Before touching down the ship at the entrance to the tunnels we have been allowed to explore, we decided to take a detour to one of the hot spring pools of water that dot the landscape.
After flying over one, we just had to land to peer over the edge for ourselves.
Although it was not what we had expected.
The view was unworldly, a crater that seemed to go down for miles with a boiling hot pool of water at the bottom.
We proposed sending something down to see what life might be down there, although we had not the time nor the machinery to do such a task.
Instead we opted to leave the out of place body of water and its possible inhabitants alone.
The trip to the entrance to the tunnels was full of exitement as we pondered what this oppertunity could mean for science, and various other fields of xenoresearch.
The entrance was simple.
A simple hole into a small hill of snow.
A lonely fire burnt outside the tunnel, it being one of the few sources of heat around for some distance.
After waiting for some time for a Lupidiran to welcome us, we instead decided to head into the foreboding tunnels alone.
The tunnel wound around a bit, then began to go down, not the steepest descent like that of the crater, but certainly one that in the slippery snow a vehicle would struggle to move up or down.
After having decended for quite some time, we noticed two grooves on the floor, one either side of the tunnel.
Both seemed to have holes leading somewhere, and we guessed (and still do suppose) that these are some kind of drainage system for water.
After walking more, we finally saw not one, but multiple Lupidirans moving around some food supplies from what is presumably a food stockpile off of the main tunnel.
I managed to catch one and speak to it for a moment, and he told me that most lupidirans are further down.
Although, he managed to go back to what he was doing before i had thought to ask him anything else.
We stopped for lunch around this time, although the smell of whatever animals the locals considered food was... Less than pleasant.
And so we moved onwards and downwards.
As we progressed downwards, the passing of time seemed to almost evaporate away.
With no natural light around the tunnels it was like another world in itself.
Down here, as the Lupidiran had said, more of them walked around doing various things.
However here, it seemed more like an animal's den or an organized anthill than a simple tunnel.
Recreation rooms, a cooking station, sleeping quarters.
The list goes on.
The tunnel also goes on.
And so, we follow.
As we went further and further we noticed the pattern of these "den hubs", where it would stop going down for a while and have the aforementioned rooms and facilities, then continue.
We eventually, after perhaps a day of walking, reached the rock layer.
They had carved a glorious entrance hall here, at the top of the rock layer.
There it sat, with paintings drawn on its walls, and a round stone door that looked like it had its insignia been carved by a laser cutter.
Although its wear and tear suggested that the door had been cut years and years ago...
Whilst we where busy studying the hall, the door rolled open...
From within, stood a Lupidiran, although not entirely how we expected it.
Unlike every other Lupidiran we and the galaxy had seen, this one's fur was grey.
To be honest, it took me by complete suprise!
A lupidiran! in any colour other than white!
It... It suggested that perhaps these people had been down here longer than we had thought...
They spoke to us for a while, and it became quickly apparent that this was a female of their species.
In fact, the first anyone had ever met.
Before I could complete asking my long list of questions of why they where all hidden down away here, she offered to take us thurther down.
Apparently it was much more dangerous down there, due to the proximity to the mines and our "space magic tech" that they have in there.
It got a laugh out of us on hearing that, and lead onwards by the Lupidiran we went further.
Down here, it was not cold anymore.
With no snow, and the pressure and heat from the depth, the rockfaces that made up the walls came to 0°c.
Not hot, but far warmer than the frozen temperatures of above.
At this point, some of us where starting to tire of the mass amount of walking we had done, and so we decided to ask if there was somewhere that we could place our sleeping gear for the night and get some rest.
They stopped walking, and turned to us with a smile and laughed slightly.
The Lupidiran simply gestured for us to keep following, and so we did.
Whilst we where there, i peered into one of the mining caverns.
Compared to the other things we had seen, it was rather modern.
Tiark co machinery and other modern marvels of science helping them do their jobs.
Although down here overall, it was now somewhat mixed,
both kinds of Lupidirans walked past us, white and grey.
Eventually, we where lead past the mines to a less noisy area.
This area had stopped moving downwards, unlike the mine area, and much like the snow dens this one had various offshooting rooms to different facilities.
Although im not quite sure we could have been prepared for what we where about to walk into...
We went through another door, this one with some strange writing carved onto it, and within was a sight unlike any other id seen, and am unliklely to see again.
An underwater cavern, probably natural, with the door exiting to around the middle of the height of the cavern with stairs leading down to the floor.
It was TALL, and somewhat rounded, with the most glorious tree growing in the center from within a pool of water much like the one on the surface, although MUCH less warm, probably around the temperature of a normal pond.
The pool had many small houses surrounding it, with some grass like organism on the ground.
It was a sight to behold, and surely a suprise that is almost certainly why the Lupidirans told us to come to this one in particular.
As we descended the stairs to the pool, i noticed the source of the water.
A hole in the roof let a small trickle of water in, falling onto the tree and making it look even more amazing than it should.
The tree itself was very big, and its leaves seemed to be bioluminescent.
Regardless of this, another thing that was rather obvious immidiately was that there where many "windows" in the walls, seemingly possibly hundreds of dwellings could surround this one place.
Another door on the other side of the cave, and on the ground this time, gave access to these dwellings.
Although before we left our guide behind and found a room, i almost asked what this place was used for.
Until i realised, as two children ran across us chasing eachother.
Presumably, they use this as some kind of nursery, considering how relaxed and warm it is compared to elsewhere.
After having found some rooms, we slept for the night.
And we quickly resumed our task of going further.
After letting ourselves out (with quite some effort to get the door to move) we moved on back to the main tunnel and continued walking.
Nothing afterwards quite matched that cavern, and most was a clone of the last area.
Unfortunately for us, we had not expected the caves to go so deep, and unsuprisingly our food supplies had presumed we would be 2 days at most.
For the sake of not starving to death from refusing to eat what they call food, we decided to return to the surface.
The return trip was rather silent, rather than the exitement of going down.
But it let us think, and finally after some time we returned to the surface in tact.
Thanking the gatekeeper for not having anyone of us trip and fall down there and have an accident, we went back to our ship and compiled our thoughts.
conclusions:
Finally i feel i have enough understanding to write some kind of conclusion.
The Lupidiran people, somehow through sheer perseverance and luck have managed to forge a living down in the depths of this hostile world.
Their people are split into two halves, one half "surface", and one half deep underground.
Presumably the underground Lupidirans have adapted various things to allow for their continued existance.
As for the oddities down there, i presume that things like the tree, and other items are probably recent additions using space era technology.
However overall, if there is one thing to take away from this, is that Lupidirans are not as primitive as we once seemed, if they can survive on a world like that.
HOWEVER!
I, Telic, REFUSE to leave this world fully until i uncover its secrets.
Another expidition thurther down is planned, although i feel like im entering some sacred temple...
It feels strange, but regardless we must continue onwards.
If the Lupidirans are giving us this opportunity, we must take it.