Once Nico picked an outfit for the first group of events, Max changed to match, using the ideas in her mind for what would look best on him to go with her outfit. It might have been cheating, but it was faster than waiting for her to make one for him after she had decided.
Their first meeting of the day was going to be on the Promenade, a small media gathering for the evening news, which would be mostly about the researchers from the last away mission, but which would set up their announcement that they had very promising leads on this planet as well that might be signs of an actual civilization and not just a bunch of fragments that would be analyzed in an attempt to tell them what sort of ship had crashed and reference that against missing vessels.
While that was a valuable endeavour, it was only a secondary concern to a ship full of tourists who wanted exploration and adventure. They might get it on this planet, but they might not, as there was wildlife here, which meant the potential for infectious diseases and hostile life forms.
The ships were on their way down to start getting set up for the first digs already, and as they approached and got more sensor data, the River Pyramids were looking even more promising. Not only were they equal walled pyramids, there were smooth ramps up them, and a box shaped something at the top that looked completely unnatural, though the sensors said it was all stone.
Prairie City was also looking promising, but there was still a chance that it could be the remains of a previously flooded forest, and not a city of any sort. They wouldn't know until they started to dig or got advanced sensors on the ground.
Of course, if they had the sensors there, they might as well dig the last metre or two, as the ruins appeared to be close to the surface.
Max stepped up to greet the crowd of reporters and put on his best professional smile.
"Welcome, everyone, and thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to be here for our press conference. As you all know, the field trip by the Terminus Academy students was a resounding success, and they are all safely back onboard, awaiting their quarantine timer to run out.
While we didn't detect any sort of life on the planet, that doesn't excuse them from the necessity of going through the standard decontamination procedures.
Of course, our own team is currently in the same situation, and the teams that will be headed to this planet first are not the same ones that were on the last planet's surface.
We are investigating two likely locations here, one that appears to be the ruins of an ancient city, and one that is made up of a loose cluster of near perfect pyramids." Max greeted the gathered crowds.
It was just enough information to put them off balance, and throw off their prepared line of questions as they tried to decide what was more important. That made his life easier, as he could direct the conversation as he saw fit, and get the press satisfied without having to go on for hours or give them any real details.
"Did you say that you have identified two separate possible habitation sites on this planet?" One of the reporters blurted out as soon as Max finished, and he resisted the urge to smirk at how easy it was to guide these reporters.
"I did. Both show signs similar to the construction methods of ancient advanced civilizations, and both are more than a single pattern. The repetition gives us high hopes that we will be able to prove that there were, in fact, advanced inhabitants here at some point in the past."
"Is there any indication of what sort of species it might have been?" One of the reporters asked.
There were no recorded intelligent species living in this region, much less interstellar ones, but it looked like at some point there had been at least somewhat intelligent ones if the early scans were correct.
"Nothing yet. From the scans we have, it's not even possible to tell how large they might have been. But with the wonderful work that our students did on the previous location, our teams will be working around the clock to decipher all the mysteries of this region of deep space."
"How are the students? Did their discoveries amount to anything?" One of the reporters in the back called out.
"Of course. They found large enough fragments of alloy and a few refined crystals that can be referenced against the Alliance records of species development. We still haven't finished the research to date the finds, but once we have done that, we will be able to forward that to Alliance officials in an attempt to check them against missing vessels through the correct portion of their history." Max agreed.
"And if it doesn't match any Alliance species?" Another of the reporters asked.
"Well, wouldn't that be wonderful? The students of the Terminus Academy might have discovered proof of a new species, unless it's merely an unrecorded combination, or multiple wrecks from different periods.
But we won't know that for some time yet. This level of a find won't be an instant solution. Unfortunately, the recovered relics didn't come with any identifying marks."
The reporters laughed, and Max stepped back to let Nico answer the next barrage of questions while he answered the messages from the landing crews.
Everything went smoothly with the descent, and they were getting set up for their work to begin, they were only waiting for the first stage of interviews to finish so that they could do it live for the news, like they were only just landed and not like they had five minutes to prepare in advance.
Just a little sleight of hand to make them look more efficient.
