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Chapter 35 by Actiaeon Actiaeon

What's next?

Artemis' colony

You and Yasmin gaze you at the large metal walls surrounding the complex. They are white matte painted shear metal walls, they are also topped with grey metal cables you guess would be electrified. Simple rail-guns rest unmanned at the top, while rust runs up and down each surface. The walls are made from large welded together pre-fab structures, they were simply welded together. Beyond the colony is a vast grassland of rolling amber grasses, growing up to the foothills of some enormous mountains in the west whose snowy tops disappear into the dense clouds. Everything is blanked in a thick dark layer of storm clouds, making the mountains in the distance look almost black and grey.

Curious as to what where you came from looks like you turn around, gazing at the waterfall which disappears into nothingness. However, after a while. You begin to notice the dark wet, green and purple tops of trees that grow on the other side.

You and Yasmin begin to walk around the walls looking for an entry point silently, rifles at the ready encase you find something horrifying inside.

You soon find a gate, old rusted however you can make out something pressed into it large letters, ARC ARTEMIS, it spells out, water helping make the wording clear. You press your right side against the gate, at first it does not want to move, with your arm slipping of the wet metal, but it begins to open as the rust creaks and falls off of its joints.

Eventually, you get the gates open, and you look out onto the somewhat small colony, you guess that there are maybe ~240 buildings. With apparently only 16% of the originally planned homes being built. They all have different levels of damage, some are wholly ruined while some look more new with very little rust upon them. Your mind races, maybe they had cryo-pod issues too. You and Yasmin begin to walk into the settlement.

Most of the buildings are typical pre-fab human structures meant more for temporary housing. Metal covered with a matte white paint the domes were built from easy to construct triangular segments. The buildings themselves offered only one room and very little privacy at that.

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"Hello," you shout, hoping that someone is around "Anyone."

You move forward a bit, to avoid your shoes digging into the wet mud below.

"Hello" Yasmin shouts as well.

You both wait for a potential response; however, nothing comes back.

"I think we should enter the main building," you say, pointing at one the largest and one of the less ruined buildings in the middle of the colony.

The middle building must be the colony command structure. Built from similar metal plates from the pre-fab domes it was boxier. Made from pre-landed fabrications, that were assembled before landing; then landed before the colonists were even supposed to be waked up. It sat there looking somewhat like a collection of rectangles around and nearly enveloping an even more enormous dome. In almost C like pattern; it seemed to stand the test of time better than any other structure.

"Agreed" Yasmin says, as you slowly creep towards the building, both of you have to struggle as the wet soil slows you two down.

Eventually, you reach the building and press to open the door, nothing, you try again, nothing. You then contact for the manual override, pulling on the lever and hearing it click for every centimeter you push it up, followed by another centimeter of the door opening.

Eventually, you pry open the door enough to slip into the structure, with that you and Yasmin enter the seemly abandoned structure.

What do you find inside?

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