>>5831980>>5832265As you examine the mysterious sunken chambers filled with liquid and hundreds of hemispherical golden dome pods, a part of you wonders: maybe there should be some sort of scientific institute, dedicated to researching mysterious ancient artefacts of mysterious indeterminate origin...?
Like an archaeological institute, for the unknown. Maybe you could call it... an archaeo-xenology institute? You doubt such an institute could ever exist, and if it did, their scientists probably could never get enough funding to do anything useful. Certainly they would never have discovered anything like an actual alien, or some new form of humanity, a human-alien hybrid.
Lacking access to this hypothetical imaginary advanced research institute, you sigh and reluctantly turn to the only form of scientific exploration and expertise you possess: your hand.
With outstretched and grasping fingers, you slowly reach out to the unknown golden pods. You also think it would be very wise to lower your face so that it is extremely close to the surface of the bulbous, slightly egg-shaped convex dome surface of the pod. Just so that you can see it better. As your fingers make contact with the pod it occurs to you that if something were to suddenly explode and burst out of the pod, attempting to affix itself to your face, this would be the optimal position for it to leap out and do so. Your current posture and stance would afford you very little time to react if something were to violently thrust out from the pods and clamp itself horrifyingly over your eyes and mouth. Something that had the patience to lie in wait, dormant and unresponsive, biding its time and waiting for a colony of potential hosts on the surface to grow and multiply, waiting and waiting until just the right moment when an offworld spaceship appeared, a means for it to finally spread beyond this planet and infect the stars beyond... If it struck too early it would kill off its living hosts on the surface above and quickly die out on a dead and empty rock. But having waited so long, perhaps now is finally the time?
