The Excursion Bay is a large, circular room, full of black and white and bright lights. Whoever designed this base must be very fond of the monochrome aesthetic. Not that I’m complaining.
The pod docking room of the Bay takes up less than a quarter of the circular wall, and that’s where I enter. Two others are standing around a large round table in the center—a glossy black, of course. It’s a hologram table—a three-dimensional projection of the Celeis base is floating above it.
One of the people at the table waves to me. Nathan Aurel, if I recall: the Field division head. He has medium-toned skin, along with light brown-gray eyes. His dark brown hair is in an undercut, the mop of hair on the top of his head swept to his left.
“Hey,” he says. “Avaren, right?”
“Sier is fine,” I say, approaching. I take my place at a respectful distance from the two at the table. The other is Rhen Veil, I believe, with his short and wavy black hair and steel blue eyes.
“Call me Nathan, then,” I hear, and I refocus my attention on the man in question.
“Rhen is fine for me as well,” Rhen says, voice soft but clear.
Nathan nods. “Great! Now that we’re all here, let’s take a moment to introduce ourselves. The files can only do so much.” He places a hand on his chest. “I’m Nathan, your division leader. I like the smell of coffee but not the taste.” He chuckles. “You’ll all be reporting your regular updates to me, though I’ll also be in the field myself.”
Rhen nods, glancing at me before speaking up. “I’m Rhen, as you’ve probably figured out,” he says. “I was conducting research of Earth’s urban ecosystems in an independent group, previously. I enjoy art, and it’ll probably be what I’m up to in most of my free time.”
I remember Rhen’s file mentioning that. Regardless, it’s my turn, so I speak up. “I’m Sier,” I say. “I worked for the Sylven Foundation, a publicly funded group that researches and protects Earth’s green zones. I spent a lot of my free time in the zones, honestly.” I huff out a breath. “But other than that, I like to imagine worlds in my head and sometimes write a few things about them. Not any formal novels, though.”
“That’s neat,” Nathan says, an easy smile on his face. “Both of you. I hope we can all get to know each other more as time passes, though I’m sure Celeis will send more folks to work here later, and management will get busier for me then. In any case, I’d say it’s about time I get to business.” He sweeps a hand across the room. “As you probably know from your crash course, this is the Excursion Bay. There are units on the wall to the left, containing personal transport pods in addition to other vehicles and housing units.”
I look to the wall he points at, seeing five black rectangular panels embedded into the white surface.
“You can select what you need from the hologram screens,” Nathan continues. “Each projector is a terminal connected to a larger storage system. Once you come back, return the vehicles here, and the maintenance will be done automatically.”
I nod. I recall this from the course, but it’s still nice to have the reminder.
“This is also where you’ll get your data spheres.” Nathan waves a hand, and a ball of white light forms into the air before coalescing into a glossy black sphere. “They’ll sync to your exosuit so you can exchange information to and from them. Each one includes an omnidirectional camera and various matter projection configurations for sampling specimens or recording other data. Once you get yours, you’ll hold onto it—but make sure to sync the data to the base every time you come back. You can do it wirelessly, but it’s faster if you just press your finger to one of those panels,” he says, gesturing back to the wall. “Your personal desks would also work.
“You’ll be able to access and download everyone else’s data by interfacing with any terminal,” Nathan continues. “You can also pull data out in the field, but it’s much less efficient.” He looks at the two of us. “If you’re unsure about anything, feel free to use the instructional protocols in your exosuit. If that doesn’t work, feel free to contact me—I’ve been here for almost an Archeian year, after all,” he chuckles. “Now, if you’ll follow me, I can get the three of you geared up for an expedition, and we can go exploring.”
I make a sound of surprise. “Ah, already?”
“Well,” Nathan says, stepping away from the table and dismissing his sphere into nothingness, “it’s not a formal expedition. We won’t go far, just far enough to get a sense of what it’ll be like once you’re all left to your own devices.”
Rhen hums, and I turn to him as he starts speaking. “How soon will we begin our actual expeditions?” Rhen asks.
“As soon as tomorrow, if you like,” Nathan answers. He starts walking towards the panels, and the two of us trail after him. “You can pursue your own avenues of research here—just make sure to send in a request so I can approve it first. I’ll only approve long expeditions if at least one of us is still around here,” he adds. “And you’ll need a few shorter expeditions under your belt, first. Need to make sure you know what you’re doing. Plus, if the Laboratory division or any other division sends in a request for certain data or samples, we need to be available to acquire it.”
Nathan lifts a hand, the panel he’s now standing in front of glows white before a holographic screen appears in the air. “The process is fairly straightforward—just select the ‘Data Sphere’ and, for today, a ‘Transport Pod.’”
Rhen and I give our acknowledgements before each going to a different panel. I pull up the list of available connections in my mind, which includes the terminals, the holographic table, and the two others in my team—well, their exosuits, technically. There’s a collapsed list of the other employees and other connection points, but I pay them no mind. Each of the items in the expanded list is connected by a line to the subject, and I select EB TERMINAL 2 once I see that it’s referring to the panel in front of me.
The holographic screen appears, displaying a WELCOME, SIER before the text fades and is replaced by a box layout of images with labels at the bottom of them. The largest box has an image of a black orb, labeled with DATA SPHERE. I also see options for a TRANSPORT POD, which appears to be a black, vertically oriented object that reminds me a lot of a chrysalis, except much more geometric. There are also options for AERIAL OBSERVATION VEHICLE, depicting some kind of ship that looks big enough to accommodate the entire team, as well as OUTPOST, which depicts a sleek black building with glass windows.
They were all described in the introduction course—the outpost has all the necessities we need to rest and make initial analyses of our specimens. I’d need one for any expeditions over a day long… but right now, I only need the data sphere and transport pod, so I tap on those and watch as the terminal glows and sends a beam of light to my glove. The light fades, and I get a notification in my mind that the packages have been received. Soon after, a notification that the data sphere has synced appears as well.
I step away from the terminal, disconnecting and letting the screen fade away. The others finish around the same time, and we all turn back to Nathan, who smiles.
“Ready?” he asks.
“Yes,” I say, while Rhen simply nods.
“Good—this way, then.” Nathan turns slightly and gestures to the far wall of the Bay before walking towards the wall.
Rhen and I follow, and once we reach the wall, he waves his hand. The white polymeric surface dissolves into hexagonal light fragments in response, revealing a short hallway that extends into a view of the outside. There’s a wide path and a circular platform, in addition to ramps down the sides of the path that lead to the forest floor slightly below—though the trees themselves stand taller than the platform. The hallway shimmers faintly with white light, as well as another separating the hall from the outside. I realize that I’m looking through energy barriers, separating us from the atmosphere.
“The first one you can just walk through, and it’s a simple command to bring down the second,” Nathan says. “You should see it as an action option when you’re nearby.” He walks through the first barrier, and Rhen and I follow. It’s a curiously warm sensation.
“Now,” Nathan continues, “this part of the base is actually just outside the primary energy barrier. That is to say, please remember to deploy your exosuit before you exit—though it shouldn’t be a problem in most cases, since you’ll deploy your vehicles while inside.” He lifts his hand again, and the outline of what I recognize as a transport pod appears before filling with light and resolving into the vehicle. It floats slightly above the ground, and the front splits into three panels—two on the side and one on top—that slide away, revealing a seat inside.
“You’ve all learned how to drive one of these, right?” Nathan asks. “In theory.”
“In theory,” I confirm, and Nathan chuckles.
“It should be fairly intuitive,” our leader says. “Try materializing your pod, and go ahead and take a seat. I’ll let you all familiarize yourself with the controls, and then we can head out.”
I nod and lift my hand to summon my own pod. In moments, the vehicle is floating in front of me, the panels sliding open. I step up onto the floor of the pod, turning around and taking a seat on the smooth black seat. Everything inside is black, actually, at least until the panels close and the entire front area of the pod becomes a view of the surroundings in hexagonal sections, as if it were a window. There’s even a sense of depth, but I’m well aware it’s a simulated screen.
As I set my hands down on the arms of my seat, I feel a tingle through my gloves. Panels light up around me, and I see SYNCING TO POD 9… SYNCED. As soon as the last word appears, data starts filtering into my mind: distance from the ground, speed, energy levels. More than that is the sense of control—with the neural link, it almost feels like an extension of my own body. I try altering my altitude and moving forward and backward slightly, and it feels as natural as with my own body.
There’s a ping in my mind, and then two holographic screens appear: one to my left, showing Rhen, and one on my right, showing Nathan. Our leader gives an easy smile. “Looks like the two of you have the general idea,” he says over the communication channel. “Why don’t we head out, then? By the way, you don’t strictly need to deploy your exosuit while you’re in the pod, but I do highly recommend it.”
I nod, activating my exosuit. Light fragments wash over my body, mildly warm, and soon enough, I am completely encased in a dark suit, glass helmet enclosing my head. I see the others do the same through the screens, making them all look identical—at least until Nathan activates the helmet light, revealing the easy smile on his face. I follow suit, as does Rhen—who’s still holding that neutral expression he’s had since the first time I saw him.
“Is everyone ready?” Nathan asks. We all give our affirmatives, and then he nods. “I’m opening the shield.”
I turn my attention to the shimmering boundary between us and the alien wild. It pulses once and then opens up like ink spreading across the surface of water, and then I can hear the natural ambience of Archeiah coming through the speakers of the pod. It isn’t like the forests of Earth, full of bugs and birds and calls of other animals. There’s something almost like a hum, something I feel in my head more than my ears, just subtle enough to notice when paying attention to it.
“Follow me,” Nathan commands, and his pod hovers out of the gate. I follow right after him, Rhen and Ava at my sides. He guides us above the foliage of the Archeian forest, far enough to be clear of the tree-like flora but close enough to observe the activity below.
I glance back towards the base out of curiosity. Through the posterior paneling of the pod, I can see the faint shimmer of the primary shield surrounding the Celeis base. Our exit point is barely visible now.
Nathan’s voice draws my attention back to what’s happening in front of me. “I’ll be bringing you all to a place I’ve already surveyed,” he says. “No creatures on this planet seem to be dangerous to us, but it can’t hurt to be careful for this little excursion.”
I hum in acknowledgement. By now, the dark blue foliage has transitioned to trees with leaves shining with the glow of starlight—I assume, at least. There’s a clearing further up, which I realize is our destination when Nathan says, “We’re here.”
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