Unknown Desert Planet

Pulsar Sky

Chase stepped out of the shuttle onto a landing platform, part of a larger complex with several other ships distributed around it, some large, interplanetary transports, others smaller ship to surface crafts. From the look of them, they’d been here decades, if not longer. Moss covered their hulls, and some had vines growing up the side, others had scorched marks left over from a long-forgotten fire fight.

It was only when they had scanned the sector on Grace’s map that this planet had even been detected. Once they had come into land, they had found something akin to a contemporary spaceport.

The city’s buildings looked modern enough, and there was a facility designed to act as a spaceport terminal. Chase raised his sidearm and stepped forward. He was looking for anything that showed the possibility the alien race, for that must be who built this place, was any more advanced than what they had seen on the previous desert world.

Pulling out his tablet and unfolding the screen, the sensor readout pulsed out from the centre showing a flat overlay of the landing area. There were no signs of life, and there seemed to be no automated threats, so he felt comfortable in calling for the team to disembark. Wokoma stepped out of the shuttle first, scanner already in hand, followed by Dryden and Grace bringing up the rear.

“Who you think lived here?” asked Grace.

“Probably no one human,” replied Chase.

“You can’t just assume it’s aliens,” replied Grace, taking her own slate out and running scans. Chase walked across the landing area and came to a set of double doors that had been jammed open by a large piece of debris. Stepping inside, Chase thought it looked as if it had been some sort of waiting area with metal seats and tables dotted around.

“Is that the ticket counter?” asked Grace, walking over to a long, deactivated computer terminal behind a desk—Its screen cracked.

“It looks like something you’d find at one of the larger cluster starports,” said Chase.

“We don’t know,” said Wokoma. “We'd have to run a lot more scans before making any sort of determination to that effect.”

“Yes, agreed, obviously, but that’s one thing it looks like,” agreed Grace, who seemed to huff at this.

The building was several hundred meters in diameter, according to the readouts, and Chase lead them through the dark rooms. He tapped the screen, pulling up the sensor on his slate and using its analysis to overlay a map to take them out to the other side of the building.

“I’m trying to get an age reading on all this,” said Grace.

“I’d say this place is old but not as old as the buildings we saw on the last planet,” said Wokoma. “I don’t think this would have overlapped with Grace’s lizard people.”

“They are not my lizard people,” Grace said, slightly defensively.

“My readings show that this place is old though. This building’s been here for centuries,” said Wokoma.

“But when did they leave?” asked Chase, stopping and turning back to face her.

Wokoma met his gaze. “That’s a difficult thing to determine,” she answered.

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“Well, it’s looking to me like everyone in this system up and left around the same time, at some point in the last hundred years,” said Grace.

For a moment, Chase and Wokoma thought on this. Dryden wandered around a very curved pillar and seemed to study how it had managed to hold the ceiling up.

“I mean, you’re right, as there was a civilization on the moon when the Trafalgar arrived,” replied Wokoma patiently, “and their descendants left at some point. As yet, we have found no sign of life on this planet.”

Chase started walking again, the others dropping in step behind him. “We don’t know if they left at the same time. There’s also the fact that this planet was initially hidden from our sensors, so it’s entirely possible that anyone still living on here has hidden themselves as well.”

Chase kept an eye out for anything unexpected. Whatever this place was, it seemed to be some sort of public space. There were signs posted everywhere, seemingly offering directions. They were written in unrecognisable characters, but with arrows pointing in different directions.

“Whatever this is,” said Chase, “whoever lived here was more advanced than anyone we’ve seen yet.”

“The infrastructure here is far more robust than anything on the Trafalgar colony or the desert world by a factor of magnitude,” replied Wokoma, “and there is nothing on the desert planet to indicate anything more advanced than pre light speed society.”

They continued through the concourse.

“So, we’ve gone from having no proof of alien life to two alien civilisations in a day,” asked Chase.

Grace rolled her eyes.

“Evidence is a bit of a strong word, until we find something absolutely irrefutable, it’s speculation,” said Wokoma.

“I am convinced,” said Grace quickly. “That means I can claim I discovered it, right?”

“Only if it’s proven so,” said Wokoma. “And also, no.”

Grace looked deflated.

“Being an archaeologist isn’t about getting your name out there for discovering things. Look at Howard Carter’s great example.”

“Who?” asked Dryden.

Both Chase and Grace shot him a disdainful look.

“All right,” said Dryden defensively, “no need to curse me.”

They moved through a narrow corridor, using their screens as flashlights to see their way through the unlit space. They came out into a much larger area that was bathed in daylight from a translucent roof.

At the far end of the space, were doors that appeared to have been barricaded shut. Chase found benches and desks lined up against doors to keep them shut. He started pulling them away as Dryden came over and helped.

“Whoever was last here didn’t want to be followed when they left,” he said.

Grace and Wokoma walked around the room, running scans of the entire area. They recorded images and videos as quickly as possible to catalogue it all.

“Do you think that’s the case?” Grace asked Wokoma, who closed her tablet for a moment. She didn’t seem as argumentative as she had been earlier.

“Barricaded doors out here? Spaceship parking back there? Yeah, it’s a solid theory,” Wokoma agreed.

The door gave way, and Chase walked out into the daylight.