"Sir, we just arrived to planet A-2243. We are going to send out the drones and conduct our survey shortly." Said a female sitting at the controls in the cockpit. I stood up from my seat and looked at the approaching planet.
"Very good, hold course and wait til the drones return from the survey." I said in a commanding tone.
"Aye aye sir. We should get the results in about 6 hours." She says while pressing buttons to release the drones. "I'll put the ship in autopilot and start rotations of shifts. Will that do sir?"
"Very well Lt. Wells please do as you see fit and get some rest as well. It's been a long trip but let's make sure we are all at our best. Understand Lt?"
She smiles and says "Yes Sir", and salutes me back. I salute and walk to my quarters. It's been a year since I first waken from my unusual sleep. Since then I have been researching and training with Commander Silver and Dr A122. Also along with Dr Hughe and his research team.
During that time we came and found out that I have a high aptitude for being an adventurer. With the problems I had with Dr Hughe is mostly settle for now. He did cake to me and properly apologized to me. We somewhat get along now. Commander Silver more or less adopted me and train me in combat, space travel survivor, and how to pilot a ship. Dr A122 taught me first aid and manners for other life forms.
Dr A122 also gave Alice his full blessings to come with me in this adventure. We also have been getting along even better than I could hope for. We care very much for each other and we decided to form a full time partnership in the near future. Apparently marriage isn't a thing and it's common for a person to have more than 1 partner. To my surprise Alice is ok with this arrangement even though I'm still getting us to all this.
During that time I had many talks with Dr Hughe's team about Earth in my time. Apparently they were surprised to how creative our people were at the time. How what I thought was just fantasies were actually real. Something like angels and demons are actually different alien races that were at war for 10 million years. Or a alternative fuel source was a byproduct of nuclear energy. Also aliens did help with the pyramids in Egypt.
Also came to found out that because of my memories of my time, some of the data they managed to collect were actually make up. They thought some of the movies they collected were actually recordings of the times and not entertainment. Because of this knowledge they awarded me more than enough money to buy a ship and cover the costs for a crew. It also cover a good portion of my expenses for my ship.
The ship isn't the newest or the best but under Commander Sliver's guidance we found a almost new ship. She a twin eagle with a atomized engine and is able to travel extreme distance. She also have a hyper engine for light speed jumps. We decided to call her "The Phoenix Wing." We came up with the name since I was practically reborn in the future.
The intercom buzzed in "Sir the drones has returned" says a male husky voice.
"Roger, I'm on my way." I got out of my bed and got dressed. I walked into the bridge and sat in the captain's chair. "So what were the results?"
"Sir, all the drones returned mostly intact." Said the man with the husky voice.
"Mostly?" I asked with a confuse look.
"Yes sir, two of the drones came back with some damages to the frame. It appears they were in the same area from where the damage occurred."
"What type of damages are we talking about Riccardo?"
"It appears to be a almost acid like slime that was shot at them like bullets. They barely made it to the ship upon return." Riccardo started to show me the data collected from the drones. It appears that this planet used to be home to the ancient aliens that Commander Sliver told me about before. At least one of them. Apparently they were like humans. They move to one planet, give it life, use its resources, and then leave it after a intelligent life form starts to take over.
They say they are the beginning and sometimes the end. No one know their names but everyone knows their stories. Up to about 500 years ago all traces suddenly disappeared and nothing been heard about them since. Everyone I talked to just call them 'The Unknowns.' Odd name indeed but not much information were found except for an old map that was found by an colleague. They apparently found it in some old ruins that were discovered on this planet.
The map was incomplete but it indicated that there was something else here that may complete the map. As it turns out I was asked to come to this planet to surveyed it and see if I could uncover any clues. As I was looking at the map and the map of the drones made. I notice something strange.
The ancient map has the location of the explored ruins and the part that was incomplete is where the two drones were damaged. As I match up the two maps it looks like the incomplete part suddenly clears up and a beacon appears.
"What's that sir?" Alice said in a confuse tone as she walks in.
"Not sure but that's where I'm heading to." I turned around and face the crew. "Ready the transport and the supplies. I want three man and myself head towards that location within the hour,understood?"
"Sir!" Was said unison by everyone at the bridge. During the hour preparations I was packing a bag with some equipment in my quarters. Alice walks in and sat on the bed.
"What's wrong dear feeling nervous?" She said looking concern.
"A little, I mean it might be what we are looking for....right?" She kissed my forehead and looks into my eyes.
"Who knows but it might just be a clue at the very least. I don't know what will happen but just promise me you be safe and come back to me, ok?"
"Ok, I promise to come back as safely as possible." I kissed her and the income buzzed on.
"Sir we are nearly done and doing a final check now."
"Roger I'm on my way." I turned to Alice kissed her again and said "I'm leaving now I'll see you soon."
"You better hurry back into my arms you hear." I could tell that she is holding back her tears as I left the room. I went to the transport ship and saw Lt Wells who is a very skill pilot. Mack who is a researcher that was apart of the research team of this planet when the map was found. Then there is Solace who is a weapon and combat expert. As I walk towards everyone they stopped their movements and went into attention.
"At ease everyone and didn't I tell you guys to stop do that already?"
"Sir you know the answer to that. If commander Silver found out we be in major trouble." Lt Wells said in a nervous yet commanding tone.
"Yeah but it makes me feel weird after all he is not in charge of here, I am so please reframe from using the military hierarchy on me please." Mack and Solace started to chuckle a bit but the Wells gave them a sharp look and they quickly stopped.
"Look I'm still new to all this so cut me some slack. I rather be your friend rather than your boss. Think we can at least meet in the middle?" They looked at each other and back at me a couple of times. After the third time they all nodded. With a sigh of relief they all immediately started to relax.
"Good let's all head in and move out." We all started to walk towards the ship and sat in our seats. After a few minutes we left the Phoenix Wing and head towards the planet. We discussed that when we land we will land just outside of where the drones were damaged. Since we didn't know what cause them we agreed that any unnecessary risk would be problematic and best to avoid if possible.
As we landed in the nearest clearing of an Amazon like rainforest it was about 10km away from the beacon suddenly popped up. From the results from the drones we knew the air was suitable to breath. With Solace in front he is scanning the area for traps or anything that may be classified as hostile. Mack, Wells are in the middle and I'm in the rear covering our backs.
As we hit the location of the beacon Solace suddenly stops. He motioned us to move where he is. We came forward and stopped too. We are on a edge of a cliff that seems to be a full circle wrapped around a canyon. It was a sheer drop as if something carved it out of the ground. At the bottom center of the canyon is a Aztec like temple pyramid. As wide as one but almost as tall as the cliffs.
"Well I think we found it" says Mack as we all stood there in awe.
"I think your right Mack. But the question is how do we get down there?" I pointed towards the temple. Then we heard a tree branch 'snapped', just behind us. We quickly turn around and we couldn't find the source of the sound. Then the alarm from our sensors started to go off. Multiple life forms are approaching us. As we ready ourselves for a fight a little creature pops out into our view.
It looked at us like a squirrel would do as if it's hunting for nuts. The multiple of the same creatures came out as well. Now dozens of them looking at us. The air felt thick and a smell started to enveloped the area. It smelt sweet almost as if was perfumes. Our bodies started to get heavy and the little creatures eyes started to glow. I heard a voice say 'jump if you want to live, jump.'
Not knowing to trust the voice I push Wells, Mack, and Solace off the cliff then I jumped right after they have fallen. Suddenly a gust of wind blows upwards to us and slowing down our fall and letting us land safely on the ground below. After a few moments the smell disappeared and our bodies started to feel lighter. Solace runs up to me, grabs my shirt,and pull me close to him.
"What the Hell were you thinking pushing us off the cliff!? Do you had any idea that could've killed us!" Solace screamed in my face. He was about to throw a punch but Wells stopped him.
"Enough Solace if it wasn't for his quick thinking we could have been dead by now." Solace released me and shoves me instead.
"How the hell did you know that the wind would do that," says Mack as he shakes his head to get the affects of the smell out of his head. "How was you able to move because as soon as the smell appeared I couldn't move at all."
"I don't know, I just know as soon as my body felt heavy I heard a voice saying to jump."
"Are you serious?! You heard a voice and you believed it?!" Solace said angrily.
"Yeah because it sounded familiar. It felt like I knew the voice somehow.?" I was even confuse on how I answered the question. "But it felt like I could move a little right after hearing it though."
I turned away from everyone and looked at the sky and saw the sun setting. "Let's set up camp for now and we pick this up tomorrow." As we were setting up camp Solace made a barrier around the camp and walks up to me.
"Felix I'm sorry for earlier. I didn't mean to get so angry at you." I could tell he met what he says.
"Solace it's fine cause I would have been the same way. I mean I was more surprised that all this exists anyways. In my time things like this was all fantasies. But look at today and how it turned out. I never imagined it to be real. But it is real and it's scary as hell." Hating to admit my own fears Solace looked at me and I could tell that he was concern too.
"Well at least we dodge a bullet there. Let's hope tomorrow goes better."
"Yeah let's get some sleep and we can plan our next move." I turned to everyone "let's get get some sleep after all tomorrow is going to be busy." I went into my tent and jumped into my bed. My body finally started to calm down and I closed my eyes. I started to think who was the voice and why it sounded so familiar to me? Before I knew it I fell asleep and starting to have a strange dream.