Interstellar Survival: Invasion

Chapter 26: The Legend of Prophet Nommo

Chapter 26: The Legend of Prophet Nommo

"Gliese," Old Du slowly said after thinking for a while.

A realization hit me. If Nommo had visited Gliese as well, Gliese's chart must be on this wall as well. Perhaps our database would be able to translate the script on the Gliese chart.

"Old Du, you're a genius! Well done!" I praised in excitement.

We all knew that the fixed star of the Gliese System, Gliese 581, was a red dwarf star. It was orbited by four planets, three rocky and one gaseous. Everyone split up again and searched the wall. About 20 minutes later, Dodo found the Gliese chart. After some comparison, we confirmed that it was the chart depicting Gliese 581 and its four orbiting planets.

After the numerous shifts in emotions earlier, we were much less prone to excitement now. Everyone remained calm and collected. Dodo proceeded to analyze the script on the wall. After five minutes, it nodded at Old Du. The characters on the wall could be traced to an ancient Gliesen script.

Hope covered Zhang Xingxing's face, and we hurriedly gestured at the priest to make our findings known. The priest nodded and waved. From the crowd of Sirians, a Sirian who looked like a female walked out. The female alien started speaking to us in Gliesen. Our translator was able to smoothly translate her words into something we all understood.

"Success!" I nodded at Zhang Xingxing.

The female alien was called Amethyst. She slowly told us the story of Nommo.

About 150,000 years ago, the Sirius people lived on a planet called Bright, a planet of the Betelgeuse System from the Orion Constellation. Their homeworld was a beautiful planet filled with lush forests and abundant water. Their species had lived there for millions of years.

There were numerous massive fixed stars filled with energy in the Orion Constellation. Nobody knew where these fixed stars got their energy from, but they constantly transmitted their energy to Bright, nourishing all life on the planet.

It was during that period that Nommo was born. He was different from the others since birth. The people of Sirius were amphibians, capable of living both above and underwater. However, Nommo was born without legs, making water the only habitat he could live in. The concept of discrimination did not exist among the Sirius people. Nommo's unique appearance was instead viewed by their high priest as a sign from the heavens. At a young age, Nommo was brought to Bright's higher institution of learning to learn.

The young Nommo displayed extraordinary talent in astronomy, theology, and weapon handling. He eventually became the high priest's successor. One day, a group of aliens attacked Bright. The aliens possessed powerful energy weapons. It did not take long for Bright to fall. The people of Bright were massacred, and even toward their deaths, they were unaware of the origin of the alien invaders. At the time, they called the invaders the Darklings.

With the defeat of their entire planet without any path of retreat, Nommo led the final survivors and escaped the planet in a spaceship. They thus drifted through the universe.

The Darklings pursued them relentlessly, and after about a thousand days of pursuit, they arrived at the Sirius System just as they were running out of energy. Utilizing his expertise in astronomy and the high-tech equipment in the ship, Nommo calculated that a living space was present on Sirius B. The massive pressure and high temperature surrounding Sirius B acted as the perfect shield for the Bright people.

In order to pierce through the layer of pressure and temperature around Sirius B, Nommo suggested that they used the final bit of energy in the ship to produce a wormhole. That would be their final hope. If they failed, the final 2,000 survivors would all die, and the people of Bright would thus be extinct.

After a discussion, everyone agreed to his plan. Nommo then powered their wormhole manufacturer with all their remaining energy and flew into the wormhole with the final bit of the ship's momentum. Sirius B's outer layer of pressure and temperature provided the people of Bright a safe haven. The Darklings weren't able to find these survivors, so they eventually left.

Just like that, the people of Bright started living on Sirius B. Sirius B was a white dwarf, a product of the decline of a fixed star. It thus lacked energy in its core. When the Brightlings arrived, Nommo kept thinking of a way to defeat the barbaric invaders and bring his people back to their homeworld.

That desire pushed him to explore the Milky Way Galaxy in search of alien civilizations and an even more powerful source of energy he could harness to defeat the Darklings. To leave, he had to find a source of energy to produce more wormholes. On a random island on Sirius B, he found what he needed.

The island was named Terror Island. That island housed the sole opening that led to Sirius B's core. As Sirius B had basically almost fully exhausted its energy, the remaining energy in the core only leaked out of Terror Island. That was also the only place one could harness energy on Sirius B.

"There's hope for us!" Zhang Bao'er cried out in excitement. "We can harness the energy source on Terror Island, produce our own wormhole, and leave!"

Amethyst could not understand him. Looking at his excitement, she appeared confused, so she stopped speaking.

"Ignore him. Please continue," said Old Du in the Gliesen language.

With a nod, Amethyst said, "The energy of Terror Island can't be harnessed so easily. A two-headed giant monster lives there. The monster derives its nourishment from the energy coming from the opening on the ground. It is very powerful, and it will be extremely violent to anyone wishing to harness the energy there."

"Two-headed giant. Does it have six legs and a pair of big wings?" asked Old Du.

"Yes," Amethyst answered.

"Looks like the two-headed creature on the case refers to the one on the Terror Island," I said.

Zhang Xingxing and the others appeared to agree with me.

"For the energy, Nommo would have to defeat that beast," Amethyst continued her narration.

Prophet Nommo was highly intelligent. With advanced technology under his control, he had snatched energy from that beast. However, the tribe had also lost half their numbers during that fight.

Since then, nobody had been able to take a single step onto Terror Island. The energy supply on Terror Island was large. After obtaining the energy he needed, Nommo was able to manufacture a wormhole. Through the wormhole technology, he traversed the universe in search of something that could defeat the Darklings. He also brought Bright technology to the many races across the universe, helping these races resist hostile alien invaders.

To prevent the rise of more destructive civilizations similar to the Darklings, Nommo had been selective about what he taught the people of each planet. That explained why the people of Blue had better knowledge of astronomy while the Gliesens had the wormhole technology.

Imagine a reality where during the 16th century when humanity experienced a massive growth in astronomy studies, humanity had obtained the wormhole technology as well. Humanity could very well have been an invasive civilization that ran around invading other planets.

With the energy he harnessed from Terror Island, Nommo had visited one star system after another in the Milky Way Galaxy. However, he never managed to find the energy source or the technology that could defeat the Darklings.

He had spent around a hundred years exploring. As he grew older, the energy supply on Terror Island had also shrunk. Thus, he reduced his travels. In his final journey, he had gone to Betelgeuse in his usual search for a new energy source. During his return, an accident happened. His ship seemed to have exploded while he was landing, and the entire ship crashed into the black mountain.

All the Brightlings were alarmed. After all, Nommo was both their prophet and spiritual pillar. Everyone had been relying on the numerous alien technologies Nommo had found to constantly perfect their knowledge base. With their knowledge base, they were able to continue living and propagating in this world.

To save the prophet, the high priest of the time personally led a group of personnel to the black mountain. In the ship, they encountered a massive creature with a giant paw. That was the same giant paw we had encountered earlier. The creature was fierce, and it was the culprit behind the ship's accident.

The group battled the creature fearlessly, trying their very best to charge into the ship. After a large number of casualties, they finally arrived at the door of Nommo's room. Only the high priest and two other youngsters were able to reach that point. After the creature killed the ones keeping it occupied, it rushed toward them.

The high priest said to one of the youngsters, "We can only buy a little bit of time for you. Go in and protect the prophet. When you find him, take him away. The entire tribe is relying on you. So long as the prophet lives, Brightlings shall continue existing."

Then, the high priest pushed the youngster into the room. He and the other youngster detonated their bombs, destroying the hold of the ship and blocking the creature's advance. The youngster fell into the room. When he raised his head, he saw Nommo, seriously injured, seated at the center of the room.

Nommo waved the youngster over. When the youngster walked over, Nommo rubbed the youngster's head and slowly said, "I found the weapon capable of restraining the aliens. But while trying to harness the energy, I was cursed. An ancient monster attached itself to me. Even after doing all that I could, I failed to destroy it. The monster gained control over the ship before bringing it all the way here.

"The secret is sealed in two ancient secret cases. The secret cases are extremely durable. Only excessively powerful energy can open them. The secret of obtaining the energy required is already etched on the cases. We Brightlings won't be able to control this energy. Our tribe can no longer afford more deaths. In the far future, several saviors will descend upon the people of Bright. I will leave the prophecy with you. Await your saviors."

The youngster expressed that he wanted to bring Nommo out, but Nommo shook his head.

"Child, I don't have much time remaining. Listen to me. Remember every word I say and bring my words back to the tribe," Nommo said. "I have two secret cases here. Take the small case and toss it into the wormhole. When the savior sees the small case, he will come for the bigger case. The secret of the energy source can be found in the main case."

Next, Nommo gave the youngster a book. The book recorded the details of Nommo's exploration of the Milky Way Galaxy over the years. The scripts, languages, and technologies he had encountered were also recorded in the book. Nommo reminded the youngster that he had to bring the book back because the future savior might come from any of these planets.

The youngster nodded and promised to complete the mission. Nommo then said in a gratified manner, "This giant paw is my personal curse. It can't be killed. Even after my death, it will proceed to slaughter all life on Sirius B. After you go back, turn this place into a forbidden zone. Seal this place up and prevent anyone from coming. I will use my remaining energy to conquer the giant paw creature, fusing my mind with its mind. Both of us will exist and perish together. With that, us Brightlings will remain safe."

Then, Nommo used the energy in the smaller case to produce a wormhole before pushing the youngster and the book into it. The youngster returned to the tribe with his mission and became the new high priest. He followed Nommo's instructions and drew the star charts in the book onto the cavern. He also had the people of the tribe learn the many scripts and languages in the book. At the same time, the black mountain was turned into the tribe's forbidden zone.

The youngster also sent people to search for the wormhole mentioned by Nommo and had them toss the smaller case into it. That youngster was the current priest's ancestor. Their family had guarded the secret generation after generation, awaiting their savior. After so many years, we were finally here.

After finishing the story, Amethyst looked at the priest. The priest nodded to her with a gratified smile on his face. After all, they had waited a very long time for their saviors to appear.

"No, this story is very suspicious. There are too many issues with it," said Zhang Bao'er.

Everyone looked at him.