A moment of truth, they passed several planets which looked similar to the data. Sebastian was excited when Ampr informed them they were near the 3rd planet of the planetary system. From far, he could see a blue dot.
Earth, it still there, it wasn't destroyed.
His excitement however quickly turned to horror when their ship arrived at the planet. It wasn't the beautiful planet from the picture, it’s a planet covered with snow. The land was riddled with huge craters and parts of it were obstructed by dense fogs.
"Is that.. earth?" Rob muttered.
"What happened to it.."
Sebastian heard Enid sobbing. Ammaurith hugged her and cheers her up.
Sannekth rubbing his chin. He told Mafith and Pulkth to prepared the landing craft. Ampr was told to remained on the ship to monitored the situation from above and to find out the faint signal they detected when they first entering planetary system.
They went to the changing room to donned their spacesuit. He looked at his locket before deciding not to leave it in the locker.
They boarded their landing craft and left ship. Mafith steered their craft and dove into the atmosphere.
"Nekth! just now, there’s a signal," Laenoth checking the computer.
"A signal?" Sebastian stood from his seat.
Sannekth told Mafith to steered to the signal location, leading them to a land still largely intact with less huge crater. However the signal was gone before they could pinpoint it location. He told Mafith to flew their craft above the clouds, waiting for the signal to return.
Sebastian spotted a ruin not far from their location, it was partially buried under the snow. He relayed his finding to Sannekth before he told Mafith to land their craft a bit futher from the ruin.
After checking their suit, they walked out from the craft. Sannekth was looking around the area before telling Laenoth to find out the condition of the surrounding environment.
Laenoth took a device from her bag and observed the data. "Air was polluted, radiation.. low, temperature 30 celvits, but.. it safe for all off us."
Sannekth removed his helmet and strapped it on his belt. He breathed the air before gesturing at others it was safe to removed their helmet. As soon as Sebastian removed his helmet, the cold air swept his face.
"Bwah!! it's cold!" Rob sneezed loudly.
"It's not that cold," Mafith smirked.
"You- have fur-" Enid shivering.
Ammaurith gave a napkin to Rob to wiped his frozen snot. Sebastian too was shivering, however soon he felt a bit warmer after his body began adapting to the freezing air.
"Phew! at last.." said Rob.
Sannekth motioned at everyone to followed him to the ruin. The place seemed deserted, crumbled buildings everywhere. To have a better searching for sign of life, they split into 3 groups. Sebastian and Enid went with Sannekth to the center of the ruin, Ampr had provides them with a map.
On the way there, they stumbled upon a large stone wall, something was written on it. He wiped the snow and read.
"Welcome to New- Boise?"
"Maybe it's the name of this ruin?" said Enid.
Nearby, there's a cylindrical vehicle resembling the ondrail back home, half buried under the snow. The further they walked into the ruin, the more they finds relics of the past. He wondered what it was looked like on its heyday.
They arrived on a garden. Sebastian sat on a crooked bench and sighed, there was no one there; Enid sat beside him, she looked sad. Sannekth approached them, but before he could says something, his wristband started buzzing. He opened his comm.
"Nekth, get to our location now!" Gersoth shouted over the comm "we found them!"
"What did you find?" Sebastian asked.
"Human?" Enid beamed.
"Yeah.. sort of.. get in here quick!" said Rob.
Sannekth checked the map and told them to followed him.
Arriving at Gersoth's location. Sebastian was surprised to see a body riddled with scars. It upper part was mangled beyond recognition, with bits splattered everywhere. Enid gasped and ran outside.
"What happened to them? did something attacked them?" asked Sebastian.
"Soth.. uh.. accidentally stepped on her," Rob explained.
"She was buried under the rubble and snow," Gersoth shrugging his shoulder "how should i know."
"Rith, have you checked it?" asked Sannekth.
She nodded "She died due to starvation after getting crushed under the rubble."
Sebastian asked. "Is.. she human?"
"99% matched your."
"We- should find and save them-" implored Enid, she’s back inside.
"She died about 80 cycles ago," added Ammaurith.
"Hmm.." Sannekth rubbed his chin.
"But- there's a chance more are still alive, right?" she looked at him "they need our help- maybe we can bring them to other planet?"
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"Dunno about you.. but those scars gave me a creep," Rob muttered "her clothes is weird too.."
Rob pointing at the ripped hazmat suit on the ground, it had ornament resembling scales.
"That requires permission from elders, but first," Sannekth looking at the body "let's give her a proper burial."
They dug a hole outside and lied her down there. Sannekth, Ammaurith and Gersoth chanted a poem as they buried her. Gersoth found a slab and drew the Garbitian symbol of life beyond, and put it above the grave.
Sebastian wiped the dirt from his hands before looking at the skies, it was getting dark. Sannekth told them they will be making a camp here.
After building their hut, Sebastian sat beside the campfire and warmed himself. The snow began falling and the sound of wind whistling, it’s getting cold.
Enid gave him a hot soup.
"Thank you."
"Wohoo!" Rob quickly gulped the soup.
"Here you go kids," Sannekth gave them a stack of grilled meat.
While they ate, he saw lights coming towards them, Pulkth group has returned. Ammaurith offered them a soup when they sat down near the campfire.
"Find anything?" asked Sebastian.
"We stumbled upon a building full of ancient book, but it crumbles when we touched it," Pulkth groaned.
"There's computers too, but we're unable to extract any data," Mafith shook his head.
"Too bad though, those might be useful to uncovers what happened to this planet," Laenoth sighed "So.. what did you find?"
Sannekth told them about the body, they were intrigued.
"Ah yeah, almost forgot.. Rith," Laenoth took a small white object from her bag and gave it to Ammaurith.
"What is that?" Enid leaned forward.
"A bone," she replied.
Ammaurith examined it with her device "It's a human."
"We found it scattered beside an altar."
"Altar?"
A loud thud echoed through the ruin
"What was that?" Sebastian jumped.
Enid hid behind him; Rob waving his fork, looking around. Sannekth motioned at them to be quiet. Sannekth, Gersoth, Mafith and Pulkth went to checked the surrounding area while they wait at the campsite.
When Sannekth and others returned. They told them it's just a building collapsing nearby.
"Just in case, Pulkth, send out drones," said Sannekth "orders them to survey the area."
Pulkth nodded, he took several drones from his bag and ordering them, the drones flew to all directions. Sannekth told Sebastian, Enid and Rob to get some rest.
The next morning, Sebastian was awakened by the light coming through the hut. He rubbed his eyes and went outside to poured water on his face. He looked up, the weather was clear. Sebastian removed his spacesuit and stored it inside his bag.
Everyone was busy near the campfire; Enid was helping Ammaurith making their meal; Pulkth examining all the drones; Laenoth was checking their equipment; Gersoth doing some exercises, lifting a huge boulder. Sebastian sat beside Sannekth and Mafith who were busy grilling meat.
"Nekth," called Pulkth "drones captured a signal, it came from a settlement not far from ours," pointing at the hillside.
Sannekth opened the map on his wristband and shown it to everyone. There was a small settlement not far from their location just like Pulkth said. His wristband suddenly buzzing.
"Ampr, what is it?" he opened the comm.
"I found, the source, of the signal, it is coming from a structure, near the twin planets."
"Structure?" Pulkth mumbled.
"Maybe there is human still alive there," Enid bubbled.
Sannekth rubbed his chin. He gathered everyone to discussed their next objective. Investigating both the settlement and the structure might took too long, they need to get back home before the next 2 cycles.
"How about we split up?" suggested Sebastian "We can cover both faster."
Sannekth grinned. He agreed and told Sebastian, Enid and Rob to investigated the settlement by themselves, while he and others went to checked the structure. Sebastian and Rob were enthuastic, although Enid was looking hesitant.
Ammaurith opposed it "If anything happened to them, i'll-"
"Calms down Rith," Pulkth waving his hands.
"This will be a great final lesson for them," Sannekth shook his head.
"Rith.. remember my lesson.." said Pulkth.
Ammaurith gritted her teeth and relented. Sannekth relayed their new objectives to Ampr, telling her to sent a rai'cawl. He told Pulkth to distributed their corinths.
Rob waving his corinth "Finally! i always want to shoot at something real-"
"Emergencies only!" Ammaurith waving her finger at him. "Careful you 3, calls us if there any troubles," she hugged them.
A loud whoosh, the rai'cawl descended from the sky and landed not far from their location.
"Almost forgot," Laenoth gave Sebastian the long range transmitter device.
"Good luck kids," said Sannekth.
Gersoth smacked Rob's shoulder before following the others boarding the landing craft. Sebastian watched them flew to the skies before disappeared above the cloud.
He looked at Enid and Rob "Ready?"
"Oh yeah!" Rob clenched his fist.
"I'm ready.." said Enid nervously.
They entered their rai'cawl. Rob ignited the engine and drove to their destination.