Space Odyssey: Spectre

Jace climbed up the last few floors and found there was less moss the higher he went until he arrived at the top… or maybe it was the bottom of the elevator shaft. Either way when he emerged into the light he was blinded for only a moment before his eyes adjusted and he whistled at what he saw.

"What the fuck…" He mumbled as he looked at the sight of the massive cogs, each one having a large piece of land on them. But the teeth where the cogs connected were all clearly visible. Likely because they all moved on a regular basis.

"Commander Jace?" Officer P'lice spoke over the communication channel clearly. "Umm… I can hear you clearly but-"

"But you cannot tell where I am." Jace completed her thought as he looked to the center of this inverted sphere of cogs where a massive ball of light was floating as the core of this planet. "I am deep inside the planet. It appears that Gaul-3 is hollow. We are going to have to establish a larger military presence than I-"

"ROARRR!" Jace flinched as a loud rumble and burst of wind came up from behind him. He turned around to find a massive scaled creature with wings and a massive tail flying behind him. It had a massive maw full of teeth and its dark brown scales looked as hard as steel from just a glance. Then there were its yellow vertical slit eyes, they looked at Jace with an intelligence rather than like how a beast might look at him.

Jace waited only a moment before it turned and flew away. Now that he had seen one he started noticing more far off in the distance. "What was that?" Officer P'lice asked.

"I think the inside of this planet might be some type of creature sanctuary." Jace answered as he moved farther from the bunker entrance and spotted a few wind turbines nearby, they were low to the ground but the constant soft wind was keeping them moving. While he could also make out the sound of rushing water nearby, that must be where the water turbines were located.

"Okay… but what was that about the planet being hollow? None of the scans reveal anything like that." Officer P'lice pointed out in shock.

Jace hummed as he thought about it for a few seconds as he moved up a hill to get a better look of his surroundings. "It is likely that the inside of this inverse planet and its core was built a long long time ago. Before even the Xenar existed. While the bunker is newer, likely made by the first human colonists that arrived in this galaxy. They tunneled through the outer layers which were made by years of asteroids and astral bodies crashing into the external shell of this internal planet."

"So an entire planet formed around an ancient satellite. That is… amazing. Are we going to send a bunch of military personnel and scientists to study this?" Officer P'lice asked in hesitance.

"No, just a small specialist team so we can hide its existence. We will hide them among the military presence we station here." Jace answered with a sigh as he spotted a few other curious creatures he had never seen before. "I think this place would benefit more from fewer people knowing about it."

"Wait, how are we talking if you are inside the planet? I mean I was barely getting static before." Officer P'lice pointed out in confusion.

Jace hummed as he spotted a large group of vegetation. He began to close the distance before he looked up at the core of this planet. The giant glowing core was not some mass of fire or radiation. It was an object that was emitting light while also emitting a field of gravity. Even to his eyes it was too bright to see. Although the light did seem and feel natural, it was something else. "I am guessing the core of this planet is somehow acting as a gravitational anomaly which is bouncing the signal around the debris layers."

There were a few minutes of silence as he got close to the plants. "You mean we do not understand why?"

"Exactly." Jace chuckled in answer as he looked over a massive plant that had an opening that could fit his entire torso. He had to jump back and the unexpected maw of the plant tried to swallow him but only got air instead. "But I should probably just leave."

"Understood sir, it looks like-" Officer P'lice stopped mid sentence as Jace began moving back to the bunker entrance which looked more like a hill with some bushes growing out of it. Either the bunker was very well hidden or every intelligent creature was avoiding the area intentionally. He figured it was the latter with how untouched the area seemed.

"Something wrong?" Jace asked as he stopped near the entrance. If it was the latter it was likely because of the moss.

"Sir, I have an open communication with Vana. She wants to talk. Would you like to talk to her or would you prefer to come back here?" Officer P'lice asked.

Jace clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Connect her to the channel. But inform her that it is not secure." He answered, "it will take too long to come all the way back to the ship before talking with her. Unfortunately I can not just jump down the elevator shaft. The flip in gravity even got me a bit queasy."

"Understood." Officer P'lice replied.

"Jace, are you there?" Vana asked with a sigh.

"Vana, to what do I owe this call?" Jace asked as he reached down and pulled up some dirt and grass looking through it. There were not even bugs in the soil.

"I am calling to see when you will move to the other colony. You cannot just stay in one colony for so long." Vana pointed out to him like it was obvious.

"I know. We have only stayed a few weeks to do an extensive survey of the planet and prepare for establishing a military base on the planet." Jace explained. "But at the moment this planet is looking like a prime spot to start mining colonies. It is littered with so many rare metals that it screws up the scanning. Not to mention a compass is useless."

"It sounds a bit like you want to establish a research station on the planet as well." Vana hummed in surprise.

"No, actually. This place is just unusual. We will head out later today. I am just investigating an odd underground reading and Captain Neslie is investigating a possible kitinol sighting." Jace explained as he tossed the dirt and grass to the side then whipped his hand against his pants.

There were a few moments of quiet before Vana spoke again. "I see. Then stay just as long on the next planet as you did there. Not a moment longer. It is necessary to make them equal in importance. Some more politically minded groups will try to value themselves or devalue others for political reasons."

"I will do it, but I doubt it will be necessary." Jace answered as he stood just outside the entrance to the bunker. "These people are so desperate for anything that I think they will have to focus more on surviving before they can even play with politics."

"I noticed, I do not think I was the only one either. The amount of work we have ahead of us will last for at least the next few years and we have yet to even fully establish our own core system yet." Vana informed him with a scoff. "But chances are it will not be long before you get us even more work."

"I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news but it is only going to get worse from here." Jace chuckled as he tapped his foot against the dirt. There was a layer of cement but it was buried by the dirt. "I have an endless list of ideas and ways to utilize our new territory. Speaking of which, how is everything going on your front?"

"Slow. But the siren colony is forming and uniting around Governor Oceania and a few days ago I played middleman between them and the Galactic government." Vana began to explain. "But it quickly ended when the politician the galactic government sent began to blame us for not letting them send in a liberation unit. But we had already provided the governor with the knowledge about liberation units. She proceeded to publicly lash the man until Salem, who was acting as the military liaison, abruptly ended the communication from their side."

"Seems like Salem has a lot on her plate." Jace responded with a mumble. "Well, I am on my way back to the ship and I am sure that the others will be on their way back as well. So you do not have to worry about us wasting time on this planet anymore."

"Hm, very well." The communication dropped a moment later.

"Sir?" Officer P'lice asked once it was done.

"Prepare for departure, I will start heading back. I will be out of communication range." Jace informed them before jumping down the elevator shaft. Breaking his fall on a ledge before continuing down.

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