Alien Singularity

Chapter 6. Discovery of Aliens

Michael, now a geologist, however, thought differently. He regarded the hot region being highly under explored, and the underground of center hot region might harbor some exotic species, just like in the deep ocean of the planet Earth, near undersea volcano, some creatures developed unique ways of using thermal-energy instead of solar energy. Past unmanned expeditions and satellite images suggested vast underground cavities in the hot center region, and most scientists regarded those cavities as relics of prehistoric volcanic activities. 3D images of the soil underground were obtained by sonar systems on aircraft flying over the region, conforming scientists' theories.

Michael always wondered about some life forms in the underground world of the hot region. This view was so out of the mainstream that nobody was paying attention to him. So Michael started to work on his own. First he wanted to develop a new technology to beam stronger sonar to get a deeper 3D image of the layers of land beneath the surface. Current sonar could only penetrate a few meters under the surface, yet with the planet's thick atmosphere that could transfer a stronger signal, a new sonar device could be developed to get an image of a much deeper level, about a kilometer, under the surface.

After months of hard work, Michael successfully developed the new sonar system. He upgraded the sonar system on the exploring aircraft, and obtained permission to conduct another flyover on the hot region for an updated mapping of underground. With excitement, Michael and his team sat in front of the screens in the central control room, flying the unmanned craft over the infernal region, and beamed the sonar to the ground. Signals come back, and the computer started processing the information and rendering images and videos of the deep underground world, that will be revealed for the first time, to human eyes.

The images come out, and everyone's jaw dropped:

Deep under the hot surface, lies a vast network of huge chambers and tunnels connecting them, and what was more surprising, there was an army of robots moving inside, operating giant devices and machines. No biological life forms were detected, and those robots looked nothing like human made at all. Immediately, Michael reached over to a switch and turned it, shutting off any communication to the outside, and then turned to his team:

"I think we just found an alien intelligence, for the first time in human history."

"Let's call PASA and announce our discoveries! "Shouted one team member. But Michael said,

"No. Let's not make it public yet. From the images it looks the aliens are not aware of us detecting them, as they are moving as usual instead of a sudden change in their motion. We do not know their presence until now, meaning they have been intentionally avoiding us. They must know our presence, since we never made any effort to hide from anyone, and we changed this planet so much. We must proceed with caution in dealing with them. We do not know if they are friendly or hostile."

Michael paused a little, pondering the situation. Then he made further remarks:

"They must have been here after human settlement, because otherwise we could have encountered them in our current habitat. They chose to live underground in this infernal region, far away from any human presence, meaning them came after us, and they chose to stay away from us. Either trying not to disturb us, or are afraid of us going to destroy them."

One members in Michael's team interjected:

"Or the 3rd possibility: they came on a small and weak scale, and secretly build up their force, with an eventual intention to obliterate us."

Michael nodded, "That too. We must arrange a meeting with top officials from all departments of the planetary government, to come up with a measure on how to move forward. Right now it is imperative to keep our findings a secret, so we can keep the status quo with the aliens. If they know we found them, God knows what their actions will be."