Larger than Average

Dr. Helen was holding a handheld scanner as she was scanning the growth rate of the trees in the forest. For some reason, It was higher than what they found at the other forests. This could be attributed to the heightened activity in the area. But that didn't really explain it. As the trees didn't rely on the energy from the lines in the first place. All they needed from the environment was Carbon and Oxygen. The rest was self contained.

This was also why the single tree near the beach could grow. Although it was smaller compared to the trees in this forest. But it was probably because of the lack of minerals in the area. The ground beneath them was rich with carbon. As the trees had more minerals to work with. They naturally grew bigger.

But the increase in the activity and the growth rate still remained unexplained. But this was an interesting development regardless.

As she finished scanning the tip of the branch, Dr. Helen hung the scanner on a holder in her belt. She opened up her comm and checked the status of the anti-grav module. It showed that it was almost empty. This was a problem. She was hovering in the air for quite a bit and add the heavy gravity of the planet on top of that, The Anti-grav backpack had to use quite a bit of power to keep her afloat. She needed to quickly go back to the Yuki to swap the energy cells.

She fiddled with her comm and slowly came back down to the ground. She began to walk towards the direction of Yuki. As she approached the Yuki a hatch soon opened up for her. She entered the Shuttle and took her helmet off. She greeted the hanger staff as she passed her anti-grav backpack to them.

"It needs new cells, it's almost empty."

"We'll change it right away." The staff replied to her request and began to working on her backpack.

She looked around the hanger while waiting for the fresh cells. It was buzzing with activity. The Grey Metal deck vibrated from time to time because of all the heavy machinery being moved about. The Lab equipment that the Yuki bought with her ranged from hand held devices to ones that'd take up a whole room worth of space. But as they might need it any moment during the mission and going back and forth to the Shore wasn't efficient, she carried all the lab equipment in her holding bays.

Soon her backpack was ready with a fresh new Energy cell. It would provide the backpack with enough energy to last up-to 24 hours. The hanger staff handed over the backpack to her.

"Here you go Dr. Helen. Let us know if you face any issues. We've replaced the spent cell with a fully charged one."

"Thank you for your hard work." She replied as she took the backpack from them, She extended her arms to the back of her vac-suit. A few claws extended from the suit and latched onto the backpack. It took the backpack from her and slotted it into the correct position. After she checked the backpack was in place, She began to walk towards the Hanger exit. She still needed to perform a few more tests.

Right when she came out of the hanger, She received a call from one of the researchers. The researcher in question had been following the trail of a Artery line. Maybe she had some updates to report. Not thinking much of it, She picked it up.

Suddenly a frightened face projected in front of her. The face in the projection was frighted out of her wits. She didn't seem to be in a good state.

"What's wrong? What happened?", Dr. Helen quickly asked her.

"Doctor... Doctor Helen.... You… You need to see this.", She said with a frightened expression. The shaking in her voice apparent.

She changed the projection from her face to the scene before her. And Dr. Helen finally saw what had frightened the researcher so much.

It was hovering mid air. A huge cube like structure. It flowed like a raging ocean. And the collapsed in itself. It wasn't liquid, nor was it solid. It was super-state of matter that wasn't comprehensible to her. She wasn't a material scientist anyway. But what interstead her the most was the structure right beneath the cube.

It looked like all the energy lines in the area met right under the cube! This was something that she didn't expect. It looked as if all the energy in the general area was flowing towards the cube. That'd mean that it's a machine of some sort and it was doing something!

The Researcher changed the view again and said through the call.

"Dr. Helen My.. My Anti-grav module is dead. I can't go back to the shuttle. That thing is dangerous. You can't imagine how much energy the lines here hold. Even a meter is enough to tear apart this whole planet in a matter of seconds! Please get me out of here.", She said with a panicked voice. For some reason, she was really afraid of the Cube. Why though? That question could be left for later. For now, They needed to get her out of there.

"Go to somewhere safe. And hold still, I have your general location. I'm sending a squad of mechs, They'll extract you out of there. Don't worry. You'll get back safe, I promise.", Dr. Helen tried to calm the researcher down. But her words didn't seem to help her at all. She replied again with a panicked voice.

"Please, you need to get me out of here as fast as possible. This thing is dangerous. I can feel the power inside it. It can destroy us at any moment."

Dr. Helen found her words interesting.

"Why do you say that? What have you found that leads you to believe it can kill us all?"

"That… I can't tell you that." The researcher replied with a horrified expression.