Where in the Zyggurat?

Posted on Wed Feb 21st, 2024 @ 4:42am by Lieutenant Commander Kevin Lance & Lieutenant Tracey Walker Jr

Mission: Visit to Eden
Location: Alien Ship
Timeline: Current

on:
{North Pole, Alien Ship}

The area of the north pole section that emanated the greatest energy signature was shield against direct transportation. Kevin’s team had to beam down to a point about a half a kilometer from the location. The vegetation was green and thick. It took no little cutting with hand phasers to clear a path that would allow the team to traverse the 500 meters to the assumed site of the control center, a task made more difficult by the bulky environmental suits they wore. Although the atmosphere was Class M, Kevin had insisted on the suit as a precaution should they need to enter one of the other biomes.

They broke into a clearing about 50 meters from a large construct shaped like a pyramid but instead of even straight sided, the structure had steps much like it had been build out of a child's blocks. "What is that?" Kevin asked.

"Looks like a Zyggurat," Trace replied immediately.

"A what?" Kevin turned towards the Chief Engineer.

"A stepped pyramid," Trace responded.

Kevin rolled his eyes. If it was a stepped pyramid, he thought, why not just say that? Trace spent to much time using obscure words. "Where would the entrance be?"

Trace chuckled. "Such a simple question, but such a complex answer. Zyggurats are burial chambers in most cultures, so the location of the entrance would depend on the religious beliefs of the builders, and are often associated with a deity. On Earth, you would expect it to be facing the direction the sun rises, but in this case, we have no way of knowing that."

The Assistant Science Officer, a cute brunette by the name of Geneva, spoke up. "Not necessarily true. Out of thousands of documented star systems, only two planets that I know of have a sunrise other than East or South."

Trace looked up at the enormous building. "Well, I concur with that. Given the size of this thing and the time it would take us to check each side, we should start with East and work our way clockwise. The entrance wouldn't be at the base, either. It'd be somewhere mid-way up the side."

Determining East was trickier that it would have seemed. The ship did not rotate on its axis. Even the designation of this as a polar region was a logical deduction based on the arrangement of the differing biomes rather than the observation of the sphere's movement. In the end, they designated the side that they were currently on as 'East' and began their search.

The doorway was discovered on the three side that the team investigated, half-way between the base and top of the zyggyrat as Trace predicted.

The trio climbed the stairway given access to the step that the doorway was on. Kevin noted that the height of the steps was greater than would normally be comfortable for a human to traverse.

Trace approached the large double door. There was no handle or other device for manipulating them other than a large, ornate seal in the middle. Trace put his hand up to the seal but nothing happened. "Appears that they have locked the door," he said.

"Any ideas on how we get in?" Kevin asked.

Trace rubbed his chin, walking slowly up and down the wall. It had images etched into the stone, animals, stick figure humanoid creatures, and celestial bodies.

=/\= Kronnelti to Lieutenant Commander Lance, have you found the bridge yet? =/\=

Kevin activated his comm badge and replied "Lance to Kronnelti. Affirmative, we have reached a control center at the northern pole but it is sealed off. Lieutenant Walker is attempting to gain entry"

He listened for a response from the Security Chief but instead he heard Mira's voice. =/\= "This is Commander Rodale everyone check in." =/\=

Had they not received his transmission? "Lance to Rodale, my team is green," he replied.

Reasoning that the sun was the key to this particular culture, he located the image of one. A small disk in the right corner of the relief spied his eye, and on a hunch, he pressed it. The sound of stone grinding on stone filled the air, and a large doorway opened, with a set of stairs leading down.

"Deja vu." He said, casting a sidelong glance at the commander.

:off

Lieutenant Commander Kevin Lance
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Chuck Norris

and

Lieutenant Tracey "Trace" Walker
Chief Engineer
USS Chuck Norris