1194 1194 First Sign
Sylvie led them smoothly through space toward the first location that she and the other AI systems had identified as a possible resting spot for ancient technology. Max was sure that he was going to get an earful from Mary for going out of communications range immediately after sending her a massive amount of video and sensor data with no further explanation, but that would at least give them something to do when they were looking through space for whatever might be hidden from the distant past.
The destination turned out to be an uninhabitable star system, with seven planets, but all outside the habitable zone, where water would be liquid on the surface. Now, that didn't necessarily mean that nothing could live there, they had seen some truly strange species over the course of their interactions with the Alliance, but the chances were very low.
"Sylvie, can I get a full sensor sweep of the region, and then pinpoint the location of the signal that brought us here?" Max requested.
Sylvie made her humming waiting tone, and Max waited patiently for the scans to complete. That was actually quite comforting, knowing that the AI was working on the instructions that you had given and that they weren't ignoring you in favour of a more important task. He should see if he could get it added to the standard procedures for the other vessels when they were interacting with mortals.
"Commander, I have your report. The system is uninhabited, with no signs of previous life. However, there is one planet missing from the star system, with only fragments remaining in orbit. I have also isolated the signal that the others identified as suspicious."
The signal was coming from the debris field of the missing planet, which wasn't all that surprising. If there had been a relic piece of technology hiding here, it would have had to flee when the Great Enemy showed up, and the sensor feed showed that the missing planet had only been destroyed a few months ago.
There was some remaining active technology indicated on the sensors, and Max immediately sent the drone out to identify and retrieve it into a secure storage bay, in case it was malfunctioning or otherwise dangerous.
[Drones are out. Three minutes until first retrieval.] Max notified the team.
The drones silently glided back into the remote cargo bay one after another, each holding a single bit of active technology. Mostly they were identifiable either as handheld devices from one of the alien species in the region, or as part of a Cathedral Ship, but one of the bits caught everyone's attention. It wasn't much, but it didn't match any of the other bits.
The simple oval object was giving off faint energy in a pattern that didn't match anything that they had encountered before, but it was in the records of Creeping Darkness.
"I believe that is a holographic pocket watch. Similar to the ones that you wear, but more suited to formal situations. It is taken out of the pocket and held to view the hologram, then returned after the conversation is over." Sylvie explained.
12:42
"I believe that is a holographic pocket watch. Similar to the ones that you wear, but more suited to formal situations. It is taken out of the pocket and held to view the hologram, then returned after the conversation is over." Sylvie explained.
"While that is fascinating, I think it's more fascinating that it ended up here. It certainly doesn't belong in this place, but with the planet destroyed, there is no way to tell how long it was there before the incident. "There are no other abnormal signals in the region, and no more signs of life or active technology." Sylvie reported.
"Thank you, Sylvie. Team, if you want to begin your analysis, the bays are open now."
The team members checked the seals on their Mobile Suits and ran out of the Cutter as soon as he made the announcement. The bay wasn't far away, only a minute's run, and the first one there got the first pick of the cool stuff.
That would obviously be Nico, but they didn't count her, she would get the good stuff anyhow as the boss. But there was other cool stuff they didn't recognize in the bay. The devices were in the data that the Koleska had provided, but the Innu and the Humans had never actually seen them in person before.
In the minds of the team, that was nearly as good as a national holiday. They were in full nerd mode, inspecting and analyzing everything that they had found, while Max sent the ship along to the next destination. With a little luck, they would manage to get another hit at this spot.
Some of the recordings were months old, so there might not be anything here at all anymore, or it might have stopped working. They weren't all technology signals, either. Some were rare materials found in places that they weren't expected to be. That sort of thing was recorded in case they were needed later, but only after Sylvie requested them did the data seem relevant to the other AI.
Strange alloys could mean that another of the optical arrays had failed and a forgotten piece of technology was waiting for them to find it, inert and preserved in the void.
If she was really lucky, it might be another ship of her vintage, and she would get to help guide the awakening of another AI.
The team didn't even notice when they left the first location and began heading to the next. It was a short trip, only a few minutes through the boundary, and by the time that anyone tried to use a communicator to the outside world, they were already back again.
This one proved fruitless. The signal was still there, but it was a dud, nothing more than a massive floating piece of a Cathedral Ship's armour that had been dragged along with someone's warp field and deposited in the middle of nowhere. Perhaps the ones who relocated it were hoarding the material for later, as it was enough to make the outer armour for multiple Cutter Class vessels, but it was worthless to Max. They could make as much as they wanted with the Replicator systems they had.
"Alright, Sylvie, let's keep moving. If there's nothing good here, there might be at the next stop. The more of them we get through before they're done playing with the first batch of toys, the better."
