The ride over to the gate only took a few minute. Once we reached the asteroid, it was small enough that it didn't have much gravity, but it had just enough for there to be a sense of down. We landed and bounce shuffled towards the door.
Approaching the door Gene said "Well we know one thing about the Gate builders."
"What's, that Gene?" I asked.
"That they were about our size. That door is a pretty normal looking door. Fer'resi, it that the size of the door on the K'laxi gates?"
"Yes. So far, this Gate follows the standard plan of the Gates we've found."
As we approached the door, I noticed that there wasn't any markings on the outside, no handles, no wheels. "How do we open the door?" I asked.
"We don't." Fer'resi said. As he said that, the door opened automatically. I could hear his grin. "It opens as we approach."
Walking in, there was a large, vaulted chamber, dark and cold. It didn't look like a control room - there were no consoles, no screens, no seats even. It's almost like...
"This is like a mausoleum." Gene said, looking around. "Or a tomb."
"Yes, we wondered the same thing." Fer'resi said, agreeing. "It does not seem to serve a purpose other than a place to store the directory stone."
We walked more through the dark corridors, our headlamps sending spears of light into the vacuum. We passed though the first large room, and came across another door, much like the first.
"Usually." Fer'resi said. "The directory stone is through this door."
"Only Usually?" I said, wryly.
I could sense him nod. "At least three gates did not have a directory stone in this room. One had it in the main room we're in now, and two had it in a further room."
As we approached this door, I expected it to open, but it remained closed to us. "Fer'resi, do we have to do something to open it?"
"Uh, not... usually." He said "Hmm. I'm not sure. Look around, see if you can find something."
Gene and Fer'resi's lights began to swing around the room, searching for a switch or a panel or a pressure plate. Something to alert the door that we were here. I stayed and looked at the door. It was maybe three meters tall, big for a door, but not gigantic. I approached the door, and without thinking, reached my hand out.
I touched the door.
In the light of hindsight, this might have been a mistake.
Immediately, there was a clang, as the door behind us slammed shut. Lights sprung up all over the chamber, bathing it in a bright white light. Fer'resi must have jumped a meter he was so startled. "What is happening? What did you do?" He looked at me accusing.
"N-nothing!" I said "Well, I touched the door, but that was it!"
"This is Far Reach!" The radio crackled with Captain Q'ari. "Mullen, Frankfurt and Perinem, what's going on? We registered a massive power spike on the gate and now the door has slammed shut."
"The gate is lighting up too." Far Reach himself added. "It's bathed in spotlights and there is lighting all over the gate complex you're in."
"Uh, sorry Captain. That was me." I said. I decided to own up to things right away, in case something goes wrong. "I touched the inner door - with a gloved hand! - and the outer door slammed shut and more lights came on. We were in the dark before, but now the room is bathed in light."
"Hmm." You could hear the Captain deliberating. "Well, radio contact is still strong, and it's only a door. Far Reach could probably blow it if we needed to. Do you feel safe?"
"I don't feel... unsafe." I said "What about you two?"
"It's pretty weird, but no, I don't feel unsafe yet." Gene added.
"This is fascinating!" Fer'resi said. "I do not want to leave yet. We haven't even found the directory stone!"
"All right then." Captain Q'ari said. "You may proceed, but the moment you feel unsafe, Abort the mission and return. We're here to explore, not to get injured. Has the door opened?"
"Uh no. Captain. The door remains closed." I radioed back. Switching to the suit-to-suit I said "Fer'resi, what do we do?"
"Honestly Melody, I have no idea. We're off-script now. Try touching it again?"
Shrugging, and not knowing anything else to do, I reached out with the same hand and touched the door and held it on the door.
This time, a port opened at the top of the door, and a small device came out, looking almost like a camera. I could feel a hum through my suit and the camera thing panned around the room and paused at me, at Gene and at Fer'resi. After a moment, it went back into the port it came out of, and with a shaking of dust, the door rumbled down into the floor.
Beyond the doorway was another room, larger than this one, also lit now in a bright clean light.
We all entered the new room and Fer'resi gasped.
The room as much taller than the previous room, maybe 10 meters tall. It was a vaulted ceiling, coming to a very sharp angle at the top. It was lit evenly with almost no shadows. In the room, on a pedestal in the center was a... monolith.
It was a stone, black as space, maybe 3 meters tall. On the surface of the stone was...writing, I think. It was a series of symbols or letters or something?
"Fer'resi, is this the directory stone?" I asked, turning to him.
"I-It appears so." He said, nervous. "It's different than any other we've found however."
"Oh? Different in what way?"
"Most directory stones had two or three entries. Many, only one. Some had 4. If I'm reading this correctly there are..." I could hear him counting quietly to himself. "Nearly 50 of them."
I was stunned. "And Xenni never came here?"
Fer'resi's suit shrugged. "I don't think so. They knew about this Gate, but by the time they found it we were at war so they were busy with... other things. It's hard to believe they didn't come back after to explore but it seems like that's what happened."
Gene walked up and stared at it with us. "What if they did come back, learned all this stuff but didn't tell us?"
"Doesn't matter now I guess." I said. "We're here, they're not. We're the ones on the exploration mission." I switched us to the ship channel. "Far Reach? Far Reach? This is the ground mission. We've... found something."
Captain Q'ari came back immediately. "What did you find, Lieutenant?"
"We found the directory stone, but Fer'resi says it's different than the others the K'laxi have found."
"Different in what way Melody?" This time it was Far Reach themself asking.
"It's amazing." Fer'resi answered for me. "We have never come across a directory stone quite like this one ever. Where there were normally 2 or 3 or 4 entries this one seems to have more than 50 of them!"
Silence over the radio.
"I'm making a copy now, we'll have to see if any of the entries match known addresses, but I have a feeling we've stumbled on... something like a nexus station. Maybe a place where..." He struggled with words. "Where many lines converge? I don't know. It's rather overwhelming."
Captain Q'ari came on this time. "Well, it sounds like the first part of our mission is a rousing success. We'll have some addresses to try. Finish up your work and come back. It's time to plan next steps."
"So um." I started. "The door opened and the Gate activated even further when I touched the inner door... Do you think I should touch the directory stone?"
Fer'resi didn't look up from his notes. "We've touched them many times. Nothing happens. They're just carved pieces of stone. Go ahead and satisfy your curiosity."
With that rousing note of confidence, I walked up to the stone. Even though my suit it radiated cold. I bet it was awfully close to interstellar ambient. If I touched it with an ungloved hand, I would probably get frostbite nearly instantly. Safe in my pressure suit though, I reached out and touched it.