“The Object”

The geophone read the seismic activity for the tow. Jacques logged it. The logs were automatically sent to the supervisors at headquarters. The drilling process was set to begin in a month.

“Nothing new for you, huh Jacques?” Winston yelled out. He was reading the numbers off of the other geophone to be logged. 

Jacques looked up, all he saw was white. “I don’t know, sure is cold here” Jacques retorted. 

Winston laughed as Tuck climbed down from the tow. 

“We sure are glad to have you as lead out here Jacques” Tuck said directing his eyes toward Jacques. 

Jacques smiled. “Important work we do out here men.” 

Jacques looked at his sub zero watch. The temperature read -10 degrees Fahrenheit. It was 6p.m. The sun wouldn’t set for another three months. “The droids about to fly overhead, men let’s get back to our station” Jacques yelled out to the crew. The tow was driven into a tunnel under the surface. The geophones were packed up into the tow. Everyone grabbed a pack and the men started the trek towards their camp. No one had ventured to this area before, this was the intel Jacques was given by his supervisors. The men knew nothing of the area just as he did.

Jacques scanned his palm and the door parted open. “Alright men, at ease and to your stations. Tomorrow morning we’re moving on.” Jacques voice echoed over the sub zero watches that all the men wore in part of their uniform. The men’s drilling tech and gear was all fancy. The places they were directed to take camp at, not so much. As Jacques made his way to his headquarters he attempted hanging his parka up to stop the blinding light from shining into his sleeping chambers. Sleep was hard to come by and time was something he was losing sense of. He made his bed and began to lay his head down to sleep. His head hit something hard. He pulled the object out from underneath his sleeping quarters. It was an inch or so thick and quite a few inches tall. He attempted to open the object but it wouldn’t budge. It was frozen shut. He moved it to the heating chambers and in an hour he was able to pry open the object. Individual pieces of the object flipped over revealing stained rough sheets with scribbles and pictures but not the digital holographs he was used to. These looked hand drawn, if that was even possible. He threw the object in his bag and went to sleep, he didn’t want to raise the concern of his men and alert them to a foreign object just yet, not until he knew what it was and what threat it presented.