Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Translator: Mod7
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Chapter 4 - Murals
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I used Amy’s detection capabilities to scan for nearby caves.
Technology definitely improved one's quality of life. Without Amy, I would have had to search blindly, checking every nook and cranny.
I felt a surge of optimism, humming a tune. It had been a while since I had felt this lighthearted.
“…Doctor, your pulse and blood pressure are exceeding normal parameters.”
But Amy, interrupting her scan, suddenly focused on my physical condition.
She was being overly cautious. I just wanted to find a cave, lie down, and sleep.
“Doctor, the liquid you recently consumed has affected your central nervous system. Doctor?”
“Just find a cave~ If there isn’t one, we can sleep under a rock…”
I walked, my body feeling strangely sluggish.
And then, gradually,
A subtle sense of unease crept in.
“Doctor, you must calm down.”
Amy’s voice brought me back to reality.
The strange emotional shift that had begun after drinking the honey forced me to reconsider my plans.
“A-Amy? Scan me again, more thoroughly. What did I drink…?”
I pulled off the hood and unzipped my protective suit, exposing my chest.
I couldn't tell if my heart was racing or slowing down. The calmness I had felt earlier was replaced by a growing anxiety.
I had made a mistake, driven by my desperate hunger and thirst. I considered forcing myself to vomit, but-
“Doctor, please calm down. Expelling the liquid and losing further fluids would be more dangerous in your current state.”
Amy dissuaded me.
Her eyes scanned my chest and abdomen.
“It is not toxic. However, it contains a compound similar to morphine, causing vasoconstriction and muscle relaxation-”
“Morphine?”
Damn it,
It was a narcotic.
“A morphine-like chemical. The precise structure is-”
“Yeah, that’s enough… you don’t have to explain…”
I had never touched drugs in my life.
Since crashing on this planet, I had experienced everything.
“Okay, it’s fine…”
“The compound is also present in the atmosphere, in addition to the honey.”
That was even more bizarre.
While the mermaids and spiders evolving human-like forms was strange, how could a plant…?
I slowly began to understand.
My mind hadn't been functioning properly since I smelled the sweet fragrance.
The hunger and thirst,
And the sweet scent that preyed on human weakness.
Near the flower-woman,
My desperate situation had seemed insignificant.
My mind had clouded,
My judgment impaired.
“Let’s go. It’ll be fine…”
The further I walked from the flower field, the clearer my mind became.
The honey, still coursing through my veins, provided much-needed nutrients,
And I couldn't bring myself to vomit.
Expelling it would mean,
Certain death.
Right now, I needed the small amount of hydration and calories it provided, just to keep moving.
***
“Doctor, there is a cave 400 meters ahead.”
We walked for another few dozen minutes and discovered a new landmark.
It was a small hill, rising slightly above the surrounding terrain. Walking around it, it seemed completely sealed.
Only Amy, able to detect the empty space within the earth, could locate the cave entrance. Ordinary creatures would have simply passed by, unaware of its existence.
“It’s hidden.”
“…Entering is recommended. No life signs detected.”
“Are you sure?”
While finding shelter was a priority, this situation felt different.
I had moved between several caves already, but this was the first time I had sensed such a deliberate concealment.
“There is an unidentified structure, 20 meters in diameter, within the cave. My capabilities are insufficient to analyze it.”
Amy’s report was vague and unsettling.
Having been burned by the word “unidentified” too many times, I hesitated.
“…Alright.”
But we continued moving.
Inaction wouldn't improve our situation.
I had to find any clue, any hint, about escaping this planet. I couldn't keep wandering around like a beggar, constantly on the brink of death.
While survival was important,
Our ultimate goal was escape.
And to escape, we needed information about this planet, and we needed a means of transportation.
And most importantly,
We needed to understand what lived on the moon.
Without a plan to deal with it,
Launching a spaceship would be a suicide mission.
“Let’s go in. How do we open it?”
“A pressure-sensitive plate, functioning as a switch, has been detected beneath a rock on the right side.”
“…Do all intelligent lifeforms hide their keys under rocks?”
So, I stepped forward.
I couldn't pass up the opportunity to find both shelter and information.
***
“What is this?”
We entered the cave and found a peculiar structure.
It was devoid of ornamentation, simply a harmonious blend of curves and straight lines.
Everything about it, from the artificially carved entrance, seemed deliberate and intentional.
The structure resembled an altar. A strange, pillar-like object rose from a flat, circular base.
Whoever had created this had clearly taken great care and precision in its construction.
“…It seems like a religious structure, doesn’t it?”
“Affirmative.”
I had expected a dwelling of some sort,
But a sense of reverence permeated the cave.
I remembered the Spider Queen’s words.
When I had threatened her with her mate’s life, she had said…
[Just let us live. Let him go… just let us leave. I swear on all the gods and the moon…]
All the gods and the moon-
It hadn't sounded like an empty threat. And she hadn't been in a position to lie.
The females I had encountered on this planet had all formed unique societies, so it wasn't surprising that they had developed their own religions.
The mermaids revered the lake,
And the spiders worshipped the Ancestral Tree…
“…”
My mind raced.
Despite the calming effects of the honey, my gaze remained fixed on the strange structure, my fingers tracing its contours.
“Doctor.”
Amy’s voice interrupted my thoughts.
“Murals.”
A brighter light emanated from her head. Illuminating the truth I had missed, my attention focused solely on the altar…
The cave walls, as if carved specifically to display them, were covered in meticulously crafted murals.
I finally understood why the cave had been hidden. They wanted to protect the murals from desecration.
“What is all this…?”
It was strange.
I followed the simple, picture-like murals, starting from the left,
And it felt like someone was trying to communicate…
“…”
A record of some sort.
A sense of foreboding washed over me, but I continued studying the images, memorizing every detail.
“He was in a similar situation. His spaceship arrived, and he was… in a desert? The background looks like a desert.”
This planet attracted spacefaring civilizations.
Specifically, males,
Males from various civilizations.
I couldn't comprehend this bizarre pattern. Why? How?
How could a species evolve like this? It meant that every creature on this planet had to wait for males from distant worlds to arrive.
Such an inefficient and unproductive reproductive strategy couldn't have evolved naturally.
Everything I knew, everything I had experienced, screamed in protest.
This wasn't a random occurrence.
“The moon. He drew the moon.”
Diversity was beneficial for a species, ensuring the propagation of various traits.
But this raised a question.
What did these creatures gain by attracting males from different civilizations?
Why did this pursuit of cosmic diversity result in beings that looked so much like me?
“…The moon.”
The moon in the mural had a face.
While the other images were realistic, meticulously crafted,
The moon was depicted with crude, almost frantic strokes, like a feverish hallucination.
I wanted to dismiss it as a simple delusion,
But the shape of the moon was accurate.
I wanted to ask the artist what they had felt, what they had been thinking,
But it was too late.
At the end of the mural,
Was a large, meticulously detailed image of the moon, its shadows and craters rendered with incredible precision.
And from the moon, a thin, red line extended downwards,
Reaching the ground.
And there, at the end of the line, was a skeleton.
Crouched, its bones decaying,
Its hand still reaching towards the mural.