Chapter 3: Red dwarf and purple planet

Anu looks around the room and at the purple light. He takes a step back so that ChiHiRu is between him and the purple light.
I heard that the team here wanted to to begin exploration of the temple but they didn't mention any purple light. It surely isn't one of our power generators either. They just hum and emit blue light if you remove the shielding.... which by the way is a veeeeery bad idea
The purple light continues to shine uninterrupted.

Dotty frowns and looks about, "Astrid wants me to bring some of these things back as compensation for lending you my services. " The mechanical optics in her head make soft clicking noises that transmit through her skull to her ears. "She’ll be pissed if you let me die."

Scott clicks several time in his palmtop

While ChiHiRu and Scott both look at the purple light but can neither percieve nor remember anything remarkable about the purple light.
Scott thinks he can remember that he saw a similiar light before but he can't remember where.

Dotty on the other hand uses her cybernetic eyes to search for anything remarkable about the light. She makes her implants zoom in on the light and while she can't make out the origin of it, she can detect a few shadows, one of which is moving. It's difficult to guess but she thinks that all shadows are made by objects that are at least the size of a dog and at most the size of a large human.

Anu and Adonis look at each other, Anu seemingly rather afraid while Adonis' resolve seems to grow. Anu says Well how we're gonna proceed? You want to go and check the light out or do we call it a day and...

Adonis interrupts him Call it a day? Surely not. If anyone is still alive here it could be a matters of hours wether they live or die. I say we go there. It probably is just some kind of ancient ligthing devices. Like those "light bulbs" I once saw in a museum

As he gazes at the mysterious light, ChiHiRu do not understand it and it gets him more and more curious. He look back at the group then back at the light. Quickly, his race natural curiosity take over his politeness toward the group ans he move forward to get a better look.

As he advance into the corridor, he does not pass the second doorway yet. He make sure to stay as a shield in front of the rest. If there is danger, it'll have to pass through him first before going behind him.

"One of the shadows in the light is moving." Dotty says watching it for a moment. Her bionic implants shimmer in the light making soft mechanical sounds in her skull. "Is there anyone else in here? Someone who was left behind perhaps?"

Anu expectedly looks at Dotty and ChHiRu.
I fear for the worst but maybe only one of the bandits or of our team survived. So this'd be the one you see moving... Anu says in response to Dotty's question

Scott can't see any obvious traps in the temple. As far as he remembers he's not aware of any trap that was found during the excavation of the temple area

ChiHiRu nears the doorway, every fiber under tension in case of a sudden attack.
But nothing happens. No trap springs and the light continues to shine uninterrupted

With nothing happening as he gets closer, ChiHiRu enter the room to investigate.

Dotty lets out a frustrated huff and follows Chi. "Be careful I don't want to have to clean anyone up."

The second room looks pretty much like the first room But is a bit smaller. Rotten remnants of furniture line the walls and you can see a few items like cups and bowls sticking out of the rubble. But you don't have much time to investigate the room as you can now see the source of the purple light in the next room.
The ceiling of the next room is formed like a giant dome. As you have a closer look you see hundreds of gems fitted into the wall.
The room somehow looks like a planetarium. Especially the reflection of the purple light gives you the impression of blinking stars.

A sphere of pure light is hovering in the room about 3m/10 ft in the air and it is surrounded by a strange purple barrier which looks like the shields of a star ship.
The radius of the barrier is about 5m / 15 ft and it is taking up much of the room.
At the floor of the room you can see some pirates and members of the archeological team. They are all inside the barrier.
Some are standing, some are sitting but they all seem to be... frozen. Not a single muscle is twitching, you can't see them breathing or doing anything at all.
In the middle of the room, right below the shining sphere is a pedestal. Behind the pedestal you can see a humanoid being. It is about 2m /6'6'' feet tall and has a skin that is colored in tone that's somewhere between a dark grey and purple.
The head is slightly elongated in comparison to a human, it has two eyes on each side and the mouth is rather small.
Instead of arms it has two tentacle-like appendages that end in three fingers.
The creature is holding a female member of the archeological team in its "arms". She is as frozen as the others and the creature stares into her face.

The creature either hasn't noticed you or doesn't care about you as it doesn't react to your arrival

'What in the names of forgotten hell is going on' whispers Pirx to himself

ChiHiRi sways lightly as he stands there looking at the peculiar scene.

Scott looks at the gems in the ceiling and he's quite sure that they correspond to the stars around the planet.
For some reason the aliens who constructed this temple reconstructed the sky above. Some gems have different colours and at closer inspection some of them have smaller gems fitted around them. Just as if they'd represent planets. But how would a civilization that is about as advanced as bronze age civilizations on Earth know about other planets?

ChiHiRu meanwhile notices too, that the gems in the room seem to represent stars.
But he then focuses on the mysterious alien notices that it moves its mouth as if it is whispering to the human its arms.
And the member of the archeological team seems to whisper back.

Still, both don't seem to notice your presence

"What the actual hell?" Dotty says looking at the strange tableau in front of them. She glances about at the source of the light, the humans and finally the alien. "Are they frozen or is something else going on?"

Dotty moves around a few meters to the right being careful to stay outside of the barrier. "Should we toss a rock in there to see what's going on?" She picks up a small rock just in case.

Still observing the mysterious scene, ChiHiRu turns his tablet toward the others.

On it is written:"Do you hear the sound they are blowing?"