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“We think, yes,” Curt replied. “It’s a good distance away, but it’s a building. I think the top of a sky scraper.”

  “We don’t know if it’s like the waterfall building,” Rey said. “It’s fused with the ground. It’s hard to tell. It’s in the distance.”

  “What’s it like up there?” Finch asked.

  “Flat,” Curt answered. “At least for a while. The waterfall is fed from a small river that winds north away from the ruins.”

  “Jesus,” Nate gasped out. “You know what this means, right? All of this … this is an advanced alien civilization. Right here. A city. This place can hold answers to what happened here to this world. Whether or not we can make this our home. This is amazing. Beyond amazing.”

  “We need to explore,” Curt suggested.

  “Once up top,” Rey said. “Really, we can walk there.”

  “Or,” Nate added, “start with the cliff building. I know we can get into that building through one of those windows.”

  Finch held out his hands, bouncing them slowly up and down in a ‘curb your enthusiasm’ manner. “I get it. That’s the course of action. I think the easiest thing to do is to go up there.” He pointed. “And head to that structure they saw. It may not be buried like this building and we could find answers and explore a lot easier than getting into a building encased in rock.”

  “Then let’s do it,” Nate enthusiastically suggested.

  “Let’s … but …” Finch said. “Not yet.”

  The three of them looked at him in shock.

  “Not yet,” Finch repeated. “It’s not fair. How would you three feel if you were back at camp? This all will still be here in a couple days. You said it’s flat up there, right?” he asked Curt.

  Curt nodded.

  “Enough room to land?” Finch asked.

  “Absolutely.”

  “Good. Then that’s the plan. We head home, we get Sandra, Ben, and the ship and we head back here. We came here as a team and it’s only right, we get the answers … as a team.”

  TWENTY-ONE

  “Blue,” Sandra said.

  Ben tilted his head. “Purple.”

  “Many shades of purple.”

  “True.” Ben laughed. “Oh, and I see yellow.”

  “For sure the yellow. That’s a good sign.”

  “I’m healing.”

  “You are. Four days and you are doing better than I expected. By the way, that is the worst bruise I have ever seen in my entire life,” Sandra said.

  Ben zipped up his suit. “How many men have you seen that flew into a tree?”

  “None at all. You are the first one that—”

  Static.

  “Omni-4 come in,” Finch called over the radio.

  They had been sitting outside and Sandra stumbled to a stand and raced into the ship to grab the radio. “This is Omni-4. You guys okay? Over.”

  “We’re great,” Finch replied. “How’s Major Vonn? Over.”

  “He’s doing well.”

  “We will arrive in camp in approximately two hours,” Finch said. “Start packing up. Over.”

  “Sir? Packing up?”

  “Packing up,” he repeated. “We’re leaving. Out.”

  <><><><>

  “What the hell happened here?” Curt asked upon stepping from the buggy when they arrived. He walked to Ben. “You look good. We all thought you were gonna die.”

  “I’m tough,” Ben replied. “And to answer your question, that first night you were gone, some sort of weird frost storm blew through here. Yesterday the wave returned. Fortunately, it stopped the same place it did before, so we were good.”

  “Weird frost storm?” Finch asked. “What do you mean?”

  “Just like it sounds,” Ben replied. “Some cold cloud came through, freezing everything. I mean everything, even the ship. I fired her up yesterday and she is working like a charm.”

  Finch looked at Nate. “What would cause that?”

  “We’re close to that frozen tundra,” Nate replied. “My guess it’s making its way south.”

  “This planet is a hell planet,” Ben said. “It’s brutal.”

  “It’s better inland,” Curt said. “Trust me.”

  Sandra asked, “Are we going home? Is that what you meant by leaving?”

  Finch shook his head. “No. We’re going inland, together. We found what we believe is ruins of an advanced civilization. And that’s where we’re going. To explore that. Hopefully, with what time we have left before we leave we can find out what lived here, how they lived, and more importantly … what the hell wiped them out.”

  “I’m no geologist,” Ben said, “but as far as what wiped out the inhabitants, I’m gonna take a wild guess and say … this planet.”

  <><><><>

  Nate had made markings on the imagery so well that navigating to the area was easy for Finch. Flying there didn’t take long, only about twenty minutes. Packing up to go took most of their time. They had to disassemble the buggy and prepare everything else. Excavating equipment, ropes, and other items for their exploration. They knew what they were going into, at least they believed they did.

  At the very least, they had the building encased in the cliff. They talked about entering there if the ruins of the city were impossible to reach.

  While they wanted to explore more of the planet, exploring the ruins was vital. It would tell them so much. Knowing how those who lived on the planet died, would allow them to know if those from Earth could survive there.

  During the preparations to leave and the short flight, they spoke about what they could find and what they hoped to find. They didn’t expect the language to be understandable, but a few things were universal. Such as images.

  They hoped to find pictures, paintings, anything that could tell a story. Perhaps, if fortunate, a technology far advanced from Earth’s they could use.

  The single object that Curt and Rey had spotted was the beacon, and the landmark that told them they had arrived.

  They could see it as they flew in.

  The structure sat close to an edge of what appeared to be another ridge.

  Finch could have circled around, instead he opted to land, bringing the Omni within a hundred feet of the odd-shaped structure.

  Once landed, they all stared at it through the window of the Omni before leaving the ship. Being that close, they knew it was part of the ground, much like the building behind the waterfall.

  They could see the land dropped off behind the structure. Were there more ruins there?

  Nate felt like a kid at Christmas. This was not what he saw on the satellite images. What he believed were structures were deep within trees. This city before them was more in the open.

  They all stepped from the ship together, and before setting up camp, before grabbing equipment they needed, they walked to the single structured ruin.

  Closing in, Nate knew it couldn’t be the only one. “There’s a drop off behind it. Maybe a cavern. Bet there’s more down there.”

  The group followed behind, with him taking the lead, walking faster than the rest the closer he drew to it.

  Weed-like plants and trees grew around it. The round base tilted into the ground. The pointed top was rusted metal with vines and a moss covering it.

  “What could it be?” Ben asked.

  “Perhaps the top of a building,” Curt suggested.

  “Maybe it’s part of their technology,” Sandra said. “It doesn’t look like something livable.”

  “Nate?” Finch asked. “Any guesses?”

  Nate didn’t answer, he just moved closer. It was large. At least four stories tall. And before they knew it, they were upon it.

  “You know what this reminds me of?” Rey asked. “The shape I mean, only bigger. Ever see those corn silos they have on farms.”

  Nate could hear everyone else agree with her assessment as he inched his way near it. He didn’t respond or join their conversation; his focus was on the structure.

 
“Are you getting footage of this?” Curt asked.

  “I am,” replied Rey. “Nate, can I get closer?”

  Nate approached it. The thing was bigger than he even imagined. He reached his hand out, touching it. “It’s cold. It’s definitely metal,” he said, smoothing his hand over it. It made sense that it was the top of a building. He was excited. They were going to learn how another planet and people had lived. Were they like people from Earth? Different?

  Nate had to examine it.

  At first his hand moved slowly, then it picked up intensity, rubbing faster, clearing a spot that contained ages of dirt, growth, and rust.

  “Is this something we can enter?” Finch asked. “Is it hollow or solid?”

  Suddenly, Nate stopped. Softly, and almost gravelly, he said, “No.”

  “No, it’s not hollow?” Finch asked. “Or no, it’s not solid?”

  “Oh my God.” Nate stepped back. “Oh my God!”

  There was an eruption of laughs behind him, as if the crew found some sort of amusement in what they interpreted as Nate’s enthusiasm.

  “Oh, God.” Nate spun around facing them with sheer panic.

  The smile fell from Finch’s face. “Nate? What is it?”

  He moved from it, hands on head, then paced frantically back and forth. “No. No. No.”

  “Nate!” Finch scolded. “What the hell?”

  “Look at this.” Nate pointed. “Look. You know what this is? I know what this is. This isn’t some alien structure. This isn’t some building … this …” He walked back to it and slammed his hand into it. “Is the International Space Station. It fell from the sky. Oh my God.” Nate brought his hands back to his head as he dropped to his knees. “We’re home.”

  Part Five: The Discovery

  TWENTY-TWO

  “No,” Curt said strongly, waving out his hand, presenting as if he were in the mood for a fight. “No.” He had walked over to the ruins for a closer look. “You’re wrong.”

  “I’m not wrong,” Nate said sadly. “Don’t you think I want to be wrong. But I’m not on this one.”

  “I actually don’t think you want to be wrong,” Curt told him angrily. “You’re the one who wanted to stay behind. This shouldn’t affect you at all.”

  “So you think I would lie?”

  “Actually, yeah, I do.”

  “Guys.” Rey stepped forward. “Enough. Okay. Look …” She faced Nate. “Tell me why you think this is the space station? This isn’t that big. Where’s the rest of it, if it is?”

  “Broken up into pieces when it fell. That’s my guess. This is one of the modules.”

  “How can you be so sure?” Rey asked.

  “Because of the Russian markings. Take a look.” He pivoted to Curt. “Go on, take a look. It’s right there. This is the Zvezda Module. It’s rusted, but not hollow. We can go in.”

  “Oh my God,” Sandra groaned out. “This isn’t happening. This can’t possibly be happening.”

  “Makes sense, doesn’t it?” Ben asked. “I mean, Einstein theorized wormholes were for time travel.”

  Curt laughed. “You’re saying we time traveled.”

  Ben nodded. “We did if we are back on Earth.”

  “We are,” Nate said.

  “We aren’t,” argued Curt.

  “Jesus,” Nate snapped. “Then explain this.” He pointed at the module.

  “Salyut Eight.” Curt nodded with assurance. “It’s Russian programing, very similar. The modules actually inspired the Zvezda.”

  Nate scoffed. “There was no Salyut Eight.”

  “Actually,” Ben added. “Salyut Eight is supposed to be the Zvezda.”

  Curt shook his head. “No. That’s seven. Eight was a military project. It didn’t get off the ground, or so the Russians said. It doesn’t matter because Salyut Five and Six weren’t accounted for, they assumed they fell into an ocean. What if, like NOAA, one of those made it through the Androski. It would have been decades ago and would explain how this looks.”

  “That makes sense,” Sandra said brightly. “It really does.”

  “It makes more sense than this being the space station. Think about it,” Curt said. “The space station was in orbit when we left. The global flooding that Nate talked about, he said that took a hundred years, it happened fast … however … this planet has one major continent; it took millions of years for Pangea on our Earth to form, and hundreds of millions of years more for it to pull apart. If this was Earth and we time traveled, we are either way back in time, which we’re not, because there’s a building in the waterfall. Or we’re millions of years in the future and that building wouldn’t have existed.”

  “Unless, you know,” Ben said, “there was another civilization after us. Plus, if we’re dealing with time travel, who is to say the space station didn’t go through after us and come through before us. It could have happened, and then we would be a million years into the future.”

  Nate laughed. “There’s no way … millions?” he ridiculed. “You’re forgetting evolution, Curt, in millions of years the trees and the plants would have evolved … what about the bacteria in the water? Who are you trying to convince here? Us, or yourself?”

  “You don’t know everything, Nate,” Curt snapped.

  “I know this. We are on Earth, but we are only centuries, if not less, in the future from when we left.”

  “You’re spouting sci-fi bullshit,” Curt spat.

  “We went through a damn wormhole!” Nate shouted.

  “Enough!” Finch hollered out, then calmed his voice. “Enough.” He rubbed his hand harshly across his face. “Curt, I get it. I do. You are in denial. It’s hard I—”

  “I am not—”

  “Let me finish,” Finch said. “It’s hard to believe, we don’t want to believe it. I myself tried looking for a logical explanation. Then denied it. But, Dr. Gale is one hundred percent correct. We are on Earth.” He held up his hand again, when Curt tried to talk. “He found something two days ago, I think he forgot. I’ve been cleaning it. As much as I want to believe this was an alien civilization, I hardly think they would have a British two pound coin dated 1997.” He handed it to Curt. “We’re home. Now let’s find out what happened here.”

  TWENTY-THREE

  There was work to be done before they explored. The buggy had to be reassembled, and an emergency ladder was secured and rolled over the cliff by the waterfall. They also executed the pully system to lift anything that was found from the ground to the Omni.

  After that, they began digging in.

  Before any further discussion or exploring, Finch wanted a full camp set up. Nate tested the nearby river water and it was safe. It fed the waterfall; the ground surrounding it didn’t show any signs of recent flooding.

  It was already an emotionally exhausting day, the last thing Finch wanted was the crew to return from checking out ruins and be too tired to create a proper sleeping environment. Rest was essential. Plus, the control freak in him wanted everything in order. So much so, he inspected camp before assigning areas of exploration.

  There were three different zone, so they paired off. He gave them instructions to return to camp in two hours.

  It wasn’t much time.

  Especially not for Rey and Sandra who were given the area beyond the module.

  There was no fly over, so it was only with a sense that something was out there.

  The women asked to be paired up and to have that area, much to the dismay of Finch. But neither woman wanted to get wet looking at the building in the cliff, and they knew nothing about the module. Finch did.

  He really didn’t want them to go out to the area alone and kept repeating it was for the sake of safety. Sandra found that reasoning insulting.

  With the sun beating down on them the two women walked the distance to the crest. They began with their jumpsuits fully zippered, but it didn’t take long for them to unzip the suits to the waist, both tying the sleeves around them to keep the suit
up. It was hot and the ground in the distance waved in ripples from the heat making the proximity deceiving. It was nowhere as close as it looked.

  The ground was nearly barren, even with the flowing river slightly north, the greenery seemed to only spread around the bed of the river and not much further. The camp was exposed to the blazing sun. They had no natural protection. The only chance for shade and trees was below by the waterfall. But they had to camp near the Omni as there was nowhere below the waterfall to land.

  Rey took a sip of her water and ran the back of her hand over her forehead.

  “Are you alright?” Sandra asked.

  “Yeah, the heat is stifling.” She took another sip, then chuckled.

  “Okay, I know I didn’t say anything funny.”

  “No, I was just thinking.”

  “I could use a laugh. What’s the chuckle about? Or is it one of those things that I had to be there for?”

  “No, you didn’t need to be there. You may not find it funny, but …” Rey said. “I was just thinking. When we found the waterfall, Curt made a joke. He said, ‘I feel like Charlton Heston in the Planet of the Apes.’”

  “No,” she talk-sung the word in disbelief. “He didn’t.”

  “He did.”

  “You suppose maybe he’s psychic, or had a deep instinct and didn’t know?”

  “No.” Rey shook her head. “I think he looked at that waterfall and lake, thought of the movie and never even considered the possibility. However, we missed the similarities.”

  “Can you say foreshadowing.”

  “I know, right, it was right there and we didn’t see it.”

  “I don’t think I would have wanted to believe it if I had thought it.”

  “Me either,” Rey said.

  “It’s still so hard for me to believe that we traveled through time. Although, it had to have crossed your mind. I mean, you wrote all about the wormhole, the Androski.”

  “Can I tell you something?”

  “Sure.”

  “My essay … it was fiction,” Rey said.

  “Well, of course, it was based on theory and—”