The Nebulon was currently orbiting a planet known only by it's codename. KTX 7034-873. It was a planet located in a system at the end of the Gould belt region of the Milkyway known as HTUK-2463.
The system was located far outside of any established alien or human empires.
Normally no human ship had a reason to venture this far into deep space without any reason. But the Nebulon was a bit special.
It was an exploration vessels that was geared towards exploration and venturing deep into unknown space and systems.
A few months back, the Nebulon was examining a clue they had randomly came across while surveying a system, and had followed it to another system. Where they had come across the coordinates for this system and this planet specifically on an piece of ancient alien ruin.
Although no one had managed to figure out what the ruin was, but they followed the coordinates here anyway.
As soon as they reached the system, they noticed that the quantum entanglement node had lost it's connection to the galactic net. That was really strange.
Normally this never happened. But there were a few cases in the past where a local anomaly in a system caused it to cease functionality.
So the Crew didn't panic just yet. They stayed calm as they made preparations.
After reaching orbit around the planet, they dispatched a shuttle to survey the planet itself.
The preliminary results showed that there was no atmosphere to the planet and it was mostly barren with no water. It's most prominent feature being it's huge mountains.
The mountain ranges on the planet were truly something to behold. A basic scan from the orbit showed that the mountain ranges continued for many kilometers. And even the smaller ones had a height of around 18,000 meters. Which was really impressive.
After the basic Arial survey was done, a group of researchers were dispatched to the ground. The arial survey had revealed a lot of interesting locations that they had deemed researchable.
Much of these locations were deep caverns that had strange
"Hey, come take a look at these." Jane called over her colleague as she had found something interesting while exploring this cavern. They were already really deep into these caverns. They didn't really know what laid ahead of them.
"What did you find?" Her collogue asked.
"Take a look at these engravings. These aren't natural." Jane said as she increased the light on her helmet. it lit up the entire wall of the cavern.
"Whoa. Let me take a look!" The guy said as his eyes lit up.
They both stood in awe as they gazed upon the intricately engraved markings embedded onto the cavern walls. The engravings were like nothing they had ever seen before, a symphony of mysterious symbols and patterns that seemed to tell a story.
The first impression was that of a sprawling cityscape, etched with astonishing precision and detail. Towering structures emerged from the ground, forming an underground metropolis that stretched as far as the eye could see. The images showed vast networks of interconnected tunnels, burrowing deep into the heart of the planet. These underground passageways branched out like a complex web, leading to expansive chambers filled with fascinating alien technology.
The engravings revealed a civilization deeply connected to the earth beneath their feet and the mountain over their heads. Strange depictions of mountains depicted as a deity suggested a symbiotic relationship between them and the mountains.
"These Caverns.... These aren't caverns! There is a whole underground city beneath us!" Jane exclaimed!
"It's extraordinary, I need to report this to the leader" The guy said as he went to the side to report his findings.
Jane stayed there as she continued to examine the engravings. It seemed that the whole wall was filled with similar engravings and continued on.
Amidst the sprawling gallery of engravings within the alien cavern, she stumbled upon another set of mesmerizing carvings that evoked a sense of profound reverence and spiritual connection. These engravings unveiled the ancient belief system of the alien civilization, where the majestic mountains were not mere geological formations but revered as deities and living entities.
The intricate artwork portrayed the mountains as towering, majestic beings, their immense forms stretching into the heavens. Each peak was depicted with intricate details, capturing the essence of their unique personalities.
It was as if they saw each mountain in a different light and each one of them represented a different deity to them. The differences between them being their peaks.
While these parts were a bit damaged, Jane could figure out some of it.
As she continued to find more and more similar engravings. She kept recording everything as she kept venturing deeper into the caverns.
Much of the engravings painted a vivid picture of a civilization deeply rooted in nature, where the mountains were venerated as divine entities. It showed the aliens performing different rituals dedicated to the mountains.
But after sometime, the trail of engravings broke of. That brought Jane out of her trance like state in which she had lost herself.
The engravings were really something to behold.
She suddenly realized something as she looked around, Her colleague was nowhere to see, it seemed that she had ventured too far into the cavern.
She tried to contact him over her local network. But the connection failed.
Suddenly the eerie silence surrounding her felt a bit scary. She looked around. Only stone walls of the vast cavern surrounded her.
But she wasn't totally lost, She had the wall engravings to help her get back. So instead of staying there hoping to be rescued, she followed the engravings back.
Surprisingly, she had gone quite deep into the caverns. She followed the engravings for about a Kilometer when they suddenly ended. but couldn't find her colleague anywhere.
"That's weird! I shouldn't have gone that far! Am I lost?" That couldn't be the case. She had followed the same sets of engravings back. Then where was her colleague?
She tried to contact him again.
But the connection still failed.
Was she truly lost?