AN: I linked the video of the beginning cinematic above. I will only write a bit about it though. After they find it on Mars, (like the gif), it goes into explaining about the golden age, but the golden age will come in a few chapters. I just couldn't find the video of just the first cinematic. The song for this chapter is: . Enjoy :D  

2 weeks later...

Alaura's phone buzzed against the chair she was sleeping in. She opened her groggy eyes and had them adjust before reaching for her phone. The hospital room was cold and silent. The white blinds were still closed, indicating it was still dark outside. She exhaled softly and looked over at Kai, who was sleeping in the hospital bed next to her. Alaura took her hand off of Kai's to answer the call.

"Turn on your television, now!" Lydia screamed through the phone, causing Alaura to cringe in pain. Lydia hardly ever called her, for they both worked too much. Alaura was almost always out of the country, and Lydia worked herself too much at NASA. They retained their friendship by patience and meeting every few months, whether it be by phone or video call.

"Okay, okay, jeez..." Alaura got up from her bed, rubbing her eyes tiredly. She glanced over at the clock. Two in the morning? Are you kidding me? She thought bitterly and shuffled to get the television remote to turn it on. She whispered into the phone, "What's so important at two in the morning?"

The screen lit up, bringing up a news broadcast. Alaura's breath hitched and she couldn't believe her eyes.

"That," Lydia answered simply.

"What the fuck..." Alaura brushed a few stray strands of black hair out of her eyes and stared at the television in amazement.

A live video camera feed came from Mars. Two astronauts stood at the third astronaut's side, their eyes fixated on what was in front of them. The camera feed turned to what their attention was on, and it seemed like all of their breathing and talking went silent. A giant, white sphere hung in the low atmosphere of Mars. The light shined on it and through the clouds. A deep rumble could be heard and flashes of lightning strikes touched down. Rain fell from the sky onto the surface of the red dirt planet.

Rain. There's rain on Mars. What the...? How...? Alaura was at a loss for words. Her thoughts jumbled all together. She paused the news report on the view of the white sphere. "What is that thing? What is it doing?"

Lydia stayed silent for a moment. What could she say? No one really knew. "Come over to my apartment."

"I'll be there in half an hour." With that, Alaura hung up. She glanced down at her hands and stumbled backwards. They glowed a bright blue color. What...? Alaura panicked and hit the wall, causing it to rumble and the television to shake on its hinges. She stood still for a moment, taking in what just happened. She didn't hit the wall with that much force, yet everything fell like an earthquake just occurred. Her wallet shook its way off of the table and fell, spilling the pictures she had inside.

Alaura glanced over at Kai, who awoke to the noise. He blinked a few times and questioned groggily, "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I just...I just knocked into the wall. I'm sorry. Go back to sleep," she ushered and he complied sleepily. She knelt down to pick up her wallet and the fallen pictures.

The pictures were of her little brother and mother. It only reminded her of how much of a failure of a sister she was. Her mother never made much money, so Alaura joined the army when she was of age. It was a steady check, and her family could live in a good house. It was safe. Steady. Something she never had when she was little. Her little brother missed her dearly and they never spent any time together. Sometimes she wondered if he hated her for it.

Alaura squished her face with her hands and shook her head to attempt to wake herself up. This has got to be a dream...Wake up. Wake up. The unfortunate thing was, she was already awake. None of this was a dream.

She grabbed her wallet and her keys and walked out of the hospital room.

When Alaura strolled into Lydia's apartment, she wanted to walk right back out. It was a disaster. Papers scattered around the floor and tables, dirty plates sat in a pile on one of the chairs, and clothes were thrown about in the corner. The room smelled of old food and dirt.

Lydia's green eyes were underlined in dark circles, and the white in them had turned red from lack of sleep. Her blonde hair hung up in a messy bun, hairs sticking out in each direction. Her glasses hung crookedly and she twitched every now and then. A fresh cup of coffee sat on one of the papers, leaving a dark ring on it. Her pajama shirt had a couple food stains on it, and she had her pants rolled up to her knees. "There you are! Oh boy, do I need to talk to someone!"

Alaura's eyebrow hitched and a sense of worry was hinted in her voice, "How long have you been in your apartment?" She set her keys on the side table next to the door. Alaura had to move some of the papers to be able to sit down on the ground.

Lydia shrugged, "Few days. Maybe a week. I haven't been counting. Too busy." She flinched and looked up at Alaura from the floor, "I've been here studying this thing. Watching its movements. Trying to see what it is or how it works."

"Have you been taking care of yourself?"

Lydia hesitated, but decided to tell the truth. "I...I forget to eat at times. And...take a shower, but that isn't the point! I was cooped up at the office for two weeks before I came home. We've been too busy with this." She waved her hand at all of the papers surrounding her apartment.

"Then why hasn't this been shown to the public? It's something huge, both literally and figuratively," Alaura questioned, glancing down at some of the pictures. Some shots were from deep space, others off the atmosphere of Mars. Where did it come from?

"We didn't want everyone to freak out. You know how everyone gets when someone mentions aliens or something entirely different." Lydia showed her a letter from the President. "There's going to be a press conference tomorrow about it. Our team has to have some inkling of what this is before then."

Alaura exchanged papers with her and pointed at the giant orb before reading the letter. "Then what is this...thing? How is it raining on Mars?"

"Whatever it is, it's somehow terraforming the planets in our solar system. The radiation on Mars is clear, there's water, air, and other resources. It's truly fascinating!" She buzzed in her spot. Either that was the coffee buzz, or just lack of sleep adrenaline buzz. Lydia's excitement and curiosity seemed to radiate off of her.

Alaura set the paper down and furrowed her eyebrows together in confusion. She used her right hand to stop her friend before she could go any further, "Wait, this thing has been to other planets already?"

Lydia nodded and continued, "After Jupiter's moons, it went to Mercury. Venus. Mars. Now, it's on its way here. Scientists are calling it The Traveler. This thing...it radiates a ton of energy, like off the scales." She scrambled around for another file to show Alaura, but failed to find it in the mess. She sat back down and finished what she was going to say. "We're prepping a robot to go to Venus right now. Satellite images say that the skies are clear and oxygen levels are stable. It's habitable. All the planets The Traveler leaves are habitable."

"Wait, wait, wait. It's on its way here?" Alaura seemed a little unsettled about it. That...thing is on its way here. Who's to say it won't destroy us or something? Cause the apocalypse to give the Earth a fresh start! She stopped herself and cleared her mind immediately. It was silly to jump to drastic conclusions like that.

Lydia quickly reassured her, "It isn't going to hurt us! It's coming peacefully..."

"And how do you know that?" She looked at Lydia and waited for some sort of proof. There had to be something. If Lydia was trying to convince her of it being safe, then she knows a lot more than she's letting on.

"When it left Venus, it sent us messages. NASA's labs are full of schematics and you won't believe what's on them," Lydia grinned from ear-to-ear, her eyes widening in delight. Just the thought of it made her light up.

Alaura waited, but when Lydia didn't answer, she asked, "Well? Don't keep me hanging." All of this was so new and frightening, but it would change history forever. She knew that much. Everything humans thought they knew about what's in space was about to be thrown out.

"Advanced technology," Lydia put simply. She yawned and tried to maintain her excited composure, but exhaustion crept up on her muscles.

"Like?"

Lydia grabbed a list from the pile. She read it over and set it aside before speaking again, "Robots. Vehicles. Space ships. Weapons...and a way to triple the human life span."

Alaura's eyes widened and her voice cracked, "You're kidding." She cleared her throat in embarrassment and waited eagerly for a response.

"No! We have all the schematics. Scientists are working on them now. If this all works out, we can send colonies to the other planets, and it won't take months to get there. The new ships provide a faster way of flying. You don't know how incredible this is!"

"No...no. I do know how incredible this is. I'm just...I'm just in shock. What are you going to tell the people? Tell other countries?" This would become an international problem. Countries fighting over the tech, new wars could start, nukes could be threatened for lift off, hostages captured, millions could die, anything could happen. Alaura had a lot of doubts that this...Traveler would be a good thing for this world.

"We'll share it with them. That conference tomorrow is going to be held at the United Nations office and it's going to be televised. This can end wars, Alaura," Lydia emphasized with care. She grabbed her friend's hand in reassurance after she noticed Alaura's tension. Even through her sleep deprivation, she still found optimism.

Alaura's lips pressed together in a tight line as she thought for a moment. As much as she wanted to be happy, a part of her doubted it. "This can create new wars if we're not careful. New technology means new ways to fight in war. There's going to be a second space race. Who can launch and claim colonies first. This is all going to be a big mess."

"Or, it could help us create something better. Something new."

Alaura scoffed, "Like what? An intergalactic empire?"

Lydia retracted her hand and threw both hands up in the air. "Exactly! The UN can be in charge of it! That way, all nations who participate get a say in it."

"Do you know how far fetched this sounds?" Alaura leaned in closer and arched an eyebrow. She sounds a little naïve right now.

Lydia pointed to her television, which was off. She tilted her head and questioned, "Do you not see that thing making its way here? Our lives are that of a science fiction novel. Do we have the option to question things anymore?"

Alaura thought for a moment and glanced at all of the papers on the ground around her. So much data, so many pictures of this Traveler. It wasn't going to go away. This was only the beginning. "I guess not." Alaura thought back to the object she was sent to retrieve and immediately got nervous. The object looked exactly like a piece of the Traveler, but that's impossible. If I find those two men, I can find the artifact. I can do right from my failure.

Lydia snapped her fingers in front of Alaura's face to get her attention. "Hello? What are you thinking about?"

Alaura came back to reality and shook her head with a slight smile. "Nothing, nothing. It's not important." She stood up and dragged Lydia up with her. "You need to head to bed right now. You have a big conference tomorrow."

"But I need to stay u-"

She interrupted Lydia, "Sleeeeeeeep!" Alaura dragged her friend to her room by force and threw her onto her bed. She yanked the covers off of the floor and draped them around Lydia. "Rest your eyes. I'm sure you'll be asleep in no time."

"Fine. I'll tell you more..." Lydia yawned and closed her tired eyes, "tomorrow..." She snuggled up to the pillow and fell fast asleep.

Alaura smiled softly and closed the door to her room. She sat down in the middle of all the papers and read them, one by one, reading up on all she could about this Traveler. She thought back to what happened at the hospital and a shiver ran down her spine. If her hands really did glow and cause that destruction, maybe it was caused by the object. She ran her hands through her hair and down her face. Or maybe I'm too tired to function.