Caveship

23 || The Station

The ship hums and shudders as it changes its trajectory. A speck of light appears on the forward-most screen—an object—rapidly approaching.

Sophia looks through one of the monitors and crosses her arms. "Look at that thing. What is that?"

The ship slows down just as it approaches the target. Once it is close enough, the teenagers are able to see that it is some kind of inhabited structure. Parts of it stick out like spires, while other parts seem to have dimly lit windows. Most noticeable of all are the torn metal pieces and other debris circulating on one side of the structure, perhaps due to deterioration over a long period of time.

For a brief moment, it almost seems as though they might crash right into it, but the spaceship expertly maneuvers itself on approach into an opening that seems to open just for them.

"It seems to be a docking station of some kind," Tah-Kuell says. He stares at the screen and tries to input some commands into the terminal, but to no avail.

Once the ship enters the station, they're treated to an amazing sight: a seemingly infinite swath of pillars stretching as far as the eye can see, all as metallic and grey as the rest of the station, impossibly tall, with millions of ships docked nose first into them. Each of the ships seem to be the exact same overall design as the caveship, though from their perspective it's impossible to tell if there's any details that differentiates them from each other. Perhaps most remarkably is that there are other ships also flitting about, seeking their docks, like bees returning to the hive all within a perfectly orchaestrated chaos. Where these other ships have come from, or where they've been, is a mystery. 

Left speechless, the crew can only watch as their ship guides itself toward one of the station's seemingly unlimited pillars of asphalt grey, which opens up to greet them. Did their craft know exactly where it had to dock, that it had a designation? Or was it simply choosing one at random? The craft hums and shudders again as it prepares to slow down.

The inside of their dock is the same color as the rest of the station, but with almost marble-like floors to contrast everything else. The lights, though there's no obvious place they might be, are dimmed. Unlike other stations they'd arrived at during their journey, no-one comes out to greet them. There are no dock workers or cargo or anything that might imply that this is a temporary docking, but once the craft has fully settled in, the stairs leading out of the ship's cockpit appear seemingly of their own volition. All of the exits on the ship, unknown to the teenagers until now, slide open allowing them to have a direct view of the outside.

Nicholas stands up and cautiously moves over toward the stairs, peering down to the platform below, as if expecting to see someone, or something. Only the marble-like flooring meets his gaze. Leading the way, he motions toward the rest of the group to follow along, climbing down the ship's stairs and setting foot on the docking platform. Almost exactly the moment he does, the platform's outer edges light up in reaction to his presence, and the omnitool on his wrist begins to undulate and shimmer.

Soon joined by the others, who look out at the area, Nicholas takes note of the quiet crew's own omnitools, which all begin to act strangely as well.

"Interesting. Your omnitools are reacting to this place. And this technology seems fairly similar to the conduit. This may well be where they were created," Tah-Kuell explains in his intrigue, rubbing his hands together. "If the conduit required so much power to get us here, perhaps if we explore further, we'll receive some answers. To think, my people have been searching for the reason the Makers disappeared, and after all this time, I might get to learn why."

"Great," Sarah responds, her gaze looking over what little the dock has to offer.

Tah-Kuell seems to consider their predicament, before he lights up. "I recall hearing that, before their disappearance, the Makers were focusing on technology that allowed them to teleport about their structures so as to remove the prospect of doors. It made quarantine and isolating damaged sections of ships easier, or so it was said." He steps past the others, closer toward the center of the dock. "If this station utilizes that sort of technology, then we should not be looking for doors, but their transporters. Though I'm not sure how we could find or even activate such things."