While walking back toward Argos, they were all alerted to find something of

  interest. Excited, they scouted the forest and looked at every strange bug and plant

  they encountered.

  “We should camp there for tonight,” said Anais, pointing at a spot on the map.

  “It should be about an hour away.”

  Steve said quietly, “Guys, do you get the feeling that we are being watched?”

  “We are,” said Bara. “They have been following us since we left the city. Why

  do you think I led you through areas without thick vegetation?.”

  “Shouldn’t we be worried?” asked Gakuto.

  “They are good at hiding in the vegetation. The drones could not pick them

  up. I, however, set a small camera on the way, and I could see that they are armed

  with spears and bows. I doubt that they can even penetrate our skin.”

  With a bit of worry, the group continued their hike. Every few hundred meters,

  they would see non-natural structures or slabs poking through the soil. They would

  record them and move on.

  “Wow!” Bara’s eyes and mouth were as open as wide they could.

  The whole team stood watching in awe. Jain and anyone who was observing

  the feed also stood speechless.

  “A statue. A statue of … is this a human head?” said Helen with her voice

  barely reaching her own ears.

  “Is this some kind of joke? Alex! Are you seeing this?” said Jain.

  “What is this? I mean … what is the chance that they made art and it ended

  up resembling us by accident?” asked Alex in shock.

  “Zero. This is a statue of a human protruding from the soil, Alex. What is

  going on here?” continued Jain.

  “Okay, now things are getting very weird here,” said Helen.

  “Everybody, take a breather. We need to think.”

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  “I am not sure what to think. There is a human statue here. We need to dig it

  up and bring it here,” said Jain.

  “We will. Once we can, we will send the Eagle with tools to dig it out. For now,

  let’s just take a breath.”

  After they marked the location and took records of the statue, the team began

  to move to the designated spot where they would be staying for the night. Within a

  half hour, the team had reached the spot and began setting up camp. Although

  excited, everyone was sunk into their own thoughts, as was everyone at Argos too.

  The scenarios that the statue gave birth to were countless. While camp was being

  set, Helen was registering the small buildings that were protruding from the ground

  near the shore of the river.

  Steve broke the silence. “I wish we could replicate the material that they used.

  It seems like it never breaks. They used it for everything.”

  “I am more interested as to why the head of the statue was kept clean of

  vegetation,” said Konoya. “Our resemblance to it must also be the reason they are

  not hostile to us.”

  While the tents were being inflated, the liquid food was warming up in its bag.

  Konoya continued, “What are you guys thinking? You are awfully silent.

  Especially you, Gakuto.”

  “I am thinking, what if we are still in the Hera, and all this is a vivid dream of

  mine?” answered Gakuto.

  “It makes more sense to think that we are being taken by whomever occupied

  this world and placed us inside a simulation,” said Anais.

  “Hey! That’s a good thought. Perhaps they are actually placing us in a game-

  like place. A world designed for us to be toyed with.”

  “Or perhaps we are in an alien world with endless mysteries. Some closer to

  our understanding and some further. Letting our imagination run wild is not

  necessarily a bad thing, but don’t let it stress you out,” said Konoya.

  “Okay, let’s try to make the least imaginary scenario of how this could

  happen,” said Gakuto.

  “That’s easy,” said Helen. “The civilization who once lived here traveled to the

  stars and met humanity in an earlier stage. We have numerous of cultures whose

  ancient beliefs depict visitors coming from the stars.”

  “Okay. You’re right, this makes more sense, but it completely drives me away

  from my holographic-reality concept,” said Gakuto with a smile.

  Looking at the sky, Anais said, “Imagine that. They could have visited us

  thousands of years ago, and now we visit them.”

  Jain’s voice sounded from all their communicators. “I think you guys should

  take some time to sleep.”

  Anais left her drones as guards, and they all went to sleep in their two tents.

  The drones were monitoring the perimeter from the trees while Helen and Jain were

  taking turns acting as remote guards, watching over them. Their dreams were shared

  with all of the humans currently on Gaia. Everyone was dreaming of stories about the

  ancient past. The feeling of being so incredibly interested in a fantasy brought an

  unexplained pleasure to all.

  It had been a while since this was common for humans.