Nad’irith was a world like thousands of other worlds. With forests, rivers, mountains... It had a natural beauty that humans were slowly destroying. Perhaps more slowly here, as it was at the rim of the Imperium, where men had mostly been left to their own devices.

Halden stared through the window as the small, unmanned shuttle headed down toward its landing pad. But his mind was elsewhere.

He lifted his wristpad and played his daughter’s video again.

It made no sense.

Lucy was smiling—laughing, even, in some parts—talking about how her weekend had been... As if she was still alive.

When had this been recorded? It had to be from at least several months ago... but then, why was he receiving this now? And who had sent it?

As far as he could tell, it had come directly from her. As if she’d scheduled it to be sent out now.

Something else troubled him about the recording, though he couldn’t quite put a finger on it.

He grunted as he looked back through the window.

As if he didn’t have enough to worry about, now this.

The shuttle landed and he stepped out. He was the only passenger. The attendant on the ship had assured him this was a common occurrence with rimworlds, as few people ever went there.

What he found more surprising, though, was that the spaceport was deserted.

The shuttle took off as he walked toward the terminal. There were no gliders here, no ships, no people. It was a strange feeling. He was used to the large, lavish, extravagant, and crowded spaceports which existed throughout the Imperium.

At least all the doors opened before him, so he could just walk right through the empty terminal, until he reached the exit. On the plus side, he didn’t have to deal with the usual administrative procedures.

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Outside, he found a Holscreen Terminal he used to call a hovercab.

He had to wait five minutes before his ride arrived.

The driver looked startled when he picked him up.

“We don’t often get visitors here,” he confided.

“I had guessed as much,” said Halden.

The younger man grinned.

“I imagine you had. So, where to, friend?”

Halden was tempted to go to the site directly, but he knew it’d be wiser to settle down somewhere first.

“Take me to the nearest hotel,” he said. “Preferably one with available rooms.”

The other man laughed. “All hotels here have vacancy, friend. Not many visitors.” He looked up at the sky. “You must have been on that big boy?”

The scientist followed the driver’s glance. There was nothing to see, of course, as the cruise ship had remained in orbit, high above the planet’s atmosphere. But if they didn’t get many tourists, it was likely the only option.

He grunted and nodded as the hovercab set off at full speed.

“I heard you had some excitement up there.”

“News travels fast, I see.”

The man laughed again. “We get our entertainment where we can, friend. I hope you were not harmed?”

“I wasn’t.”

“You were lucky, friend. They found a bomb, you know?”

“They did?”

The driver nodded sagely. “That nutjob set it up near the thilium core—how no one spotted him is beyond me, and says a lot about the lack of security on those ships.” He shuddered at the thought. “Either way, something went wrong and it would not go off. It sent the guy off the edge and he decided to go on a rampage. I heard some random tourist stopped him... Imagine that!”

Halden glanced at the empty sky again.

“Yeah, imagine that,” he muttered to himself.

The hovercab dropped him off in front of a small hotel, and he went in after paying the driver.

The woman at the front desk received him with a smile. And yes, of course, they had plenty of rooms. Would he fancy one with a view on the lake?

Halden decided he would.

After taking a shower and putting his things away, he sat on a chair near the window. He looked at the lake for a moment, then turned his eyes to his wristpad.

He was tempted to watch Lucy’s video again, but he knew it would just drive him crazy. He was here for a reason, so he might as well get busy.

With a few quick taps on the mini-screen, he brought up a map of the region. He had memorized the report, and so knew exactly what he was looking for. He brought up the coordinates and studied the surroundings.

It was a dig site like so many others he’d seen on TriVid screens. But what they’d found there was... Well, he didn’t know what it was. That was the whole point of this trip, after all, was it not?

He stood and headed for the door.

As a scientist, he hated mysteries. And now he had two that boggled his mind.

He needed to analyze, to unravel, to understand.

And he would.

One mystery at a time.