When the scouts found Neytune, 6th planet of the Acreon system, it was immediately clear there was something unique on the surface. Lying in the open on a vast steppe is a statue in a reclined pose. The size of a grand battleship, the metal surface has defied scientists’ attempts to see inside. Over the five years since its discovery, the statue has attracted many to the small settlement at its side. There are some settlers, many tourists and a few obsessed mad men.
A Giant
Life is plentiful in the galaxy with hundreds of star faring species. Though they come in many shapes and sizes, all races are of the current era. Dating of the statue has revealed it to be of the previous era, causing experts to declare it a work of a precursor race. They are only slightly wrong. It is a member of a precursor race. These massive metal beings came from a huge rocky world that has long since ceased to exist. The giant is the sole survivor of its race. When the giant found out that it would be alone, it decided to rest whilst it waited. With sentient life now living at its elbow, the giant is beginning to slowly awaken. When risen, it will bring terrible warnings of the end of last era.
A Machine
The war lord Jithk was a short member of his species and spent far too much of his time making sure that his personal equipment made him look large. The statue is War Machine Gamma 3, the last of the madman’s creations. He was building in secret on this unknown world to enact his revenge. Exiled from his home world after his last war cracked open a continent, he wandered lost amongst the stars. His cunning netted him a factory ship and the plans for one last war machine. Deep within the statue the factory ship remains, the machine built around it. Before he could launch, Jithk became ill. Thinking the illness would pass, he continued to work, even finishing the neural interface. He was testing it when, feeling suddenly tired, Jithk tried to lie down. Connected to the machine as he was, the whole thing adopted the pose he thought he was in. Then Jithk died, leaving behind an empty but complete war machine.
A Tomb
The species that did inhabit Neytune would have joined this era, had they not played with unnatural science. Attempts to better their own biology backfired badly. Before the end, a minor lord asked an artist to create for him a monument. The result was the statue. A representation of their god, lying down asleep and uncaring for the plight of the people dying around him. Millennia later, all that remains of this lost civilisation is the statue, a tomb so solidly built that time has not touched it. Inside are the remains of thousands along with their grave goods. There may even be data, some lost technology that could fetch a high price. Grave robbers should be careful though, for the inside is guarded with a sense of humour.
Image Credit: Reclining Figure by Jim Linwood – CC-BY-2.0