Chapter 6. Discovery.

After further observation, the crew realized that the alien city covered more than ten thousand square kilometers of the mystery planet's surface. It appeared to be sitting on an immense island that was situated in a humongous ocean, an ocean that had frozen solid a long time ago. That observation was a mystery that didn't make sense, at least not for the existence of an intelligent alien civilization.

"I don't understand how a planet with this configuration spawned an intelligent civilization," Lorrie said. She pointed at the main screen which projected an AI display of what the city would look like when the planet was in orbit around its original star.

"We're not certain about this present condition being representative of its original configuration," Jessica said. "The idea of a habitable planet having a single continent is not something we have seen on exo-planets."

"This present situation could have been a product of polar ice melting," Natalie said. "It could have happened after the planet was ejected from its original solar system."

"So, we're convinced that this planet was captured," Jack said.

"Yes," Jessica said. "It's truly alien."

Jack stared at her for a few minutes before turning to Tog. "Prepare a class-two probe and send it down to the alien artifact."
Tog began the process without touching anything. His brain connected to the main computer system was all that was needed.
'The probe fired rockets to slow down and enter the planet's atmosphere. Once it had dropped low enough, it employed guiding rockets to slow to a speed that allowed maneuvering.

The images it sent back captured everyone's attention, especially the image of four conical structures on an elevated conical platform.
"That's weird," Natalie said. "I wonder which one of those cones has a clue to what they are."

"Good question," Jack said.

Just then, his cat showed up and jumped up on his lap and extended a paw to gesture to one of the cones,"
James turned to Tog. "Move the probe around the center cone,"

Everyone's attention was concentrated on the image of the cone as the probe approached it. Raised symbols appeared on that cone in a line from its top to the bottom. The other cones had no symbols.

"What the hell?" Lorrie blurted. "The cat knew where the symbols were?"

Jack smiled. "Maybe that's why they included them on this mission."

"Those symbols are truly alien," Natalie said. "How are we going to decipher them?"

"Maybe the cat can do that," Lorrie said.

They laughed.

Jack pointed to the screen at an engraving at the bottom of the cone that had the symbols. "That might be what the aliens look like."

Everyone's eyes were attracted to the engraving of an alien face, a face that was truly alien but had clues as to what these aliens were.

"Why would the cat be interested in an alien face?" Lorrie asked.

Jack smiled. "Maybe because it looks like some sort of fish."

That elicited some guffaws.

"Maybe it could be a fish," Lorrie said. "It lived on a planet that was mostly water."

"It's difficult to imagine a species that lives in an ocean having the intelligence to create a city."

"Dolphins are believed to be intelligent because their brains are as large as ours," Jack said. "Maybe these aliens could have evolved enough to do something like that."

He turned to Tog. "Move the probe to that object siting on that pyramid."

The probe slowly moved to what looked like a pyramid with a flat top in which a large round object sat.
Jack smiled. "There's proof they're intelligent,"

"How so?" Jessica asked.

"Look at it. What does it resemble?"

She stared at the screen for a few minutes before turning back to him. "It looks like a flying saucer."

"Indeed, and if it is, it could have been the sources of some of the UFO sightings."

The women were not as convinced. They stared at the images without comment.

"Ok," Jack said. "Let's get as many recordings as possible of the alien city that would help us understand these aliens. Have the probes collect as many rock samples as possible. We can do the science on them on the way back to Earth."

"When are we going back?" Jessica asked.

"We'll go back when you're satisfied with the samples and images you've collected."

She nodded, which Jack assumed was her admission that she would oversee the science.

The next several days were busy. Jack kept Tog busy launching probes to the surface to obtain samples of rocks, sea ice, metals, sand and anything that would reveal the age of the planet and its assumed civilization.

After several days of acquiring samples, it was time to go home.