2525: Beyond the gate

Castrovel

"So Adam. Let me get this straight...you're telling me that we're gonna go see some mysterious alien technology deep beneath some far-off world. And we're gonna just watch what happens when some lab coat just starts poking it? Like it ain't gonna bite?"

With a concerned look on her face, Lieutenant Riley Lane paces around the hologram of castrovel in orbit. The team discusses the plan in their private quarters, which consists of several bunk beds embedded into the walls along with a holo table in the middle of the room.

The room is large with food dispensers and various other accommodations to keep the team happy.

The holo table is used for debriefing sensitive information to the team only. But along with that, it's used for the occasional game night.

The dull blue glow of the hologram shines through the entire room. Which highlights the planet's entire star system along with the development progress of the colonization across the planet's surface.

The planet appears a lot like earth, with its main differences being patches of yet terraformed land. It's almost the 21st-century mars surface is slowly turning into lush green pastures, forests, and underwater coral reefs.

Riley sits down and takes a deep breath, her curly dark brown hair resting upon her shoulders. The light of the mostly blue hologram reflecting off of her hickory-colored skin.

She crosses her arms across her chest and takes a deep breath in. Finally collecting herself she speaks up.

"It's just so...crazy. Like this is a plot for a generic science fiction book.."

Adam, who's been sitting at the holo table this entire time, is just casually watching his team react to man's biggest discovery. He doesn't blame them for reacting in their own ways. It's a big bombshell.

"I wish I was lying but that isn't the case, our mission is just to act as a vanguard against any threat. That's a direct order not just from General Sylas but the entire USE council.

Adam turns his head to face another of his team members.

"The USE wants us to know of the planets terraforming history for some odd reason. So Lieutenant Soshu, give us a quick rundown of Castrovels topography and history."

Upon hearing his order a man stands up from across the table. His jet black hair and ivory skin hint at his Japanese origins.

Grabbing a small datapad and throwing a few pictures into the hologram from the datapad begins.

"Yes sir. The planet's surface of castrovel at first fell under a "dead world" categorization. Which meant it required nearly 100 years of terraforming for its surface to inhabit life."

He shows a picture of Castrovel 100 years ago, a grey and red speck of dust no different from mercury or mars hundreds of years ago.

"But as of this year, it falls under the "Eden" planet categorization. Which as you all know means that the surface requires 5-6 months of terraforming to sustain life indefinitely. It's already hosting human life as we speak."

"Whoa. They did all of that in almost an entire century?" asks Adam amazed.

"Well yes, when a planet that has the right ingredients are put into a categorization scale depending on how much terraforming is needed."

"It only looks like Castrovel has always been earth-like, they did an amazing job," remarks Adam.

"They really did, all that's left is to create areas suitable for megastructures, and to create a perfect and stable biosphere."