Arnaldo, too, couldn’t hide his astonishment at the massive ruin before them. Its existence was undeniable proof that a flourishing civilization had once lived here. What had happened to this planet? How had that civilization vanished? All would soon be answered once they entered the structure.

  All three simultaneously twisted the dials near their ankles, disabling glide mode and switching to adhesion mode. Because the pyramid’s surface was completely smooth, climbing it without assistance would have been nearly impossible.

  The ruin was no longer intact. Its apex had been severed, leaving an opening that led down into a pitch-dark passageway. Arnaldo brushed away the soft snow and released a swarm of reconnaissance droids. These were ultra-miniature robots once used during the Third World War to map geological formations and architectural structures.

  The moment they were released, the droids scattered into every crevice like a hive of bees bursting apart. Just minutes later, they returned one by one, slipping back into their storage unit along the side of the bio-chemical kit, while a three-dimensional map appeared on Arnaldo’s wrist display. A dense, maze-like network of corridors emerged, with the signal’s origin point located at the very center. Arnaldo forwarded the data to his teammates, stood up, switched on the flashlight mounted at the center of his chest, and took the lead.

  Contrary to what was often portrayed in television dramas, the journey into the pyramid was utterly monotonous and devoid of deadly traps. They walked a long distance, passed countless ice stalactites, and navigated multiple slippery corridors before finally reaching the mysterious chamber at the core. There, a signal-jamming device came into view, leaving all three of them stunned.

  Although the planet had long been buried beneath thick snow and its civilization showed no signs of survival, the machine continued to operate tirelessly. Its structure resembled broadcast towers on Earth, except that its main pillar was surrounded by four hollow rings, evenly spaced from bottom to top, floating in place. The rounded apex continuously emitted a band of disruptive waves, shooting straight into the sky and dispersing across the entire planet. It was this very device that formed an invisible barrier, absorbing all incoming external signals and rendering the frozen world completely invisible to detection systems.

  While Arnaldo was still observing the device, Valentina suddenly noticed an object in the corner of the chamber, concealed beneath a tattered cloth. She stepped closer and lifted the cloth before Arnaldo could stop her, shouting:

  “Tereshkova! What are you doing? That’s dangerous!”

  He rushed forward and aimed his weapon at whatever lay beneath the rotting fabric, but Valentina quickly raised her hand to stop him. Before them lay an extraterrestrial being. Its body was emaciated, limbs reduced to little more than skin and bone, resembling a corpse. Yet upon hearing the disturbance, the creature weakly emitted a few faint sounds, signaling that it was still alive.

  Without hesitation, Valentina pulled out several packets of liquid food and carefully fed them to the being. She believed she still had the ability to save its life.

  “Let me stay here and take care of them,” she said. “You and Tuan go check the rest of this chamber.”

  Arnaldo hesitated for a moment, but Valentina’s firm resolve left him no choice but to comply. Meanwhile, Tuan seemed far less concerned with the alien’s presence, his attention instead captured by the strange reliefs carved into the chamber walls. They were distorted and fragmented, as though deliberately incomplete, hiding a cryptic message beneath. He was frowning in deep thought when Arnaldo’s voice rang out beside him.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Isn’t this the language of ancient Egypt? Why does it appear here?”

  Arnaldo pointed out a short inscription carved beneath the signal-jamming device and instructed Freya to compare it against the languages stored in the shared memory system. The result showed a seventy-four percent similarity to ancient Egyptian. After countless millennia of evolution, two languages sharing such a high degree of resemblance was nothing short of astonishing.

  He then asked Freya to translate the inscription, while he focused on scanning and recording the entire chamber to bring the data back to the ship for further study.

  Only then did Tuan quietly move closer to Valentina, his curious gaze fixed on the alien she was tending. The creature stood roughly one meter seventy tall. Its limbs were skeletal, wrapped only in skin. It wore a tightly sealed cloak made from an unfamiliar fabric that looked as though it had been woven from countless tiny fungal fibers. Its left arm had been replaced with an intricately designed mechanical limb, while its face was almost entirely concealed behind an oversized black protective visor, so exaggerated it bordered on the absurd.

  Carefully, Tuan removed the hood and thick goggles. What lay beneath was a face utterly unlike that of a human. Hollow cheekbones framed deep-set eye sockets that consumed nearly half its face. Its skin was darkened like charred wood. Its hair and beard were tightly braided into filthy, matted clumps, dry and lifeless like tree roots. The triangular ears – once perked like a wolf’s – now drooped limply against its temples, devoid of vitality. Its lips were pale and cracked, like those of a dead fish.

  Looking at the creature, Tuan couldn’t help but wonder how it had managed to survive until this very moment.

  Valentina froze as well, caught completely off guard. His appearance bore a striking resemblance to the woman she had encountered in her dream. Both of them wore the same pair of emerald-green pyramid-shaped earrings, and even the place where she had met them was identical – this very black pyramid. Such a coincidence could not possibly be accidental. Once again, her intuition had proven uncannily precise.

  Freya’s voice suddenly rang out, cutting through the thoughts of all three.

  “I’ve finished analyzing the inscription. Its content reads as follows:”

  Heroes from every land converge,

  Of one heart, they rise against Son Lam.

  Though our dominion stands yet frail,

  With steadfast will, great deeds shall come.

  “Son Lam!?” Tuan blurted out. “On a planet this advanced, they’re afraid of… a tiger?”

  No sooner had he finished speaking than the alien creature let out a faint cough. His large, ox-like eyes slowly fluttered open, revealing a gaze clouded with exhaustion and confusion. Arnaldo stepped forward at once, shotgun in hand, and began to interrogate him.

  “Who are you? Were you the one who sent out the signal?”

  He raised his voice, but the only response he received was silence. Either the creature did not understand his words, or he was simply far too weak to answer.

  “Easy!” Valentina interjected calmly. “He’s only just woken up – he doesn’t have the strength to respond yet. Besides, I can handle him if anything happens. Lower your weapon, anh Mendéz.”

  Tuan turned toward Arnaldo, backing her up.

  “Right now, the priority is to restore his strength first. We can ask questions later. The real problem is communication – if we can’t communicate with him, then we’ve got nothing.”

  Arnaldo pondered in silence for a long moment before letting out a heavy sigh.

  “This is troublesome… Fine. The two of you take him back to the ship for now. I’ll stay behind and continue uncovering the secrets hidden within this pyramid. Based on the inscription Freya translated, I have a feeling we’ll need to remain on this planet for quite some time.”

  As Arnaldo spoke, Valentina’s left eyelid suddenly began to twitch uncontrollably. This time, her intuition screamed a warning – something was terribly wrong.

  “Something bad is about to happen,” she said quietly. “We need to leave. Now.”