A Krogan Misplaced Chapter 15: Mars
Camp Hawking - Mars - 15th December 2063
The towering white spires of Camp Hawking were the single most notable feature in the otherwise dull and dreary landscape of Mars. Amongst the dust and dirt of the red planet the clean and imposing towers which made up the majority of the base were even more impressive, standing like skyscrapers back on Earth even though they were barely the height of apartment blocks.
Naturally, they also became the target of the first selfie on a planet other than Earth.
Maria Giuseppe had become one of the most famous people in the world simply by being selected for the Mars Mission, planet Earth having descended into a Mars-mania which still hadn't subsided even four years after landfall on the red planet. It was Maria reflected, perhaps one of the better ways to become famous, her co-astronaut Yu had been noted for being the first man to take a dump on Mars, the memes of which were relentless in their advance across internet forums worldwide.
Putting her phone back into her pocket, Maria got into her rover and began the daily trek of exploring Mars.
As the rugged vehicle thundered along the dusty plains, Maria was enveloped in her thoughts. Thoughts of what she could do when she was sent back to Earth, there were many opportunities for a celebrity after all, thoughts of what her family would be doing even though she got messages from them every other week, the last being the birth of her youngest niece, named after Maria herself for some dumb reason.
Maria was in fact so consumed by perplexion at her sisters bad choice of baby names, that it was only after half an hour of driving that she realised she was completely and utterly lost.
Being lost on Earth wouldn't have been a problem, GPS and roadside assistance and asking the locals if they spoke anything other than gibberish generally allowed even the most clueless of people to make their way around the globe with little difficulty. On Mars? There was no roadside assistance, no roads, no locals and only basic GPS that was dependent on whether the red planet's magnetic field was feeling like it was generous on a given day, which if Maria looked to the little screen on the side of her dashboard, was not the occurrence today.
Stopping the rover, she let out a flurry of mixed Italian and Spanish curse words before turning her head to see if she recognised any of the landmarks around the valley she was in. The high cliffs were different than most on Mars, sheer and smooth like polished marble rather than the wind worn rubble look the rest of the planets rocks sported. That might actually have warranted marking the place down on the map Maria was charting if she'd had any idea at all of where she was.
The cliffs however were not what caught her attention, rather it was the open chasm of a cave that Maria's eyes were drawn to. It was a vast opening, easily able to fit a jet aircraft through its maw, and truly the mouth of the cave did resemble a maw, with gaping stalactites for fangs and a narrowing to the sides which gave it the appearance of some screaming ancient thing lost to time. Driving her rover to the mouth of the cave, she set its automatic drone to go high into the atmosphere and search for a way back to base. Maria then jumped out of the rover, double checked the integrity of her suit and oxygen tanks, then began to walk slowly into the cavern mouth.
The cave went for easily a full kilometre, oddly maintaining a steady height and width throughout its length. Yet Maria couldn't help but notice other things as she began to reach the end of the tunnel, things like oddly smooth pieces of rock where one might have otherwise put things on the cave walls, or the seeming absence of stalactites and stalagmites in the very centre of the cavern. She was on to something, she knew it. But the cave end seemed to be just that, a cave end. Illuminating the walls revealed nothing odd, other than bright silvery streaks of metal running through the stone.
Turning around to head back to the entrance and her rover, Maria was struck by a thought. And looked up.
Up to see the second layer of the cavern, and the rust ridden remains of what had once surely been a vehicle bay, complete with a vehicle inside.
On Mars. Where no humans had stepped before.
"Holy shit..."
Two words which summarised the reaction of an entire planet.
Compound-X - Australia - 21st of December 2063
The Extraterrestrial Exploration and Response Group, EERG, was not a very intimidating sounding branch of the United Nations. Officially it was just one of many new departments created in the ever expanding powers of the UN to deal with global issues, and technically was rather underfunded and mundane.
Unofficially, every member of the security council, all nations with nuclear weapons and relevant organisations like NASA, the World Bank and key individuals like Urdnot Wrex and the General Secretary used the EERG as a place to plan for all contingencies in the event of extraterrestrial contact. But as William van Hague had learnt only the day before, all relevant plans had assumed the contact would take place outside the system, not on Mars of all places.
William was the last person to take his seat, holding the place of the Netherlands at the very important table, almost after the meeting began. Looking around, he could spy several figures who typically weren't at the meetings, like the Sudanese vice-president and numerous scientists from various fields. Ruffling the pile of papers on the table in front of him, William listened as the General Secretary called the meeting to order in his shrill Mexican accented Spanish.
"Gentlemen and ladies, while most of you no doubt know the reason for this meeting it is prudent to go over the most recent updates. To summarise, the Mars Team has discovered what is undoubtedly the ruins of a non-human facility near Olympus Mons. Urdnot Wrex - "
The General Secretary gestured to the massive alien, who gave a slight nod in acknowledgement.
"- informs us that several of the symbols on the outside of the ruins are Prothean in origin. The Protheans being the dominant species in the galaxy before their extinction some 50,000 years ago. This would seem to indicate that the Protheans had at the very least knowledge of the system, and possibly direct knowledge of humanity itself. This in turn means that Earth is, at the very least, on the "Mass Relay Network" which the galaxy as a whole uses for transportation. In short, we are not as isolated from the galaxy as we would care to think, and it is inevitable that at some point in the near future, we are liable to encounter the galactic community. In short, we are advancing our timetable by at a minimum 50 years."
Several muttered curses could be heard from the head of the World Bank, and quiet discussion between delegates continued for some time before Urdnot Wrex himself tapped the microphone in front of him to speak, and the room quietened as the worlds first visitor spoke.
"To give you humans context, only two species had Prothean ruins in their home systems, the Hanar and the Batarians. If you're lucky this outpost might contain some Eezo supplies, or directions to the nearest mass relay. At the least its got a couple of rusted ships and all things indicate that one could be repaired with the limited Eezo supplies present on Earth. In any case, if there does turn out to be anything substantial then I suggest that the United Nations issues the Unity proclamation, or at least lays the foundation of a summit where it could be proclaimed. Your species can't afford to be seperate when you encounter the other races of the galaxy, and that's suddenly gotten a whole lot more likely."
The room discussed the Krogans proposal for almost half an hour before consensus was reached, most dissenters quashed by the knowledge that even if they personally wanted their nations to continue seperate existences, said nations had agreed over two decades ago on the course of action that was to be taken for Planet Earth's future.
The quiet discussion of the worlds most powerful people was abruptly interrupted when an aide burst through the doors and ran to the general secretary, who listened intently to the hurried and broken Spanish coming from the woman. After the aide stopped talking the General Secretary gave a grimace before speaking into his microphone.
"I'm afraid Gentlemen and Ladies that this knowledge of not being alone in our system has been leaked onto the internet."
As suddenly as it had been silenced, the previously calm room exploded with noise.
Authors Note:
You know i'll be honest. I'm terrible with keeping up to updates. I get writers block and I procrastinate and sometimes I put out pieces of dubious quality... thats not even considering that I flat out don't plan story arcs that well.
Yet this moment of inspiration has struck me just after reading about the unfortunate death of Steven hawking (RIP) and barely a week before my mid course exams but pssht, who cares about that!