"We are still boiling seawater. You want salt, right?" Laurel said. She then added a mocking tone to her words. "How nice of you to sleep and then eat even though you barely did any work."
"Tch! It's not like you did any work either. Most of it was Bob's or Xiaolang's doing, right?" Lexus said.
"Come on, you guys. Stop fighting," Lazarus said.
"I am hungry!"
"And so is everyone else!" Laurel roared.
"We might not get salt, but I think we can make a stew from the meat with this seawater," Bob said.
"Stew is great! Let's do that!" Lexus nodded.
"Hah… Alright. We will make a stew then," Laurel sighed. "But we still need salt for later. So, help me boil it."
"I think we should make more of these pans. Instead of boiling the seawater, we can use the sun to dry the seawater, right? That way, we can conserve firewood," Shingo said.
"That's right. We shall do it tomorrow," Laurel nodded.
"On that note, what are we going to do tomorrow?" Shingo asked.
"We will either explore the eastern plains or the southern forest again."
"Didn't we already investigate the southern forest yesterday? And Xiaolang already explored the eastern plains a few days ago."
"We might find something new. Don't lose hope yet."
"The eastern plains have those rhinos. I think it is safer if we explore the spire," Xiaolang said.
"But there is food there. We can have those metallic onions. We have to go there at some point," Shingo argued.
"... I agree."
"Ah!! This stew is great. We should hunt more scarabs and use them as food!" Lexus gulped down his stew.
"That's cruel! We shouldn't kill other animals for our selfish gain. This is just an exception because they are the ones that attacked us first," Lazarus said.
"You can save the religious speech for yourself. I want meat!" Lexus scoffed.
"So selfish!" Laurel sighed. "Lexus aside. Xiaolang, I think we already mentioned this before, but the spire is dangerous. There is a scarab there."
"And so is everywhere else. The northern mountain has those cloud reapers. The eastern plains have those scarab-slaying rhinos. Even some of the trees are dangerous," Xiaolang said.
"... You are right." Laurel nodded. She then turned to the others. "I think Xiaolang has made his point. What do you guys think?"
"I am against it. Killing is wrong. We shouldn't break into the scarab's home to begin with," Lazarus said.
"I support it! Let's hunt some scarabs! Once we level up, we can hunt the rhino and the cloud reaper next!" Lexus said.
"That's cruel! We shouldn't do that!" Lazarus argued.
"Any other suggestions? Shingo, Anna, Bob? I am leaning more against exploring the spire. I think we should explore more of the island before fully committing to investigating the spire," Laurel said.
"Hm… I wonder… Anna?" Shingo asked.
"I don't like either one. They are both dangerous…"
"Yeah. You are right. Those rhinos were fast. We are lucky they can't climb trees."
"We don't have to kill the scarab if we don't have to. We can make traps from vines around here, right? We can make some nets and hang them on trees. It's safer too since we don't have to engage it with weapons. I think it is safer than engaging the rhinos," Bob said.
"Excellent idea. Yeah, we can use traps!" Shingo nodded. "I agree. We should go with Xiaolang's idea."
"Hmm… Alright. So be it. We will go with Xiaolang's idea," Laurel said. "I don't think we will find much there though… But since it is four against two… I will follow the majority decision."
"Thank you." Xiaolang smiled. It was not quite as he had hoped, but he got his point across.
"Well, if it doesn't involve killing…" Lazarus agreed.
"Tch! You guys are too soft-hearted. We are in a dog-eat-dog world here. Everything is trying to kill us!"
"I will gather strong-looking vines nearby." Xiaolang stood up after he had his fill of the meat stew.
"I will go with you. The rest can help with designing the traps," Laurel said.
The next morning, the group separated for their daily work. One group went to the lake to fetch and boil water, while the other worked to make a wok to gather sea salt.
At noon, they gathered near the spire to set up the trap.
"The net will be placed here. After you lure the scarab here, Bob will pull the rope while Anna and I push a rock from the top of the tree to counter its weight. This should lift the crocodile into the air," Shingo explained his design to Laurel.
"And then we kill it with a spear!"
"We won't!" Lazarus roared at Lexus.
"I will be the bait," Xiaolang said.
"... Alright. We will help Bob with the rope. Once the crocodile is in the air, we will tie the rope to a tree. Once we are finished with the spire, we will release the crocodile," Laurel said.
The rest of the group nodded. Then, once everything was ready, Xiaolang went toward the spire. Just like before, the scarab was waiting at the pond beneath the spire. Xiaolang had taken some rocks to bait the scarab, but apparently, that wasn't needed. The scarab saw Xiaolang was alone and roared. It chased after him with a fury Xiaolang had never seen before.
"So they remember us," Xiaolang muttered as he ran deeper into the forest. He had to adjust how smart these creatures were.
Two sticks marked where Shingo had placed the trap. Xiaolang didn't even need the sticks to know where the trap began and ended, as it was roughly hidden. He even saw Shingo's and Anna's uniforms on top of the tree. However, the scarab had never seen such traps before and chased him without hesitation.
"Now!" Shingo shouted from above the tree.
Then, the trap triggered. A net enveloped the scarab and hung it in the air. The scarab roared as it flailed its body, trying to bite through the vines.
"Success!" Shingo yelled.
"Woo-hoo!! We have caught a scarab!" Lexus shouted from beneath it. "Let's kill it!"
"No! We shouldn't kill animals! They are living beings too!"
"Xiaolang, Lazarus, and Bob, let's check the pond," Laurel said.
"Anna, Lexus, and I will watch the scarab in case it escapes," Shingo said. In case the net somehow loosened, they planned to use the reserve vines. They had worked all night for this, so they were prepared.
"Understood." Laurel nodded.
Xiaolang eyed the pond, scanning for another scarab. There was no guarantee that it housed only one scarab, after all. But no matter how he looked, even after he dipped his face into the pond, the water was clear of enemies. "It looks safe. Let's go."
The group then swam to the center. The water was cool to the touch. Xiaolang forced his eyes open underwater. Alien fishes swam about. One was round, bouncing on the river floor, while another was flat. Xiaolang knew that these fish were nocturnal based on their color. They were bright purple. Most of them used mud and sand to hide themselves at noon. He noticed that a diurnal creature would have a more normal color, like scarabs, cloud reapers, cloud striders, and others. Nocturnal creatures would have bright purple coloration.
Once he landed on the spire, Xiaolang immediately headed to the glint that he had seen on the spire before and climbed toward it. "It's here. Look."
As he climbed and dug around the area, a parabolic object covered in dirt and soil was revealed.
"... That looks like an interplanetary antenna," Laurel said as Xiaolang and Bob uncovered more of the structure.
"Is the entire spire a signal tower?" Lazarus said as she marveled at the alien antenna dish. It was green with runic engravings on the outside.
"It stops here," Xiaolang said a few moments later, knocking on a green wall with a flowing pink motif. "This is not just a signal tower; it is a whole concrete building. Or whatever this material is made of."
"Let's find a door! There are probably people inside!" Laurel was excited.
"It's probably abandoned," Lazarus said. "If there were someone inside, they would surely notice us right now, right?"
"There might be a radio inside." Xiaolang and Bob used a stone mallet to knock away the loose soil on the ground. Lazarus and Laurel helped them with sticks and their hands.
"Laurel! Xiaolang! Are you done? Whoa! That is some alien structure there!" Shingo came a few hours later and was amazed. What lay before him was an alien structure, green walls with flowing pink patterns adorning half the building.
"Amazing," Anna whispered. "It's beautiful!"
"Shingo. What about the scarab?" Laurel said.
"It's fine! The scarab seemed tired. It no longer moved. But what is this?"
"It's an alien structure! We found it! We can go home!" Lexus hopped. His fist pumped upward. "Anna! We can go home! Woo-hoo!! We can flee this accursed planet!"
"Only if we can find the door, that is," Xiaolang said. His face curved into a frown.
"There must be a door. They might be aliens, but they are not ghosts. There must be some way to get in," Laurel said. "We just have to keep digging!"
"Let us help you! The water is safe, right?"
"Yes. There aren't any scarabs, but watch out. Don't touch anything. We swam from there," Xiaolang said as he marked the path where he swam from.
"Let's go! Let's go home!" Lexus hopped into the water. His enthusiasm skyrocketed. Shingo and Anna followed behind. All children of M-5 Elementary School could swim because there were mandatory swimming lessons there.
"Ugh… I am wet," Anna moaned. But the boys were delighted. They rushed toward Laurel and helped her with the soil.
However, when sunset approached and they dug out the entire lower structure, they couldn't find it. It was all smooth walls adorned with the same green and pink pattern.
"..." The children could only gaze at the alien structure in silence.
"What the heck. Where is the entrance?" Lexus groaned. "Oi! Xiaolang! You are the one who found this! Where is the entrance?"
"How should I know?"
"... This might not be a building, but a monument," Laurel said. She didn't want to believe it, but it was possible. She had read that humans often made things purely for cultural value. The most famous one was the Monument of Earth, which was just a globe made to look like Earth.
"No! There is no way that's the case! This is a building! A radio tower! You said it yourself. That's an intra-planetary antenna dish, right?" Lexus roared. He couldn't believe that all their hard work would be in vain.
"Night is coming. Let's go home," Xiaolang said. "We can investigate this spire tomorrow."
"... Agreed."
"Wait! Wait just a moment," Lazarus said. Her eyes turned to the eastern part of the tower. Something had been bugging her. The floor. There might be something on the floor. She sensed it. In colonies, houses had to be attached to a foundation, and the foundation usually had basement floors in planetary colonies.
"I want to dig around here," Lazarus said as she pointed to the floor. "Can you please help me?"
I wanted to go to another world. I want to see more beautiful things. Life is dull here. I am not good at anything. Everyone is better than me. I am just… mediocre. ~Anna