I Met a Traveler from an Antique Land

by theidiotmachine

The tunnel was cold, only a few degrees above zero, and the great granite plates that made up the walls and floor glittered in their torchlight. The only noise was from their footsteps and their breath.

Professor Seqa was grateful for her padded coat, but even so, she was chilled down to her core. She shivered. Her people were used to darkness and stone, but this place unnerved her, and there was a weight of death around her, and it made her want to curl up with a heated drink.

She adjusted the straw boater hat on her flat, grey head.

'I'm so glad you could make it,' said Professor Hy Quang, his voice echoing in the tunnel.

'It's not a problem,' replied Seqa through her translator collar. 'Honestly, I'm pretty intrigued. I'm so glad you called.'

Quang was having trouble with the low ceiling, ducking under every lintel. As Seqa was on all eights, it didn't bother her. She sometimes envied humans their imposing heights, but not the headaches when they banged their heads.

'We're nearly here,' said Quang, his face grim.

She'd known Quang since college. They'd studied comparative xenoarchaeology together, graduated in the same class, and then started their careers at the same site. Over the years, they had gone their separate ways, exploring different places in a wide galaxy, but they had stayed in touch. As a result, she knew that Hy Quang was not an easily troubled man, and when she'd received the message, she had known that it would be worth the week-long trip.

'You say that the inhabitants of this place were a space-faring species?' she asked. She knew the answer, but it was nice to break the silence. Plus, she was hoping to draw out whatever Quang was worried about.

'Well, they didn't discover flux jumps. So they never left this system,' he replied.

The tunnel widened and grew higher; Quang stopped, straightened and wiped his forehead. Then he set off again, talking as he walked.

'We think their extinction event occurred around sixty to seventy thousand years ago. They probably clung on for a few hundred years, living in places like this. Maybe they had bases on some of the moons or other planets. But, no, they were very much a one system species. We're here.'

He ducked through an opening and stood. She followed him, and reared up on her four hind legs, her segmented body shifting her weight back, her head coming up to his waist height.

They had arrived into a vast space, granite walls curving away from them into the darkness. Quang took a few steps forward and waved his hands, and lights snapped on revealing the full extent of the cavern.

It was bell shaped, its apex shrouded in darkness. The walls were covered in script, alien glyphs that Seqa couldn't read, the symbols cut into the stone. Opposite the entrance, there was a huge pile of stone blocks, like a corner of a stepped pyramid; this obscured the far wall. Each block was labelled with a different icon. The archaeologist's flood lights made everything look monochrome, casting stark shadows and highlighting glittering seams of quartz.

Seqa took off her hat. This was a solemn place, and she wanted to give it her respect.

'It's very impressive,' she said. 'Have you made any progress decoding the text?'

'None,' said Quang. 'There are no visual clues for us to get started on. However, that's not what you need to see. Can you manage to climb those blocks?' He pointed towards the huge pile opposite them.

'I think so, yes,' said Seqa. 'How very intriguing. What are you going to show me?'

'If I tell you, you won't believe me. Come on.'

Curious, Seqa followed Quang to the block pile. Climbing was easy for her; whereas the human laboured up, her eight limbs were easily able to propel her over the stone. As a result, she reached the summit before Quang was even half way up.

There was another light here, a little tripod set on the penultimate level. It clicked on when she approached, and bathed the stone in white. She had noticed the text as she climbed, but when it was illuminated, she gasped. It was in English.

To Professors Seqa and Quang. Welcome to our tomb. Remove the first block to read our story.

#

Seqa curled up on a couch in the expedition ship. She had her wish: a hot drink, synthesized by Belle, the ship's AI.

'I'm pleased to meet you,' said Belle. She was speaking through a drone, which floated in the cabin, tidying up. 'Quang has told me a lot about you.'

Outside, the rain lashed down, grey thunderclouds blocking the weak sun and darkening the late afternoon. Occasionally lightning would split the sky, and thunder rattled the ground. Seqa was grateful that she wasn't out there in it; the quick dash from the tunnel entrance to the ship had been quite enough for her. Her hat had gotten rather soggy, and she'd put it on a chair to dry off.

'I take it that he showed you the message,' continued the AI.

'Yes, he did,' said Seqa. 'What do you make of it?'

'I'm just a pilot and mechanic,' replied Belle. 'I don't have your training. Honestly, though? I think it's a hoax. Someone's trying to wind him up. Or worse.'

'That makes sense,' said Seqa. 'But who? This system is in Creed space, and the treaty with them is only a year and half old. So this planet has never been explored before, at least by people from the Systems Union. And until I landed, it was literally just you and him here.'

'Correct. And the local interstellar medium around this system is unusually dense. You need military-grade shields to get here safely; we got special clearance from POSTO for our rig. That's why you had to be transported by warship. So, whoever did it isn't some casual joker. This is a weird situation.'

Seqa fluttered her antennae in agreement and took a sip on her drink. It tasted good; Belle had done a great job at reproducing the thick mushroom stew. As she drank, allowing the stress to drain out of her, Quang stomped into the room. Before Seqa could say anything, he sat heavily on the chair with her hat on it. He jumped up, guiltily.

'I'm so sorry, Seqa,' he said, holding up the flattened mess of wet straw.

She uncurled herself. 'It's fine, Quang. I have a lot of hats. What are we going to do about this mess?'

The human shook his head.

'The only thing that we can. Document everything as honestly and as well as possible, and submit it to the Systems Union archaeology board. I personally believe that the site is genuine, even if that... graffiti is here. I was hoping you would help me with that. Especially as your name is there too.'

'I agree to that,' she replied. 'Let's just do the work, and submit what we can. Belle; can I see what you've both collected so far?'

'Sure. I'll send them to your tablet. Want another broth?'

'No thanks. I think what I want now is a nice steam bath. Any chance of that?'

'Of course,' said the AI. We outfitted the port guest cabin for you. It's not very big, but it's a lot better than nothing.'

Seqa dropped off the couch, reared up, and touched Quang gently on his face with her left antenna.

'It'll be OK, Quang. Let's get what we can do, done. Then we'll go and party in the nearest city, and I'll teach you this new card game that I learnt from a theal navigator.'

He put his hand on her flank. She wasn't revolted by humans any more; she just found them curious. And so the two of them stood for a moment, breathing in each other's air.

'Thank you, Seqa,' he said, eventually. 'You're right. I'm not going to let some rich kid upset me. I'm going to bed. Let's get started in the morning.'

#

The planet had been hit by a Type II supernova only forty or so light years away. The cosmic rays had showered it for months, stripping away its ozone layer, bathing everything in radiation, and turning the nitrogen and oxygen in its sky into toxic nitric oxide. Almost everything on the planet had either choked or died from radiation poisoning. Almost everything, because some organisms clung on, living around thermal vents deep in its ocean trenches. These might eventually repopulate the world; but until then, the surface was sterile and toxic and its atmosphere was untamed and stormy.

Seqa read this, while the winds rocked the little expedition ship, and steam curled around her shell. She tried to imagine what the people of this world had thought when the light in the sky appeared, brighter than their sun, turning night into day and destroying everything on their world.

She shivered, and pulled up another document.

'How's it going?' asked Belle, over the speaker in Seqa's tablet.

'This bath is lovely, thank you. There isn't much left on this planet, is there?'

'No, there isn't. We've found pollutants in the water, a lot of ruins, some underground structures and that's about it. We stopped everything until you got here, though, so maybe there's more.'

'How's Quang?'

'He's taken the whole thing pretty bad. I'm so glad you're here: I was getting worried. At one point he thought that the entire planet was a hoax. But that's clearly impossible.'

'Why so?'

'Oh, just the sheer logistics of it. There are hundreds of little details; the pollutants are PFAS and plastic granules. The ruins are all period correct, down to the last substance. There are eight space probes, drifting into space, on perfect trajectories. Rovers on four of their planets and moons. A telescope parked in the L2. You can't fake this stuff to that fidelity.'

'I thought you said you were just a pilot?' said Seqa. Human AIs always surprised her.

'And a mechanic, yeah. All this detail is from Quang's reports. Made before he found that message. It's all there, in the bundle I sent you. But, look... what are you going to do?'

This had been on Seqa's mind, too. She wiped steam from her huge black eyes, and breathed out, slowly, her spiracles wide in the heat.

'I want to look at some of the other underground structures. One that's sealed, so it can't have been disturbed by tourists. This planet has other secrets, so let's dig them up.'

'But who could have disturbed anything? I mean, that's nuts, right?'

'I don't know, Belle. I don't know. But, I think it's more important to find out about the original inhabitants of this place than whatever recent grave robbers have been here. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like some more time to read this.'

'Sure. Good night, Seqa.'

'Good night, Belle.'

#

The next morning, they flew to one of the sites that Seqa had identified.

Quang was more cheerful, and complimented her on today's hat, a traditionally made bowler hat that Seqa was particularly fond of. It had holes for her antennae, and was fixed to her flat head with little adhesive strips.

As they lurched through the stormy clouds, the lighting raging around them, Seqa showed them both what she'd learnt of their destination.

'Unlike the previous site, which felt like it had ceremonial significance, this place is much more practical. The surface has been mostly destroyed, but there's a lot of stuff intact underground. It's built into the side of a mountain, and it's been blocked by a rockfall which probably happened ten thousand years ago or so, so this is pristine. You actually missed it on your first survey.

'I've had drones drilling through the rock overnight, so we can send something down. It'll be much too dangerous for any of us to go in person, sadly: I think this may have been a nuclear waste storage facility, and the lower levels are very radioactive. But a hardened drone should be fine, although it might get too radioactive for us to handle, so it will need to stay down there.

'Let's see what we find.'

They landed a few kilometres away. They had travelled north, closer to the equator, and the rain was much warmer, although just as heavy. The sun occasionally broke through the clouds, bathing the sharp grey rocks in yellow.

'We didn't really need to come here, did we?' asked Quang. 'We could have done all this remotely from where we were.'

'No, we didn't,' agreed Seqa. 'But I thought a change of scenery would do you good. Don't you like the new view?'

'Grey sky, grey ground, and rain: it looks pretty similar to the old one,' said Quang, but he was smiling, which Seqa took to be a good sign.

Seqa had already prepared a radiation-toughened drone. It was a plain black sphere, the size of a large orange. It dropped out of the ship and floated towards the site, buffeted by the angry wind and rain. Belle pulled up its camera feed onto their displays, and they sat silently as the bleak landscape rolled past.

'I hate thinking about all the death,' said Belle, softly. 'I couldn't do your job.'

Quang nodded. 'It's true, the deaths are sad. But that's not what we're here for. We're here to remember their lives.'

The drone reached a small round hole, burnt in the rock last night. It turned on its lights and descended.

It went down for several metres until it reached a chamber. It took a few moments for them to understand what they were seeing, and then Belle gasped.

'This is an airlock. It's using a metal door, not shields, which is why it doesn't look like one of mine. Look, that round thing is for locking the door airtight.'

'Ah, yes,' said Seqa. 'Can we get through that door?'

'I think so...' said Belle.

And so, through the drone's camera feeds, they burrowed into the ancient underground structure.

Seqa had chosen this not because she thought it was very interesting – spent nuclear fuel storage facilities probably wouldn't have much cultural value – but because she wanted to show Quang that the planet had something, and in her experience the thrill of exploration was the best way of doing that. So, she was as surprised as the other two at what they found.

'This isn't some waste dump,' said Quang. 'This was a bunker. Look: this was probably a sleeping structure, for maybe a dozen people. This is definitely a kitchen. And this was...'

He didn't need to say it, because they could all see it.

It had been a huge underground garden. There were trays and lights, now little more than piles of rust. Still intact polystyrene planting trays lay in piles, the shelves they had been stored on long collapsed. Tool heads, their handles taken by time, were scattered in a corner. Belle reconstructed the paths of pipes and cables from the microplastics and grooves in the walls and ceiling.

And on everything was thick grey dust, all that was left of the plants that had grown here, left undisturbed for millennia.

'They got their food from here, some of their oxygen. This whole complex is an underground life-raft. The reason that it's radioactive is that they built their own nuclear reactor,' said Quang.

'And it's unreinforced concrete,' said Seqa. 'Reinforced concrete only has a lifespan of a few decades. Unreinforced concrete, made the right way, tucked away from the wind and the rain and the sun, can last forever. Someone really thought they could wait out the apocalypse.'

'Good luck with that,' said Quang.

Thought they could, or felt they had to try?' asked Belle.

Seqa fluttered her antennae. 'You have far more compassion than this pair of old fools, Belle.'

'There's a granite block at the far end of the room,' said Quang.'It has more inscriptions on it. Can you take us closer?'

'Sure,' said Belle. 'Um, guys...'

It was more English.

Hello professors. Welcome to our last stand. I'm sorry about your straw hat, Professor Seqa. Will you move that first block, now?

#

They were back in the chamber with the blocks, the cold air freezing around them.

Seqa wore the most sombre hat that she had, a black silk top hat. She had chosen a thick black coat to go with it. Quang was also wrapped up against the cold, fleeces and gloves keeping his delicate human limbs warm. Belle was with them, controlling a huge grey drone which glided through the dark.

All three of them were silent. Seqa didn't want to be here, but both Belle and Quang had argued passionately that they must read the inscription behind the highest block. All for the sake of a damaged straw boater.

Seqa couldn't tell what Quang was thinking. He was a quiet man at the best of times; now he was grim and wordless, his face set like the granite around him. Even Belle was withdrawn, although Seqa was no expert on AIs, so she had no idea what was going on there. Her people didn't make them.

Belle's drone floated up the blocks. Quang and Seqa stayed at their base. Quang stared at his hand tablet, watching the feed from the drone. He looked like he was in some kind of battle of wills with the device, as if his sheer determination would change the inscription.

'I'm here,' said Belle, her voice sharp in the silence. 'I'm going to lift the top block.'

Her antigrav was silent, and cast no light, and the sound of the granite scraping slightly was like thunder in the room. The huge chunk of stone drifted up and away, and then down the side of the room, carried by Belle's drone. She put it down with a faint thud, then floated back towards the uncovered section of the wall.

'There's more inscriptions here,' she said. 'It's in English again. Here.'

Seqa forced herself to look at her own tablet, held in her front left foot. It was indeed English.

I'm glad that you came back. I want to tell you the story, of me, and my people, of our final days. I know you don't believe that this is genuine. It doesn't matter. Just record it, and put the recording somewhere; and, a long time from now, someone else will discover it.

But first, I want you to play a game with me. Use some way of generating a random number from one to one billion. Choose it, and then move the next block, and I will prove, for once and for all, that this is not a joke...

#

Seqa was professional when she recorded the message to the Systems Union archaeological board. She mentioned everything, and included all the recordings that they had taken, putting no supposition in. Finally, she looked at the camera, and sighed, her antennae drooping.

'I know what you're thinking. Someone is having a joke. Well, we have our theories. I've included them in your pack. My favourite is some kind of nanotech, working behind the blocks as we removed them, cutting words as we spoke, by persons unknown. But let's just pretend, just for us, just for this recording, that this is real.

'So let's imagine a person can see the future. Not in some abstract way, but very specifically. This future sight has constraints that we don't understand, restrictions, whatever; but its owner can actually look at what is coming.

'They see two things. They see the end, the inescapable, ultimate end of their people, and then, a very very long time later, they see us. So what do they do?

'If you can see the future in very specific ways, you will be incomprehensibly rich, and powerful. You can build what you want, and you can schedule it so it will be built on time. You might even try and construct a bunker to try and avoid what's coming. Maybe you know you will die, but even so, you hope you can avoid it, surrounded by your family and friends, your chosen people.

'But, you can still see us, the aliens who came to your planet millennia later.

'So you build a monument. You know what lasts, stone, hidden from the elements, and there you welcome your visitors. You gain our trust, slowly, by leaving us signs, little tricks that are easy if you can see the future. And then, when we trust you, you give us the key to your people's language so that we can uncover their lives. Find the secret places where things were written. Help us do our job, and in doing so, make sure that you and your civilisation are not forgotten.'

'And that's what we found. With this knowledge, we made incredible discoveries on this planet.'

She paused, careful with her next words.

'But the inscriptions didn't end there. Instead, they ended in... well, gibberish is the wrong word. Symbols that we've never seen before. Nothing that was used on this planet, nothing that is used by any of the peoples of the Systems Union. Not even Creedspeech uses these glyphs. And this took up half the space that we uncovered.

'One of the earliest messages that we found, from our mysterious writer, said that we wouldn't believe all this. That one day someone else would. Now, remember, we're pretending that this person could see the future; that they saw the apocalypse. They saw the end of them and their people, and they addressed a message to those who came after.

'Perhaps... perhaps this is the same thing. They saw our end too, our apocalypse, and decided that we weren't the best recipients of their people's history. So they left a message to the ones who came after us. The ones who will pick through our ruins, and speculate about us. Whoever, whatever they are.'

Belle had repaired her straw boater, and Seqa was wearing it for this recording. It was nice to have it back. She adjusted it slightly.

'Honestly; I prefer the nanotech theory, though. Thank you for listening. We'll speak in person when we get back.'

Then she killed the recording. She dropped off the couch, and walked into the main cabin, where Belle and Quang were setting up a card game.

'I need a drink,' she said.