12:00 IST, Twelfth Day, Sixth Month, 3079 PV | City Stelarum / Command Room

  “Alright kiddos, lets go over the plan for this expedition of ours.

  The primary goal is to survey the land to the west for mineral reserves and local wildlife. However, it is of prime importance that we minimize damage to the ecosystem, meaning we will be traveling quite lightly.

  The entire expedition party will consist of myself, our lord and lady, Commander Emil, twelve engineers slash scientists, and eight military escorts.

  Barring any unforeseen circumstances, we should be back within about a month.

  Alright, does anyone have any questions?” Initae announces, in a very official fashion. I'm surprised she didn't slip in any jokes or anything.

  By the way, she was referring to the expedition we are about to set out on. A small group (including Ray and myself) will be doing some surveying and such. Pretty standard stuff. I doubt we will find anything truly interesting.

  But hey, it's a good opportunity to hold Ray’s hand at least.

  Speaking of Ray, she is sitting next to me, looking quite bored as she idly twirls her hair with her finger. She has ended up growing it to about shoulder-blade length. The long flowing waves of platinum-blonde hair really contrast well against her sparkling blue eyes. In short, she is absolutely beautiful.

  As Initae continues to go over some things, I reach for her free hand and give it a little squeeze. A little signal we have devised.

  Ray:”Yo, Ms. Initae. That's cool and all. Big expedition, don't die. Be careful of the environment. That about it? Okay, c’yall at the sendoff, losers.” We then stand up and promptly exit the room. I don't even turn my head back, but I can imagine the looks on the others’ faces, it's not the first time we have just walked out of a meeting.

  We find a nice and empty conference room and spend some time inside, alone.

  About an hour later, we end up walking down the main thoroughfare. Naturally, we draw a fair few glances, but people are used to our random walks.

  We leisurely walk, hand in hand, towards the outskirts of the town where the group for the expedition is about ready to set off.

  Everyone’s loaded up with packs of food and whatnot, as well as equipment required for surveying. Technically this could all be done from ships and stuff, but that causes massive ecological damage due to the high-power equipment used.

  So, we are forced to tough it out on foot. Or rather, exo-mech.

  We pass by Initae and I think she mutters, “damn rascals, always holding up the timetables and not doing what they should be” or something like that.

  Ray lets out a very cute giggle, though I manage to stifle my laughter.

  Ray and I hop up inside our mech. It's a fairly small mech, the two of us are tightly fitted inside. Which makes a perfect situation to solicit some headrubs from one's cute girlfriend.

  “Alright crew, and a pair of rascals. Is everyone set? I hope none of ya’ll have forgotten to pack any equipment or you're getting a paycut.”

  Words of assent go around the gathered party. Seems everyone is packed up and ready to go. Which is just perfect, I'm ecstatic for all of the cuddle time that is to be had in the coming month.

  17:00 IST, Fourteenth Day, Sixth Month, 3079 PV | Planet City Stelarum / Wilderness to the West of the City

  “Kooooo, I want a chocolate bar.”

  “Well, we are currently in the middle of nowhere on a planet that is barely colonized in the first place. I think you will have to go without. Perhaps I could offer something else sweet instead?”

  “Hmm, that does sound like a good idea.” Ray leans over and indulges in a long kiss to satiate her desire for something sweet.

  “Oi, whippersnappers, stop making out in the cockpit of your mech and come help set up camp! There won't be any freeloading on this expedition.” Little does Initae know, we plan to do as little work as physically possible.

  Though, we do concede and help the group set up our camp for our rest period. Even with mechs and such to help with the heavy lifting, we still have to stop every so often. Both for some sleep, but also to set up the surveying equipment to properly map the area.

  So far we haven't found much interest. Just some deposits of common metals and such, which we already figured were there.

  After a lot (little) of effort, Ray and I settled down on a bench outside our tent. We decided to build a nice campfire, really get the expedition vibes going.

  I lean against Ray (who is ridiculously cute by the way) and just watch the flames and listen to the fire crackle.

  Various people settle down around the fire as well, and some set out to start cooking up a nice meal. I think today will be an algae soup with some fried Kelin. It sounds gross, but by some crazy science, it's actually decently tasty.

  All around us, I hear various insects, birds, and who knows what else moving in the forest. It's quite peaceful, all things considered.

  Ray and I sit like that for a while. We reminisce about a few things and enjoy our nice meal, by the side of the campfire.

  Once the fire is starting to dwindle into hot coals, we stand up and head off to sleep. Another successful day of the expedition.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  03:00 IST, Fourth Day, Seventh Month, 3079 PV | Planet City Stelarum / Wilderness to the West of the City

  “Umm, General, Milords, you're gonna wanna see this!” One of the scientists shouts from next to her surveying equipment.

  Finally, it seems like a bit of excitement. The expedition up to this point has been mostly routine and relaxing. Which I'm not complaining about, it's nice to just have a pleasant time together with Ray, after all, she is my super cute girlfriend.

  Ray, Initae and I quickly head over to see what is so intriguing.

  Ray:”What. The Klack. Is that!?”

  Ko:”Hmm, it appears to be a spaceship. But, why is it buried nearly a kilometer underground?”

  Initae:”Well, kiddos, there is only one way to find out. Can everyone please clear out a decent area, ima figure out what the heck is down there.”

  We quickly clear the area above the object of equipment of personnel.

  Somehow, Initae still manages to impress me with her sheer power. It seems like she concentrates for a few seconds and then reality ripples.

  I notice that the ground is starting to shift, to rip and tear. It feels like a mini quake is occurring, which makes no sense because this planet has pretty calm tectonics.

  After a few seconds, a large cylinder of the ground starts to rise into the sky. I can see an absurd amount of raw inae encircling it. Far more than I could hope to output, even if I put everything I had out in one instant.

  Initae carefully sets the chunk of ground down off to the side. It makes a gentle thud. Not only did she just casually move a giant amount of mass, but she did it with such precision as well.

  “Ko, wasn't that so cool! You're so lucky to have her as an aunt. I wish I had a literal god as my aunt, then perhaps I'd be a little cool like you.”

  “Nonsense, you're the coolest in the universe as far as I'm concerned. Nothing could ever come close to you, darling.” I give her a gentle head pat of reassurance. Her brilliant smile makes my entire life up until this point worth it.

  “Oi, kiddos, you don't have to flirt at literally everything. Now, let's head on down there. Oh wait, lemme make some stairs.”

  She then just casually forms a spiral staircase out of pure inae that leads all the way into the bottom of the pit. Which is quite deep by the way.

  As we descend, I make sure that Ray holds tight to me. Both because I want her to, but also to be sure I can catch her if we should fall.

  We reach the bottom of the pit and are greeted with what appears to be a very strange looking metallic door.

  “Hmm, what kind of design is that? I can't say I've seen anything like it in our travels yet.”

  Initae:”Well, dear Ko. That would make sense. This style belongs to a civilization that has been dead for at least six billion years.”

  Ray:”woah, that's old then. Right?”

  Ko:”Old is an understatement. I'm not even sure ancient is a good enough descriptor of how long ago that was. But, why is something that old here of all places?”

  “Well, kiddos. There is only one way to find out. We gotta crack it open.”

  Initae steps up to the door and places her hand upon it. After a few moments, the metal seems to simply vanish, and we are granted access to the interior of what is definitely a spaceship.

  From what we saw on the scan, it's a pretty large one too, about two thousand meters long. I can't wait to see what strange stuff is inside.

  Of course, inside it is pitch black. As you'd expect from a ship that has likely been buried here for two or three billion years. Not to mention the time it was who knows where else.

  “Well, here goes nothing, I guess. Wait, does this technically make us pirates? We don't technically own this ship.”

  “It's fine, little Ko. from the markings on the door, I think I know the owners, they wouldn't mind.”

  Wow, she just casually mentions that she knows the owners of a ship from a race that died eons ago. Really hammers in the idea that she is truly this primordial being. I gotta admit, I usually don't think of her as being that old. Maybe I've just gotten used to her presence, but her ‘im billions of years old aura’ isn't very strong. Especially when you contrast it to her often speaking like a ninety year old grandma.

  We entered the ship, thankfully we brought some lights down with us.

  It's just Ray, Initae and I all alone on the ship. Or at least, hopefully it's just us.

  “Follow me, stay close behind and don't get lost. I think I can find the bridge. Though it has been a little while.”

  She guides us through a very crazy route. It feels like we are lost. But she still seems to know where she is going.

  After about thirty minutes of walking, we came upon a quite ornate door.

  “Welp, this is the bridge. I wonder…” she places her hand on a terminal next to the door and feeds some inae into it. Which is strange, there is no way it can just accept inae like that, right?

  To my and Ray’s (based on her expression) utter shock. The panel actually starts to glow and then it turns blue. The door creaks open very slowly, its hinges sounding like they are barely even alive.

  “Aha! I'm still coded in as an authorized person.”

  We head inside the bridge. It's a very strange bridge. Rather than chairs and consoles like you'd normally see, instead there are several ‘stations’. Each station has two pedestals rising out of the floor, seemingly like one would stand in the middle and use the pedestals to control the system.

  Initae walks over to the station in what appears to be the front of the room. She places her hands on the pedestals and I notice a massive amount of inae flow out of her and into the ship.

  After a few seconds, the bridge lights flicker on slowly. Most of them don't work, but a few do and fill the room with a very sterile white light. Several of what appear to be holo-screens light up and fill the air with a lot of information. I see schematics and what looks like diagrams of the ship with various parts highlighted.

  The part that sticks out most though, is the writing. It's unlike anything I've ever seen before. When I try to activate the translation function in our kits, like I normally do when reading the other sovereign languages, it just displays an error of ‘language not recognized, please report to manufacturer’.

  Ray:”Woah, this is sick. It's like we are bringing a long dead beast back to life.”

  Initae:”You know, some of these systems are biological in nature. So that's not entirely false. Though I bet they are all impossible to resuscitate at this point. Now, lets see what I can find in the records.”

  Initae then speaks some words in a strange language. I presume the same one as the writing. My kit also fails to translate it.

  I stand close to Ray and hold her hand tightly. She squeezes back, seeing that I am feeling a bit too overwhelmed with excitement.

  I mean, I should be excited, right? It's like we are digging up fossils of a long dead civilization. One that predates even the formation of the Sol system.

  Suddenly, it's as though some force awakens within the ship itself. I feel a strange presence, almost as though it's observing me. Moments later, a voice can be heard in the foreign language. It seems to be addressing Initae.

  She responds and a brief conversation ensues.

  “Oi, kiddos, look over there.” She points to one of the holo-screens and there appears an image.

  It's a massive hall. Which isn't strange in and of itself. But it's what's in the hall that is crazy.

  I presume them to be cryopods. I can see the outlines of some faces, but I can't make out any details.

  But that's not the most insane part. Rather it's the amount of cryopods that is absolutely insane.

  There are thousands of them.

  This sure is an interesting development. I can't wait to find out what it means. If it should pose any challenge, I'm sure Ray and I shall overcome it, together. So, bring it on.

  End of Chapter 70

  Next: Chapter 71 | Interlude: Lina Skla