At the boundary of the magma layer, the city of Planet Commander had been built underground.
Seven centuries had passed since humanity migrated to Commander. While repairing the aging underground city and supporting its massive dome-shaped ceiling, its inhabitants continued their lives beneath the surface.
A young man named Beck spent his days feeling trapped and depressed by this underground existence.
His job was to work at a purification facility that collected water seeping into the underground levels and processed it for the city.
There were no people in the city except laborers. Living on meager wages paid in the local currency known as Oetta, Beck resided alone in a shabby room surrounded by rust-covered steel walls.
According to history, seven centuries earlier humanity had repeatedly colonized worlds across space, expanding the reach of its civilization.
Now that technology had been lost, and people survived only under the protection of ancient machines.
One day, Beck headed to the surface.
Going above ground was not forbidden. People were permitted to leave freely.
However, the underground city imposed strict curfews. If one failed to return before the designated time, the lift connecting the surface to the city would shut down and the gates would close, leaving the person stranded outside.
Furthermore, permits for surface travel had strict time limits. Exceeding them could result in imprisonment by the Government Committee.
For that reason, few people willingly went to the surface. Survey teams periodically ventured out under the guise of research, but no particularly noteworthy discoveries had ever been made.
Beck had made up his mind.
He would live on the surface.
He had grown sick of life underground.
He wanted to step into a new world.
He had visited the surface many times before.
Living there would be easy.
At least, that was what he believed.
A protective suit and a palm-sized contamination detector were mandatory for surface travel. Aside from those, people could bring whatever belongings they wished.
Taking items to the surface was unrestricted.
Bringing objects back from the surface without placing them in proper quarantine containers, however, was prohibited.
On the day of his departure, Beck informed no one—not his parents living in another district, not his coworkers, not even old classmates.
He attached an AI-equipped device to his helmet, placed a contamination detector, food packs, and medical supplies into the storage compartment on his suit, and boarded the lift to the surface.
This rust-covered lift would be his last ride.
From here onward, the world would belong to him alone.
The thought filled him with excitement.
The steel tunnel leading to the surface had been constructed seven centuries ago.
The distance between the city and the surface measured dozens of kilometers.
Even using a high-speed lift, the journey required several hours.
By the time Beck finished checking his equipment and reviewing the AI's systems, the hours had passed and he arrived at the surface.
The last time he had been here was six months ago.
Just as before, the thick rust-covered gate slowly opened upon the lift's arrival, revealing the path outside.
The underground city's air was constantly purified and recycled.
Each time outside air flowed into the lift, it felt strangely unfamiliar.
The lift connected directly to a massive concrete structure built in the middle of a vast wasteland.
Red earth and rocky mountains stretched in every direction.
Nothing about the landscape suggested that people could live there.
Yet Beck already had a destination in mind.
The survey teams had mapped the surface, and the data was publicly available. The map appeared as a holographic display on the visor of his heavy helmet.
Touching his chosen destination with a gloved finger, he heard the AI speak.
"It will take approximately thirty minutes to reach that location on foot."
"Any vehicles nearby?"
Survey teams often left buggies on the surface.
Looking around, Beck spotted something resembling a buggy hidden beneath a sand-covered protective sheet.
"You have not submitted a request for permission to use it. Is that acceptable?"
The AI sounded doubtful.
"I've explained it all week. I'm not going back underground. From here on out, I'm free."
The AI had spent the previous week helping him prepare.
It had heard this declaration countless times.
Being a methodical artificial personality, it could only sigh at Beck's lack of planning.
Ignoring the AI's concerns, Beck removed the cover, brushed away the sand, activated the buggy, and began driving across the dusty landscape.
His destination lay beyond the mountains:
the ruins of a city built by a previous civilization.
After climbing the rocky slope, he stopped the buggy and wiped the sand from his visor.
Below him, in a valley, stood a vast cluster of ruined buildings.
"That's my new home."
Beck sounded cheerful.
The AI, however, issued a warning.
"We do not know what may be waiting there. Please be careful."
No survey had ever reported signs of life on the surface.
As far as anyone knew, the surveyed regions were lifeless.
Ignoring the warning, Beck drove down into the ruins.
The city had likely been built seven centuries earlier, during the era when humanity still traveled among the stars.
Once inside, he noticed that the sandy terrain became noticeably smoother.
Beneath the sand lay steel roads.
Then Beck slammed on the brakes.
Something near the city's entrance had caught his attention.
"What the hell is that?"
Attached to a building was the corpse of something indescribable.
It resembled a mass of inside-out organs.
It was impossible to tell whether it even possessed a recognizable shape.
"It isn't in any database. The survey teams never reported anything like this."
Even the AI sounded shaken.
"Do you know what it is?"
The AI possessed all the accumulated records of the underground city.
Beck assumed it would know.
But it had no answer.
Determining that the corpse posed no immediate threat, Beck continued forward.
Soon he realized that similar remains were scattered throughout the city.
They varied greatly in size.
Some were small.
Others were enormous.
Many had torn through buildings, roads, and structures before fossilizing where they lay.
Near the center of the ruins stood a spherical building that appeared to have once housed the city's main administrative offices.
Even there, the mysterious creatures clustered together like bees swarming over food, fossilized in place.
"What happened here?"
Beck's voice carried only bewilderment.
The AI searched historical records.
"According to available data, this settlement was inhabited by your ancestors when they first migrated here seven centuries ago. However, records indicate it was abandoned shortly afterward."
"Are these native surface creatures?"
Beck could not know the truth.
But the evidence suggested that something extraordinary had occurred here seven centuries ago.
For the first time in his life, he felt as though he had glimpsed the truth of this world.
And he was confronted with the reality of what living here might truly mean.
"Well then, I wonder what happens next."
The AI spoke with a sigh.
Yet despite its concern, it found itself looking forward to the future awaiting this young man.
[The Corpse] End