Tora could barely hide his excitement as he stood by his bed, watching a display that showed one of the Santa María's drones as it approached the Earth's upper atmosphere.
Phymn sat on the bed with waiting eyes as the footage blurred and got incredibly distorted.
Something was definitely interfering with the signal, but the drones continued sending footage as almost everyone in the Santa María held their breath.
The footage then steadily cleared, revealing strange outlines that made Tora's breath quicken.
Even Phymn leaned forward as the footage got even less fuzzy.
Then, as the drones descended beneath the clouds, the image fully cleared up, revealing a vast biosphere that resembled nothing anyone had ever seen.
Oceans of greyish plants, skyscraper-tall spires and massive, opalescent tubes that were sewn across the surface like dark tendrils.
Walking the surface were animals that looked like twisted perversions of the forms the Newmen knew life could take.
Behemoths that looked like a dark combination of giraffes and elephants.
They had wide, flat heads that seemed to sweep the air for food and air.
Crawling along the surface were all manner of dark life.
Birdlike creatures that appeared to be hollow frames, large spore clusters that drifted with the air in masses that sometimes eclipsed clouds and, most terrifyingly, the creatures that seemingly lived in the dark tendrils.
Some were an abhorrent pairing of man and ant, while others were similarly centaurian lobsters.
Some were even more uncannily human, but clad in dark carapaces.
No one on the Santa María moved as these images were sent to every Newman settlement across the Milky Way.
"What… the…" Tora softly muttered before getting a transmission from the bridge.
"Yes?" He refused to turn away from the footage as he answered the call.
[Please make your way to the Bridge immediately.] Instructed Vice Captain Persephone and, without hesitation, Tora dashed out of his quarters and rushed all the way to the bridge, where the captain and several other people had gathered.
The captain, esteemed ex-Admiral Sandback, was a tall and very clearly cybernetically enhanced man.
Most of his body was made from a dark carbon composite, and his eyes looked like the lenses of a pair of sunglasses.
He wore his pure white uniform with pride, along with his cap.
Many on the Santa María doubted he was still human, but the remnants of pale flesh on his face suggested that there were still some organic parts to him.
"I'll be the first to say that none of us expected this. A world in ruin and maybe even recovery? Yes, but this…" He droned in what sounded like a robotic gurgle. His metallic jaw unmoving.
"Please, it was you who sponsored this trip, so the floor is yours."
All fifty people on the bridge stared at Tora as he stepped forward, the Earth visible on the helm's many displays.
"We're back, everyone. Back home." He smiled brightly.
"And it looks as though our ancient mother sired a few siblings since our departure all that time ago. It is imperative that we re-establish our presence on the surface. After all, how could we ever hope to see beyond all that we are if we forget where we came from?"
A wave of applause followed, and Tora remained on the bridge as the drones got close to the ground, but then, as suddenly as a bolt of lightning, something appeared in front of the fifth drone.
It was like one of the more humanoid creatures that was spotted on the surface, but stood four meters tall, had a dark exoskeleton that seemed both organic and metallic, while also being sleek as it was fitted to its masculine frame like a tight suit. Its face bore four cyan coloured eyes, it had small nasal openings and a small mouth that bore small, pointed teeth.
Flapping furiously on its back were four large wings that resembled those of a butterfly. Their pattern was a swirl of ink, black and cyan.
It also had dark tendrils growing from its head that hung at around neck-length.
This creature glanced at the other drones, which cautiously inched towards it, inspecting the spear in its hand.
It then seemingly took a breath before speaking in a voice that sounded both like a thousand explosions and a hushed scream.
[Greetings, guests. My name is 515, but you may call me Thunder. My Mother, Queen Anoona and the matriarch of this world, has granted landing permissions to one hundred of you. Those you chose will also be granted an audience with Her Grace, but this allowance will only be valid for a week. Disregarding Mother's wishes will mark every single life form on your ship as an enemy who will face the ultimate justice.] The creature announced before returning to the surface.
If the discovery silenced the population of the Santa María, this robbed them of breath.
Tora didn't even know what thoughts to form as Thunder's words rang in his mind.
"Huh… looks like the bugs learned how to talk," Sandback scoffed before joining everyone in turning to Tora once more.
"Hehe, the look on your face tells me that even this was beyond the scope of your expectations." The captain's face twisted, suggesting that he was smiling, but Tora genuinely didn't know where to begin.
"What… what's the council saying about this?" He swallowed, and even though his diffusers were keeping his emotions levelled, this situation was putting them under a heavy load.
"They are asking that we stay put until government-sanctioned ships arrive." Vice-captain Persephone reported. She, like Sandback, was ex-military, having served in many of the Newman conflicts.
The left half of her head was inorganic, and whatever was left was slightly swollen flesh, tissue that was being pushed to its limits by all sorts of medicinal chemicals that held her together.
She, too, wore her uniform, and her remaining organic eye seemed to always be glaring.
"No! We cannot allow them to spoil this sacred moment! We must be the ones to reunite with the Earth!" Tora snapped accidentally, startling a few people.
"And what of that thing and its… queen? Call me paranoid, but I'm not sending any of my men down there until their safety is guaranteed." Sandback crossed his arms, making Tora bite his teeth, but the diffusers suppressed all the frustration that was building in his mind quickly.
He took a deep breath and turned his gaze to the still image of Thunder.
"I'll go alone if I have to—"
"I cannot allow that." Sandback interrupted only for Tora to sigh.
"And who exactly is sponsoring your ship?"
"You, sir and I already know where this is going. I just want assurance that my crew and ship will be taken care of in the worst-case scenario. I hope you understand." Sandback's steel jaw opened and closed once.
"I do, and as I correctly recall, our contract has terms that protect you in that case. Drop me to the surface. If I die, I die."
The others gasped at Tora's words, but he stood tall regardless.
"However, if I live… if we manage to plant our steps onto the surface, we will stand hand in hand, side by side with the ancients when they set foot on the Moon before their eventual voyage for the stars!"
The crowd around Tora stood silent.
"I will not be content with letting this moment pass me by, and you cannot stop me. The only thing of worth any of you can do is suit up when the time is right and follow me home!" Tora's words were a choked cry. One that seemed to move those who were in attendance.
Most of them, at least.
The captains simply sighed, and it was Persephone who suggested an alternative.
"The bugs clearly have their demands. Why don't we wait for the allotted time to see how they respond to our presence? If they turn out to be hostile without even asking to hear us out, then we can carpet bomb the surface until it's safe for you to make landfall."
The heads-up display in Tora's mind flashed with alarms and warnings as his diffusers were pushed to their limits.
"You… would dare mar the face of the progenitor of all life in the universe?" He wheezed in anger before taking an even deeper breath.
"No. Not as long as I live. And if you kill a single cell down there without explicit permission, consider our contract void."
.
..
"The Council is demanding that you cease your current course of action and is threatening to revoke all of your awards, along with fining you heavily if you do not," Phymn said flatly as Tora struggled into his exosuit.
He, along with fourteen others, would be entering a smaller vessel which would take them to the Earth's surface and back within twenty-four hours after allowing them to roam about for a bit.
"I realise now that my worth will not be determined by trinkets and accolades. It will be measured in where I chose to stand on the tapestry of history. They can take their stripes and ribbons, but they will never be able to strip my name from the Codex Temporis." Tora huffed as Phymn helped him pin the final seal of his suit.
He then stood up in the changing room and faced his wife.
"And as for you… Where would you like to stand on that temporal tapestry?" Tora asked as he picked up his helmet.
"I would like to stand by your side," Phymn answered without a second thought, making Tora sigh.
"I want more for you, you know?"
Phymn's eyes fell a little.
"But that will be your choice to make when the time comes. We set those contingencies all that time ago for that reason, after all." Tora weakly smiled before walking up to the sealed doors that led to one of the Santa María's many hangars.
The fourteen others gathered in front of him, with one of them standing by his side.
This was Sergeant Dunnam, who, like his captain, was basically a cyborg with a white beret and tactical gear. His dark skin contrasted sharply with his pure white gear, and he brandished the only weapon among the bunch since everyone else was some sort of scientist.
That weapon, however, was an incredibly powerful Gauss rifle that fired pellets at speeds around 15 000m/s.
This gun alone was enough to blow holes into armoured ships and fortified buildings.
"Brave men and women of the present. I want to fully disclose that we may very well die today. But know that, even if we do, our blood will fertilise ancient soils." Tora smiled softly, taking care to look into the eyes of the anxious, the fearful, the doubtful, the hopeful and the determined.
Geologists, Biologists, thinkers more were gathered in offering to this moment.
And, for the first time in a long time, Tora was proud.
He acknowledged the people before him as equals, children all of Mother Earth.
"And, on the chance we live, think of the stories you'll be able to tell your children and of the research to be conducted on the Eden that awaits."
The scientists applauded, and Dunnam rolled his eyes at the display before leading them all to a ship that looked like a white sparrow of metal and glass.
The key that allowed mankind to reach the far reaches of the Milky Way was the invention of the Space Compression Gates, which worked by twisting and shaping space-time into a cone that allowed an object to cross incredible distances in the fraction of a second. They did this by gathering an extreme amount of charged particles, spinning and accelerating them in a secure torus until they began to warp space-time, creating a funnel that technically obeyed the laws of physics as the entering object never actually travelled faster than light; it just crossed across compressed space, warping accordingly to obey the constants.
Upon boarding the Sparrow, the crew then made their way towards the Earth's surface, leaving behind the Santa María, which loomed just behind the deserted Moon.