Interstellar Portals - Ua Valla

An Archaeological dig on 38 Ceti II 'Ua Valla' (143 light years from Earth)

17 October 1858 AD (Terran Gregorian Date)

6 August 130 (Local Date, years since discovery)

It was shortly after lunch when the rushing carriage arrived at the archaeological site. Not for the first time, Professor James Livingstone wondered why he had been dragged all the way out here on the Cetian frontier. (Of course, the real frontier, the forefront of discovery, was further out.) He had travelled more than 22000 miles, through four portals, from Cambridge, where he had received the message four months before.

If nothing else, he was thankful for the Steam Revolution and the advancements it brought. If not for railways and steamships, he would still in transit, approaching the Ceylon Portal. He then saw one of the other archaeologists approaching.

“Welcome, Professor, to Ua Valla site 51,” he said with an Oxford accent. “We've been waiting for four months since we sent the telegram.”

“Are you Doctor Quentin?” Livingstone asked.

“Yes, Doctor Oliver Quentin,” the Oxford educated archaeologist answered. “I was the one who suggested that you should be summoned.”

“You had found some quite unusual artefacts, that you said I could help with?”

“Yes. We think they are based upon previously unknown advanced technologies way more advanced than anything previously discovered. The discoveries you made on Vivalis were what lead us to this area.”

That got Livingstone's attention!

The artefacts that he had found on Vivalis were at the time more advanced than previously discovered and more advanced than any known civilisation had at the time. Some of the artefacts were engines that could use oil based compounds for energy inside the cylinders, and various electrical items, including light bulbs and sound-recording machines. The light bulbs and sound recorders had been recently reverse-engineered.

The internal combustion engine had also been reverse-engineered, but the efficiency of the engine was still much lower than the original. Material science still had a way to go yet.

“Take me to the artefacts,” he said.

Fifteen minutes later, Dr. Quentin lead leader Professor Livingstone to the site, where a building had once stood. “From what we have been able to determine; the site was abandoned approximately 800 years ago, for reasons unknown. The remains of the building are interesting. The foundations are made with concrete, though it is shattered and stained with rust. It is possible that the concrete was reinforced with iron, or steel, which has since rusted away,” Dr Quentin said.

“Interesting,” Dr. Livingstone said.

They came to where the strange artefacts were stored, after their excavation. Another young archaeologist met them outside the shack. “Hi, Doctor Livingstone? I am Ophelia Patterson, Dr Quentin's Postgraduate assistant. The artefacts are in here. When I discovered the first one, I didn't know what it was” the postgrad said, and held out her hand. Dr. Livingstone sighed. He still wasn't used to women studying at universities.

He didn't know what the bureaucrats and politicians in London and Copenhagen were thinking when that particular reform was brought in over a decade ago. He shook her hand.

Patterson and Dr. Quentin lead Dr. Livingstone to the devices. “When we found them, there were electrical cables running between various components of the devices, so we knew form the outset that they are electrical in nature, and that they are also modular. Each component would serve a different function,” Patterson said.

“We haven't taken them apart. We wanted to wait for your opinion first. We also found many books, but the language and/or the writing system is completely unknown. All the linguists that we have been able to consult so far were completely perplexed,” Quentin added.

Dr. Livingstone reached out to one of the components of one of the devices. “This looks like what could be a Cathode Ray tube. I have heard that the Klatza are working on them, but they have nothing like this,” he said. He kept current (or tried to) with the number of civilisations that the Co-Imperium had contact with (at least dozens). The Klatza were the most advanced, having been contacted about 15 years before. They seemed to be about 50 years ahead of most European nations.

“ And this looks like a typewriter without the ribbon.”

Quentin ticked the artefact up. ““We think it is some sort of input device for a typewriter based telegraph, which the devices could be linked into.”

“Though it could be something else entirely,” Patterson said.

Dr. Livingstone lifted the 'Cathode Ray tube' off the box portion of one of the devices. “Is there anything else you have found?”

“Yes. We have also found stacks of thin squares. We have no idea what those are for. The writing on them is simple, like some kind of labels. They are stored nearby,” Dr. Quentin answered.

“I'll look at those soon” Dr. Livingstone said. He flipped a latch on the top of the box, and then took the top off carefully. All three of them looked inside.

“Cannot make heads or tails of any of this electrical stuff. We probably need a Mathematician to have a look at it,” Patterson said, of the various boards of electrical circuits she could see inside.

“Agreed, though even a Klatza mathematician might be perplexed. It might take even them decades to reverse engineer something like this,” Dr. Livingstone said. He knew he was in for a long period of fieldwork. He was grateful that he had put his affairs in order back in Cambridge before he had left.