Though Eisennhorn had been witness to this grand spectacle dozens of times, it never ceased to amaze him — a dazzling reminder of how far they had come in such a short time. The discovery on Mars had elevated humanity, binding them together with a new sense of singular purpose as top experts from every field had united their resources in one glorious project — an attempt to unravel the technological mysteries stored inside the alien bunker.
Almost immediately it had become apparent that the Protheans — the name given to the unknown alien species — had been far more technologically advanced than humanity… and that they had vanished long, long ago. Most estimates placed the find at nearly fifty thousand years old, predating the evolution of modern man. However, the Protheans had built the station from materials unlike anything found
naturally on Earth, and even the passing of fifty millennia had done little to damage the valuable treasures inside.
Most remarkable were the data files the Protheans had left behind: millions of tetrabytes worth of knowledge — still viable, though compiled in a strange and unfamiliar language. Deciphering the contents of those data files became the holy grail of virtually every scientist on Earth. It took months of round-the-clock study, but eventually the code of the Prothean language was broken and the pieces began to fall into place.
For conspiracy theorists this was seen as fuel for their fire. It should have taken years, they argued, for anything useful to come out of the bunker. But their negativity went unheard or unheeded by most, left behind in the wake of spectacular scientific advances.