Y:6 D:8

  With Anais still in Alpha City, the information kept on coming. She had also found and

  sent back to Argos certain crystals she had come across that seemed to be

  information-storage devices. She had set up camp atop the tallest building of the city,

  which provided her with a vantage point. With a small garden and a few floors

  secured and protected, she would soon be able to stay completely independent of

  Argos. This made her proudly proclaim herself the lord of Alpha City, something that

  was used by most citizens of Argos as her call sign and a tease. After many days of

  scouting, Anais had begun finding buildings with vaults that she found impenetrable.

  She had also begun finding abandoned machinery of unknown functionality and very

  heavily damaged. These machines were slowly transported for examination back to

  Argos as she continued to receive supplies, but with most their parts stripped and

  other parts corroded to unrecognizable states over time, the chances of decrypting

  the crystals anytime soon seemed slim at best.

  Argos was a growing city. Most women were perpetually pregnant, while few

  people were preoccupied with the needs of the community. Food, water, and shelter

  were becoming so well automated that with minimal effort, there was plenty for

  everyone. Automated agriculture and bug farms coupled with robotic solutions for the

  labor-intensive jobs were helping to create a paradise. Most of the city was now

  working on decoding the story of the planet. From every angle that anyone could

  grasp it, they were all trying to figure out what happened. As the days were passing,

  the memory of Earth, which more than half the population had never seen, was

  becoming ever so vague. After all, it was not hard to forget a white ball of snow under

  which you were born. The memories that some did carry were mostly of a sad and

  apostasis-infested community.

  The crystals that Anais had been finding were taken by Margaret to be

  decoded, but it seemed like an impossible task. Without much of an idea on what

  these crystals contained and in what format they were written, decoding something

  that was coded by a species more advanced than yourself was very challenging. The

  hope was that some of the machines they were finding were the readers of those

  crystals and with some help they would be able to take the first steps of

  understanding them. There was nearly nothing written anywhere besides some

  building scriptures, which alone were very hard to decode. The surrounding areas

  had all been mapped and monitored well. The flight restrictions were lifted for a large

  radius from the city, which meant that Clive and his team could not transport

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  materials and findings fast. The borders between the species were also being drawn

  out based on their location and observations on how far the patrols go. The spy

  planes were beginning to map the islands and other continents of the planet. A

  process that would take years to complete but that already began.

  Flying the Eagle meant that small machines could be easily transported, and

  this way the statue had finally been uncovered.

  “It resembles a human more so now,” said Jain.

  “It really does,” said Konoya.

  Dimitri seemed to be the most excited about it. “I know what that is. I am sure

  I have seen something similar,” he said with a loud voice. “Look, he is pointing at his

  feet. He is holding a plaque, and he is covered with a sheet. He looks like an ancient

  philosopher from Earth.”

  “We need to search for any distinctive traits that separate him from humans,”

  said Gakuto.

  “On first look, he looks very human,” said Galen. “Perhaps too human.”

  “We have not seen any species that resemble humans so closely on the

  planet, however,” noted Jain.

  “We have not seen what this planet has to offer yet. Nor the other planets for

  that reason,” added Gakuto.

  “The other planets?” said Konoya.

  “Yeah! These species here had technology which by far surpasses ours. With

  so many planets filled with water and nice conditions, I can’t imagine they left them

  unpopulated.”

  “We will have to send a satellite to begin imaging the other planets,” said Jain.

  “The plate on his feet as well as his plaque has writing. Just like the other

  writings we have found,” said Dimitri.

  Alex called for them to gather for a discussion. “Yesterday,” he began, “we

  got close to an Orc”.

  “We’re calling the large ones Orcs now?” asked Gakuto.

  “It’s easy to remember, and their looks make it hard to not call them that.”

  “No objections here.”

  “So, yesterday Nick went beyond the city radius after the detectors heard

  sounds. He approached stealthily and saw two of them. They did not want to back off

  after seeing Nick. A few meters behind them were about fifty more, all fully armed.

  They were coming ready to fight.”

  “What does that tell us then?” asked Dimitri. “That they might attack us?”

  “We see more species approaching us from every direction, but they don’t

  dare enter other species’ lands. This is Goblin land. We know that. Now that the Orcs

  have entered, we fear that it might be the start of change.”

  “Do we have a plan?” asked Dimitri.

  “Yes. We are going to meet them. Straight to their main city.”

  “Finally, some excitement,” said Gakuto.

  “This will be the beginning of something new, so we need to make it as

  friendly as we can. If we create enemies here, our future might be difficult and war-

  torn. I want you all to consider that although we have no fear of them and that we

  have no memory of war, those who have studied a little of it can tell you of its horrors.

  I want ideas and plans on how to approach them. Jain and Konoya will be setting the

  plan, so any observations or ideas you have, please report them to them.”