Despite the excitement of the mission, it was clearly reaching it's conclusion. Fuel was running low and there was little left for food or water. Chen made it clear that he wouldn't let them stay so long that they would run out of supplies before the return to Ganymede.
Everyone had a lump in their throats and a heaviness out of sync with Pluto's gravity as the last artifacts were secured to the cargo enclosure that Isfaheem had invented. Cargo space being limited, the best that they could hope for was a handful of plates, one of the sarcophagi, and the body of the lone alien.
They left the gravity well of Pluto with little effort and made the long trip back to the Jovian system. By the time they reached orbit around Ganymede, crews were nearly finished carving a similar, but more shallow gash into the surface and excavating a cave in exact proportion to the scan which Chen had transmitted. They were given the most luxurious quarters on the base, and everyone was promoted. Yolanda heard rumors that her name might become as famous as Victor Robles given the discovery.
With the sarcophagus, a few of the plates, and the body of the alien, placed into the newly created cavern, it was barely distinguishable from the one on Pluto. This one though, had a service entrance which gave easy access for base personnel.
Yolanda had just finished a wonderful steam spray, which was what passed for a shower outside of Earth, when Muobo called excitedly on the intercom.
“Hey Yoli.” normally she had hated the name, but she didn't mind so much from Muobo. “You gatta come to my quarters. You'll never believe this!”
Knowing that he wasn't one to exaggerate, she hurriedly dried her hair and put on a clean pantsuit before heading down the hall. Her fist barely touched the door before it opened and Muobo spun her around and gave her a quick kiss. He must've been really excited.
“I thought you said I wasn't your type.” She shook a finger at him.
They weren't intimate at all, but since the mission, they'd become a little more then just friends. I guess you could say...affectionate friends.
“Oh shush. You gotta see this lady.” He hurried over to the wall screen and punched a few controls.
She wasn't a linguist like him. But she could see the overlayed grid and the blobs of different color next to a series of the strange symbols.
After a brief silence he feigned exasperation and nearly shouted. “It's the rosetta stone!”
“Really? That?” She asked pointing to the screen.
“Yes! Look. They used the periodic table to help us understand the language. We don't have a record of the sounds or shapes of the actual alphabet, but we can make a rough estimate using Mandarin English. So far based on suggestions from my colleagues on the Martian colony, we have a few dozen words and phrases. I've only managed to translate a sentence here and there, we're still a long way off.”