The Mech Touch

"What is this cavern? It's so big! Our previous sweeps should have detected it already if it is located close to the surface."

"This… hardly any mining machine could have done a perfect job of excavating such a smooth cavern. It doesn't look like it has been dug by any machine at all. Is there even another entrance or an exit besides this spatial portal?"

"These whale bones look enormous. If they correspond to the phase whales as we have guessed, then the entire skeleton must be over 12 kilometers in length."

"That's larger than a CFA battleship!"

"What monster did we stumble across?! No phase whale encountered by humanity is this long!"

More and more astonishing observations and guesses circulated among the excited clansmen as they let their imaginations go wild.

They never expected that this impromptu exploration initiated by Ves would uncover such an enormous discovery!

Discovering a whole phase whale skeleton was a stupendous find, especially considering that phase whales were individually the most powerful alien race in the Red Ocean!

The natives of the Red Ocean had always feared or revered the phase whales. It couldn't be helped. Once these powerful alien creatures leapt up from the gas giants they grew up in and entered the stars, they could overwhelm entire alien warfleets with their mastery of phasewater and bioengineering!

The only reason why the phase whales were not regarded as an existential threat by the other natives of the Red Ocean was because the race kept to itself most of the time.

The phase whales rightly or wrongly considered themselves to be the strongest and most superior species around. As long as everyone else got out of their way, they had little reason to pay attention to the tiny ants who mostly relied on giant metal constructs to compensate for their inherent weaknesses.

"Phase whales are also known for another important fact that may be relevant to our situation." Director Ranya Wodin reported as she stood in front of Ves. "The aliens are able to harness phasewater in ways that are more advanced than anything we have witnessed before aside from beyonder gates. They are known to create entire pockets of space that are almost completely isolated from the rest of the main plane of existence. The records we have access to do not convey any details, but they suggest that phase whales have built up a lot of space pockets over the years."

"Are you suggesting this is a space pocket? How come it is affected by Iron Crusher's gravity?"

The woman shrugged. "I can't explain that, Ves. Maybe your hypothesis about it being a cave that is located on another part of the moon is right, but I cannot imagine that the arrogant and powerful phase whales would utilize their powers in this fashion. It makes much more sense that this is a pocket space that has previously been undiscovered. It explains how it has been left undisturbed for such a long time."

"We will find out soon enough. We are already sending in additional probes as well as communication beacons, positioning devices and drilling bots to the phase whale cave. If this place is an entirely different pocket space that is isolated from the rest of reality, then we will find out soon enough."

Director Ranya and a team of exobiologists had come over shortly after discovering that there was a giant whale skeleton on the other side of the portal.

The Lifer biotech experts did not possess any in depth knowledge about the phase whale race. Hardly anyone understood them considering how difficult it was to find them let alone capture or interact with the powerful aliens in any meaningful fashion.

However, they were able to combine their own expertise with the public information available from the MTA and the galactic net to make all kinds of inferences.

Director Ranya, who decided to wear an organic protective suit for this visit, was brimming with excitement!

"This is a discovery that can further humanity's understanding of phase whales to a substantial degree!" She gushed like a teenager who met an idol in the fleshed. "Even though it appears that this dead phase whale has aged for millions of years, its skeletal remains can tell us so much about their diet, their growth pattern, the effect of their phasing powers on their enormous physique and more. Right now, we urgently need to retrieve recordings of the front half of the phase whale skeleton!"

"Our next wave of probes are already on their way. I'm just as curious as you to see what it looks like." Ves said.

The initial portal generated by putting a lot of different samples together had a finite lifespan. In order to make the most out of this temporary window in a giant phase whale sanctum, the Larkinsons brought all of the small-scale probes and other autonomous devices that they could send on short notice and crammed them through the portal.

Hundreds of probes and other devices flooded the cavern on the other side. While the portal made it impossible to send wireless transmissions from one side to the other side for unknown reasons, the clansmen solved this problem easily enough by bringing over a thick cable and passing one of its ends through the murky portal.

This simple trick was enough to establish real-time connections between the Larkinsons and their investigation tools.

A lot of data poured in as the probes scoured every part of the cave they could access. The ovoid space was enormous, but the abundance of probes meant it did not take a lot of time to sweep through most of the areas.

The only problem came when the probes attempted to explore the front side and more specifically the giant skull of the phase whale skeleton.

As soon as the probes flew closer, they began to experience more and more interference and other disturbances.

It was as if the probes were entering an anomalous region!

Even though the devices were all designed to be relatively tough and resistant, they became increasingly unable to hold themselves together as they neared the skull of the giant creature.

As soon as they moved a bit too close, the transmissions cut off. The Larkinsons were unable to regain contact with the devices anymore.

"Send in another probe at the missing one's position! I need to see what has happened!"

When another nearby probe closed in on the location where the communications break had happened, Ves and the others saw that the probe that they had previously sent in was still active!

"According to its pre-programmed instructions, it should turn around and go back in the event it has lost contact. We are unclear why it is not returning."

"If it has lost functionality, then it should have crashed to the bottom. Why is it stuck in place?"

This was weird. The probe's anomalous behavior couldn't be explained according to common sense. The only viable answer was that there was an unknown field close to the front half of the phase whale skeleton that distorted the surrounding space to such a degree that the probes acted as if they had become paralyzed!

The Larkinsons didn't give up at that. They sent a few more probes forward at different angles, only for them to all freeze in the same disturbing fashion.

Probes mounted with larger and more powerful sensors and scanning systems maintained their distance but tried to record as much data as possible.,c`o`m

Several of them even shone bright spotlights forward in an attempt to illuminate the darkness and make the distant whale skull visible, but to no avail!

The space further forward had become so messed up that the darkness couldn't be dispelled anymore!

In the hours the portal remained alive, the Larkinsons didn't give up attempting to get a decent sensor reading on that whale skull.

Groups of engineers arrived and cobbled up improvised and improved probes on the spot. These devices passed through the increasingly less stable portal and tried out several ways to break the invisible blockade or achieve their goal from a distance.

Ves held out the most hope for the probe that extended a hollow tube from its chassis. As long as the main body remained in the safe zone, it shouldn't be affected by whatever weirdness messed up the probes up front. At least that was the theory.

Ultimately, this attempt was a bust. The tube that was supposed to relay light and valuable data back to the main body inexplicably failed!

At first, they stopped transmitting data through the solid transmission lines.

Then, the end of the tube seemed to encounter an unknown danger that actually cut it off!

When the probe retracted its hollow tube, the Larkinsons saw that it looked as if the tip had been cut off in an incredibly smooth fashion!

"This looks familiar!" Ves gasped. "Isn't this the same kind of cut that had produced that strange space rock that we picked up shortly after entering the Garimel System?"

Back then, Ves and his staff speculated that the space rock could have only been cut in this fashion by manipulating space.

Now that he and his clan had actually found a giant phase whale skeleton, his earlier guesses were no longer spurious.

The Larkinson Clan had proved that at least one phase whale had definitely visited this star system and manipulated pockets of space for unknown reasons!

Ves widened his eyes.

"Wait a minute! We calculated that the space rock originated from Garimel I more than a hundred years ago or so. This is a completely separate occurrence from what we've stumbled across!"

According to several clues, the discovered space pocket along with the phase whale skeleton had lingered for millions of years. They were ancient beyond belief.

The two occurrences were unrelated, at least on the surface.

However, they possessed several similarities.

The way the phase whales of the distant past formed this underground space pocket led Ves to believe the mysterious space rock had also been affected by the same phenomenon.

If his guess was right, then a phase whale must have created another space pocket in the vicinity of Auralis!

Ves didn't know why the alien would do this. He also couldn't figure out the purpose behind the creation of such a remarkable place.

Was it a sanctuary?

A vault?

A playground?

Whatever the case, the Flagrant Vandal combat carrier that was assigned to inspect the first planet from the giant star might be able to stumble upon traces of phase whale activity!

"What are these phase whales doing here?" Ves questioned with a frown.

There must be a reason why at least two phase whales visited this star system.

"I need more data."

The investigation continued. The probes functioned well enough in the less dangerous spaces in the phase whale cave to retrieve lots of data, but Ves wasn't interested in the tail end of the giant creature's skeleton.

He and many other Larkinsons were hoping to glimpse the crucial skull and front of the once-might creature!

Any beast that had lived long enough to reach this size was an exceptional space creature beyond doubt!

Not even the Titania could match the size of this enormous phase whale!

Ves harbored a few doubts, though.

"According to numerous sources, phase whales only grow until their bodies reach between 1 and 2 kilometers in length.

How come the public database never mentioned that phase whales could reach such a stupendous size? Had all of the elders and most powerful individuals among the phase whale race so withdrawn in their own artificial enclaves?

Their current infestation methods weren't working. Ves knew he needed to send a more substantial scout when he next opened the portal.

"Should I… send in my mechs?"