*NOT GONNA FINISH IT* Empire of the Stars

Chapter Four - Kepler

A series of diary entries written by Kyle Wader (see BGEF and BGEF – Explorers files for more details) dated around August 2043.

Day 0 – Landfall

Today the ship should dock on Kepler for the first time. We're actually just in orbit of it right now. The others are getting very nervous – rightly so – just in case the landing fails. There wasn't really much preparation done before this flight so we're only the second craft of any kind to land on this planet. The first was an unmanned satellite and even that had a bumpy landing.

We've finally managed to agree on a plan of action when we land: firstly, we survey the area immediately around the ship for potential dangers. Secondly – if the surrounding area is safe – we will set up camp and sleep for the night just to get some fresh air (also, the sleeping pods are a bit too cramped for my taste). Thirdly, a small group consisting of myself, Hodgkins, Warbler and Kenneth will move North towards the ruined village that we were sent up here for. Finally, we search for any signs that the inhabitants have moved from this village to a different area and return to camp to record our findings.

Our recon drone just returned but all we got from it was some more pictures of a massive jungle as well as some better pictures of the village.

Certainly, it's the village that's got everyone excited. In our spare time we've been fantasising about big alien birds and weird alien monsters and funny green men with antennae & 3 eyes. Even so, we're still uncertain about what's really on this planet. It looks a lot like Earth but with less mountains and deserts and such, but is there such evolved life beyond Earth?

Maybe something primitive, sure, but complex lifeforms? I doubt it.

The alarm's going off so I think we're about to land.

Signing off.

Day 1 – Camp made, village searched

Today everything went roughly as planned. We landed, we set up camp, we checked on the village. As expected, it was completely deserted. It looks like nobody has been here for a long time. Kenneth is a better animal tracker than me though, so he found some footprints in a patch of dried mud leading West.

Warbler – our resident biologist – took an imprint of the tracks and she's been analysing it ever since. All she's said about it is that it looks similar to a human print but quite a bit larger. Also she thinks that the toes are more spaced out than normal but that's not too important. At least we've discerned that we should head West tomorrow and follow the tracks until we find... something.

Still I wonder what we will find at the end of the trail. Something dead? Something alive? If so, will it be friendly or hostile? How advanced will it be? They have a village so obviously they are somewhat advanced but still, how advanced?

Giles – the youngest amongst us – keeps asking Warbler if she thinks the aliens have cool powers and if they look weird and if they speak in a strange language and so many other questions. I'm surprised that she hasn't hit him over the head with that print yet! She keeps having to tell him that all she knows so far is that they have big feet.

We looked around the village some more before leaving but our only notes on it are 'It looks like an iron age village'. Hodgkins found some sort of wooden trinket but we're not sure what that is either. They all expect me to suddenly figure it out but I can't gather anything from it.

It looks a bit like a chess piece and has a hole for some string to go through (possibly a necklace or bracelet?). It's carved very intricately but I can't tell what it's trying to represent. It looks like a bird, but it could also be a person with wings, or a person with a crescent behind them (a deity?). Anyways it suggests the existence of measurable intelligence or at least craftsmanship.