Ppnlak froze at the information read to him. He hadn’t heard the name tenlaup in a long time; an even longer time since he had heard the name Tetla'ay. The water-dwelling creatures were a distant ancestor of the tenlaup, and they very much enjoyed the taste of their land counterparts. Ppnlak had lost many family members to the steel jaws of a Tetla'ay. 

Ppnlak asked, I was a part of the Sijex Federation?

"Yes, and that is the best possible scenario we could have gotten," Eyuy replied. This was the happiest he had sounded since Ppnlak had met him. 

Does this mean the ICC won't hunt you down for talking to me?

"Correct, although I will have to flub some of the details." 

Ppnlak swore he saw Eyuy flinch at the thought of flubbing details. Amusement coursed through their mental channel. Ppnlak had never met anyone so concerned with following procedures. The Architeuthis had rules, but most of the crew treated them as guidelines as to what they should generally do rather than what they should have been doing. Well, they treated them as guidelines if Captain Karach wasn’t looking.

What's next?

"We continue searching for more writing."

Where do we start?

Eyuy sighed and turned to stare at the murals once more. "I don't know."

We could check out the area, Ppnlak said. He glanced at the automaton, I didn't explore past this building.

Eyuy nodded, "That's a good idea. If they built the structure here, their other ones shouldn’t be too far away as I don't see any transportation routes."

Ppnlak watched as Eyuy made one last sweep of the building. The nice voice in his watch instructing him on how to take the best pictures. Once Eyuy was done, he turned to Ppnlak and motioned toward the opening in the door. Ppnlak followed the ICC officer outside.

Ppnlak said, You can take the right, and I'll take the left.

"It would be easier if we set up a grid for each of us to investigate."

Would it?

"Yes." Eyuy pulled out a tool from his back pocket. He turned it on, and a small light beamed from one end. "This is a laser distance measurer. I will use it to measure six-by-six-unit areas for us to search."

Is that really necessary? You could just search one way, and I'll go the opposite direction. It doesn't need to be so precise.

"Precise is what makes a good report." Eyuy started measuring the area with his laser distance measurer. "Let me mark your area. Please, give me a second."

Go ahead, I suppose, Ppnlak replied. He decided that there was something seriously wrong with Eyuy. He had never met someone so anal in his life. The life of an explorer, rooted in unpredictability and spontaneity, didn’t seem like the right fit for Eyuy. But what did Ppnlak know? He doubted anyone on Svkstir had anticipated him becoming a janitor, not like they knew what that was. 

"Ppnlak!" Eyuy called, "I've finished."

Ppnlak saw that he had placed markers that formed a border around the area he needed to explore. He had to admit that Eyuy's fancy gadgets were quite cool, and he wished the Architeuthis had enough money to obtain some of them. They mostly spent their money on guns and hylium. 

I see. I'll call for you when I'm done. Ppnlak crossed the border into the area. He started his search at the corner closest corner to him. He crouched and let his tentacles rummage through the dirt. Not finding anything, he moved a couple of paces to the right. 

The dirt of the planet was a faint green mixed with red. Ppnlak had been on the planet for six months, but he still wasn’t used to the strange texture, so very different from the ice of his planet and the smooth flooring of the Architeuthis. It was soft against his feet and tentacles. 

Eyuy asked, "Have you found anything?"

I would've called you if I had.

"Are you sure you're searching properly?"

Explorer, please focus on your own search. Ppnlak upended the trunk of a fallen tree, but the only thing he found was scuttling bugs. Eyuy's silence told Ppnlak that the alien had done what Ppnlak had suggested. 

As Ppnlak moved to the back of his area, he noticed an object glint in the distance. It was outside of the perimeter Eyuy set up, but Ppnlak assumed he wouldn’t mind...much. Ppnlak walked into the wooded area, brushing away branches as he went. Small winged animals littered the tops of the trees, and they chirped at him as he passed. 

He made it to the object he saw and found that it was a metal box embedded in a tree. He undid the latch at the side, swinging the front panel of the box open. Inside, there was a bunch of wires and switches. The switches were all pointed down in what Ppnlak guessed was the off position. Ppnlak had no idea what he was looking at, so he called for Eyuy, I've found something!

"Where?" Eyuy yelled back. The word echoed through their mental channel as well. 

I went just past the bottom of my border. You'll be able to spot me.

Eyuy grumbled, "You shouldn't have left the border without searching everything."

Ppnlak rolled his eyes, and exasperation dripped from his voice when he replied, Are you not happy that I found something?

"I am. It's just not proper procedure."

Ppnlak bet that Eyuy wasn’t popular at the ICC. Nobody like him was ever popular. Eyuy was easily overwhelmed, quick to take his anger out on others, and a stickler for every rule under the stars. Ppnlak wondered if the rest of his sector was celebrating the length of his mission. Despite all of this, he didn’t want to dislike Eyuy. The explorer was genuine in his every action, and that was hard to come by. 

When Eyuy met up with Ppnlak, he let out a small noise of shock. Ppnlak asked, Is this good?

"This is extraordinary!" Eyuy rushed to the box, inspecting it from every angle. "Do you know what this is?"

No, although now that I'm looking at it, I think I've seen something like it.

"Of course, you have. Circuit breakers are everywhere."

What does a circuit breaker do?

"As the name suggests, it breaks circuits. When the current is flowing too high, the circuit breaker will open the circuit and stop the current from flowing past, cutting off the power."

So, they had electricity. 

"Yes, I'm not surprised. If they were capable of space travel, they surely had electricity."

Where do you think the circuit leads?

Eyuy look around, but there were no obvious cords running out of the box. "I don't know."

We could flick them on to see what happens.

"No, that's too dangerous. We don't know what we're turning on. First, we need to find where these cords go. Second, we investigate what the objects do. Finally, we can turn it on."

That sounds like it will take a while.

"It is necessary work."

Or, I could just turn it on. Ppnlak used his tentacles to flick the switches to their on position.

"No!" Eyuy shouted, reaching an arm out to stop Ppnlak. However, it was too late. A second later, the ground started rumbling. Eyuy and Ppnlak had to hold onto the tree to keep their balance. 

The shaking grew in intensity, disturbing animals for their homes. They fled the vicinity, and Ppnlak longed to do the same. Maybe Eyuy had a point about messing with an unknown circuit. When Ppnlak didn’t think it could get any worse, the ground opened.

Large, rectangular chunks of earth plummeted in a spiraling pattern. The spiral grew until it stopped in front of them, which stopped the shaking of the ground as well. Eyuy asked, "Are those stairs?"

I think so. The staircase disappeared into the darkness, burrowing deep into the earth. 

"This must lead to somewhere important."

There's only one way to find out for certain. Ppnlak stepped onto the first stair. The compact dirt was sturdy under his feet. Should we go down? Or, is there a procedure you must follow?

Ppnlak could hear a nervous tremor in Eyuy's voice. If he had bioluminescence, Ppnlak imagined that he would be glowing a bright orange. Eyuy said, "There's no procedure for this."

Then, I suppose, there's nothing stopping us.

The officer hesitated before lowering himself to the same step as Ppnlak. "I suppose there isn't."

Together, they walked down the staircase into the darkness. Ppnlak's glow was the only thing lighting their way. As they descended, the air grew cooler, and Ppnlak felt relief. The chill caressed his skin, soothing the aches caused by the high temperature of the surface. He hoped that it got cool enough for his gel to produce and mend the cracks in his broken skin. Eyuy, bundled up in his spacesuit, was probably unable to feel the difference in temperature.

What do you think we will find?

"As long as it helps me complete my mission, I'm fine with anything."

At the end of the staircase, Ppnlak and Eyuy were met with a door. They glanced at each other before Eyuy pushed it open. They spilled into a corridor, and the door closed behind them. Ppnlak could see well in the darkness, but his vision didn’t cover a lot of distance, so he couldn’t see exactly where they were going. 

They walked to the end of the corridor with slow and careful steps, reaching a balcony. What they saw took Ppnlak's breath away. He could feel Eyuy's wonder travel through their link. The corridor had opened into an underground city. The walls were covered in buildings, and so were the many columns that supported the underground space. Small lights dotted the city in regular intervals, giving a subtle glow to the area. 

However, in the center, a giant structure almost identical in design to the one they found on the surface laid. The only difference was that there were open panels on each side of the structure. Ppnlak said, I wasn't expecting this.

"Neither was I."

Despite the lights, the city was too dark to make out any meaningful features, the details obscured by shadows. They could make out the central structure so well because it was lit up more than the surrounding buildings. 

Ppnlak felt excitement course through their link, and when he looked at Eyuy, the alien was almost bouncing where he stood. Will this help you complete your mission?

"Help? This is the answer to everything! A city!" If Ppnlak thought earlier was the happiest he had ever heard Eyuy, it wasn’t anything compared to now.

Do you think we'll find anyone?

"There is a chance, but there is a chance that they abandoned the city."

Suddenly, the ceiling above the center of the room began to part. Ppnlak and Eyuy whipped their head to watch the proceeding. Sunlight trickled in, shining down into the central building. 

What is happening?

"I don't know."

Ppnlak smiled, You seem to be saying that a lot.

"Yeah, and I don't like it."

After a couple of minutes, the ceiling closed, taking the light with it. Ppnlak soon realized what the panels on the side of the central building were for as light beamed out of the panels, reflecting off unknown surfaces. The entire city was lit in seconds, and the light uncovered what had been previously hidden to them. Everywhere around them was covered in skeletons.