Chapter 16: The Excavation Site

The entrance to the mine was a large steel gate, big enough for machines to drive through and enough lighting for Jake to believe he was in a hospital.

They walked for a few minutes into the tunnel before coming across a clearing which looked like a building inside the tunnel. From there Victor led them through a door and swiped his access card to an elevator before they got on.

"Pretty cool huh" Victor spoke to the two as they shook their heads and agreed.

"Dad, it looks quite different than what I expected?" Jake spoke to Victor surprised by the interior of the mine.

"Well son, usually we don't develop the interior of the mines as much until we gauge if there are any resources in the sector.

Scans showed there wasn't much so we developed this area as an internal station to monitor other sectors without needing to leave the mines. The wreck was also right under so we could afford to develop it as well." Victor spoke as he answered his son.

The elevator was fast with the three reaching their destination in a few minutes.

When the doors opened Jake and Lyra's eyes were in awe as they came into view of the site.

A massive tunnel stretched out 5 kilometres on all sides, with lights filling the tunnel from all sides. The spotlight of course was the massive wreck that sat in the middle of the tunnel.

The wreck looked to be an ancient spaceship. The ship which had a length of almost 200 meters was stripped of all its paint with the bare metal shining into the eyes of Jake and Lyra who were staring in awe.

The ship was heavily damaged with scorch marks and gaping holes on the entire port side of the ship.

"It's awesome huh" Victor spoke with a smile as he led them to the ship.

"We wouldn't have even detected this ship had it not been for a tiny radar ping it emitted that was picked up by the port."

"So this ship is 50,000 years old?" Lyra spoke as she continued to inspect it.

"Yes, the carbon dating from the panels is about that old. We've found many ships across the GOE's territory but not one like this?"

"Why is that Dad?" Jake spoke out as he was scanning the wreck.

"Well for starters, this isn't a military vessel, sure it looks like one, but looking at the design and interior it's a civilian vessel. Sort of a smaller luxury yacht."

"Do we know which race it belongs to?" Jake asked his father.

"No not really, our database is much smaller than the GOE's and with the fact of our isolationist mentality we don't really know much. But even from the Kreedians, there's no race that this ship matches with however all we know is that it belongs to an extinct Race."

"An extinct Race? Then wouldn't that mean this is an important discovery?"

"Well we thought as well, however, we're on the outer reaches.

The government doesn't care too much besides protecting our borders plus this wreck belongs to the Nexus Corp anyway. They were interested in the tech on it but it seems most of it was destroyed or removed so nothing was left besides scrap metal.

So they just told us to focus on mining instead and do what we wished with it." Victor spoke with a sigh

(Jake, I've scanned the vessel on my database and it seems to belong to the Raiyu Race.)

'The Raiyu Race, how come we don't know that.'

(Well the Raiyu Race has been extinct for almost 70 000 years.)

'What? So you're saying some of them managed to survive for almost 20,000 more?'

(Well it might seem surprising but many Races that may have gone extinct are still alive in some way or another. Some assimilate into others or some are still alive  but in extremely small groups, that manage to keep that status quo for hundreds or even thousands of years.)

''So what happened to the Raiyu Race?' Jake asked the Atlas.

(The Raiyu race was a long-lived Race easily being able to live a few thousand years. They are similar to humans with almost the same skeletal and muscular structure.

They had light red skin and ears similar to what you know as elves. They, you could say are the precursors or at least from the same species as the Zephyrion Race.)

'What is the Zephyrion Race?'

(Not much is known about the Zephyrion Race as they are a secluded Species in the North Western Corner of the Galaxy, a very closed Race that last had contact with other species almost 1 million years ago.

They are what you could call true elves, with the knowledge given to me by the ChronoScribe being an extremely long-living, beautiful race that is very advanced compared to the other species.

They're protected by solar storms and extremely large asteroid fields that close them off from the outside world. No ship can pass through or find its way into these storms.

It seems the Raiyu had found a way to leave the Zephyrion System almost a million years ago and settled in the far south of the galaxy.)

'But why did they settle so far away though? Were they running away from the Zephyrion Race?' Jake wondered as to the reason the Raiyu even left.

(Your assumption could be correct as the Raiyu did not bother settling or communicating with the other civilizations they passed or came in contact with. They did however settle in a few systems and although not protected by their natural borders they still kept their distance and lived with minimal presence among history books.)

"Jake, Jake, let's look inside" Jake was pulled by Lyra as she dragged him into the ship's wreck. As they entered the airlock they looked at the interior of the wreck.

The interior was an ice-white colour with a minimalistic interior although it still looked like it belonged to a high-class vessel.

Although Jake expected the interior to be messy, it was neat with the tables, chairs and other furnishings neatly set in the ship his reaction was easily noticed by his father who smirked before speaking.

"Surprised ey." Victor spoke before rubbing Jake's head and walking inside.

"It was a mess inside, most likely the crash throwing everything around and whoever was on it had hastily destroyed all the electronic modules on the craft."

"Jake, check this out, Lyra who was fascinated by the ship quickly brought Jake to a table with a small ornament on top of it.

The ornament looked like a black sphere with a triangular button on the surface.

Jake stared at the object which had a shiny reflective surface mirroring his reflection before pushing the button.

The object quickly unraveled revealing a miniature model of the solar system. Although simple, the design was quite intricate as it had no moving pieces and was made of just one piece showcasing its complexity.

"Ahh, the model, I found it behind the sofa. We were hoping it would contain some information but it seems to be just a children's toy." Victor spoke to the 2 kids who were looking at the model.

"Umm, uh, Uncle Victor." Lyra who was shy called Victor as she stared at him.

"Yes, Lyra?"

"If it's uh, not important, c-c-can I.." Lyra who was stumbling with her words but both Victor and Jake had noticed what she wanted to say smiled before speaking.

"Yes, Lyra you can have it." Victor spoke with Lyra immediately beaming as she reached out and picked up the model.

"Yaay, Thank you Uncle Victor." Lyra spoke to Victor.

"Don't worry about it Lyra, you kids want to see the rest of the ship?" Victor asked as he started walking to the front of the ship.

"YES!" Both Jake and Lyra shouted as they followed Victor through the hallway.

Victor opened another door and the three entered a room which looked like an office.

(Jake, I feel there's something in here so take a good look, we might be able to find something. No matter how thorough they were they couldn't have destroyed everything onboard the ship.)

'Alright, I'll take a look Atlas." Jake spoke to the Atlas before stepping into the room and checking it out.

The room was medium-sized with a plain interior, it had a single bed in the corner, a few shelves and a metal desk and chair in the middle.

Lyra went and sat on the bed to play with the model while Jake went to look around the room.

Just before Victor could say anything, his earpiece started ringing.

"Excuse me kids...*beep*...Hello, Speaking, Yes I'm still here, give me a moment." Victor paused before speaking to the kids.

"Jake, Lyra it seems I have a few things to sort out with some unplanned schedules, you two can play for a bit, I'll be back in 10 minutes alright" Victor spoke before excusing himself.

"Alright, Dad."

"Okay, Uncle Victor."

As Victor left Jake immediately turned his eyes to the shelving while also glancing at Lyra who was currently infatuated with the model.

'Atlas, is that it?' Jake asked the Atlas before touching the shelving.

(Yes Jake, it seems there is something behind that wall.)

"What about Lyra?" Jake was worried whether it was dangerous.

(It doesn't seem to be dangerous and Lyra is currently busy. It's safe to go for it.)

Jake moved his hand and touched the cold metal shelving before pressing what seemed to be a plain white metal wall.

He held his hand in place for 2 minutes with Lyra occasionally glancing at Jake confused by him standing in place.

"Jake, what are you doing" Lyra finally asked Jake, her curiosity getting to her.

Jake sighed thinking it was a bust, he turned smiling at her before saying "It's nothing I was just adm-"

His voice was cut off as a red pattern appeared in front of him, the design looked like a moon next to a sun with an eye in the centre. A hiss was heard before the wall opened revealing a hidden storage that hadn't opened for thousands of years.

(Jake this is...) The Atlas's voice trailed off in Jake's mind as he stared at what was inside and let out a single word.

"How?"