A Journey That Took Too Long

I've gotten quite comfortable on my new homeworld, Belén. After the development of its first city, commerce on the moon exploded. Many merchants have settled here, opening up the countless outposts, shops, and trade stations that dot the surface.

One such shop, complete with landing pad, offers technology, blueprints, and even a galactic trade terminal.

I stopped here and asked the Gek cashier if it knew where I could find some structures on the planet from before colonization. It pointed me in the direction of the planetary archives. If any historical information would be stored somewhere, it would be there.

The structure was enormous! It houses historical documents, ancient technology, archaeological finds, rare plants, you name it, all in its vaults.

Here I was able to find some information about an ancient structure. So I marked the coordinates and sped halfway across the moon to the location.

The structure turned out to be some kind of memorial built by the ancient Gek First Spawn. Touching it burned an image into my brain. It was an image of a structure far older than this one and built prehistorically, confirming my suspicions.

Other than that, it was a dead end. The trail went cold.

Where history fails, I turn to science. Many independent researchers also call Belén home. There's a research station I know of that's not far from here. The scientist there owes me a favor, so it's time to pay them a visit.

They told me their equipment is not designed for planetary surface scans but rather for scanning the stars. However, they do know of an alien structure that is situated on the equator. They said a contact of theirs informed them of it.

Could it be? I wonder...

I followed the scientist's crude directions and found what they were talking about.

It turned out to be a massive portal! I've heard about these! I think they predate even the First Spawn. The design seems distinct from the Gek plaque I visited earlier. Every planet is supposed to have one.

I hurried back to the researcher. His contact obviously knows something. We sent a transmission asking if I could pay him a visit. Finally, we were able to convince him I was no spy, assassin, or hipster out to disclose his secrets and turn his remote home into a tourist situation. So he bade me come on down.

It wasn't too far. The mystery man lives down on the motherworld, the planet my moon orbits.

His estate was magnificent. Though I was not allowed to take pictures inside. We had Geknip tea, chit chatted, toured his secret garden, and then finally went down to business.

This eccentric man had seen many strange things in his travels, some of which he proudly displayed in his home. He knew what it was I seeked, and warned me but did not stop me. He gave me coordinates to location on Belén and said no more.

I followed the coordinates, unprepared for what I might find at the end of my journey.

Finally, there it was. An alien structure predating the current major civilizations. It contains glyphs in a language unlike those as well. It will take some time to decipher it. In my tongue it is called something like Atlas.