"That is so cool!" Cora stared at the hatch set into what appeared to be the mouth of a cave. She'd only heard of something alien being discovered once before -- the archives that had led to the development of the hyperspace drive found in an underground outpost on Mars -- and had glimpsed what may have been an alien ship near Io.

Now, here was evidence of an alien presence right in front of her. Within arm's reach. Even if the civilization was now extinct, this was pretty mind-blowing.

Cora inspected the panel in the center of the circular hatch, hoping to find a manual release. There didn't seem to be any power coming to the panel, so they might need to cut through. She scanned for a mechanism underneath and found something resembling a lock.

"Hmm." Drew glanced around. "Maybe they left the key under a rock?"

A quick chuckle rippled through the rest of the team. Brenda stepped forward.

"Lemme try something." She placed her palm on the panel and pushed. "I used to have some cupboard doors that opened this way."

The panel gave, moving inward a few millimeters, and sprang open when she took her hand off it. She stared at it, shook her head quickly, and stepped aside.

"Huh. Didn't think that'd actually work."

Cora reached in and grasped a bar about the length of her forearm set into a circular contraption. She tugged gingerly and it didn't budge. She gave it a gentle twist and it turned in place. A short vibration came from the hatch, through her hands and into her arms. If the planet had an atmosphere, she assumed it would've made a clunk sound.

She pushed on the hatch and it swung inward, revealing a cylindrical tunnel leading into the mountain ahead.

Her sensors picked up more power sources -- faint but growing stronger as if something had turned on.

"You notice that?" Kim stared into the tunnel. "Machinery's powering up."

"Opening the hatch triggered something."

"Preferably something that doesn't include an automated defense system."

"Yeah, definitely. Everyone, keep your eyes open and proceed cautiously, in case it's not just lights and whatnot turning on." Cora led the team through the hatch, waited for them to pass by, then closed it. She felt the same vibration as before, probably a lock engaging now that power was flowing.

"The tunnel's getting brighter," Drew said.

Cora turned back around and noticed indirect lights from panels in the walls and ceiling fading on gradually. A few seconds later, everyone turned their helmet spotlights off. Cora headed for the far end, keeping her pace slow and cautious. A gentle breeze brushed the nano-sensors all over her surface and she scanned their surroundings again.

"The tunnel is pressurizing. It's breathable, but a wee bit thicker than what you're used to."

"Must be an airlock." Brenda stopped at the inner hatch and turned to watch the others catch up.

"Let's scan the air for biologicals." Vicki took an instrument from her toolbelt and held it up for a moment.

Cora scanned the air herself to see if she got the same results. "Nothing at all. It's as sterile as the air aboard the Sagan."

"I'm getting the same readings." Vicki kept an eye on the scanner for a moment before putting it away. She opened her helmet, took a tiny breath, and wrinkled her nose. "There's an odor in the air like dust burning off a heater that hasn't been used in a long time. Other than that, it's not bad. I'm breathing normally."

Consuela opened her helmet and sniffed. "Yeah, reminds me of the beginning of winter in Portland. It's just as cold, too."

Kim nodded and took her breather mask off. "If I still had a flesh-and-blood body, my nipples would look like pencil erasers right now."

Drew snickered and fumbled with the seal on his helmet. "I'm keeping that image in mind for later. Y'know, when I get back to my quarters."

"Happy to be of service." Kim bowed theatrically and most of the others shook their heads. Cora rolled her optics but couldn't help chuckling at the same time.

"Let's move on to the next hatch." She found a mechanism similar to the one on the outer hatch, turned it, and it unlocked with the clunk she'd been expecting. She stepped into the next chamber and took it in.

The room was conical -- circular floor, smooth walls tapering to a point about a meter above everyone's heads -- and the only object was a narrow metal pyramid with its peak at roughly chest height.

"Coooool," Brenda said. "Is anybody recording this?"

"Yep." McBride pointed at his helmet cameras. "Started recording when we boarded the shuttle."

Cora walked slowly around the pyramid, scanning it and recording every detail with her optics. Each surface was covered with glyphs or runes that appeared to be etched into the brushed copper surfaces. Interspersed among the symbols were softly glowing ovoids that pulsated slowly and a circular indentation in the center of each of the four surfaces that looked like they might be ports.

The temperature reading caught her attention.

"It's getting warmer in here."

McBride backed up to the wall and kept his cameras pointed straight at the pyramid. "I'll just, uh, get a wide shot of the whole chamber from here."

Drew walked right up to the pyramid. Boner, Consuela, and Brenda joined him.

Cora turned to scan and record the walls. Now that she took a closer look at it, she found more symbols etched into the surface. She moved her optics from the top to the bottom as she slid along the curving wall, getting a shot of every symbol.

Sets of them looked like different alphabets. One near the floor was a variation on English.

"Guys," she almost whispered. "Check this out. It looks like it might be an old form of English. Possibly from the Middle Ages."

"Seriously?" Kim hurried over and crouched beside her. "Whoa. You think someone from medieval times was here?"

"More likely, someone visited Earth way back then and left this as a message for future travelers. Then the language evolved over the centuries."

"Oh, I like that idea better."

"This one looks like it might be Arabic." Vickie pointed at several rows of symbols to Cora's left. "And that set looks Cyrillic."

"Uh-oh," Drew mumbled.

Multicolored lights washed over the chamber and a hissing sound came from behind Cora. She spun around and found Drew, Boner, Consuela, and Brenda stumbling back from a cloud of green mist.

"Eww!" Brenda backed up against the wall and shook her head quickly. "I inhaled some of it!"

"Ugh." Drew waved a hand in front of his face. "Wow, who farted?"

"Seriously?" Boner scowled at him. "That's your reaction?"

Cora pointed at the hatch. "Get back to the shuttle! We need to go through decontamination and into quarantine."

Boner sealed her helmet and turned to Cora. "Looks like you, Kim, Vickie, and Timmy were out of this thing's range. Cora, you should pilot the shuttle in case I'm compromised."

"I'm already a little dizzy," Drew mumbled as he sealed his helmet.

"Me, too." Brenda closed her helmet and sealed it.

Cora motioned at Consuela and waited for her to lock her helmet. She checked everyone's helmets to be sure they were locked correctly, opened the hatch, and led everyone back to the surface.