Out of Space

"So we found a total of 2,742 gold coins and 5,491 silver coins. Each gold coin weights roughly at 4 to 4.2 grams and the silver coins weights at 5 to 5.4 grams," Ford reads out the report. "That's a total of 11 kg of gold and almost 30kg of silver, not counting the weight of the pieces of jewelry."

Everyone around the conference table cheered, "That's pretty a lot." Chief Matt whistles admirably.

"Yes," Blake agrees. "XO, please continue." after he gestures everyone to settle down.

"Right, we also found 43 pieces of jewelry in either gold or silver, 64 pieces of gemstones, dozens of ivory tusks and horns." Ford gave a smile as he read from his list. "Also, 17 pieces of the mana stone were also recovered, which we discovered not only in blue colors but also in red, yellow and green."

"That's a good haul," QM Chen said. "So are we getting paid?" He jokes.

"1st of all, these minted coins represents civilizations or nations here has reached a level of technology and production means, capable to mass produce coinage." Blake holds up a gold coin with an image of a tree stamp on both sides of the coin. "This means there is a thriving civilization out there."

"Sir, but from the weapons and armor, we gathered from the green skins, their weapon technology appears to be around our human bronze-iron age." Lt Frank spoke up. "And those green skins don't look so civilized to me. In fact, the lack of maintenance of their weapons and armor shows how lacking they are!"

"Could it be that the green skin's civilization is in decline, and they have fallen to their current barbaric state? Grayson raises his point.

"No, I did an autopsy of them, and a brain scan," Dr. Sharon said. "They are small humanoid in appearance. Everything is very similar to a 10 to a 12-year-old human child, except they have thicker and tougher skin, a heightened immune system, more efficient organs and digestive systems compared to an adult human." She activates the display, showing images of a green skin, cut open on an operating table.

"Ok, that's enough pictures for now." Chief Matt looks disgusted at the images. Almost everyone's face turns kinda green.

Dr. Sharon smiles wickedly before switching the display to show images of a brain scan. "By the way, their blood is green is due to the double copper atoms in their blood. Oxygenation causes a color change between the copper atoms, hence it turns green."

She then highlights the scans and said, "On the right is the brain scan of a green skin while the left is a human scan. The highlight parts are where we measure intelligence or how smart a person is. If you look at the human scan, which is of someone with an IQ of 190, and compare with the scan from a green skin, it is almost identical."

Blake raises his eyebrows as he listens to Dr. Sharon words. "Wait, you mean that they are all geniuses?"

"No, not geniuses, like maths prodigy or rocket scientists but of intelligence. Meaning they are smart, learn fast and adapt fast." Next, she highlights another area on the scans. "This shows the level of aggressive activity of the brain, which is abnormally high."

"So this is my theory that they are not a declining civilization but more of their culture as scavengers and cannibals like some ancient human tribes in the past as we discovered many discard items, with their own distinct design styles and manufacturing methods."

"Alright, thank you, Dr. Sharon, for the report," Blake said as the rest of the people in the conference starts debating among themselves. "Ok, I got SA Kristine who has some experience on archeology from the surveying team to give us a quick rundown of the ruins." He nods towards a redhead sitting at the side of the room.

Kristine stood up, dressed her service dress uniform and stood before the conference table. The only scars from her adventure was a nearly invisible skin toned plaster on her forehead, hidden by her short bangs.

She took over the display controls and starts displaying an UAV imagery of the ruins. "We discovered these ruins over at the Northen section of the Base, 2 days ago. After the initial survey, and using a ground-penetrating scanner, we managed to map out the whole underground complex." She switches the view to a 3D display of the tunnels.

"The underground complex appears to be some sort of storage, with living quarters, a hall and a throne room or office. The upper levels are mostly buildings used for various purposes like production or even stables." Kristine extends the simulated 3D model to display the ground floor structures. "We believe this was a fort or outpost, but it was either abandoned or lost to the green skins or some other reason."

"Do we know how old the ruins are?" Blake asks.

"Yes, we managed to do a simple calculation on the plant growth and weathering on the stones stabs and found it to be around roughly 80-100 years old. Also, we dated the coins, they appeared to be within 10 years of circulation." Kristine replies.

"Wait, does this means, we are in some countries' territory?" Grayson asked. "Or there is some nearby town or cities?"

"Yes," Ford answered, "We have thought of that possibility. We stepped up UAV recon operations, but as we have limited supplies for UAV maintenance, we can only scout so much land."

"Ok, thank you, SA Kristine." Blake dismisses Kristine back. "Chief Matt, I would like you to ensure our reactor is up and running ASAP, charge all our capacitor to the max. Grayson, get extra work teams to help dig the forward guns out and make sure all the laser point defense and missile launchers are up and running." Chief Matt and Grayson nod.

"Dr. Sharon I want you to keep finding ways on how to harness the Mana stones, but don't blow the ship up!" Blake cautious while Dr. Sharon smiles back.

"QM Chen, I leave the treasure in your hands. Keep it safe, if we meet a friendly local, we can use it to trade for supplies or any necessities. Work with HR on it too."

"Also for the incident with the wolves and the green skins. We spend almost 2% of ammunition stores. We need to find a way to replenish our ammunition or discover new ways of fighting. Lt Frank, I leave this task to you." Blake ordered.

"Alright, get to work, people! Dismiss!"

"Aye aye, Captain!"