"Quick, Load it All up.", One of the crew said as he manipulated his comm. He was directing the bots to load all the heavier equipment and the samples that they had taken back on the Yuki. Their job here was done and was needed for the next destination. B2.
The team that went to check on the Monolith hadn't come back yet. But Dr. Helen had notified them the end of this mission and instructed them to load everything back up. Although it wouldn't take much time. It was still best to do it better.
"Dr. Helen I want to ask Dr. Kbom to extend the mission here a bit. I still want to study the energy lines. The potential hidden in them is enormous. ", Dr. Keen said as his projection poped up in front of her. He wasted no time in letting her know his intentions.
As the leader of the expedition it was her job to maintain everything. And that included the timing and duration of the mission. As they neared their deadline and Dr. Kbom had already given the green light to call the mission finished. Extending it right now would pose several problems for everyone. So She had to decline his request for extension.
"I'm sorry Dr. Keen. But I'm afraid that won't be possible. It's critical that we wrap up the mission today. If everything goes right, Then we'll be sending another expedition to these planets in the near future. One that'd be fully dedicated to uncovering the secrets of this planet. Maybe you'd also get an opportunity to come back to this planet?", She said in a thoughtful manner.
Dr. Keen looked distressed. That wasn't the kind of answers he was hoping for. He wanted to stay on this planet for some more time. He wanted to figure out how exactly the lines worked and where all the energy in the originated from. This was still a mystery. He was busy analyzing one of the line junctions when he got the notification to wrap up everything. Although the had gathered enough data. But it still wasn't enough. He needed more. And for that, he needed to stay here.
"Can't you ask Dr. Kbom to let me stay here and keep researching?", He looked at her with a pleading expression.
"No, that's not viable. Leaving you here means a lot of logistical and operational problems. We'd also need to setup a base which isn't on the agenda and isn't permitted according to the permissions that Dr. Kbom secured."
"But….", He looked heartbroken. This was a pivotal moment for his career. He could feel it. This was what he needed to grow as a researcher. But he was being deined of the opportunity and there was nothing he could do.
"I'm afraid there's nothing to do. You're better off joining the dedicated expedition that'll surely be sent here in the near future.", Dr. Helen said in a resigned expression. This was out of her control. There was nothing she could do for her.
She finished talking to Dr. Keen and then turned around to look at the Monolith. It was still hover in it's place. Doing it's work. Whatever that was.
As Dr. Helen kept looking at the monolith, She couldn't take her eyes off of the object. It was like the monolith was attracting her for some reason. There was something about it. Something…. Mysterious.
As she stood there looking at the monolith, She felt like someone was calling her out. But she couldn't spare the attention for some reason. The monolith demanded all of it.
As she felt she was being pulled into a surreal space, she suddenly realized that she was standing right before the monolith. She heard someone call her name from behind. But before she could focus on what was going on, she felt her mind being pulled into a void.
At the moment in time, She felt like there was nothing else around here. She felt being drawn into a world where nothing existed except for herself and the monolith. There was no sky, no ground, no stars or planet, Only a void. She felt like she wasn't even wearing her vac-suit. But she couldn't spare the glance.
The only light was from the orange glow of the cube. The orange lines ran through it like veins. Carrying the unimaginable amount of energy through the construct to aide in an unknown purpose.
She felt herself floating in the void. There was no ground to stand on. Nor she could feel any gravity pulling her anywhere. There was only the void. That's when she heard 'it'.
"PURPOSE"
That was single meaning that poped into her mind. Purpose. She was taken aback by this as her focus suddenly snapped. She began thinking.
'It can communicate? It's trying to communicate with us? Purpose? Is it asking for our purpose here?', She found it a relatively simple question. So decided to try and answer it.
But not matter what, she couldn't talk. She didn't feel like she could talk.
"TRUTH" Before she could answer, this poped into her mind. It was directly communicating with her through thoughts alone! And it seemed that it knew what she was thinking off! This was…. Unbelievable.
Before she could think anything again. It said.
"TOO FRAGILE, CAN NOT GIVE TRUTH."
'Fragile? What was it talking about? What's fragile? What's the truth?'
It knew exactly what she was thinking. So it immediately responded.
"TRUTH, TOO BIG TO FIT. NEED TO COME."
'Too big to fit? What does it mean? Need to come? It wants me to come with it? In what way?"
"COME?"
This was clearly a question. As that was how it imposed it on her brain. She couldn't think straight. She didn't knew what 'truth' it wanted to give her. She wanted to know more. She wanted to go.
That was the trigger for the monolith. It responded to her thoughts.
"COME"
It said as it began to glow in front of her eyes. The orange lines began to shimmer as the monolith increased it's morphing activity.
Dr. Helen felt her consciousness being pulled inside something. It was almost how a blackhole pulled in light. Only for it to be lost forever.
She felt herself being pulled in and apart at the same time. Morphing into and out of her human shape. Everything began to change around her. She couldn't explain anything. She didn't know anything. So she looked forward to whatever 'it' wanted to say to her.
But unknown'st to her. A huge amount of changes started to happen back in the reality. The network of energy lines began to shimmer all over the planet. There was something huge happening. And she didn't know anything about it.