Realms of Sci-Fi

Discovery

The survey team waited at the containment doors for authorization before proceeding. Delta sector had been closed off for years as the crumbling ruins of the old city were unsafe. Lingering radiation from the explosions responsible for leveling much of the old city made shielded environmental suits mandatory. Special authorization permits from the highest levels had been required to make this expedition happen, but it was mere moments from realization.

Leading the group of ten scientists and researchers was Darvin. Sealed inside his slate gray environment suit with a faceless and reflective helmet obscuring his features, Darvin was identifiable by the purple stripe slashing diagonally across his chest from shoulder to hip. Other members of the team were similarly identified with colors and patterns of lines indicating who was who.

Restriction fields activated, illuminating strips of white along thin rails composing a box around the team. As long as the fields were in operation, the contaminated atmosphere of the old city couldn't be released when the containment doors opened. Lights mounted to the isolation wall began flashing as the doors unsealed and opened. Interlocking teeth pulled away from each other, the doors sliding into concealed compartments within the wall.

The team didn't move right away. Behind them, the rebuilt city was a thing of beauty. Covered walkways crisscrossing between gleaming towers of flawless mathematical precision. The old city in front of them was an obliterated wasteland by comparison. The carcasses of old buildings laying on their sides with exposed ribs of metal support beams sticking up into the ash colored skies. The vehicles used by the city's people before its destruction remained in the streets, silent and inert. The broken remains of the buildings, along with the incinerated inhabitants coated everything in a fine dust.

Darvin and his people were not native to this planet, but when their exploration vessels had found this world empty of all life, it was decided no one would mind if they moved in. The first colonies had been established quickly with the ships themselves becoming the hub from which future expansions were made and connected to for support. As each settlement grew larger, more and more of the old cities they'd been built upon was cleared away and analyzed. Much had been learned of the natives' culture and industry, but many gaps still existed in understanding who they were and what had ultimately led to their destruction. Darvin had argued before the Council how understanding the previous inhabitants was essential, especially if they were not responsible for their demise. If something else played a hand in wiping out an industrialized society, a threat that may still linger, it was in everyone's interest to discover it before any of the colonists became endangered by it. Authorization for the expedition had been given almost immediately.

Knowing his people would be looking to him for guidance, he got them moving by taking the first step into the alien ruins. His team followed cautiously in his wake. No security escort had been requested or provided because in the lifeless sector of the old city, the environment itself was the only true hazard, both the radiation as well as the unstable structures capable of collapsing without warning.

Other than the measured footsteps of the research team, there were no sounds. Everything was still, silent, and grey. The cordoned off section of the old city was frozen in the moment of its death. Pale blue lights of scanning beams swept over the ruins from the handheld instruments the team utilized. The data scrolling across the screens proved to be similar to those of the initial scout teams deployed when Davin's people had first arrived.

"What's this?" asked one of the team. Davin paused, turning to look at the sign posted above an arched threshold. Fissures and cracks covered the entire front of the structure, but the sign remained intact to the degree Davin felt confident no letters were missing, but the arrangement of the alien symbols was unfamiliar.