Rennek
When I first noticed the structure on the scans I was troubled. Though this development is an exciting one, it may lead to danger. It is my hope however that it may instead lead to more information about what might have happened here yets ago when Gorrard’s scouting ship first arrived.
I worry over having someone as precious as my Kate with me. I try to brush away these thoughts. She has proven herself to be a formidable traveling companion, but bringing my mate into situations where there are so many unknowns… it agitates me. Hearing Kate’s excitement however, brings me back to my center. It reminds me of my fledgling days on Javan with my friends: going on adventures, getting into trouble, testing our limits.
“We can detour back towards those denser trees there,” I point in the opposite direction of the beacon. “There is a better chance of finding fruit bearing plants in that direction. The forest thins towards the beacon. It may be less likely for us to find the food you crave if we continue on,” I explain.
“Huh? Oh screw that. Let’s go for the beacon! We can go look for pineapples or whatever later, this is way more exciting!” She exclaims before she starts making a path along the branches of the trees. When she sees a better route, she drops down a level and continues on. I follow her, watching her movements, amused. For such a small frame she is sure footed, focused, and strong. She has gotten quite comfortable here on Elysia.
“You are very adaptable,” I tell her.
“That’s the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me,” she teases, batting her eyes.
“I mean to say that you have been fitting in well here,” I tell her.
“On Elysia?” she asks. “Yeah, I guess so. It’s kind of like a camping trip.”
“And on the space station as well on the ship, when we first rescued you and your people...” I say, trying to find the right words. “Some of the other females struggled in different ways. You adapted.”
“Thanks. I’ve actually thought about that quite a bit. It’s weird. It was never like this for me back on Earth. There, it seemed I could never find a place that fit for me--yet here, or since the abduction I mean, everything just feels right.”
“That is wonderful,” I say encouraged by her words.
“It is and it isn’t,” she says, surprising me.
“How could that be bad,” I ask and she pauses her steps to answer.
“I feel kind of guilty about it. Almost like I need to keep it a secret or something. The others all miss home and the things they left behind. They are having a hard time… transitioning. I feel like I should be having a hard time too and instead I get to make out with a sexy gargoyle alien every night and go on exciting adventures.”
“I think I may be too biased to discuss this with you fairly,” I smile and she leans up to kiss me--but I hear the snapping of branches. I dart my gaze in the direction from which the sound originated.
“What is it?” she asks.
“Perhaps nothing,” I breathe deeply through my nose. “Smells like there is an animal nearby.” We both visually scan the trees around us. Just then, a small pack of primates swing through the trees above us, hooting wildly as they pass.
“Holy shit! Did you see those things? Oh my god, wow!” Kate laughs. “Were they up there the whole time?”
“They likely spend their time on the upper canopy, they may have heard us and became frightened.”
“They were beautiful. We have creatures kind of like that on Earth, but those colors were unreal! At first, I thought they were freaking parrots or something---that’s a big colorful bird on Earth,” she explains. I survey our surroundings.
“The branches become more dispersed up ahead, now is the best time to descend to the ground level of the forest.”
“Aye, aye,” she says. I jump down to a lower limb and reach for her. She slides down off the branch and into my arms. “Do we have much farther to go?”
“No. Just around this bend we should be able to see what the scanner is picking up.” She jumps down ahead of me to the level below. I follow behind, hurrying to get ahead of her. I jump down another branch and slide off into the leaves on the forest floor, turning to catch my mate.
“Gosh, it’s humid down here!” She says, plucking at the collar of her shirt. “The air is a lot fresher up in the trees.”
“Perhaps then I should build you a home in the trees,” I tell her.
“Hey, if it has a shower and a toilet you can build it anywhere you please.” We both eye the hillside ahead of us. We look at each other. “Race you?” She asks, taking me by surprise.
“I think instead we should approach with caution,” I tell her.
“You said no sentient life is here? The scanner isn’t picking up any technology or energy sources except for the beacon, right?”
“Both of those statements are correct.”
“Well then… hey what’s that over there?” She asks, pointing behind me. When I turn to look, she bolts in the direction of the beacon. It only takes a moment for me to recover from her rouse and I chase after her. I overtake her easily, scooping her into my arms and hoisting her onto my back. I fall to all fours and run the rest of the way, laughing with my mate as she clings to my neck. The decaying leaves covering the forest floor kick up as we pass the caps of giant mushrooms and bright green ferns with long and curling branches. Fallen tree limbs occasionally litter the ground, slowly being swallowed up by moss. Roots from the massive trees sprawl out before us, but they do not slow me down.
As we round the bend, I stagger to a halt. Kate disembarks from my back, her mouth agape. I stand to my full height and take in this mystery before me.
“This didn’t show up on the scanners from the air?” she asks shocked.
“No. These are all natural materials, made from the same stone as the mountains… the overgrowth may have interfered as well. Even now, all the scanner picked up was its uniformity.”
We stand before a long stone wall, covered in moss and vines. Even with all the overgrowth I can still see the wall beneath is ornate. In the center is a wide arched gateway leading to an interior courtyard. My guns are holstered but at the ready. I run one last scan while Kate watches, but the data has not changed. We are alone here. Kate’s hand finds mine and we proceed through the arch.
Directly across from us is a temple of sorts. It is tall in the center, as if it has multiple levels within, and long on the sides. It is made of stone just like the wall surrounding us. To access the building there are three sets of stairs leading up to a long open corridor with arched windows, looking down upon the courtyard--the primary staircase is set on the north side and two secondary sets lie on the west end and the east end. In the center of the courtyard there is a massive fountain. Within it is the dilapidated statue of a birdlike female. Her face is gazing upward toward the sky. Her stone wings are tattered and her nose… or perhaps beak, is missing--broken off over the yets. She stands among stone flourishes and her own broken pieces. Though it is wet, the fountain is not filled with water, instead dirt and plants overflow from it.
“It’s beautiful,” Kate breathes out. All around us I begin to notice carvings in the stone, remnants of statues and sculptures--all depicting these winged and feathered females.
“This is either the image of the builders or an image of their Goddess,” I tell Kate as she admires the form.
Exploring further, I notice the ground was once paved with stones, but they crumble and are covered in a layer of soil in most places. There are benches and seating areas throughout the courtyard. The walls are lined with more fountains, though the others are less ornate than the central one. Though the trees are much sparser here, they still grow out of the crumbling stone. Thankfully, the air is less humid--likely because this space is open to the sky.
I get closer to the long corridor running the length of the structure. Through the large arched windows, I can see the wall beyond is lined with doorways. Kate makes her way to the west stairway and I follow her up the steps, inside the corridor. It is covered here, offering protection from the frequent drizzling rainstorms. The view of the courtyard is a powerful one. It is designed so that one could sit on the ledge and watch everything in the space below. Or even talk to friends lounging by the fountain. I imagine what this place must have been like when its civilization flourished. Kate begins to peer inside one of the doors.
“Careful, let me check first,” I tell her and she rolls her eyes in response, but acquiesces. I retrieve my handheld lantern from my pack and shine it inside the first room. It is empty. We continue down the corridor, looking into each doorway as we pass. They all seem to be fairly uniform, square rooms with an indentation along the back wall. Leaves mound in the corners and there is evidence animals nested here at one time or another. Any doors were likely made of wood or cloth and have long ago rotted away. Kate knocks her foot on a small piece of something that clatters across the stone floor.
“Huh, wonder what this is?” She asks picking it up to examine it.
“It appears to be a small piece of pottery, yes?” We both look at the floor. We see more shattered pieces, as if a vase or some type of receptacle had been dropped, only this did not happen centuries ago. I go back and examine the rooms again more thoroughly.
“What are you thinking?” Kate asks.
“Look here…” I point to some spots in the first room. I see some signs confirming my assumption and I look more closely at more of the rooms. It appears as if long forgotten items once belonging to the builders of this structure sat in these rooms for many yets. We can see the outline of items that have at some point in more recent history gone missing. “It looks as if raiders may have found this place and pillaged it. Though it appears that was some time ago.”
“Interesting. Do you think this could be linked to what happened to Gorrard and his crew?” She asks. I shrug, but it would make sense. If Gorrard’s ship arrived unexpectedly, the raiders might have viewed them as a threat and fired on them.
“Let’s look for more evidence before we draw any conclusions,” I say as I see a shadow darken the courtyard. I move quickly to one of the arched windows and peer upwards.
“One of those big birds?” Kate asks, but I see nothing.
“Perhaps.”
“Want to check out the main room?”
“What’s that?” I ask, still distracted by the unknown origin of the shadow.
“The main room? Big building in the center,” she points.
“Ah, yes.” I say, bringing my attention back to Kate.
“Upstairs or downstairs?” She asks.
“I hold no preference,” I tell her.
“Okay, let’s start up and work our way down.”
“As you wish.”
We make our way down a short stairway to access the long one that is the center point of the courtyard. At the top are columns holding open the front half of a large domed room. We can instantly see this room is significantly more elaborate than any of the other rooms we have seen thus far. The floors here are a tiled mosaic and instead of grey stone walls, it is a smooth marbled stone. You can faintly make out murals across the ceiling that have been fading for centuries. The view from this room is amazing. It looks down onto the courtyard on one side and across the forest beyond the rear wall on the other.
“This is absolutely stunning. There are no words for…” Kate says, trailing off. I pause a moment to appreciate the awe in her eyes.
“Look! A stairwell.” She notices in the back of the room. I lead the way and we follow the spiraling staircase down using my lantern. We hear water dripping before the stairs open up into a large and humid room. Luckily the back wall of this section of the structure has the same arching, open windows--allowing light and a slight breeze in. Thankfully so, for the humidity in here is even more dense than when tucked under the canopy of the forest.
“What on Earth… or Elysia. Let me try again. What on Elysia?” Kate mocks a gasp mirthfully.
“A bath,” I say impressed, admiring the intricate mosaic tile covering the room. I can see the walls are lined with a series of small fountains. Some have vines spilling from them. This culture thrived because of their access to water and their ability to harness it. It makes sense that they decorate liberally with water features throughout their temple.
“A bath?” Kate parrots. “That’s more like a pool! It’s practically an Olympic sized pool!”
“It needs a little care,” I say, examining moss and mold growing along the walls as a result of the humidity from the water. “I think we could have it back in usable conditions in about five to ten rotations.
“Wait, we could really turn this back into a working bath?” She asks.
“Absolutely,” I smile at her. “And those spouts along the back wall,” I point to the dark side of the room. “They appear to be a type of shower head.” Kate says nothing but loudly breathes in a long and drawn out inhalation of air. Surly a sign of her surprise and excitement.
We move to the windows and look out together at the view from the rear of the structure. I can see crumbling wall lines far in the distance. “Likely there was a village out that way, fields for farming perhaps.”
“It’s so humbling to walk through this place. It feels sacred or something.”
“It is a blessing Kate; this place will be ours--a home base for the humans. It has everything we need. There is much space here and room for growth--to build something more. I know there is work to do here,” I see her eyes go to the vine filled fountains, “but it could be beautiful.”
“No, I see it. It is beautiful and with it cleaned up a little… pruned… I can totally see it. This could be something really amazing,” she agrees and my core soars. We look out again to the forest beyond the bathing room. Something nearby catches my eye and I jump down out of the window.
“Hey! Where are you going?” Kate yells after me. But I am back before she can chase after me--with a large yellow fruit as a prize. “Oh, please tell me I can eat that.” I run a quick scan which tells us there are no toxic compounds within this fruit, so I dig my claw in and crack it open. The meat of the fruit is yellow and the center is filled with puffy orange seeds.
“Oh, please let it taste like mango, please let it taste like mango.” She takes a bite. “Bummer. Papaya.” She scrunches up her nose. She sounds displeased, but continues to eat.
“Try a seed,” I offer and she grabs a few, popping them into her mouth.
“Oh sweet! It’s kind of like a fruit we have on Earth called pomegranate. Oh man, these are good. I could eat this part all day. It’s good, try it.” I taste both the seeds and the meat and find that my preferences are opposite of Kate’s, which we agree works out quite well.
“So… what do you say we find that beacon?” Kate tells me. I grunt in response.
“Have you been stalling?” She asks.
“Only very slightly. But I am ready now. I would like to report back to the others as soon as possible to give them an update.”
“Do they even know about this place yet?” she asks.
“I did give Dax our coordinates this morning and I let him know we may have discovered some ruins.”
“You’ll have a lot to talk about tonight, I guess.”
“Let us hope it is all good news.”