Episode 5: Do Not Dig Here!
When morning came — though in space it is always hard to say where night ends and morning begins — a soft chime sounded through the cozy red tomato-ship. The cabin lights brightened gently, and the navigation screen gave a cheerful bloop.
Emil stirred in his bed and blinked his eyes open. The gentle chime meant only one thing.
"Tom!" he called, scrambling up. "Tom, wake up! We've arrived! We've reached the coordinates!"
From the little room next door came a sleepy rustling, and then Tom poked his head out, explorer's cap slightly crooked. "We're here?" he yawned. "Already?"
"The autopilot flew us all night," said Emil, grinning. "The planet YX-53 is only a few minutes away now!"
That woke Tom up at once. The two friends hurried to get ready — Emil splashed his face with water and tugged on his suit, while Tom straightened his cap and gave his scales a quick polish. They gobbled a quick breakfast of apple slices, far too excited to sit still, and then dashed to the big round window to watch.
For a few minutes there was only the endless starry dark. Then, slowly, something rose into view.
"There it is!" Tom cried. "YX-53!"
The two friends pressed close to the glass... and then both of their faces fell, just a little.
For YX-53 was, well... boring.
It was a big grey rock. That was all. A dull, lifeless lump of stone, floating silently in space, with no oceans, no forests, no mountains, no clouds — nothing at all. Just plain, dusty grey rock from one side to the other.
"Oh," said Emil.
"Oh," said Tom.
"It's... a rock," said Emil.
"It's a very big rock," Tom offered helpfully.
Emil couldn't help but laugh. "Well, no wonder nobody's ever bothered to come all this way and study it! There's simply nothing here to see. I'd have turned around and gone home too." He scratched his helmet. "But the X on the map is somewhere near here. Let's find out exactly where."
He fetched the precious old map and unrolled it once more, holding it up to the window so he could compare it to the space around them. He matched the familiar star. He matched the dull grey planet. And then his finger traced across to the great red X.
"That's odd," he murmured. "According to the map, the X isn't on the planet at all. It's a little way off from it — out here, in open space." He squinted. "And it's not so far from where we're floating right now. Just a short hop away."
Tom wriggled up beside him. "But if it's not on the planet... and it's not a star... then what is it?"
Emil studied the map a moment longer, then looked out at the spot the X marked. And there, drifting silently in the black, was a cluster of rocks — big ones and small ones, tumbling slowly through space.
"Asteroids," Emil breathed. "The X isn't marking a planet or a star at all. It's marking a bunch of asteroids."
Tom's shoulders drooped. "Asteroids? Just... more rocks?" He sighed a tiny worm-sized sigh. "Emil, I think the X might just be a warning. You know — marking a dangerous spot, all these rocks crashing about next to that dull old planet. Maybe the pirate's map was only telling sailors to stay away, not that there's treasure here at all."
Emil felt his own heart sink a little too. Tom might well be right. After such a long journey, all the way to the very edge of the galaxy, it would be terribly disappointing if the great mysterious X turned out to mean nothing more than "danger — keep clear."
But Emil wasn't ready to give up just yet.
"We've come so far," he said. "We can't turn back without at least having a proper look. Let's get a little closer. If it really is just a danger sign, then we'll know — and we'll have an adventure story to tell, at least."
Tom managed a brave little smile. "All right. A closer look."
So Emil took the controls and steered the cozy red tomato-ship gently toward the drifting cluster of asteroids. Closer and closer they crept, weaving carefully between the slow-tumbling rocks. The ship's headlights swept across rough grey surfaces, pitted and cratered and ancient.
At first, there was nothing special at all. Just rock, and more rock, exactly as Tom had feared.
But then — Emil leaned forward sharply. "Wait. Tom... look at that big one. There, the largest asteroid." He pointed. "Do you see it? There's something on the surface. Something that doesn't look... natural."
Tom pressed his nose to the glass, eyes going wide. On the face of the biggest asteroid, there seemed to be lines — straight lines, and curves, far too neat and orderly to have been made by chance. It looked almost like... a structure. Like something built. Or something carved.
"Closer!" Tom squeaked. "Get closer, Emil!"
Emil eased the ship nearer still, until the great asteroid filled the whole window. And now they could see it plainly: the marks weren't just lines. They were shapes. Deliberate shapes, cut deep into the stone.
"They're... they're letters," Emil whispered. "Tom — those are written words, carved right into the rock!"
His heart pounded. Someone had been here. Someone, long ago, had come all this way to the very edge of the galaxy — and left a message in the stone.
"What does it say?" Tom breathed. "Can you read it?"
Emil reached for the zoom control and slowly, carefully, magnified the view. The carved letters grew larger and clearer on the screen, sharpening bit by bit until at last the whole message snapped into focus.
The two friends read it together. And as they did, a shiver of excitement — and just a touch of fear — ran right down both their spines.
For there, carved in great deep letters across the face of the asteroid, were three words:
"DO NOT DIG HERE!!!" Emil and Tom stared at the warning, then turned slowly to look at each other, eyes shining.
Because everyone knows... that a sign telling you not to dig is the surest sign of all that something is buried right beneath it.
To be continued...