Julia looked at me as I was gathering up everything we need. I packed everything, from guns to med kits. I even packed a few food.
"Are you sure this is the best course of action?" She asked me.
"As it stands… Probably"
"But-"
"If we found the item first. We get the bargaining chip, which will make them come here. Thus we get Strife and Celestine delivered to us"
"Which" She looked puzzled.
"We get reinforcements delivered to a place we have prior knowledge… Which may, or may not be rigged with trap" I told her with a smile as I patted her shoulder doing my best to console her.
We both sat at the escape pod. I checked everything, I treated the pod as another ship. After all, this is the only ship we have at the moment. Commanding C.H.R.I.S. he ejected the pod and started to lift. The Swift's escape pod reached a considerable altitude. Julia and I looked at each other with worry. As we got higher the view of the capitol was seen. Then I recognized something familiar. The characters that were seen on the tablet were also on the capitol.
"There" I pointed.
"Where?" Julia confused as ever.
"Follow my fingers"
"The capitol?"
"So? You want us to ask for help over there"
"No. And even if we do, they'll find a way to push us outta here." I tried to reason with her.
"What did you find with the capitol?"
"The writings. Looks familiar?"
"It does…" she paused for a few to remember. "The tablet. So?"
I pulled up the render of the tablet. Using my holowatch I search for the alphabets of this planet. I looked at each characters on the tablet and going back to translate. I did so for the first word, going back and forth.
"In… Sid.. E-"
"Inside the mountain our foundation is coded. What I believe you're trying to read" C.H.R.I.S told me.
"You can translate now" I sharply replied.
"That's pretty cool" Julia said in awe.
"Thank you. Shall I list down all the new things I can do?" C.H.R.I.S seemingly gloated.
"Please we have a people to rescue." I shot down the incoming conversation. "Mountains? Where could that be?" I questioned myself.
"Searching planets with numerous mountain ranges." C.H.R.I.S said as his screen was shifted to search for planets.
"What if it's pointing to somewhere close?" Julia tossed the idea in.
"What do you mean somewhere close?"
"The forest. You know where we found the tablet. There were a handful of mountain weren't there?"
I looked at her and and to the screen C.H.R.I.S was searching. "Hey C.H.R.I.S, pull out the footage of me getting the tablet. Scan the scene if there's any characters like it on the ruins or something." I ordered the A.I. without even considering if he can do it.
"Sure thing…" Affirmed. I was shocked but not entirely surprised that he could so it. "Found it, translating…" He added. I am now impressed.
"What does it say?"
"Sima Gaia Scientific Development… that's just a rough translation. Since they're all over the place."
"Those guys didn't even try to hide it." I punched the coordinates towards the forest . "Begin navigation."
C.H.R.I.S took over of the pod and sent us onto there. Injust a few minutes we arrived at our destination. I prepared everything I needed for the expedition. Guns, grapple, explosives and lock picks. Julia sat quietly on her chair. From the looks of it she was she thought I intend to let her stay here.
"Hey C.H.R.I.S can you re-render the tablet with translated text."
"Sure"
I walked towards her and handed her a small gun, few ammo, and spare grapple. She looked at me. Her eyes questioned 'what do I do with this'.
"You need that. I need you to come with me."
"Why?" She was curious.
"One, this is a documentary. You need a firsthand look at things. And Two, I need someone to watch my back."
She smiled. She stood up.
"Oh and to use-"
"Just like a camera. Point and shoot."
"Exactly"
I opened the door and we both walked towards the ruins. Still remembered the path it took less time for me to arrive at the ruins. Obviously the trap I set of and blaster burns are there. I walked closer to the pedestal thing where the tablet sat earlier.
"Rover any ideas?"
"One."
"What?"
"This thing. Something bugs me, if this was a trap it should hit the pedestal."
"Maybe it took the tablet into account. I mean I saw the footage. It fell from above. That would destroy the tablet." Julia pointed out.
"But if you're doing this for a long time, you'll realize that the item they're protecting is stronger than the traps made to protect it… Most of the time" I explained.
As I explained I moved around the pedestal putting a wired explosives.
"What are you doing" Julia looks trying to figure out what my actions.
"Just testing a hunch" I finished the setup and detonated the explosives. It was strong enough to shake and destroy the top part of the pedestal.
The mixture of smoke and dust filled out temporarily. There were only small debris that flew out. As the dust settled we saw the pedestal hide a tunnel. There were no stairs so we used my grapple to descend.
We reached the bottom. There was only one way and it was east. Julia and I turned out flashlights. We pressed east. A few minutes later, we reached a dead end. Julia inspected the dead end and realized it was a door. I looked for a way to open. I saw on the right side a rectangle cavity. It resembled a pressure plate. Without a second to think I pressed it and the door shook and opened. As it opened the entire place lit up.
There were numerous paths. I pulled the re-rendered tablet. It was a sort of a floorplan to this thing. We both were in different levels of awe. Julia was wide eyed while I tried to hide it.
I gave Julia a copy of the render. "In case we get separated. We'll meet back here."
We turned off our flashlight and walked forward. Our luck suddenly skipped out as the door behind us went shut.
"Rover?" Julia was starting to feel concern.
"Get your gun out. I have a slightly bad feeling about this"