They continued down the narrow passageway, taking turns here and there, even occasionally climbing upwards, which was slightly nerve-wracking for Ridge since he was in the front, but nonetheless all it led to was more tunnel.
Eventually, after maybe ten or twenty minutes of these twists and turns, they noticed that as they walked, the roof of the tunnel slowly got higher until finally they no longer needed to crouch so low and could stand up straight. The height wasn't the only change, as the passageway itself got wider; Ridge no longer needed to be at the front alone.
None of the other soldiers had swords with them, though, so he just had the person behind him stand by his side with the plasma rifle; the others took it upon themselves to pair up, and so the group marched on, only this time they were in a column moving through the winding tunnels within the mountain.
Fortunately, a change was noticed quite quickly by Ridge and the other guy next to him. There was light, and not just light from their helmets; rather, it was actual sunlight coming from what seemed like the end of the cave.
There was just a slight climb they had to make to see if it actually was an exit. They wasted no time; Ridge took point and began climbing up. Grunting as he did so, the first thing he saw when he pulled himself up was an exit, as expected; unfortunately, it was too bright to see out of it, though.
He turned around and grabbed the hands of the others one by one, who quickly followed him.
"Finally, an exit. I was starting to think we were gonna be led to a dead end or something, and then we would have had to go back," a soldier said after being pulled up.
"Well, let's see where it leads, "Ridge responded after helping the last person up. At this point, the tunnel had widened enough that the whole group could walk comfortably together. Though something that Ridge did notice was that there were no longer any marks on the ground to track whatever it was they were trying to follow.
He only frowned momentarily before taking point again and moving towards the light. Slightly squinting his eyes in an attempt to prevent himself from getting blinded, he eventually used his free hand to block it, which helped a bit, at least enough to adjust to it. Walking out and moving his hand from his face, his eyes widened; having fully adjusted to the sight before him was enlightening.
The gasps from the others had broken Ridge out of his stupor. The sight before them was almost like an oasis, only without the sand and hot sun. There were the trees that he was used to seeing, but on those trees were animals. The area was also surrounded by tall mountains and open skies.
It seemed like animals on this planet favored this kind of habitat; otherwise, he didn't quite understand why they would be living here rather than spreading out through tall trees or just in general all over.
The animals weren't very large in variety, but he spotted right away small green birds that had rather short beaks and two sets of wings. Certainly not normal, but they were on an unknown planet, so things being different weren't rare.
Other than the birds in the trees, he also noticed some small rodent-like animals that featured a more brownish-green color. They had four legs, fur, and a small snout that likely featured some teeth inside them. Though obviously he couldn't be sure, nonetheless they weren't actually all that exotic-looking and probably about the size of his palm multiplied by three or four times. Clearly not big enough to drag a body.
Finally, other than the birds and rodents, he noticed that there seemed to be some type of berry-like bushes. They featured blue spots that resembled a blueberry, though much lighter in color. It would need to be tested for sure back at the lab, he thought.
Pressing a button on his suit, he didn't move from the spot he first came from, and a camera lens popped up on his HUD. Pressing the same button again, he began to take pictures after zooming in on the animals. He would collect an actual sample of what could be berries once they got down there from the ledge they were standing on now.
To the right of them was a pathway down and into the small forest, so he wasn't too bothered about how to get down there. The others simply sat in silence so as not to disturb the animals.
A little while later, Ridge finished up and shut off the camera lens. "Let's get down there."
Nodding to his words, they followed him down the pathway; luckily, it was almost like a road for them, so it was actually a comfortable walk down the ledge and didn't turn steep at all.
Gradually they made their way over, and the animals seemed to finally react, scattering into hiding. Ridge wasn't too surprised nor worried. Just seeing and taking pictures of them was good enough for now. At least it was proof this planet wasn't completely desolate in terms of wildlife.
He walked up to one of the berry bushes and opened a small container to pick the berries one by one. Luckily, he had gloves on, so if these things were somehow poisonous, he should be fine. The others simply formed a simple perimeter and made sure the area was secure. One of the guys also brought a small drone, so he deployed it and had it simply scan the surrounding areas not far from where they were.
Other than these berries, Ridge also would have liked to have taken an animal or two with them, but for obvious reasons he wouldn't have been able to chase or shoot them. The plasma rifles were definitely a bit too powerful for them. Not to mention they weren't as accurate or able to be used for precise hunting as some of the single-shot kinetic rifles. It was rather unfortunate that they didn't have one.
Perhaps it could be made, though after some time. Finishing up with his collecting, Ridge put the container away.
"Okay, let's continue. I didn't see any signs of skid marks on the ground while on the way down here; I also didn't see a dead body. Starting to think that maybe whatever is being carried could perhaps be something else," Ridge said.
"Not to mention, based on the estimated size of the animal from the narrow passageway, it would have at some point become exhausted from carrying multiple bodies without rest or dropping them even once, so the few skid marks that we did see were quite unusual," One of the scouts replied.
"Mm, unusual indeed," he replied, sighing. "Anything on the drone?"
"No, not yet, sir, just trees and foliage," The drone operator answered.
"Let's go then; keep an eye out for anything new and unusual. It's lucky enough that we found this place; let's not miss anything," Ridge ordered while continuing deeper in the forest between the mountains.
Back at base...
Yayha, who had received Ridge's message, had eventually, after arranging some things and taking care of work, returned to the clinic to see Becke now on his feet, being supported by Reno and looked over by Dr. Lind.
Becke saw him coming in and nodded at him before turning his attention back to Dr. Lind.
"You should be able to walk after some physical therapy. There wasn't any damage to your legs, and the coma you were in merely atrophied the muscles, so you may be sore; just make sure to rebuild that muscle," she said while taking off some of her gloves.
"Thanks, Doc, I owe you one for helping to take care of me alongside Reno here," he said, smiling.
"Just make sure you get back to health, and we'll call it even. Now get out of here; I'm sure you want to see what things are like, and Yayha's been waiting, clearly," she replied while smiling at Yayha, who was waiting at the door.
He let out a little chuckle," Come on, Commander, I'll show you around base. Don't worry about rushing either; I made sure all my tasks for today were completely done," he said while also making sure Becke wouldn't hurt himself.
"Don't worry, I'll be back in health in no time at all; then you'll get to see what the peak of the human body can achieve," he joked cheekily as he walked with Reno outside the clinic.
"I don't doubt it, though I think looking in the mirror already showed me such a sight," Yayha grinned back.
Reno, who was helping Becke, could only shake her head and sigh. It was rather unfortunate that she seemed to have gotten stuck with two of the same type of people.
The group of three slowly made their way out of the clinic and into the hallways of the main base.