DISTANT WORLDS | Mountains - Part 05

Part 05 of "Distant Worlds" Series.
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Journal Entry 2152.05.24
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“It has been a few months since the oval artifact incident. Everything happened so quickly. The team of geologists were recalled by Interstellar Command. People assumed it was in order to give them a chance to be properly debriefed. Or consult with the experts back home. But they never returned… We thought they would. Instead, they were replaced by a new team, with a vague official memo regarding the importance of proper safety precautions during away missions. I tried asking the chief security officer about it. He shrugged and told me that it was just
“a routine rotation of personnel”. However, if that’s true… How come I haven’t heard from any of them? I thought at least some of them were my friends.

Somehow, I managed to stumble on to something even more unnerving. Literally! Someone slid a datapad into my quarters, under my door! I accidentally stepped on it, on my way to turn on the lights and I ended up cracking the screen a bit. It still seemed to work though. The video began playing the moment I picked it up. It seemed to be nothing more than recorded footage taken by one of our scouting drones, from the southern side of the planet. We had sent out a dozen before we even entered the system. It was standard procedure after all.
And then I saw it..A sphere. A perfectly round sphere at the center of the crater. That same smooth surface and that same red glow from its center, before it vanished, just like the ring! Almost like it dissolved in the morning mist.
I didn't get a chance to replay the footage. The datapad just stopped working the moment the video reached its end.

This made me very uncomfortable. My mind can’t stop wondering, was it meant to self-destruct or did I just break it after I stepped on it? I thought none of the drones had picked up on any signs of life during the initial surveys.
We certainly had not received any of this footage before coming here. Not that I knew of anyway. Hmm.. I should keep the datapad hidden for now and not speak of it until I know more.”
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Used William Faucher's "Easy Fog" pluging
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