The Original Beefcake

"So, there is at least some power left in this facility," Grace said, as she inspected the warning signs on the reinforced door. The whole raid had joined Marcus' team and tried to get a good look at the discovery. "Incredible, that something still works after all that time. The ice must have stopped a lot of the natural decay," Bianca explained, and made some pictures of the writing. The raid started to discuss what to do next, but Marcus was distracted by Xeen's comment.

Marcus, I have a hunch concerning this place. Could you go back to the entrance and take a good look at the outer wall? You might want to bring Grace for her ability to cut through most things.

"Ehm... Grace, I have an idea. Would you escort me back to the entrance? I would like to check something," Marcus said, and a lot of eyes settled on him. "Sure," Grace said, and they left before the scientists could ask any more specific questions Marcus couldn't possibly answer. They made it around two corners before Carmen came running after them. "I would like to see what you have on your mind," Carmen said with a smile, and Marcus nodded. It took them five minutes to reach the nest of the wyrm again. Marcus walked up to the edge of the broken wall and hoped that whatever Xeen expected to find was really obvious.

As observed the wall was made out of metal. Now on closer inspection, Marcus saw things were more complicated. "Grace could you cut off the deformed edges, so we can get a better look?" Marcus asked, and Grace acted without hesitation. Her glowing blade worked through the material and revealed a clear cut of the wall. The wall was made up of several layers of different materials. Marcus could even see some kind of wiring or even electronics? "The outer layer is seriously tough," Grace commented. "This is either the most over engineered wall I have ever seen, or…," Carmen said and looked at Marcus.

Extremely strong outer layer, functional layers, even something that looks like isolation material? Electrical wiring… Marcus thought about this and the layout of the rooms, the materials…

You are very close.

HOLY shit. "This isn't a ruin! It is a wrecked spaceship!" Marcus exclaimed, and both women looked like lightning had hit them. "Wait… you are right! That would explain everything we have seen and why it is in this god forsaken part of the world," Grace said, and quickly informed the rest of the raid of Marcus' conclusion. The thought that they had found an actual spaceship, even a broken one, made them all giddy. Cheering and laughter filled the com line until Rita called everybody back to order. Carmen watched Marcus intensely and when he looked at her she just gave him a smile and said, "Great work."

"This would also explain why some things are still working. A space ship would be designed with redundancy and high durability in mind," Malcolm said, after they had grouped up again. "We need to find the bridge, or whatever command center this ship has," Alistair offered as a next step, and the rest agreed. If there was a bridge, it was the best place to continue their exploration. They spread out again and started to move quickly, leaving most rooms untouched on the way. Even now, wild dreams about what they could find were shared over the com line. Weapons, hyper drives, replicators! Things got out of hand.

"WE FOUND IT!" An hour later, Alistair's excited voice was the signal for the rest to rush to their position. Following their tracking signal and the automatic, linked map system they converged on the remnants of the ship's bridge. Excitement was quickly cooled by the reality of the situation. The room was longer than wide and had about a dozen workstations, but most of it was destroyed. Dead bodies littered the floor or could be found still in their seats. "The impact on the planet must have been brutal. From the looks of it, most have died right then," Candis said, as she inspected the corpses. Alistair and Marcus looked for still working controls, while the rest secured the room.

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They found various items, including several pistols of unknown technology. "No projectiles, most likely some form of direct energy weapon," Janette muttered, as she started to take one apart, right then and there. "If you find the power source, we should take a look at it. It might give us an idea what powers the ship, too." Marcus said, after Xeen had asked him to. A soft hum and a new light was born in the dark room. Alistair had found a working station. "Eureka!" Alistair laughed, and the raid gathered around him. The surface of the console depicted various symbols and words, and a short test made it clear it was touch sensitive. "Don't start pressing buttons," Grace said with a serious voice, and Alistair looked like this had been exactly what he wanted to do.

"Okay, playtime is over. It is time the real scientists take control," Carmen said, with her hands on her hips. "This is too important to do things without the proper protocols," she continued, and Marcus knew she was right. A sudden change in the lighting drew everybody's attention back to the console. Red blinking symbols had appeared in the middle of the screen. "I didn't touch anything," Alistair said. "Are these not exactly the same as the ones on the door?" Janette asked, and they all knew she was right. Marcus looked at the flashing symbols and his train of thought moved right into a very bad place. "We need to learn what this means, asap. My instincts tell me that this is something really serious," Marcus said. His instincts had a name, and it was Xeen.

"If we can gather enough examples of their language we might be able to construct a rudimentary model of their language, and learn how to read this information." Marcus said, still thinking and debating with Xeen. "Okay, let's do this. This shouldn't get in the way of the proper procedures, right? We need to explore the ship anyway," Grace said, and the other class holders nodded. Carmen gave Bianca and Malcolm a look and agreed, but her expression was anything but happy. "For now we should return and plan how to do this methodically. Teams, procedures etc. All by the book," Rita said, and Carmen looked a bit more relaxed.

They moved back to the entrance and exited the ship through the broken outer hull. "Do you think this was an interstellar ship?" Alistair asked, dreaming of much bigger things already. As they stepped out, they could hear some scattered weapon's fire. "Hammond, is everything okay?" Grace asked over com. "Nothing we can't handle. But the Gropers have started to show up in groups," Hammond reported. "We better take a look…," Rita said, and started to climb up the tunnel. In the same moment Marcus could see Janette turn her head and her body language changed completely. A second later she sprinted up the tunnel at dangerous speeds. Without a word, Grace rushed after Janette, her weapon drawn and burning in golden light.

"What is going on?" Rita asked over com. Marcus didn't wait for an answer and also climbed the ice tunnel, but it was a painfully slow ascend. Xeen, is something going on?

I am not completely sure. My focus was on you and the recent events. There are monsters up there, but I can not tell more from this distance.

Marcus nodded to himself and finally reached the snow field. It had started to snow and the visibility was only fifty meters. He used the tracking system to find Janette and Grace about 200 meters away from the trucks. Marcus sprinted to them and found them standing in the snow. Janette had her weapon pressed against her shoulder and aimed into the white nothingness. A weird recollection climbed out of Marcus' memories and his pulse increased further.

After a few seconds Janette lowered her gun and turned to her friends. Her face was filled with fear. "There is something out there," she said to them, and her voice was shaky. "A monster?" Grace asked, and also avoided the com. Janette nodded, "I have never seen a monster aura like this before," she said and Marcus suddenly felt a sense of danger all around him. "So dense and volatile…. It was small, not much larger than a Groper, but the aura was worse than that of the wyrm," Janette said, as Rita and Alistair caught up to them. "But the crazy part is. It knew, I could see it. Once I took note of it, it started to move away. When I ran after it, it fled completely," she said, and everybody put on a tense expression. "Is this even possible? How could the monster know you were aware of it?" Rita asked, and all eyes moved to Marcus.

Marcus conversed with Xeen for a few moments and then told them what he had learned, "If the monster was stage three, meaning double evolved, then this might be possible. The higher the stage, the smarter they become. At stage three they already rival humanoid intelligence. And Xeen says, monsters can have powerful sensor abilities too." Grace looked confused, "But you said it is small. Can a double evolved monster be so small?" Marcus talked with the ancient alien again and conveyed the information, "Yes, size doesn't necessarily determine power. The small ones are crafty and full of advanced abilities. Xeen says, we need to be very vigilant."

"Why did you all run away?" Carmen and the other scientists came through the snow and their faces were filled with worry. "It is all okay. There seems to be a dangerous monster in the area, but it is gone for now. Still, it is better if we return to the trucks," Grace explained with a polite smile. The scientists looked even more worried, but followed the order and returned to the truck with the rest of the team. As they walked back, Janette turned around several times, gripping her rifle tightly. The falling snow started to grow denser, and not long after the whole raid was trapped in a white hell.