Well, earlier today we published what can only be described as our most shocking, thrilling fragment to date, MO.d952.
To say we are delirious over this here at the Institute is a gross understatement. The fragment was found about 13 days ago. M. Auda Landro was working the physical restoration. It was an otherwise quiet day, all of us at our respective work stations. Suddenly we heard a shout of pure amazement, followed by Auda running through halls crying out, “Jeric! Lyra! Celesta!” We all gathered around, of course, as Auda proudly held out a tablet with an image of the latest fragment, most importantly, an image of the sketch it included.
The result was like a tsunami running through the project offices. Swiftly as we could we got the text translated. Like many of the fragments, it only partially answered our questions. We will don’t really know what we have, if we are being completely transparent. Was the author’s supposition correct, is this creature more than an animal? Right now we have no more to go. So much of the archive is jumbled up, lacking organization and nothing like an index. M. Landro is going to redirect her efforts and prioritize restoration of fragments in close proximity to MO.d952. We are hopeful this will lead to more answers. For now, we can say at the very least that Somnius holds life forms far more likely to reveal sentience than any we have encountered.
Addendum: It has been pointed out that the third mission to Somnius, led by Inir Kalest, saw nothing like this creature. This should not be especially discouraging. Inir’s expedition concentrated on recovery of the archive materials, and once Somnius was revealed as teeming with life and the archive gathered; a warning buoy was placed in orbit around Maugliand the entire Glumri system placed under protective quarantine to preserve its native environment. No other missions have ventured there, nor will any in the near future. Somnius remains mostly unexplored except by the previous missions, and we remain focussed on recovering their efforts and learning all we can before anyone returns to Somnius.