Bridgebuilder

Everyone had switched back to environment suits for the trip to the map. Yes, it was the first time most of them would be interacting with actual alien technology... well, small scale alien technology of an unknown origin, at least. There were some nerves on display among them, the comm quieter than normal on the march up the hill. Even Sergeant Karras was getting fidgety.

The choice of suits was ultimately for practical reasons - they were taking a lot of gear up there and would have to carry it part of the way. The Groundskeeper drone had worked all night on that path up to the grove, so they didn't also have to trudge through waist deep snow. But there were loads of containers to haul from the grav sled to the clearing inside - their sled was made to move full pallets, and was nearly twice as wide as the path through the trees.

The most recent batch of cargo through the portal had included scanning equipment that the powers that be hoped would be able to penetrate whatever the pedestal was made of, and give them an idea of what was going on inside. Maybe have something that was recognizable - emitters for the hard holograms, or something that was obviously an integrated circuit but impressively advanced... but not too advanced. It had to be comprehensible, after all.

The deep scanner arrays came through without issue so the Artifact recognized them as Not Weapons, at least. Hopefully it would not take issue with curious aliens giving its hardware a little burst of radiation.

Several pretty large bursts of radiation, eventually. But they were going to start small and see how it went before going crazy.

Abbot got stuck carrying the big crate. The Pacesetter suit he had chosen was particularly good at moving cargo even without external power. None of the cases were very heavy, even the one their Englishman had to haul around was only seventy kilos. There were just a bunch of them.

Alex was taking point because he'd been here before and they had no reason to believe some sort of threat had taken up residence in the stand of trees. Though it did look a lot spookier - the leaves had fallen and the reddish bark of the thun tree apparently changed color with the season. It was now hundreds of pale gray tree trunks rising out of the previously untouched snow, spindly branches reaching for an overcast sky.

The pedestal was still there, with its gentle curved, bowl shaped top. Still that putty gray color the local architecture favored. There was no snow on it, and the ground for about half a meter around was still carpeted by vivid green grasses. If that was because the builders had not fully subverted physics, or the wide base was just warmed to keep it from icing up, was not readily apparent.

The creepy stylized carving of a Human man and woman were present, too, and he assumed the Tsla'o version was still on the other side. Those Pioneer plaque-like carvings were Alex's least favorite part of the Artifact so far. It was just too familiar for him.

The map came back online as Alex stepped into the clearing, a full color holographic representation of the entire Dyson sphere, turned inside out so it appeared like a globe.

That green inverted pyramid hadn't moved, either. Pointing at the top of the map. Waiting.

The open comm was filled with everyone being very impressed with it. They were literally living on an alien megastructure right now, but the visual effect of the Artifact being a normal planet was effective, particularly with clouds to cover the horizon. The light show was a bit more immediately comprehensible.

"That is very cool, and I would like to remind everyone about what Lieutenant Williams said: no one touches it until after the first round of scans has been taken." Sergeant Karras was the 'babysitter' here, his voice a bit more gruff sounding than his usual relaxed quality. He slung a couple of shovels off his shoulder and stuck them into the snow. "Dominic, Kavo. You're up."

The conference with Admiral Serrat had gotten pushed back. Williams and Carbon were off having a chat with him right now.

Everyone got to wait around while Dominic Crenshaw and Specialist Kavo got to work setting up all that scanning equipment. So they thought, anyway. Karras had brought a pile of shovels up to help clear the trail into the grove as it was also too narrow for the Groundskeeper.

Sergeant Karras opened a private comm to Alex. He was restacking the scientific equipment crates into a semblance of order as they were emptied. When he spoke, it was in his normal, slightly nerdy sounding voice. "Hey, Sorenson. Why do they have three people?"

Alex had picked up a shovel to work on the path, but stopped and stabbed the tip into the snow as he straightened up and looked over to Karras. The question made no damn sense to him. "Man, I am gonna need a little more information than that if you want an accurate answer."

A thoughtful hum came over the private comm. "The intel package we got didn't include any photos or videos, so all I knew was there were carvings on the thing. But the Tsla'o one has three people but they... Kind of look the same."

Alex had never gone over to look at that side of the map base, had he?

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Before Alex could reply, Abbot started up on the open channel. "Why does the Tsla'o side of the pedestal have three of them on it? And why does one of them have a tail? The primer didn't say anything about Tsla'o having tails." Abbot sounded like he was upset that he had not seen one with a tail yet.

Karras and Alex both sighed and clicked off the private comm.

"Best guess by our scientists was that it's got to do with karyotypes." Zenshen started before Alex could say anything. She stalked over towards their side of the map, looking at the other decorative carvings as she went. "If you look at the chromosomes in a karyotype - and this is consistent in both Tsla'o and Humans - they're practically identical except for the allosomes. We have XX, XW, and XWY, though the last one is rare. It doesn't account for anything else because the builders here were reducing something vastly complex into a simple outline that is easy to comprehend. Consider the initial activation of the portal and map required both a Human and Tsla'o subject, the indication of which was simplified to red and blue colors."

That was true of each escalating step of access they had gained here. An unarmed 'scientific' vessel with mixed crew had started it, the ring portal in the Thackery's Globule forcing them to land and explore. The interior portal to the Artifact required at least one of each race, unarmed, and identified them by red or blue colored glyphs. Then the map, showing them the full scope of this place, and indicating they needed to go to the top.

Zenshen cleared her throat. "Somebody clap, I spent an entire evening memorizing that in English."

Karras actually clapped. "Okay, but why are there three of them?"

"Because... All the stuff I just said." She gesticulated at Karras and sounded more than a little incredulous, an eyebrow arched at him, ears shifting up. "We have a third stable allosome, it's just recessive."

"That's the one with the tail?" Abbot was out here asking the important questions.

Sergeant Zenshen sighed and started to reach for her temple, only to have her gloves slide off her shielding. Another much more aggressive, frustrated growl followed immediately. "Yes. It's the one with the tail."

"Oh, neat." Karras was happy with that, apparently. He turned his attention to Crenshaw. "How's the setup coming along? Got an ETA?"

Crenshaw launched into an explanation of what he was doing that did not immediately include a whole lot of information about when he would be ready.

Alex shouldered his shovel and went to take a look at the pedestal.

As advertised, there were three Tsal'o inscribed on it, amid the other somewhat floral looking decorations that encircled the remainder of the base. Male, Female, Zeshen. Complete with tail and uniform lack of external genitalia. Between that and the much more subdued sexual dimorphism in physical traits, it did kind of make them all look very similar.

The carving was different here, compared to the Human side. Like a different tool had been used, the cuts in the stone-like material were more narrow than their Human counterpart.

"Hey, Zenshen. Did the Tsla'o ever send out a probe or something with an engraved plate demonstrating your biology?" Alex didn't know if she'd actually have any idea, but she'd know who did. Probably Carbon.

She had grabbed a shovel and moved on to marking out a section of the trail they had forged walking into the grove. "Ah, yes. The research satellite Anka sa Na'o infamously carried a plaque that this appears to be based on."

That was... Na'o Explorer, probably. It made sense as a name for something used for research. "Infamously?"

Zenshen continued to do a little layout, ensuring the path would have crisp edges. "There was some question if it was wise to hurl a picture of ourselves into deep space, as the satellite was intended to continue out of the system and report back for as long as it could."

Alex got a chuckle out of that. "Sounds familiar."

"I have heard."

He turned his attention back to the pedestal, crouching and looking it over again. The decorative carvings also appeared to be done with a different tool. Wider and shallow, but not intended to provide fine detailed lines, just aesthetically pleasing curves and leaves.

Had this been adjusted for the current Human and Tsla'o audience, or was it something the builders would have used for their own decorations?

Speaking of carvings, there was a notch in the lip of the bowl-shaped top that had not been there before, right above the male Tsla'o. "Hey. This has changed." A glance down the line found the notch was also present over the female and Zeshen images.

He peeked over the top, and there just under the glow of the map, were two more above the Human carvings. They extended down into the basin, a shallow channel no longer than a finger. "Those notches weren't there before."

Alex reached out to point at them and brushed a fingertip across the matte surface of the pedestal.

A neon red line of light spilled from a notch across the map base, running like liquid pouring into the basin. Right above the carving of the human male.

The pedestal base hummed a pleasant, resonant tone.

Fuck.

He did it again.

Alex would never hear the end of this - even if it was never mentioned by another soul, accidentally touching the pedestal twice was going to haunt him. Swirling in his mind for the rest of his life, eventually taunting him on his deathbed. He would forever be the dumbass that touched stuff when he wasn't supposed to.

"Damn it, Sorenson." Karras and Zenshen both said at the same time.