"Philip... what are you waiting for? Plug it in." Murphy urged.
Philip stood still, cradling "The Core" gently in his hands, as if holding a sacred relic.
"Murphy..." Philip's voice was soft. "You said you scavenged this from a factory ruin, right? You said it was just an old 'Reactor Core'..."
"Yeah, so?"
Philip shook his head slowly, a sad smile touching his lips. "I was wrong all this time. The sound I heard from it... it wasn't a malfunction. And it wasn't screaming in fear... It was a 'Prayer'."
"A prayer?"
"60 years ago, the people who built this... they didn't fail to escape." Philip gazed deep into the core's blue light. "They knew the base was falling, but they chose to stay. They used their last moments, their life force, to create this 'Perfect Core'. They poured everything they had into it so the next generation—us—could save this place."
Tears welled in Philip's eyes. "Their faint spirits fused with the Core... waiting for someone to carry on their hope."
Philip gently placed the energy core onto the dock.
Hummm...
There was no explosion, no violent light. Just a gentle, warm glow that seemed to embrace the room. The systems woke from their slumber smoothly.
[ SYSTEM SYNCHRONIZED: LEGACY RESTORED ]
[ PLAYING ARCHIVE: 'THE FALL OF BARRIERS']
The holographic globe projected the lost history.
The sky tore open. A massive "Black Triangle" descended. Its tip pierced the continent's "Magical Barrier", shattering it completely. Then, thousands of "Cylindrical Pods" rained down.
The audio log from the past played:
"...Touchdown! The pods are opening!"
"...They are taking off their masks... My god... They look exactly like us!"
The signal cut off. The hologram faded, leaving only the map of the current, empty world.
"That ship..." Murphy looked up at the ceiling. "Is it still up there?"
Philip shook his head. "No, bro... That was the past. The ship is gone now. It disappeared after the drop, or it's hiding somewhere even the satellites can't find."
"And the aliens that look like us?"
"That's the problem..." Philip looked at his brother grimly. "If they look like us, and their mothership is gone... they could have been living among us for 60 years. Building their world on top of our ruins."
Suddenly, the screen turned red.
[ ALERT: MASTER KEY DETECTED ]
[ BROADCASTING LOCATION TO COMMAND ]
"The signal is out..." Philip said calmly. "The creators set it to broadcast our location so friendly forces could find the Key."
"But there are no friendly forces left," Murphy gripped his gun tight. "Just old man Gaiman and his army of bandits."
...
At the Flying Fortress
General Gaiman watched the coordinates on his screen with an unreadable smile. He wasn't just a savage warlord; he knew history better than anyone.
"Humanity's last hope, huh..." Gaiman scoffed. "The idealists are all dead. Now, the world only respects 'Power'."
He stood up, his cyborg body humming with lethal energy.
"Go get it... Kill anyone who stands in your way."