Dark Energy Supernova - An Anthology of SF SD Shorts

Wait! That's no Pyramid, . .

The jungle proved to be as tenacious as I had suspected.  Teeth grit, I forced my way through in the wake of the rough riders, which had forged ahead, all the while wondering why the hell I was here and grumbling that this 'structure' better be amazingly worth it.  And then, as abruptly as the jungle had began, it ended and I staggered out into a spot that was completely free of entangling growth.

For a moment I took a quick look around.  Had the rough riders actually taken the time to cut back the growth to clear the area around the structure? No, it seemed too organic, lacking the hacked-off appearance that bush had when manually pruned back.  There was some other force at work here, something that prevented the jungle from growing closer.

"Just about done your sightseeing back there, doc?" Ash called from the knot of rough riders that were striding towards the squat, pyramid-like structure that dominated the cleared space.

Catching sight of the pyramid, all questions about how the jungle was being kept back were dropped as I sighed.  Really?  A pyramid?  I knew such structures were inherently stable, represented a certain sophistication in understanding mathematical constructs and were relatively easy to build with primitive methods.  But a pyramid?  C'mon!

"Any other explorer cliches I should be aware before I do this thing?  No?  Very well, then," I muttered to myself as I prepared to step across the thick grass that carpeted the space around the pyramid.

Before I had a chance to take a step forward, however, a child's quiet voice remarked:

"Curious how perception and assumption colors understanding before true knowledge can be obtained," the voice said.

Barely repressing the urge to twitch in startlement, I looked to my right where the voice had come from.  Then I did violently twitch when I found a small human girl with her blond hair in a ponytail and wearing a simple light blue frock standing there.  She appeared to be looking at the pyramid in the near distance.

"Okay, beyond the fact that you're using vocabulary normally not associated with children the age you appear to be, and that advanced vocabulary is being used to render a rather philosophical, if somewhat vague statement, how the hell are you here??" I demanded.

Slowly the little girl turned from her apparent examination of the pyramid to look at me and give me a smile, albeit a rather mysterious one.  I barely suppressed a shudder before I took a half step towards her, intent on demanding an answer.  Before I could speak, however:

"Doc!  C'mon, man!" Ash called, his strong voice strangely echoing  in the cleared space around the pyramid.  "Daylight's burning!"

My attention jerked to the rough riders for a moment by the shout, I turned back to the little girl, intent on continuing my interrogation.  Only to find her gone, vanished as though she had never existed.  There wasn't even any footprints left behind in the thick grass.

"You seriously must be joking," I breathed, vacillating between fear and an almost overwhelming curiosity.  Then I was turning and running after the rough riders, epinephrine lending wings to my booted feet.

Ash turned with an upraised eyebrow as I ran up, panting from the exertion.

"What gives, doc?  You look like you've seen a ghost," he dryly noted as I staggered to a halt beside him.

"Have any of you seen signs of living inhabitants since landing here?" I managed to ask between gasps for air.

"Living inhabitants?"  Ash frowned then looked over at the other rough riders, who mostly wore looks of confusion.  "Not sure what Command told you in the pre-mission brief, but Petra was cleared of sapient life before we even set foot on it."