“Unf!”

Dimitri landed face-down with a thud, dirt kicking up in swirls. His light bar clattered close behind on the broken steps, thumping to a sudden stop beside him, half-buried in the same sandy mound he'd just met. He groaned into the dirt, wincing as he lifted his face away from the grit.

“You ok down there?” A voice echoed from an opening above. “That looked nasty, give us a sign!”

“Ngh… yeah, I’m good! Feathers are scuffed, that’s all! Watch your step, the rocks are loose,” Dimitri called back, propping himself up on one arm to look around. Fortunately, his light had landed face-up, allowing a wide arc of illumination to show where he had fallen. The dust clouds slowly settled, revealing a large, squarish cavern—no, a room, with tall, decorated stone walls and archways. Nature had crept its way in at some point, bringing vines and broken masonry to mark its reclamation.

A brief moment of muttering later, the voice returned, "Yeah... we're gonna get some climbing equipment before we head down. Need anything? Meds, bandages, water?"

"No, I'm safe for now. But hurry up and get down here, I can see more rooms but I can't see what's in them!"

"You got it, boss. Double-time it with those ropes!" The voice faded away, barking orders as a sudden rush began outside to collect more supplies.

Dimitri stood and dusted himself off before picking up the light. Glancing over his shoulder, he could see the treacherous ramp that used to be a staircase, now so crumbled and overrun with dead vegetation it had all but disappeared. Turning forward again, by far the most interesting thing the room had to offer was right in front of him: a massive, waist-high rectangular platform. Its edges were damaged and crumbling, yet clear artificial markings could be seen running all along its top and sides.

A tomb, perhaps? He pondered. Or maybe just a table. Nothing in these ruins have had anything to say!

Indeed, the buildings on the surface had vexed both himself and his team for weeks. Not because they were empty—in fact, the site held more artifacts and intact buildings than any other he’d worked to understand. No, the problem here was not the quantity of content; rather, it was that what they had found was utterly devoid of any useful information at all. Sure, there were the usual suspects: toys, cookware, utensils, tools of various trades, beds. Yet nowhere could any discernible language or symbols, no art, not even readily-apparent appliances like ovens or carts be found. Just decorative lines and markings on every surface.

It's almost as if they didn't have any of those things at their disposal, he mused, stepping up to the shelf. But that couldn't be right either, otherwise what purpose would having plates, utensils, carry-able crates, and all the other artifacts they'd found serve? Clearly they were missing something.

Something... as if it was hidden away. He ran his fingers over the table, feeling every groove, tracing every decorative line, claw delicately pressing a small indentation near the center—

The center. The exact center. A small, round hole with a depressable peg.

...Or maybe, it doesn't need to hide. Maybe it's right there all the time, we just can't see it... Like a computer whose screen is waiting to wake up. He pushed the peg down... a small 'click' sounded from within. A moment passed, then another, then another, longer one. He sighed and shrugged. Another dead end.

The room exploded into color. Holographic screens with massive amounts of scrolling texts flying past popped up one after the other. Floating icons slid to the far reaches of the nearly overwhelming display. Warnings popped up in red, more text opened in yellow. A blue screen with charts and maps of some description expanded and moved automatically to one side, icons and data nodes adding themselves to various points of interest. A low buzzing sounded rhythmically from the console, an alarm of unknown purpose.

Dimitri was struck with amazement as the answers to his struggles flashed in front of him. Technology! They'd assumed this collection of buildings had ties to the local populace's history, but clearly they'd assumed wrong! There was far more to this place than they'd thought, and now that he was armed with that knowledge, who knew what else they would uncover?

Art by the talented cutie  Potatovali!

Dimitri ©:  flameristics