Y:6 D:2

  Argos

  A well-organized search party of five left Argos to go straight to Alpha City. The

  camera they had left had not seen anything other than passing animals, and

  therefore the city was considered empty.

  Upon arrival, the team proceeded to move close to the center, where it

  expected to find more buildings of importance. Parts of the city had been overtaken

  by vegetation, giving a magical feel to the already alien environment. The team sat to

  rest on a wide opening, probably the location of an old park. They still needed a few

  hours of walking to reach the center.

  “It is pretty magical to sit here,” said Juuda, opening his backpack to get his

  food out.

  “I think Helen’s hypothesis is right,” said Anais. “This city must have been the

  capital of this world.”

  “I think so too,” added Steve over the communicator. “The city gives the

  feeling that it was made with multiple architectures. We find similarities to the ones

  we have seen from the spy planes, but this is the only one that combines them all.”

  “They moved by air a lot as well,” said Juuda sadly. “What could have caused

  them to destroy themselves?”

  “Why do you find that strange?” asked Bara.

  “So many species managed to coexist for long enough to build buildings with

  docks on almost every floor. We have not found a landfill yet, which might suggest

  that they managed their trash to keep the environment safe. Now we invaded them,

  and yet they have shown no signs of aggression. I can’t imagine what could have

  destroyed such wonderful creatures.”

  Emile, who was a sociologist and history enthusiast, although he rarely

  spoke, decided to add his own input in the conversation. “This has me really

  confused. We see that they have almost no connection now. In fact, if you observe

  them, you will notice that they are on alert when they are near the borders of other

  species. They are not living in peace, and obviously they had war at some point. The

  question then arises, how did they manage to coexist so well for long enough to

  reach these technological achievements, and why did they fall?”

  “We will find answers for all those questions soon enough,” said Juuda. “For

  now, let’s finish our meals and continue.”

  A couple of hours later, the team had reached the area with the tallest

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  buildings.

  “This looks like a good choice,” said Juuda, pointing at the largest building he

  could see. “Let’s head in.”

  Bara stood at the front, and Anais sent in two small drones to scout the area.

  “It’s empty,” she said and began walking in through a window.

  “The room is quite small. One window, one door,” reported Anais while

  walking through. “The door leads to a very large open room with many doors

  connecting to many small rooms around it. The ceiling is much higher than you might

  initially expect. The walls and floors must be quite thin. This entire floor is like a large

  square with many small squares around it. There is a wider room on each side. Yes!

  This is the access to the other floors.”

  “It looks like they had a few ways to get from one floor to another. There are

  stairs very similar to what we would use, but there are also thinner shafts with metal

  extrusions. Helen’s hypothesis is increasingly valid,” said Juuda while reporting back

  to Argos. “There are many ways to go to the floors. Probably for the different species

  to use.”

  “I am proceeding to the floor below, lights on,” said Anais. After a few

  seconds, she reported, “Clear. Same as above. All seems empty.”

  “How many floors down does it go?” asked Juuda.

  Anais sent her drones down the shaft. “I am counting … wow, eleven floors.

  There are more, but they are flooded. I need a different drone.”

  “Check for any that do not look the same as the rest,” said Juuda.

  “The second floor down looks like it was the ground floor,” said Anais and

  continued to make rough scans floor by floor, while keeping everyone updated. “The

  seventh floor under seems to be very different.”

  “Check that the others further below are clear as well, and let’s proceed to

  that one.”

  “They are all clear. No movement. Same as the ones we have seen.”

  “Then let’s go down to the different one straight away.”

  “Everything seems to be empty,” said Bara while going down.

  Steve added, “This makes sense. If their collapse was so many thousands of

  years ago, they would slowly take everything.”

  “It does not explain why it’s deserted. They should still use it as a base, just

  like all other cities we have seen with the spy planes,” added Juuda.

  “I am at the seventh floor down,” said Anais. “It’s clear. Come.”

  “It’s like a sewer network of the old Earth cities,” said Steve. “The larger

  openings seem large enough to have a vehicle pass through. It looks like the whole

  city was interconnected from underground.”

  “Shh!” said Anais suddenly. “Something is coming.”

  They all froze in place and focused their attention to one of the tunnels, where

  light started appearing. It was two Goblins. The Goblins froze when they saw light

  coming from the room and proceeded to walk slowly and carefully without talking

  anymore.

  “This is it!” said Alex through the communicators. “This will be our first

  contact. Make sure you stay calm and friendly.”

  Juuda moved to the front and stood with his head high. When the Goblins

  moved close, they had their shields high and their spears pointing at Juuda.

  “Their shields and spears are made of glass,” said Anais.

  “Hello,” said Juuda, raising his hand and showing his palm to them.

  All the lights were shining on them. Gakuto, who had thought that they must

  be nocturnal, tried to warn them, “Don’t shine your lights on them!” but it was too late.