Asteroids weren’t at all uncommon across the void, but there was something particularly curious about this hunk of rock, floating mindlessly on its own. It wasn’t even the fact that this rock had an atmosphere, it was that there seemed to be something living on it.
The rock itself was mostly nothing but grey. It was most likely a piece of an old moon that had long ago been destroyed. A small atmosphere was clinging on to this rock, mainly nitrogen and argon, gasses that are heavier than most. The piece of rock wasn’t really that big, only about 50m in diameter, with small, weird caves cut into it.
One cave though hadn’t been cut out by the destruction of the original body. It had been dug out by hand.
“I do not like this at all…” Relkir hissed as he and Akah approached the cave entrance. “Godliness aside, this feels bad.”
“I could not agree more!” Akah tutted, leading the way. They had a small floating light with each of them, which illuminated the small path ahead of them. Hideous claw marks covered the cave walls, all of them having raked away ancient dirt and stone.
The cave wasn’t particularly deep. In fact, it only had one little twist in it until it petered out. In this little corner of the cave, there was… something not at all cave like. A tiny little shelter.
“What do you see?” a voice whispered in Akah and Relkir’s minds. “Anything there? Anything alive?”
Relkir edged closer to the scene. A tiny tent, made for a very small being, had been erected but very obviously abandoned. Inside the tent seemed to be nothing at all, but as Relkir peered inside, he swore he could hear… music?
“Do you hear that?” Akah asked, immediately confirming Relkir’s suspicions. The music was eerily peaceful, fading in and out. Neither of them could identify what the music was, apart from the fact that it seemed to loop.
“It is… astoundingly beautiful…” Relkir muttered, shaking his head to clear his thoughts. “Can you all hear this?”
“We can,” the voice in their minds replied. “Tahvra’s made a recording. We’re searching through records to see if we can find anything, but we’ve come up empty. Is there anything else there?”
“No, just the tent…”
“Hm. Still intact?”
“Yes…” Relkir grunted. “You want us to bring the tent back?”
“Please.”
Akah and Relkir did as requested. They pulled the tent up off the ground, folding up the fabric. Relkir dutifully carried both the fabric and the tent poles in his arms, while Akah continued to look around.
“Anything else?”
Akah didn’t respond. His glowing blue eyes were fixated on a tiny piece of tattered, black fabric. Something that wasn’t part of the tent. He grabbed a small container from his backpack and delicately placed the tattered fabric inside, using a small pair of tweezers.
“There is something else.”
“Black fabric?”
“How did you know?” Akah blinked in confusion.
“I just do…” Kinisis tutted. “Come back. Now. We have what we need.”
“Are you going to explain what all of this is?” Relkir asked.
“I will. Just get back here. This place is not going to remain stable for long.”
As Kinisis spoke, Akah and Relkir both felt a rumble. With a grunt, the two Guardians did as they were told and headed back to the ship, their questions mostly unanswered…