You've probably taken notes already but in case you haven't, "I do not own any characters from Visceral games and EA".

The First Mark

The penalty for stealing any government property on Tetra is punishable by death; no exceptions. With the government and big corporations building with limited resources, every single pound of steel is worth at least three-hundred thousand credits. That penalty had been established since humans first touched down here. It's also a penalty people seem to forget these past few weeks.

"Mal! , enough messing around! Come over here and help me!"

Malcom Phillips, that's my name. Arrived here with my brother Allan when I was 5 and stayed here for 10 years. Many years back, Tetra was supposedly one of the 13 newly discovered planets that can be inhabited by humans. Even though Planet-cracking gave Earth the goods to support itself, the population density everywhere on the planet was immense. With new planets, people pack their bags for new sights, adventures, and... new lives.

"W-wait! Jesus Christ, I can't work as fast as you! Why don't you do all the work since you move so freaking quick." Work in Cargo Department is unusually fast these few weeks. The Sprawl is the most important trading partner for Tetra. Sure there are several other planets, but The Sprawl gave us stability with our economy and stock. With our ships disappearing and our lost contact to there, our cargo holds are being overloaded with minerals needed to be sold. We even had to get rid some of the precious Tetrazilion ores to make room for even more valuable material.

"Hmph, the top guys said we would be getting some huge package. So we have go double time on these crates." Zachary Johnston or simply "Zach" mumbled. Zach has been my friend since I was 8. When we both reached the age of 12(the age when we were eligible to work), the jobs in Cargo Department were sweet deals. Not only did we just move boxes once an hour in a cool air-conditioned cargo hold, we also got to chill around while the sorry kids at DK's construction worked in the unbelievable heat for 8 straight hours. Oh yeah! Did you know that the average degrees Fahrenheit during the day is 115 degrees?

"All personnel are required to clear from the cargo hold. Package inbound"

"Oh! It's coming Mal! It's coming! I can't wait!" Zach can be such a child at times. "Is it some robot?"

Granted, a robot here would be pretty cool but as soon as the cargo hold doors opened, I couldn't bring myself to believe how huge the package was. No robot of that size would be practical... sorry Zach.

"Would you look at that..." Marshall, our boss, spoke all of sudden scaring me and Zach in the process. "What are you? Teenagers? Wait...don't answer that." He gave out a huge sigh and leaned towards the poly-glass window. "In any case, I hope this so called "package" might be the answer to our problems. People having to resort to stealing government property to live is just plain ludicrous. Poor chaps, being executed just because they can't afford anything. They go to work everyday knowing they will barely get paid. Without The Sprawl, we're just like ancient Rome happening again."

Zach peered at the package with almost intense curiosity. "Wait, they didn't tell you what the package was Marsh?"

"Please refrain from the name "Marsh," Marshall frowned. "That aside, all I know about this thing is that it supposedly is the key to advancing our technology... At least, thats what Chancellor Granger of Unitology says."

Oh, they're opening it...

"What...what is that?"

Speaking what we all had in our minds, Zach slammed his face against the window. It was some sort of...structure. In all honesty, I don't know what the hell this thing was. It stood tall and had curves carved through to the top, like flames.

It didn't look alien to me... in fact, one look at this structure and I could have sworn this thing was handmade.