“What are you saying? The pyramid is the transportation device, and it is merging us?” Dio wondered aloud. “Yes. Think about it. We have been looking for little green men and their spaceship for as long as we have existed. But where are they? If the civilization is advanced enough, why need to travel with…

Neva cleared his throat. A usual practice of him to do so before giving a long speech. We gathered he was able to link the events with the idea that he was having in his mind and was going to offer it to us. Then the ground shook suddenly with such violence that we were flung about like sweets in a jar. Lights started to appear on some of the buildings. It was as if the planet had woken up from coma.

“I don’t think we have time for this discussion. I want everyone to keep moving and scanning,” I interrupted the argument before it could distract us from our primary mission. Our goal must be the survival of those on the main ship. We rationed the resources just for the trip and I knew I couldn’t hold them for too long in the orbit. The decision would have to be made in less than 10 hours and I would be the one having to do so as the Captain. Investigations into myths and legends could come later.

“.. Earth,” Neva completed his sentence by himself, though all of us knew by then what he would say. The implication of the findings was beyond any of us. We were not merely at an alien planet to escape our dying planet, but we have returned home. Earth was the alien planet which we colonized and assimilated with native species thousands of years ago. That would also explain great many things such as why we could open the locks with our hands and why there was a pyramid in the middle of the alien city underground.

“The pyramid? Which part of it?,” I asked while taking a big gulp. That there was a pyramid in front of us was shocking enough, but it was alive and sending signals? “, But we didn’t notice any signals before we landed, right?” I tried to recollect the time before we took the shuttle down to the planet. If there was such an unusual signal detected, we would have flagged it out by one of hundreds of sensors on the scout ship.

Neva spoke first. “There is a pyramid,” while pointing both his hands towards the building in front of us. The size and the shape of the pyramid became clearer as we pointed our lights onto the building. It was enormous, but then so were the rest of the buildings. The immediate conclusion was that the residents of that place themselves were large. But there were no statues or pictures that we could see.

We glanced at each other faces wondering what exactly happened. And all of us , with opened mouths, stared at Dio who was looking at his hand. He must have been aware of the implications of what he done, didn’t he?

If there was indeed a signal,  there must be a working transmitter somewhere on the planet. And it would have to be close to our location, based on the signal strength that we were able to detect. I gave an order search for any clues around the landing area leaving Neva with the examination of the rest of the artifacts. I looked down on my watch to remind myself of the time we have before the report back to the main ship.

Neva, my navigator, expertly steered the ship to align with the spot where my finger was pointing and the ship began to descend into the atmosphere. We had the initial view of the atmosphere during the descent and found it to be identical to the Earth’s atmosphere’s composition during the early 20th century. Most important of all, the level of oxygen in the air was just the right amount for human to breathe.