Was there something there that had brought them there, which could even kill them all?
Ripley looked back at the large shuttle, which now resembled some form of strange airplane brought down in a strange desert region, surrounded by bright glowing black rocks, in the bright sunlight, in a cloudless black sky, and he studied the stars and how strange they were, and he examined the strange DP1 sun, and how close and bright it now was, and recalled all the scientists studying it on the starship, as it was the closest position to a sun they had been at, and they had not believed they could get that close to an active star, and to check why the DP1 star was so different.
The surprising thing was his spacesuit’s high temperature and the surrounding view combined to give the impression of it being incredibly hot, instead of incredibly cold and at Antarctica winter temperatures, and he considered if any of them were capable of making some form of serious mistake.
The adrenalin of the crew was visibly rushing, and overwhelming, as they checked their unexplored surroundings, and most realized where they were.
All around them they examined things like they were strange new phenomena, and he wondered what they thought they were discovering.
“Look at all this!” Dan explained, picking up a strange rock, and none of them could recall seeing before, and he then looked as if he recognized it.
“What do you think this object is now?” he asked, curiously. “There’s nothing out here! How the hell did it get here?”
Ripley watched them discussing it with their communicators with each other as they got closer to it and it was apparent none of them properly knew, and they started examining the region surrounding it and giving facts and their thoughts of it.
It looked like some form of strange volcanic region and some of the scientists started analyzing and taking soil and rock samples about it, while he inspected the object and what was there and found what looked like a black block of perfectly cut black stone buried deep in the sand and ground below, and on a closer approach he saw far more of it was buried in the ground than he thought, and had a vast structure below.
They all rushed around investigating everything, thoroughly, and started removing black sand and rocks at its edges and began digging the object out of the dirt, and Ripley realized they had actually found something, and some form of alien artifact, made of an unknown material, of unknown origins, and a shiver ran through him as considered if the source was in existence, and then considered how long it had been there, and realized it was embedded in rock like it was a fossil.
When all the sand and rocks were cleared away from it they all stood in a circle around it examining it, silently grasping its deadliness and significance and Ripley felt as though it had some form of life and hidden powers and could carry out some form of function, which he wondered if they were even capable of understanding or even detecting.
Some scientists believed it could have also sent out the DP1 signal, which the entire starship was built to investigate, and they discussed how to reactivate it.
Yet he knew the signal had been detected from the DP1 world they had mapped, and wondered if it was even connected to it, and wondered how many millions of years the signal could actually have been blasting out across space, and all the worlds and races that could have detected it and turned up to investigate it, and if this object had even been one of them and had been left there a long time ago to communicate with them.
They examined it in detail and half-heartedly observed the rock it was embedded in – while looking out for traces of anything within its layers.
They examined things, as swiftly as they could, clearly running out of air and trying to quickly finish the investigation and find some clue to its origins so they could go away to the shuttle.
They half-heartedly observed sand and rocks while looking out for traces of fossils and small life forms within the layers of ground and he looked for anything from the owners of it.
Suddenly he spotted one of the scientists away over at his side examining strange smashed up rocks, and wondered what had done it, as it looked somehow connected to the artifact, and he watched part of the black artifact shining brightly at the top of it away above his head, and realized the object had somehow altered and had perhaps reacted to their presence.
Suddenly Rickman looked strangely at Colman, and Ripley wondered what other secrets they had been given that they had not told him, and he realized there could be a great deal more and that the mission there had even hidden dangers they were not giving.
He suspiciously examined Rickman, as he was desperately trying not to respond, and he knew the soldier was hiding something that he was not going to reveal unless he had to.
Ripley started to wonder why he had been chosen him for the DP1 mission and started to ignore they wanted him for his experience and for tackling what they had already done, and wondered what was at the bottom of the mission and he sensed there was something strange and unimaginable.
One of the other scientists looked over, and replied, “Perhaps it’s some form of highly advanced probe that they sent here – a long time ago …”
“Yet why is it a black block?” Colman replied firmly. “And how did it become embedded in the rock like that?”
All the astronauts studied it, and its altering appearance.
Ripley shifted in close, and Colman reached out and touched its surface, and he copied him and brushed his spacesuit glove over the object and felt a pulsation from something deep underground, as if it was alive.
Chapter 13
Archeological Find
Something startled Ripley and he looked about the spectacle world stretching out in the bright sunshine, of the dying sun, and he stood fascinated, examining the rugged golden shades over the landscape, realizing he was standing on another world.
He watched starlight beaming from a star on the dark horizon and realized it could Vega, and looked over at the archaeologists working away at the extraterrestrial artifact, checking it and everything about it with fascination and confusion, wondering what it was normally like and how it was made.
He liked archeology, especially thinking of it being done on alien worlds, and liked exploring the past and the occurrences that had taken place.
The world looked like it had been frozen in time, and a fantastic surreal early world, and perhaps older than the Earth, and he recalled why he had once wanted to be a paleontologist.
As he shifted near the object he occasionally examined the stone and debris at his feet and over at what the archaeologists were sifting through, looking for anything of interest, and he watched the sky in a place that he had not examined before, and wondered what existed out there and what other strange worlds there were to explore, and started to realize he was starting to like the galaxy more than ever before, and that he would miss it, and the stars would never be the same again when he returned home, and he realized the difference it was to the other DP1 world.
Ripley realized the archeologists had proven that something was there, buried away below, and saw that the archaeologists had slowed down their operations, and were more interested in the dangers, and as he shifted in close he realized how deep they had got with their digging equipment, which was far more advanced than he had seen back on the Earth.
The golden and white radiances of sunshine blasted out forever over the world, and the suns remained firmly fixed, barely shifting position, and he watched the shadow of the artifact still over a position he had seen, and realized the object had not moved and done anything, since it had previously reacted, and he watched the archeologists moving in heavy lifting gear from a nearby space vehicle, and he studied the vehicle hauling it over, while the archeologists on it used the computers and monitored it.
Chapter 14
Artifact Removal
Ripley watched on with two scientists, beside a group of other major scientists, at the edge of the artifact.
The operation had been less difficult than they had real
ized, as the object was not embedded in anything below that held it down, or anything else holding it there. It was embedded in rock for a vast amount of time and would have been fully unveiled or buried far deeper if the world had an atmosphere, and the top part looked as though it was fixed pointing at a section of space and many scientists thought it was pointing to where particular stars had been or were, and they tried to detect any forms of signals being transmitted, and the extraterrestrial signal they had detected from the DP1 star system.
Ripley watched the archeologists lifting the object up into the air and over to a flat area of rock, while the scientists and technicians used their equipment to probe it, and gave occasional surprises when they detected the original readings they detected from it, and the vibrations blasting through it, from when it was activated by them.
Ripley watched its full black oblong shape emerge as archeologists washed and cleaned away the dirt and rock with their equipment.
Suddenly he recalled something Colman had said to Gates and something about the DP1 signal being traced, and he recalled something he had heard from the first voyage to the DP1 world, and wondered what the hell it was, as the reaction they gave to it was colossal, and they hesitated even locating it, and making contact, even after all the trouble they had gone to. Yet they actually were trained to handle it if it was dangerous, and to avoid it if they detected certain signs.
What astounded him was many of them thought it was the real source of the signal. Except the signal had clearly been traced to the other DP1 world, and it was still being detected from there.
Yet he was sure they were connected and this one was no longer fully functioning or had deactivated, or it had another function, which was their job to investigate and discover.
Chapter 15
Energy Bubble
Ripley watched with fascination the altering forms of what looked like an entity/life form consistently materializing and vanishing in a giant energy bubble formation floating over the black artifact, as all the scientists there stood crowded around it examining it, gasping and trying to grasp what was there and what it was doing there, and if it was alive, as it looked as though it was, and was something, and they tried to grasp why it had suddenly appeared and what it was intended for.
Ripley noticed the archeologists further away from it, and them, and seemed to be slowly shifting away, and he noted that they had been the ones that had examined it and cleaned it, and had perhaps grasped what it physically could be, while the scientists tried to give scientific theories and explanations, and he was sure they could miss things, but after all his examinations he realized there was little to go on, and everything and the voyage were too new, and beyond anything he had confronted.
The energy bubble was entirely new and he wondered if they were underestimating its powers or if it was just something used by the builders of the artifact for something.
For a moment, to their fascination, which seemed to last minutes, it started to resemble a magical being and look like it was its normal state, silencing all the scientists, and the archeologists seemed to shift far further away, and he wondered what the hell it was doing there, and even why he was there, out in the depths of space searching for advanced extraterrestrials of a diabolical nature, far more advanced and deadly.
He stood considering if it actually had a normal state.
He tried to grasp what it could really be, and why it was there, and realized they never had enough information.
Ripley moved back and gasped at the shape and features it took, which was like a demon that glowed with energy, and altered within hideous energy surges, and he even wondered if it was of a supernatural nature.
Chapter 16
Matter Alterations
The entire region surrounding the artifact was covered in equipment and scientists studying it and the energy bubble, and discoveries made earlier in detailed examinations.
Instruments were being entered into its field, and the scientists reacted immediately when they received results, and concluded that it was something new and far more powerful than they had encountered, and created multidimensional forms in some of its alternations, which they filmed and recorded information on the artifact and energy bubble.
The scientists occasionally gave detailed explanations of findings and what they thought was occurring, and altered equipment or locations of instruments at different regions around the confines of the energy bubble.
Yet even with all the discoveries and research the scientists, technicians never had any explanations of what they were dealing with, and crowded around it loudly discussing it, and considered what they could use the technology and findings on.
Ripley watched on startled, though he had known something unknown would be found from the start, and he had expected it to happen far earlier not knowing of the DP1 world, and he watched it wondering what the hell it was as it was far more different now than he had thought, whatever it was, and he had not realized or heard anything that could explain anything to anyone, and he had deliberately stayed near the leading scientists and main scientists in hope of picking something up.
It looked as though it were rupturing space in a way that played around with something else, and he considered if it was the fabric of space, another universe, other dimensions, or time itself.
He was sure it had properties of altering matter, and they studied it trying to see if it could suspend time. It looked like it was creating alterations in the fabric of space, and he wondered if it could allow a gateway to emerge into the depths of space?
Many scientists from many countries were carrying out numerous basic and complex experiments all around it, using new equipment and ideas, and others were recording things about it in greater detail, and they were sending the information to the S1 Starship up in orbit, and vast amounts of detailed information was being sent and received and mainly for them to analyze things in a far greater degree.
Ripley soon started to realize they had discovered something, or things, and were checking everything out and he believed they would be soon giving their findings, and he wondered what they would conclusively use it all for.
Chapter 17
Dormancy
When Starship S1 had originally left the DP1 world, before going back to the Earth, and then to Vega, the DP1 extraterrestrial had been thrown into the realms of its form of hell, as it realized it had blown its only chance of survival and was trapped on the dead desolate dark world.
Most of its energy, which it had taken from the shuttle before it had left it, was consumed by it returning to where it stayed, and returning into its dormant state, and before it did it even considered losing all its memories of what had happened as it realized that the memories could damage its future existence, and it would never be the same again knowing what existence existed beyond there and that it was trapped there, and it recalled all the thoughts of the man it had inhabited the mind of and decided to keep it, and some of its last thoughts were why it was so familiar and it thought had encountered something like it before a long time ago, and it wondered again why it could not recall anything from then, and realized it had been the damage it had received existing on the world for so long and its energy vanishing.
Going into dormancy was far harder than it could recall ever experiencing, and it even thought it had gone dormant and accidentally stayed conscious.
Suddenly its center seemed to glow like a sun with the energy that it used and it wondered why it was reviving, altering and becoming more powerful, and it realized it had been dormant and was returning to being revived, and it realized how long it had been dormant and it had not been long, and it gasped and wondered if it was damaged or something had happened and that its subconscious senses had detected something to awaken it for, and it began its revival.
It awoke altering its composition as it studied its small cold sun on the horizon of its dark desolate world and it tried to leave its confines, and its shape glowed as powerful bright pulses
of energy exploded out, as its fight for survival began once again.
It recalled the painful process of revival, as it had done for many thousands of years, over and over again through the depths of time, and once again felt pain and saw death, and its formation constantly altered as it controlled its individual parts of itself to a degree of individual atoms, stopping itself being destroyed by the process and colossal environment.
It grasped the opportunity to avoid death and survive with all it could muster and it reformed itself into a normal formation, and it shifted out into the endless dark night of the world, in pain and sensing destruction, and sensed something on its world, but not fully as its senses were not working fully, and it realized if the life forms had returned it could consider handing itself over to them as it was the only way it could properly survive and it was sure they would keep it alive and study and learn from it.
The cold world was unrecognizable to it as it recalled thoughts of the human mind it had entered and it was staggered by its dangers and wondered why its world seemed so dangerous and returned to monitoring its formation’s fight to repair itself and wondered how it had ended up there and it considered how the occurrence could possibly have occurred, and it being trapped on the world, and suddenly felt satisfaction as it completed making major regions of it back to normal from their altered dormant states, slowly returning normal.
It eventually was able to gain normal powers and it managed to adapt and it shifted into the long black shadows of unknown rock formations like a form of ghost lurking around, still transforming its shape and appearances, and it considered what had happened, and sensed something again and what had awoken it and what had arrived at its world and it was staggered to fully detect the massive S1 Starship up in orbit, and realized it had passed overhead and it had awoken from its dormancy, and was slowly making its way away into the horizon, and it contemplated the dangers of it and wondered what could possibly happen if it was taken prisoner, but it had to be better than dying trapped on the world.
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