde hair and blue eyes. This was Ken Heels; one of the crew's kids and a bully at Isaac's school. Apparently when Samuels said that they'd go to the trip, he never mentioned that the Keels were aboard the ship as well. "Hey, what's shakin', Worker Isaac?"

"You mean aside from the fact my body's still recovering from hyper sleep," Isaac groaned. "Nothing much."

Suddenly, Ken was pulled back by a Caucasian boy around eighteen years old. He was built like a mechanic; buff and lean, with shaggy black hair, and had a small scar under his left eye. This was Jeff Carter, one of the crew's security forces taken out of the boot camp program. He glared at Ken, as he asked, "You enjoy kicking guys when they're down? How'd you feel if I pound your stomach in and watch you retch like his cousin's doing at this second?"

"Gentlemen, if you please," Rei walked up, stopping any notion of a fight. She then helped Isaac up to his feet, as she lightly addressed, "You need to get cleaned up and dressed. The briefing will begin as soon as breakfast is served." Jeff let Ken go, as she nodded to them, and then to Isaac, "Good day to you, Isaac Shepard." And then walked off.

Ken snarled, as he silently threatened Isaac, "That canner may have your back, but she won't be there for long." And then stormed off to the showers.

Isaac, who was taking a breath of relief, looked to Jeff, as he said, "Thanks."

"Just watch your back from now on, alright," Jeff stated, as he grabbed a towel. "I can't watch your back on this ship or to wherever we're going."

Mess Decks

Everyone was scrounging to get a meal or two before the mission at hand. It had been a rough time in hyper sleep as they were just now evacuating their bodies of waste, and filling up on something fresh. Food to replenish their systems, and plenty of fluids to replenish as well. Isaac and Gwen had gotten their trays loaded, and were making their way to a table. At that moment, Vickers walked in, seemingly gliding in like a business woman should have. However, her attention was caught by someone in particular.

He was an African American male, possible thirties, slim build, wearing the same uniform that Isaac and Joker wore, crew cut, mustache and beard combo, and was smoking a cigar. He was the captain of the Prometheus, Samuel Marek, the captain of the exploration vessel. At the moment, he was in the rumpus room next to the cafeteria wing, decorating a plastic Christmas tree.

Miss Vickers walked in, as she asked in a manner that seemed like she didn't know what the tree was, "What the hell is that?"

Marek stopped a moment, as he blew out a cloud, "Well, it's Christmas. Just because we're not on Earth, doesn't mean we can't celebrate the holidays, now does it?"

Vickers shook her head of this nonsense to her, as she announced, "Mission briefing is about to start, Captain. I suggest you hurry up and eat."

"Yeah, and Merry Christmas to you too," the captain dryly responded.

Back on the mess deck, Isaac and Gwen had found their table and were currently digging in. However, at the moment, someone else had joined up with them. Jeff had walked over to the table, as he joined them. He wore a white under shirt with no sleeves, and the same type of uniform pants and boots that the security team were wearing, except they were black and blue.

He looked to the two, and then to Isaac, as he asked, "So you're the two kids whose parents went missing on the Prometheus, right?" Isaac simply nodded, as the big fellah asked, "So what do you think happened?"

"I honestly don't know, and neither does my cousin," Isaac replied.

Jeff looked to Gwen and asked, "Cousin?"

"My parents died in a car crash in the Canadian alps," she replied. "I was adopted in my cousin's family when I was ten. My Aunt Martha and Uncle John are the only parents I have now."

"So they just left you two back on earth while they went exploring to wherever we're going," Jeff asked, as he took a sip. "Seems kind of careless, if you ask me…"

That outburst caused Gwen to shoot up, and then splattered her drink in Jeff's face. She then walked off, going to a new table, as Jeff asked, "Touchy subject?"

"My parents left us behind because of a contract clause stated that kids couldn't get involved in the dig. It was for our safety."

"Guess it wasn't safe enough, if they sent a distress beacon," Jeff deduced.

Recreation Center

Once everyone had been assembled and seated, as well as a non-too enthusiastic Isaac, Miss Vickers walked in. She stood in the center of the room, like a speaker announcing to the audience. "Good morning. I am Meredith Vickers," she responded to all of them. "And it is my job to make sure you do yours. And now to take the floor, the one funding this expedition: Peter Wayward, the founder and CEO of Wayward Industries."

Suddenly, lighting up the area around the place, a holographic video of an officer overlooking New York was shown. And in it, a very old man who looked like he was barely holding together, walked over with the help of his cane to address the crowd. This was Peter Wayward, the one who was helping to fund this expedition as well as the rescue mission. He was also a fanatic who led his own religion referred to as Unitology. "Hello, friends. My name is Peter Wayward. I am your employer. I am recording this, 22 June, 2184. And if you're watching it, you have reached your destination. And I am long dead. May I rest in peace. There's a young woman sitting with you today. Her name is Rei."

The others turned to look at Rei, who seemed unfazed by all the stares, as Wayward continued. "And she is the closest thing to a daughter I will ever have. Unfortunately, she is not human. She will never grow old and she will never die. And yet she is unable to appreciate these remarkable gifts for that would require the one thing that Rei will never have. A soul. I have spent my entire lifetime contemplating the questions: Where do we come from? What is our purpose? What happens when we die? And I have finally found two people who convinced me they're on the verge of answering them. Doctors Jonathan and Martha Shepard, if you would please stand. As far as you're concerned, they're in charge. The Titan Prometheus wanted to give making equal footing with the gods and for that, he was cast from Olympus. Well, my friends, the time has finally come for his return. Doctors, please. The floor is yours."

Vickers stopped the recording, as she stated, "Seeing as how they couldn't be present, we made a recording of what happened on the ship. Play it now."

Immediately, a scene aboard the Prometheus was shown, as the two named scientists stood up, and approached the middle, presenting themselves, as the hologram went on.

And then the hologram continued, Jonathan chuckled, "Well, first time a ghost has invited me on the floor."

Someone in the background of the hologram, asked, "Well before the presentation, I just have one question to ask: why are we out here in the middle of nowhere?"

"Right, and for that, allow me to show you." He then activated a small cube, which showed holographic images of different locations, and whether or not they were different, they had something similar in common. But that would be found out later, as Jonathan explained, "These are images of archaeological digs from all over the earth," he said as he pointed to different images. "That's Egyptian, Mayan, Sumerian, Babylonian. That's Hawaiian at the end there and Mesopotamian. Now this one here is our most recent discovery, it's a thirty five thousand year old cave painting from the Isle of Sky in Scotland. These are ancient civilizations, they were separated by centuries, they shared no contact with one another, and yet..." he then clapped his hands together, causing the hologram images to line up together, as he went through each one. "The same pictogram, showing men worshiping giant beings pointing to the stars was discovered at every last one of them." The pictures then switched over to a map of the solar system that they were currently occupying, heading towards the planet known as Aegis 7. "The only galactic system that matched, was so far from earth, that there's no way that these primitive ancient civilizations could have possibly known about. But it just so happens, that system has a sun, a lot like ours. And based on our long range scans, there seemed to be a planet. Just one planet with the moon, capable of sustaining life, and we arrived there this morning. Aegis 7."

One of the crewman, a redhead British fellah that looked more like a rockstar, with tattoos on his face, arm, and a red combed mowhawk and scraggly short beard, the Geologist named Fifield, asked aloud, "So you're saying we're here because of a map you two kids found in a cave, is that right?"

"No," Martha replied. "No. Not a map. More likely… it's an invitation."

"From whom?" another crewmember named Millburn asked.

Isaac looked at his cousin, wondering what his mother and her aunt would say. But she showed her confidence, as she answered, "Well, they don't have an official name, but we call them the Creators."

"Creators?" Fifield asked, not amused of what he heard. But then asked, "Do you mind, um, telling us what they engineered?"

After a moment of silence, Martha smiled, as she answered, "They created us."

Everyone heard that, both hologram and real person alike, and the whispers began to spread all over in silence. The only ones who weren't amused by it was Gwen, Jeff, Rei, and a very annoyed Isaac as he hung his head in this.

"Bullshit," was all that Fifield said.

However, Millburn spoke up, "Do you have any proof of that? I mean, we're talking thousands of years of Darwanism saying nay to that theory, so if you're still backing to your story, then… Whoohoo to you." But then he turned serious, as he asked, "But, well… how do you know?"

Martha was about to answer that question, but Jonathan beat her to it, as he turned to both scientists, and answered, "Because that's what we choose to believe."

That was when the hologram stopped, as Miss Vickers walked in front, "After a year, that was the last we heard from them. But a year later, we received a message on a distress signal beamed right back to Earth." She pulled out a recorder, as she explained, "So far, it doesn't make any sense."

She then played it, as everyone heard the message. It sounded distorted, with screams in the background changing volume and focus, as if someone had messed with the sound. There were even strange growling and howling sounds; it almost sounded like they had stepped in the set of a horror movie being filmed. Vickers stopped the recording, as everyone took that message to haunt themselves.

Finally, Ken asked, "What the hell was that?"

"Now we ran it through some filters, and we were able to isolate what appeared to sound like a human voice," Vickers explained, and then played a different track of the same signal, only now, they heard a slightly clear human voice.

" - - Liberate` Me-", the voice spoke up from distorted shrieks and alarms.

Vickers stopped the tape, as she looked satisfied on the fact, as she stated, "Though I doubt that sounds like any language."

"Latin," Rei spoke up.

Gwen looked over to her, and asked, "What?"

"I believe it sounds like Latin."

"You can verify on that," Marek asked.

"For the past year, I've been studying dead and living languages. I'm fluent in all of earth's languages now, and I believe I know what I heard to be is latin," Rei concluded.

"Can you translate it," Marek asked.

Rei looked to Miss Vickers, and asked, "Play it again, please?" Miss Vickers did so, much to her annoyance, as Rei listened to the recording. And once it stopped, she nodded, "It sounds like they're saying, Liberate` Me`…, but I can't make out the rest."

"Liberate` Me`," Isaac asked.

Rei turned to him, as she replied, "Save me."

Class-D Module

Vickers' 'Home'

Gwen Isaac were called upon by Miss Vickers for a private meeting. They were currently waiting down the hallway for Rei, who was in turn Miss Vickers' little servant. However, during that moment, the two were silent at the moment and taking in what Rei had just translated. The Latin message stated, 'Save Me', and that was it for now. Was there some kind of trouble going down on Aegis 7? Were their parents/guardians in trouble? If so, now was more than ever to find them.

However, their fear had to be put aside for now, as Rei appeared, as she motioned, "Gwendolyn Tenalds, Isaac Shepard. Miss Vickers will see you now."

Isaac asked, "Any reason why she wants to talk with us?"

Rei nodded her head, as she replied, "Just a little on the top subject before the adventure begins." She then led them to Vickers' little home.

Inside Module D, it looked like an office, lounge and separate bedroom altogether. Isaac looked around, and asked aloud, "Nice setup. What is this place?"

"It's a separate module; it's similar on the Prometheus," Rei explained. "It runs on a separate energy source, with enough food, water, clean air. Enough to last for about 5 years for one person."

"So she lives on a lifeboat," Isaac asked, as Gwen browsed around, leaving the boy and female android to look around.

"Yes," Miss Vickers spoke out, spooking them both, as she walked in. "I like to limit risks if at all possible." She then looked to Rei, and ordered, "I'll have a scotch. Would you like anything in particular?"

Isaac remained quiet, but replied honestly, "Nothing for me, but thanks."

Vickers smirked, "Not much of a drinker, are you?"

"When the job's done, and no one's dead, then I'll drink," Isaac informed.

Vickers mocked a frown, "Oooh, so serious for a boy your age."

"Isaac, look at this," Gwen suddenly spoke out.

They all turned and saw that Gwen was looking at a coffin-sized white and glass pod of sorts. It was built into the floor, as she examined a keyboard console on the pod, "It's a med pod. They only made a dozen of these. It's amazing."

"Miss Tenalds, please look but don't touch," Miss Vickers politely applied.

Gwen left it alone, and walked back to the others, as she asked, "It bypasses surgery completely. What do you need it for?"

Vickers seemed to change the subject, as she went on, "I think there might be some confusion about our relationship. Our industries found your parents' research impressive enough to fund this mission, but I'm fairly certain that their Creators are nothing but scribblings of savages living in dirty little caves, and that they're suffering communication failings and are all scared stiff. But let's say I'm wrong, and you do find these 'beings' down there as well as your parents: you won't engage them, you won't talk to them, you will do nothing but report back to me."

Isaac then cleared his throat, as he stated, "And if they try to engage, talk, or do something with us before we do?"

"As I said: you'll do nothing but report back to me," she stated, as she looked to Isaac, "Besides, you're the obedient puppy, don't do anything but obey and eat your treats."

"Ummm, Miss Vickers," Gwen interrupted before Isaac shot something back to her. "Is there an agenda that you're not telling us about?"

"My company paid a trillion dollars to find this place and to bring you all here, prior to your parents and their team," Miss Vickers explained, as Rei gave Isaac a bottled water and prepared Miss Vickers' drink. "Had your parents raised the monies yourself, we'd happily be pursuing your agenda. But you didn't. And that makes you an employee."

However, Gwen was slightly confused and a bit disappointed, as she asked, "If we can't make contact, why did you — why did you even send them there on that planet?"

"Wayward was a superstitious man. He wanted a true believer on board," Vickers explained. Rei then walked over and gave her the drink. She then cheered to all three of them, with a conniving smirk on her face, "Cheers."

Helm Deck

After the meeting, everyone was at their stations, as the Falcon was making its way towards Aegis 7, with the Ishimura going on the other side of the planet. At that moment, Gwen and Isaac were currently overlooking pictures of different cultures, as REi was examining them. Isaac's dad had a theory on the Creators and their involvement with Earth's several different cultures. He theorized that both written and verbal of the Creators were each from a couple of Earth's ancient cultures. Jonathan had deduced that the verbal language was that of like Proto-Indo-European, one of the oldest languages spoken by Mankind. And their written language was apparently ancient Sumerian, the oldest written language used by humanity. At the moment, Rei was trying to make contact with them, but so far no luck.

"So no response," Isaac asked. "Not from the Prometheus, or these… creators?"

"No, nothing yet. But am confident that there's no problem with the message," REi answered.

"Maybe they just didn't understand it," Gwen replied. "So… how were your lessons going, Rei?"

"For the past two years, I worked on deconstructing dozens of Earth's languages down to the roots," Rei explained, as she typed at the console, "I'm confident that I can communicate with them. Providing your father's thesis is correct, Isaac."

Isaac chuckled, as he sensed a bit of doubt in her, "Provided it's correct."

"Yes, that's why it's called a thesis," Rei replied back, and got back to work.

Isaac chuckled, while Gwen tried to hide her smile. But Gwen looked to her cousin, and asked, "Did we just get told off by an A.I.?"

"Yes, I believe we did," Isaac answered.

"Alright everbody, sit tight and let's head on down," Marek announced.

Everyone got to their seats, as the two helmsman, an Asian man and a black haired American with a stubble, both named Chance and Ravel, steadied the bird to land on Aegis 7. As the ship broke through the atmosphere, the planet looked almost like Earth in some way. Rocky mountains, desert landscapes of nothing but rocks and dirt, and a foggy white sky with no blue tint to the atmosphere. There was no plant life, no lifeforms of any kind; the whole planet looked like a windy desert.

Back on board, Marek asked for a reading on the living conditions, "Ravel, what's the atmosphere?"

"Atmoshpere is 71 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen," Ravel responded. "And also on the side, traces of argon gas."

"Wha, now that's weather," Gwen commented.

"Yep, sounds like New York," Isaac pointed out.

However, one of the female medical officers, named Ford, pointed out, "Only if you're breathing through an exhaust pipe. CO2 is over 3 percent. Two minutes without a suit, you're dead."

Ravel reported, "Peak at portside." Then turned the ship the other way, avoiding the peak. Once it past them, he was in awe, "Yeesh! That thing's about as big as Everest."

"Actually its bigger," Ford pointed out. "Makes Everest look like a baby brother."

As the Ravel soared throught eh clouds, an electric storm was going off. Marek advised, "Be careful here, bosy. I wanna make sure the Falcon can make it through. The last thing we want is ta get stuck out here, and then we need rescue for the rescue."

Chance reported, "I've got scans all over the place. Metal everywhere." The screen lit up with little points all over the mountain terrain, which was strange, "That's weird. There's no buildings out here, but there's definite signs of metal."

The Falcon managed to get out of the storms, and into the clear eye of the storm. There, they found a vast and desert like mountain area, perfect for landing. They said through the pass, the sun touching on over the horizon but fading soon, coming close to night. All the while, the scanners were reading nothing; no signs of life were even found out in the sunlight.

Chance shrugged, "I don't know what to say. There's no radio signals, no heat signatures. Nothing there."

Rei then spoke out, quoting from the film she watched, "There is nothing in the desert, and no man needs nothing."

The only one to ask that was Isaac, as he turned to look at her, "Say what? What was that?"

Rei looked to him, and smiled at him, "Just a quote from a film that I liked to watch. In the nude."

Isaac nearly went white as a sheet on that, but Marek got him out of it, "Keep your eyes on the front instead of on her rack."

The ship headed forward, but it was only then that they noticed a gateway of rock in the mountains they were flying in between. The Falcon glided on over there, leaving behind the mountains in the rear. There, it came to a clearing, surrounded by nothing but mountains. In it, was nothing but smooth rock and stones, like large chunks of rock into black sand. They came in nice and slow, as they reached their way to the clearing. It was only then that Isaac noticed something on the monitors. He unbuckled himself as he got out of his seat, much to the disapproval of the captain, as well as their chief of security.

"Isaac, what are you doing," Gwen asked, slightly scared of what he was doing.

"There." He pointed out, as everyone got a good look at it. There, they spotted in the valley where the Falcon was going, was what appeared to be a landing strip stretching out about a mile. "Right there. God does not build in straight lines."

Ravel looked at the monitors, as did Chance, as the pilot commented, "Yep, God doesn't do that handiwork."

Isaac looked to Marek, and asked, "Captain, Helmsman, you two think you can land us down there?"

"Well, we wouldn't be any good unless we tried," Marek pointed out. "Mr. Chance, Mr. Ravel, starboard side, 90 degrees. Then one mile port bow, initiate the landing sequence."

The Falcon glided on in the vast and wide canyon, carefully making its way through the rock and ground. The four engines pointed downward, making the descent go easier and slow enough for a safe landing. Then once it was low enough, the landing gear plopped out, and touchdown was a success. However, once they landed, they saw where the landing strip led to. There on the other side, stood a massive crescent moon-shaped structure, completely made of black rock, and towered as big as the Taj Mahal. Perhaps even bigger than they imagined it to be. And parked next to it, was an exact twin of the Falcon: the Prometheus.

Once everyone was out of their seats, they all took the moment to gaze at the structure in awe. Even Isaac was a bit amazed by that, as he looked at it. Gwen looked at her cousin and smirked, but it didn't go unnoticed by him, as he sighed, "What?"

"We found them," she said, with a smile.

Isaac sighed, "Well, we don't know if anybody's home yet." He then looked to Marek, as he asked, "Captain, would you please tell the survey team to suit up, and meet us in the airlock."

Marek raised an eyebrow, "There's only six hours left of daylight. Why won't we wait until the morning? I mean it's not going anywhere."

Isaac shook his head, "I can't wait that long to know if anybody's alive."

Next Chapter: Explore the Ruins; Ghosts and Secrets