e-Ghosts of Rogue Planet

Chapter 14

We went back to the underground chamber and met up with Mohe and his people. The rock that covered the entrance to the underground world moved away when we approached it. The e-ghosts were obviously making it easier for us to go where they wanted us to go.

“I’m afraid that we’re stuck with you here. Our shuttle won’t function,” I told Mohe when I approached him.

“You are welcome to share in what we have,” Mohe said, his words being translated by the e-ghosts.

“We would like to see the species that lives in water,” I said.

“Come,” he said without gesturing.

We followed him and his mate to a much larger cavern that had vegetation as thick as any jungle on Earth; although, the plants were unfamiliar. Some had large black leaves and others had dark green or blue foliage.

A large lake dominated the cavern. As soon as we approached the edge of the lake, strange faces popped out of the water. The creatures that the faces belonged to had green scales. Their eyes were reptilian and they had gills. What caught our attention was their mouths. They looked human.

“These are strangers,” Mohe told the creatures. “They have been captured by the Milans like our ancestors.”

“We are aware of this,” one of the creatures said, its words being translated by the e-ghosts. “We know of the Milan ways.”

“Have you ever seen one of these . . . Milans?” I asked him.

“Images of them exist,” he said. “They are in the city above in a central structure.”

“What does this structure look like?”

“It is a sphere sitting on a point of a pyramid.”

“How long has your species been here?”

“We have lost track,” the creature replied.

“They were here when our ancestors were captured,” Mohe said.

“We must go to the structure that holds the images,” I told him.

Mohe didn’t react to my statement.

We left the chamber and headed back to the surface. This meant that we would have to breath our own air, but we felt it necessary to see just who these Milans were.

As we walked along the wide avenues of the city we saw nothing to indicate that anyone had been here for a very long time.

“There it is,” Alisha said, pointing.

The structure was truly unusual; a sphere approximately twenty meters in diameter sitting on top of pyramid that was five meters high. As we approached the pyramid, a door opened, beckoning for us to enter.

Similar to what we saw in other structures, there was little inside the building . . . except for a round titanium dais in the middle of the floor. It was only a few feet high, and I was the first to step up on it. The others did the same and we were propelled up into the sphere above. That’s when we realized that the sphere was not exactly sitting on a point, but rather the pyramid’s top extended into the sphere.

When the platform stopped, images appeared on the inside of the sphere, images that showed what some of the robotic beings looked like. They had multiple legs and looked like mechanical contraptions, but there was something wrong with the idea that they were artificial because at the very top of the mechanical contraption was a chair.

“That looks like a chair,” James said, pointing.

“Yes, and that means that some creature like us controlled them,” I said.

“Or, a more androgynous robot did, and this other mechanical stuff was only to enhance their capability.”

“Maybe you’re right,” I said, pointing. “There’s a more hominid-style robot.

“I think we can conclude that this was a very technologically advanced civilization,” Alisha said.

I rubbed my head. “What I can’t figure out is how they transport an entire planet through a wormhole, if that’s what they are actually doing.”

“A wormhole would require the merger of a black hole and a white hole,” Marie said.

“That’s true, but we know that a wormhole is unstable,” I said. “The instant you enter it, the thing collapses.”

“Unless you create virtual particles,” James said.

“That requires separating two immense spheres a milli-micron apart and then shoving it into the wormhole’s entrance,” I said.

“Or, they found an easier way to do it,” Marie said.

Marie began recording the images that were being displayed. I looked at the Data-Bridge she was holding and got an idea of how we might be able to get back to the ship.