Newt exited hypernavigation and arrived on sight of a quite small planet, the only one orbiting around a double-star solar system. In itself, this little Earth seemed only made of rocky mountains around which an omnipresent desert was spreading, covering the entire surface. No signs of water could be seen from space or of any human colonization for that matter. This planet would have certainly been saved from the Great Expansion because of the flagrant danger the lack of stability of the double star represented. Newt landed on the planet so Max could set foot on the ground. “I cannot stay on the ground here. I have to stay in space. But do not worry I am still around watching over you, Max” the vehicle said before he rapidly vanished in the sky.
Max did not have the time to answer that he found himself alone, lost in the middle of a gigantic desert. He was lost, on a remote and unknown planet he had never heard of, despite the fact he was renowned at his university as a spatiography genius. Instinctively, he started walking towards the mountains he had seen from space, where he hoped he would find a place to hide from these blazing suns.
Walking was difficult. The sand on the dunes was incredibly thin and light, spinning and swirling with the slightest drafts. Making his way between the dunes and sinking from time to time into the heated sand, Max was hotter by the minute. The suns were strong. The young boy rapidly had a light headache, increasing as he walked past the dunes. In those times, humans were not used to receive unfiltered sunlight: the FuturaTech had it filtered by special products in the higher atmosphere on all planets. Max took his shirt off and wrapped it around his head to prevent the pain from worsening so that he could keep on walking. He was fighting against the impracticable ground and cursed Newt for landing him in the middle of nowhere instead of directly bringing him closer to the mountains.
[ ... ]
The elevator sank into the planet for nearly three minutes, digging always deeper into the ground. It finally slowed down to arrive at a complete stop. There was no noise anymore and the lift was not moving any more. However, the doors were not opening. Max worried it was actually a trap and not a real elevator and started examining the wall, searching for a way out or another button to activate. Suddenly, a decompression resonated in the machine and the doors finally opened onto a narrow and long dark corridor. He stepped out of the lift and moved forward in the hallway. After a few minutes, he arrived in a room that looked like a spherical observatory: the walls were completely glazed. However, the vista was jammed by metal blinds.
All of a sudden, a flash occurred, coming from behind him and Max discovered a man quite old, with grey hair. His face foretold he was rather slim under the scarlet gown he was wearing. He had no time to scrutinize further the man’s look as he started speaking to Max: “Good afternoon, Mister Weller. We’ve been expecting you.” His voice was reassuring and strangely calm.
“How… How do you know who I am? And…
With a gesture of the hand, the man opened the metal blinds, uncovering the full potential of the observatory. Through the windows, Max discovered the inside of the planet was actually hollow to hide the planetary city. It was spreading all around him under the planet’s crust. All the towers and skyscrapers were pointing towards the center of the planet where a great blue light was shining, taking the place of where usually is the planet’s core. Max could find no word to describe what he was looking at. He would have never thought to build such a kind of city and even the FuturaTech top engineers would have been amazed if they ever were to hear about it.