Goma and I had finally reached the specified location. All the way, Goma had continuously yawned and complained about how uncomfortable our sleeping arrangements were. She didn't know that I hadn't been able to fall asleep again after the nightmare I had seen.
Did I often have nightmares? No… I hadn't had a nightmare in a very long time, but my mind hadn't been sound for a long time either. While spending a night out on the town with Velsil and Goma, I didn't remember any nightmares I might have had. There could be nothing more unsettling than a memory from the past rushing in like a nightmare when you were least prepared, during sleep. Because it was once again nothing more than watching a great sorrow with your hands tied.
We were near the summit of a mountain. We were in a valley with walls of grey, pale stone, and tangled trees and vines were overhead. The end of the valley was barely visible due to the darkness.
"Do we have to go through this valley?" Goma asked. When we turned and looked behind us, the signs of our arduous climb were still there. We had been climbing for hours with hooks and ropes.
"Would you like to turn back?" I asked with a mocking tone. Then I reached into my bag and pulled out a flashlight. I had to hit the broken flashlight twice to make it shine.
"We've come all this way, Alora sis better give us a good welcome! In fact, since we're here, let's stay for a while, Aldo, what do you say? She must have some raw meat, too."
"We'll think about that later."
The valley grew narrower, and as we entered the cave, we were covered. When I held the flashlight to the cave walls, I noticed something. Strange symbols were drawn. Could this… could this be a sign of a civilization? Then I ran my hand over the lines. Human-like figures were holding spears.
"What is it, Aldo?"
While checking if anything other than humans was drawn, I suddenly saw a mammoth. "A mammoth?" I shouted angrily.
"A mammoth?" Goma said, surprised.
I showed her the drawn animal with my hand and said, "This is a goddamn mammoth…"
"What does this mean, Aldo?"
"At first, I thought these drawings might belong to an ancient civilization here. Wouldn't that be a huge discovery? After all, there were no advanced alien civilizations other than humans. At least, as far as we've explored the galaxy, all the other civilizations as advanced as humans had perished. Many people said it might be related to the Incompatibles.If we could find an alien civilization here that was as advanced as humans and hadn't gone extinct, we'd hit the jackpot. Especially if we found them alive—oh my god! We'd be rolling in money!"
"So what's the problem?"
"The problem is this! We see a mammoth in this drawing! A mammoth is an animal unique to that ancient world, Earth, damn it! So, if someone drew this, Alora must have done it just for atmosphere! That cursed woman is always creating confusion."
We continued through the valley for a while. We climbed a small hill, descended into the depths of the cave, made a small ascent, circled around a small pond, and finally, sunlight hit our faces once more. With the cave mouth covered in vines and moss, we pushed ourselves out of the entrance. We found a huge clearing before us. The circumference of that circular clearing was surrounded by stones, like ramparts.
This was clearly the mouth of a volcano centuries ago; over time, soil and nature had invaded it, transforming it into its own silent beauty. Trees spread around the clearing, with pieces of colored fabric tied to their branches. When the wind blew, these fabrics gently swayed, as if preserving the forgotten memory of an ancient ritual.
The stones around the narrow waterways, formed by water trickling through small cracks, were carelessly painted in blue, red, and yellow; but this disorder wasn't noticeable from a distance. A massive stone structure rose right in the center of the clearing. A narrow gravel path leading to this structure started from the cave we exited, winding through the trees.
Strange, fringed ornaments were hung on the sharp edges of the stone walls surrounding the clearing. Stone necklaces, leaf crowns, and countless other things… They were clearly handmade, and they looked just as makeshift as they were handmade.
We followed the gravel path ahead. As the wind blew, we could hear the chimes placed on the trees ringing. The fabrics brushing against the branches touched our bodies, cooling me with their chill.
At the end of the gravel path, right in the center of the clearing, was a structure on a stone floor. I couldn't make out the structure from afar, but the things around it were obvious. The structure was surrounded by wooden bookshelves. Inside the bookshelves were strange objects. Stones, insects mounted on thorns, rotten leaves, other stones, a snail, a caged bird, a skull, and countless other things… All were placed on the bookshelves surrounding the structure on the stone floor.
On the side of that structure facing the path were wooden stairs. At the end of the broken railing of those crooked, crumbling stairs was a stone bowl. Inside the wooden bowl was charcoal. It was probably placed there to light up the sanctuary at night…
"Where is this place?" Goma said, placing her hands on her hips. She took a deep breath and let it out: "This place is quite airy, isn't it, Aldo?" She scratched the back of her neck and sat on a rock. It was clear she was exhausted, and no one wanted to stand up against a tired Goma. She brought her hand to her mouth and started shouting:
"Alora sis! Where are you?"
As I approached the object lying on the stone floor, I realized it was actually a metal coffin. It was strange… How could Alora have found a metal coffin on this remote planet?
It wouldn't be wrong to say the black metal coffin shone like a pearl. I could see the reflection of the sun on it as I looked down. But… there must be something about this coffin. Something different…
I walked and stopped by the head of the coffin. As the wind blew on my neck, I ran my hand over the coffin. "Alora!" I shouted too. Realizing I was shouting too, Goma shouted even harder.
I was curious about what this was or where it came from. "Alora said she discovered something that emits a bad energy around it; something that keeps living things away," I told Goma. "Is this it? Because I don't see any sign of life."
"Yes…" Goma said. "…despite the nature here being so beautiful, I don't see a single bird or insect around. Even I love it here."
Just then, as I ran my hand over the coffin, the black metallic color suddenly disappeared from the head of the coffin. I could now realize that this was not a coffin, but a capsule. There was glass in front of me. Health values were written on the glass, and I could see the man lying inside.
The man's vital functions were normal, but according to the writing on the capsule, he had been sleeping for 402 years. I guessed this man was more of a cybernetic than an Modified and had put himself into sleep mode. But could any human mind return after 402 years of sleep? That was the real question to be asked.
"Ilya!" I said and placed the holographic communication device on the coffin.
"Yes, Weisshafen!" Ilya replied. His image had appeared, but it was staticky. "I'm at the excavation site and I'm not very available! Hey, robots; be careful, that thing might break! Velsil! Where is the robot maintenance crew? Hey! Mark X, come here and look!"
"Ilya, I found something!"
"What did you find?"
"A capsule!"
Ilya looked at my face for a moment through the hologram. Then he yelled and scolded his robot friends. "Velsil! You watch things here while I'm gone! This place is going to hell!" Ilya moved closer to the hologram and said, "What capsule?"
"I don't know…"
"Bring it closer so I can see," Ilya said, adjusting his glasses. The man had black hair that had turned white. He had a thick neck, a sharp chin, and a muscular face. The lower part of his chest wasn't visible, so we could only see a part of his uniform. "Look at this man's insignia, Weisshafen!"
At that moment, my eyes caught the insignia on the chest of the man's official uniform. The man had the Weapons Security Distinguished Service insignia. "This man is from Weapons Security!" I shouted.
"Yes… He is!" said a woman's voice from behind.
"Alora!" Goma shouted and ran to hug Alora. "Alora sis, I missed you so much! Where have you been all this time!" While swaying in Alora's muscular arms, Alora said:
"Okay, Goma… I missed you too, sweetie. Please… Please put me down on the ground? We have more important things to do right now. Come on, beautiful… Give me two minutes to talk to Aldoux."
Alora smoothed her curly, puffy yellow hair with her hand. She adjusted the flowers on her hair. She had pointed ears that peeked through her yellow hair, resembling the fairy ears in medieval stories. She had yellow eyes, and her cheeks would blush whenever she got angry. She was holding a staff. She had made that staff from scrap materials in the facility's warehouse to look wiser. It could be said that it served no other purpose than emitting light. The clothes she wore were noble clothes. Why? Because one day she had secretly broken into my room, stolen a few of my stylish noble outfits; had Velsil make a few modifications, and started wearing it. The jeweled and stylish noble outfit fit her perfectly. She had even embroidered custom religious motifs onto this noble outfit with illuminated pens. There were writings shining with blue light on her legs, arms, and many other places.
Alora was a test subject of a goat-like alien living on the golden colored mountains of an extremely mountainous planet. Because of this, she had hair as soft as sheep's wool. It wouldn't be wrong to say that with her puffy hair and pointed ears, she looked like a yellow-haired fairy in an astronaut suit. After smoothing her curly yellow hair, she picked up the staff she had dropped on the ground and walked toward me.
"What are you looking for here, Aldoux?" she said in an angry tone.
"Oh… Alora! My dear! If only you knew how much I missed you!"
"Don't lie, you pervert! You don't miss anyone."
"Come on… I really came to get you," I said.
"There's a word for you that starts with 'F' and ends with 'off'. Do you know it? I'd like to say it, but I'm maintaining my politeness and won't," Alora said in a polite tone. She was trying to speak delicately while clutching her staff. "But it seems you've come to harm my sanctuary."
"Where did you get that idea, Alora? Don't be ridiculous…"
"Your mouth was practically watering looking at the capsule," Alora said.
"No…"
"Yes, Aldo…" Goma said, nodding her head. "Alora is right… That's how I saw you. Your jaw was practically on your ass."
"That word starting with 'A' is very rude! Goma! Mind your manners, please!"
"You weren't so polite in the letters you wrote to Velsil, Alora," I said.
"You!" she shrieked in a high-pitched voice. "You read a girl's letters!" Her face was bright red. "Do you know how rude that is?"
"Were all those things you said behind my back not rude?"
"I…" Her face was bright red with shame, and she was sweating. The more she recalled what she wrote in the letter, the more embarrassed Alora became. Finally, she slumped to the ground and hugged her legs. "I… I… I am so embarrassed."
"You shouldn't do things you'll be embarrassed about, Alora! You can't repent and undo your mistakes in real life," Ilya said. Hearing Ilya's voice, Alora stood up and said:
"Is that bitch Ilya here too!"
"Hey!" Ilya said. "You can't insult me."
"I can insult an infidel like you however I want. I understood from the beginning that you came to pollute this sanctuary with your dirty, useless science."
"Dirty science? Useless? You wouldn't exist without science, you idiot!"
"I exist so that God can test me with you!"
"What an easy test that must be! If you can win eternal heaven so easily, I want some of that too. Let me get in line right away!"
"Hey! Both of you stop arguing or I'll kick you both out of the facility!"
"I'm not even at the facility!"
"You are now! You're coming back! I don't accept any objections!"
"No…"
"No? What do you mean, no…"
"Rather than return to that adulterous facility with Ilya…" she said and walked up to the capsule, hugging it tightly. "…I'll live a peaceful life here with this man."
"You've become completely crazy!" Ilya shouted, laughing.
"Shut up, Ilya!" Alora said, clenching her fist.
"I was the one who asked Ilya to bring you back to the facility!" I shouted, cutting in.
"Ilya?" Alora said, surprised and suddenly calm. "And why?" she asked in a surprised tone.
Ilya looked away instead of answering.
"Now is not the time for this, kids. You can talk about this and fight comfortably when you get back to the facility. Alora! What's going on here?"
Alora was clearly still in shock that Ilya wanted her back at the facility. She was initially reserved when she spoke, then she started to open up and tell everything. "I found this place by chance. When I first found it, it was a disgusting place invaded by trees and stones. I was looking for a place away from animals so that no animals would attack me while I slept at night, and interestingly, this place was very calm. Then one day, while cleaning the area, I found this capsule."
"So you don't know how long the capsule has been here?" I asked. Alora nodded as if to say 'Yes'.
"The capsule has been lying here for a very long time. Would you believe it? Because of this capsule, no animals want to settle here. I saw a bird about to land here a couple of times, but it flew away after seeing the capsule."
"Why?"
"I have no idea," Alora said. "But I think it has something to do with the man inside."
"Who is the man inside?"
"I only know his name. His name was a bit strange." She went to the glass at the head of the capsule and started pressing some symbols on the glass. Finally, a screen requesting a password appeared. The username part read 'Marcin Grom'.
"Marcin Grom?" I said. "That name doesn't ring a bell from anywhere."
"If you want, let's report this to the SWR," Ilya said, but before I could answer, she added. "But I have to object to that," she added.
"I won't let this man go either! He told me he's peaceful here!" Alora said.
"From inside the capsule?" I asked.
"Sometimes the man's speaking voice rises from inside the capsule. He says he is very happy when he speaks in his sleep."
"Can't he just be happy because of his dream?" Ilya asked.
"Do you have to give a logical answer to everything?" Alora said.
"Hey… Could you two stop fighting for a second? First of all… Alora, you can't keep a Weapons Security officer here. That's a crime…"
"But…"
"No buts! Doesn't this man have the right to live, too?"
"This man was running away from something."
"How do you know that?"
"I told you he talks in his dreams!" Alora shouted.
"If he was running away from something, that thing is no longer around!" I looked around for a moment. "Do you see any threat? There isn't even a cursed mosquito!"
"I'll let you take him to the facility, but this capsule will be under my responsibility," Alora said.
"Okay, so be it. But why are you objecting, Ilya?"
"If we report this man to the SWR, the SWR will take the man from us, and whoever wakes this man up gets the reward. If we wake this man up and he's an important man, we can earn a big reward through his gratitude."
"Ilya! You're wonderful! That keen intelligence of yours makes me admire you." I said enthusiastically.
"If we search the man's name on the SWR Network, cyber security might realize we found him."
"So what are we going to do?"
"First, let's bring that man to the facility," Ilya said. "But not these days."
"Why?"
"Because the Custodians are coming to the facility."
"Oh right… After the Custodians leave, we'll deal with this man named Marcin Grom," I said, and as I descended the wooden steps, I held out my hand to Alora.
"Aren't you coming?"
At first, Alora pulled her hand away. Then, with the grace of a princess, she placed it in mine. And so, we set off for home.