Eyuy followed Ppnlak through the dense jungle, dodging the various insects and animals that darted into their path. Angelika had said that the jungles on Earth had comparable biodiversity to IF 329714628-419. Eyuy was reminded of another reason why he didn’t want to visit her planet. The main reason being that it seemed too cold for anyone to comfortably live. Angelika sometimes complained that the ICC kept the station too hot, which Eyuy couldn’t comprehend. He often wondered if he was going to freeze to death as he walked down the halls.

Eyuy made sure to make note of what direction they were going and how many units it was from his ship. However, as they kept on walking with no building in sight, Eyuy got worried. He asked, "Do you know where you're going?"

In all honesty, no.

"Ppnlak, if you don't know where it is, don't lead us into the unknown."

Ppnlak wiggled his tentacles, I know the general area. Trust me, I'll get us to the building.

Eyuy narrowed his eyes before sighing. "Fine, I'll trust you. Don't make me regret it."

I won't.

They fell into silence again. Ppnlak was emitting a nice blue that lulled Eyuy into calmness. He just had to trust Ppnlak. They walked in a straight path for about five units before Ppnlak abruptly stopped, causing Eyuy to almost run into him. 

I remember this.

Eyuy perked up. "You do?"

Yes, we have to go right. After we pass through that grove of trees, we'll be in front of the building.

Eyuy eagerly turned right, barreling through the trees. Luckily, he had a spacesuit on because he walked through the sticky web of some insect. Ppnlak trailed after him, being more cautious as he didn’t have a spacesuit on. 

Eyuy brushed aside one last giant leaf before he stopped in his tracks. The building was large, reaching above the canopy of the trees. The long neck at the top widened into a dome that went until it hit the ground. He saw the door Ppnlak described earlier. His estimation of it being two tentacle lengths was spot on. Above the door, there was an etching of what Eyuy thought was supposed to represent the sun. There was no automaton in sight.

Ppnlak arrived next to him. I told you.

"You were accurate," Eyuy replied. "Where is the automaton?"

It's inside. It blocks the door when you try to enter.

 "I see. We'll have to find a way to deactivate it."

Ppnlak glanced at him. Did you not bring a gun?

"Why would I bring a gun?"

Ppnlak switched from a calm blue to a deep purple. What do you mean why? To get rid of the automaton.

Eyuy frowned, "That automaton is a priceless relic of a possibly extinct species. I will not be destroying it."

I don't want to die because you won't harm a relic.

"We won't need to. If you distract it, I can find where to turn it off."

This is a bad idea.

"You can tell me that if I get you killed."

Eyuy was sent a burst of annoyance through their channel, but Ppnlak complied anyway. Eyuy watched him approach the entrance, and as if summoned by his presence, the automaton moved to the entrance. 

Eyuy waited until the automaton almost completely sealed the door before sprinting past it. He entered the temple and couldn’t help but get distracted by what was inside. Murals decorated the wall, and writing was everywhere. The inside was extraordinary. However, he had to deal with the automaton first.

The machine's back was to him, and Eyuy could see that one mechanism was sticking out of the back. He assumed that was what he needed to press or pull to deactivate the automaton. There was one problem, the mechanism was out of Eyuy's reach. Jumping wouldn’t bring him anywhere near the height he needed. 

LOIUY's tiny voice chimed in, [EXPLORER AEUM-YINH, THE MONITOR ON THE HOLOWATCH HAS INDICATED YOU ARE STRESSED. DO YOU NEED ASSITANCE?]

"I need to get the mechanism on the automaton's back, but I can't reach it."

[YOUR SUIT IS OUTFITTED WITH THE LATEST PROPULSION TECHNOLOGY. WILL THIS SOLUTION SUFFICE?]

Eyuy hadn’t forgotten his suit had propulsion technology. He recalled that information all too well. No one liked it, but the ICC had already approved production, so they were stuck with it. He didn’t want to use it, but he was faced with no choice. He reached down and clicked on the technology, causing a button to push up on the back of his gloves. With a long-suffering sigh, Eyuy pushed the button and was blasted toward the ceiling. 

He was able to catch himself at the last minute, clutching onto the head of the automaton. He could hear the clicking of the gears this close. He shimmied a little to the side, reaching down toward the exposed mechanism. He pulled it out without trouble. Immediately, Eyuy could hear the clicking slow down. He dangled from the machine until the clicking went away entirely. After that, he slid down the back of it. 

Eyuy called, "It's off!"

Its body is still blocking the entrance. I cannot enter, nor can you exit.

"We can move it."

Do you know how much this weighs? I am not confident in our strength.

"We're moving it." Eyuy heard Ppnlak's sigh in his mind. Eyuy hadn’t known Ppnlak for long, but he was coming to learn that the alien was a tad bit dramatic. Not everything Eyuy said needed to be met with such reluctance.

Through their channel, Eyuy directed Ppnlak to go to the left side of the door, so the two of them could act on the same side. On the count of three, Ppnlak pushed and Eyuy pulled. Because of how heavy the automaton was, it barely moved, but it was enough to let Ppnlak slip into the building.

With all the obstacles out of the way, Eyuy was free to explore to his liking. He took out his scanner and began to record everything. He would leave no corner of the building untouched. While Eyuy was busy scanning, Ppnlak milled around, looking at the murals on the walls. 

Eyuy could tell the murals painted a story. Starting from the right side of the entrance, the murals wrapped around the dome, ending at the left side of the entrance. At each distinct section of the story, a paragraph of writing could be found. They depicted what Eyuy believed to be the story of how the species landed on the planet, which was interesting to find out. They were not originally from this solar system, but something drove them to come to IF 329714628-419. There was a high chance the answer lay in the writing on the wall. 

"LOIUY?" Eyuy said.

[WHAT CAN I HELP YOU WITH?]

"Can you start translating the writing I scanned?"

[YES, I WILL START IMMEDIATELY.]

"Thank you."

Ppnlak wandered over to where Eyuy was scanning the last mural. What do you think it means?

"I don't know, but it doesn't look like something good." The species were bowing before the sun while a black mass stood behind them. Whatever the black mass was, it didn’t look like the species were happy to have it there.

Should we be worried?

"Worrying now won't do us any good, but we should be prepared for the eventuality of there being something to worry about."

Before Ppnlak could answer, LOIUY interrupted, [EXPLORER AEUM-YINH, I HAVE COMPLETED THE PRELIMINARY TRANSLATION.]

Ppnlak asked, What's a preliminary translation? Eyuy repeated the question so LOIUY could answer.

[A PRELIMINARY TRANSLATION IS WHEN FOREIGN WRITING IS TRANSCRIBED INTO THE COMMON ALPHABET.]

"Can we see it?"

[IT IS IN YOUR HOLOWATCH UNDER FILES.]

Eyuy opened the display of the watch, surprising Ppnlak. It wasn’t hard to tell Ppnlak had never seen a holowatch in action. Pirate ships must not want to spare the expense, and they were expensive. Eyuy navigated to the files and pulled up the preliminary translation.

============================================================

[Translation Percentage: 0%]

[Preliminary Translation: =/ {}= {/_}/ .?/ ~-●'~ ;*';●(/, )-'_+'●! -~ }_ }- ○'~*//*~ ;●* ○'~.;^/~. :/. ●}. .?'~ {/;~. {/ .?/ (;-~/ }_ }- */○'~/. :/. ●}. .?'~ {/ .?/ /●* }_ -~ ;::. :/. .?'~ {/ ; =;●'●! _} ;:: =?} (}○/: {/=;/ .?/ ○/(?;●'(;: {/;~. .?;. =;:^~ .?/ */";~.;./* ('.+.]

[Estimated Time of Completion: 5 years]

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After Eyuy relayed the information, Ppnlak exclaimed, Five years!

Eyuy was on the same page as Ppnlak. "LOIUY, why will the translation take so long?"

[INSUFFICIENT DATA]

So, if we find more writings, we can shed off the time.

"That seems to be the case." To find more writings, they would need to find more structures, but Eyuy had no idea where to go. This was his only lead. Eyuy sighed, "I guess we'll have to search the old-fashioned way. This is the best starting place we have. We'll see if we can find anything else in this area."

Will we start the search today?

"No, we've done enough." Eyuy turned back to the watch's display, reading the translation provided. It was a bunch of gibberish to him. Now he knew how Ppnlak felt.

What's that? Ppnlak pointed to the red exclamation point that was on Eyuy's message inbox.

"It means I have a message. It must be that memo Angelika sent me."

Can you read it to me?

Eyuy thought it over but decided that Ppnlak knowing what was inside the memo wasn’t going to be the end of the world. So, he opened the message and read it out loud. When he finished reading, a single phrase stuck out to him. The Tenlaup was added to the ICC database.

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[DO NOT DELETE THIS MESSAGE. IMPORTANT INFORMATION IS DISCLOSED.]

[Sector of Origination: Diplomat]

[Forwarded: Military Sector, Navigation Sector, Economic Sector, Exploration Sector, Administrative Sector, Science Sector, Legal Sector]

[I am sending this memorandum to inform all sectors of the changes that came with the signing of the ICC-Sijex Alliance. 

1. The Sijex Federation will demilitarize their standing armies in 13 of their solar systems, and they will reduce their active military from one million troops to 300,000 troops.

2. 6 new species were added to the codex: Tenlaup, Tetla'ay, Aweq, Beriz, K'Lof, and Otryv.

3. ICC will change its policies regarding the Sijex Federation and the Bierva. More information about this will be sent by the Administrative Sector in a month.

Thank you for all the support you have given the Diplomat Sector during these trying times. We appreciate the help and are happy to see our efforts have produced a fruitful alliance. If any changes were forgotten in this memorandum, we will send another one promptly. Please disseminate this information to your various divisions and personnel.

All the best,

Senior Diplomat Requirae]

[DO NOT DELETE MESSAGE. IMPORTANT INFORMATION IS DISCLOSED.]

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