James had to admit that watching a civilization grow into a space empire was very different from playing a 4X game. But it was also rather similar. You just had the various lives and adventures of people to spice things up here and there, with the BIG events being stuff for the news and history books. And still, it all started with someone doing something, often not as a direct decision of the higher-ups. And some things did occur only because of the combined efforts of the nation, those few actors propelled by the vast resources behind them.
It was the year 938 After Arrival, and a series of quite important events started as the science ship Deliverance came in the tracks of the Genesis, further probing at anomalies that the other vessel noticed but could not dedicate time to. This ship was led by a stern, but friendly man with a knack for piecing things together, a man called Allistair, and the science vessel had only slightly improved capabilities brought on by the new technological innovations, improvements that the Genesis did not have when it stumbled into this system.
The Genesis actually found three habitable worlds so far, and was just about to discover a fourth. This one was not a pleasant prospect, as its increased mineral content also gave it a much stronger gravity, the kind that a human walking on the surface of the planet of Ebucrosie II would feel as if they wore uranium plate of impressive thickness, gravity that would snap femurs and crush ribcages under their own weight if people dared to go down there. There was a noted imbalance in the mineral distribution and fauna, which might suggest a previous alien presence.
As such, the Deliverance would begin to thoroughly scan the planet with a much more precise mindset, trying to see what caused that. The answer would come by accident, when one of the scientists looked upon their screens, receiving footage from a probe sent down to the planet.
They were wrong about "previous".
*
"Is that a door?"
Matthews was mildly impressed at the structure glimpsed inside one of the bigger caves of this planet. Building on this thing must be a miracle of engineering. But, the planet had mountains, so gravity was not so all-powerful.
The survey room was a tight place, with barely any room between the consoles and servers, chief scientist Allistair Wilks surveying the room and the combined view from ten such probes, all under the control of a different technician. His eye spotted something MUCH more important.
"Adjust tilt down 36 degrees and pan left 15 degrees. And zoom to 1.7 magnification." The man commanded with a sure voice. Stern, but everyone knew him as reasonable.
What this was supposed to do was point the drone to a mark that one might almost ignore, a depression in some loose soil inside the cave. One might confuse it for a rock, or a strange coloration in these conditions, but focus showed them something else.
"Dear Outsider..." Matthews said the words as he understood what was there.
A footprint. That was a very well-defined and undeniably recent footprint. This was no fossil or random shape, but one could tell the firm shape of it, a wide and short footprint. Some scientists got excited for less.
"Indeed. I think we might have found a sign of life. Intelligent life."
It was easy to put together. The structure ahead seemed to be in good shape, though the stone construction might promise a long life, but that mark was at worst some fifty years in age, at best it might have no more than an hour.
"How did we not notice?"
"Judging by the harsh planetary conditions..." Oh, right... the planet also had some storms that could peel your skin off. "... the residents obviously developed a preference for underground life, as the combined factors made construction of settlements a difficult task, and possibly a fruitless one. So they must reside in such well-hidden places not out of a desire to hide from us, but from the elements. They have few reasons to go out, so we have not been lucky to catch these rare occasions. But they could only evade us for so long."
The other people in the room had to agree that the boss's summation made sense. After all, the aliens were not trying to hide from them, and they SHOULD have thought that such conditions might make the idea of construction terrible. This was another reason why this planet was discarded as something to colonize. That place could grind cities to dust. But here come the locals to show them how you do it... their mountains were made of much tougher substance to be able to STAY mountains with this gravity... yes, mountains are affected by gravity... and thus they took to the underground, possibly at first in natural caverns, then in artificial ones.
"Reminds me of stories about the first colony. How James told them to make a mountain base... totally impenetrable, and not just because of enemies, but it kept you safe from the weather."
"Yes, well... I doubt they did so because I asked."
All faces in the room turned to the figure that silently materialized there, a man in a burgundy coat who stood and looked toward the screens, unabashed at his presence in the room. If there was anyone who might make such a surprise visit to a vessel light-years from any other human grouping... it would be the Outsider. James leaned back on a server as he didn't feel like leaving yet. Matthews noticed that in his telling... he used the name rather than the title, and the name was something that always got James's attention... why nobody named children after him. Even if they did not see this as impossible, having the man here felt like an event.
"I can assure you that his intent was not to call."
"And I could tell that as well, but... ya know... decided to. So, you guys want some coffee?"
Said as a blue, flower-patterned mug appeared in his hand, steam rising from it before the deity took a sip. Casual as can be. They took that offer, trying to return to what they were doing with some semblance of focus. It was not like James was going to execute a guy even if he accidentally made a console explode, but having him there was something.
"Right. So, time to poke around in those mountain homes. I assume that any usage of fire would also need something akin to a chimney, so let's look for any sources of it."
In retrospect, they should have taken any smoke emanating from mountain shafts as such, but it could just as easily be from recently-disturbed geology unveiling some gas pockets or volcanic activity. With an estimate in mind on the location of this underground settlement, the drone would zip upwards to find several holes emanating wood smoke, compacting to fit through, its aerial agility suffering while small wheels could now move it along the shaft.
With bated breaths, the scientists directed the remote-controlled drone from the orbit of this world, the connection laggy, but stable. The drone descended down the shaft and found itself at a junction of several such chimneys, following one of the bigger ones down to not risk crushing. Already it was tight in there. When it emerged, if it had been sentient, the drone might have stretched out and enjoyed the liberty of space.