Opet and the Tales of Heroes

Chapter 16: The Artifact

The UHN Opet initiated another teleportation jump towards the great object. This time it got much closer to it. Taking up a vast majority of its sight, the great thing was seemingly black as the great light that hit it was being blocked from the other side. It was adrift in space, but it was steady in its path. A smaller broken piece was seen not that far from it that was also following along with it. Both Raavi and Opet watched as the computer was doing deep scans of it.

"How.....is that possible?" Raavi remarked.

"Even Ptah or the other mythics would have to spend countless years to create such a monstrosity," Opet commented. "The magic alone would be enormous."

Akari was busy analyzing the data that was being shown. Despite the dark side of the wall like object, there was still starlight that was hitting it. It was nothing more than a megalith.

"It is nowhere near any stars," Akari commented. "The closest to it is over two light-years from it."

"Currently, we are located forty-five degrees from the port bow below us," Aegus explained.

"It is the only way we can scan it. The first series of scans were not enough."

"How about now?" Opet asked.

"Barely, but it is better...."

"It would still create its own gravitational pull, though. Such an enormous thing like that would have to draw in objects. Its power alone would have to be......"

"According to this, the mass is approximately.....two solar masses."

"That's not possible. That thing is colossal in size. It only has that amount of mass?"

"Yes, Opet," Akari said as she put her hand to her rodent-like ears. "I can't explain it either."

"What about its composition? What is it made of?"

"It is made of......" Akari shook her head. "I don't know. The computer is working overtime in breaking it down.....but it is having difficulty deciphering it."

"Are we sure that this isn't a natural phenomenon?" Raavi asked.

"Not in this way. The biggest stars are things like UY Scutti or ZU Ralu that would easily consume Earth's orbit around its sun. The biggest black holes would be something like Galsa UX, TON 618, or the SPT Phoenix LUN. Even then, it wouldn't be like this. It wouldn't be some giant sheet of metal floating in the galaxy either."

"But, we are looking at it," Aegus replied as he gestured at the screen.

Akari sighed. "The computer is still having a hard time analyzing it. It is......no wonder...."

"What?" Opet asked her.

"It is still reflecting our scans."

"I don't understand."

"It's the composition of the material. The computer is picking a form of reflective alloy, but......there is much more to it. There are numerous other materials and composites that are combined with it. It is essentially a sheet of metal that stretches to that of Pluto's orbit......that is.....if it were in the Sol System. Heh......I wouldn't even know how to make it. Hmmm......" Akari was looking at the data more and more. "We are having better luck with the second piece behind it. It looks like they were both together before they split apart from each other. At our direction, we can get more of its side rather than directly in front of it."