Fragments 1: Devolution Landing

The Dorian's World Mystery

Their "room" turned out to be the entire first floor of a nearby guesthouse. Times were hard and it had been fairly easy for Korful to book them a reasonable amount of space. They gathered in one of the larger rooms for a light meal provided by their guide who seemed keen to please them in whatever way he could.

There were some simple sandwiches and a few heavily fried snacks which had a particular taste. Apparently they were a Rymerian favourite that Korful wanted them to try. Androbos thanked him for looking after them and the small group ate together.

This was the first time that they had really been together in one place and he was not sure how much they would need to discuss before heading out to the dig in the morning. Ran Perracheck confirmed his worst suspicions.

"Can anyone tell me why this place is called Dorian's World? I mean, who was this Dorian anyway and why have they got a whole planet named after them?"

The Professor was about to open his mouth when Marcus spoke up.

"Dorian's World is named after Eria Fen Dorian who first charted this system on Standard Day 46 in the year 4726. He is not to be confused with Eva Drai Dorian, his brother, who founded the colony on Delta Drai Seven. Eria Dorian was only able to map the planet from orbit, but noted that it had been terraformed sometime previously. He also recorded that there were no signs human habitation."

"So he just went away?"

"Of course," stated Marcus with a tone of mild surprise. "So many planets had been terraformed by the early planet shaping starships... As Doctor Moorfier will undoubtedly tell you... But records weren't kept and it was left to subsequent generations to re-discover them. It was twenty-two years before anyone came back for a closer look."

"And they found an empty planet?"

"Quite the opposite. They found a planet with a small but well distributed population of human beings who had obviously been there for some time."

"And no-one knew they were here? How was that possible?"

"There were no signs of technology. No radio waves. No extensive use of metal. Nothing that could have been detected by Eria Fen Dorian when he photographed the planet from space, and no-one was really looking anyway, so you can't really blame them for not finding anything. Anyway, when an advance team arrived on the planet in 4748 they were quite surprised to find that there were people here already, living as hunter-gatherers without any recourse to any form of manufacturing technology."

"But, how was that possible?" Ran asked. "Where had they come from and what were they doing here?"

"That's the big mystery!" Marcus replied with excitement. "In all these years nobody has been able to work out exactly when they arrived, or even from where. Some, like Daffina Roben Choo, think they were left behind by the original terraforming team, which is really quite unlikely, while others, like Gretina Bowsenboker think that they came from a Centauran mining ship which crashed here in 3264, which is a laughable suggestion...."

"I'll just stop you just there, Professor," interrupted Androbos, realising that the young Martian was warming up for a lengthy lecture.

Marcus looked a little hurt, but Ran gave him a reassuring smile.

"That's okay prof," he said with a grin. "I get the picture. So we're off to look at something that might solve the mystery once and for all?"

Androbos nodded.

"That's right," he said as he looked around at his new team. "The Rymerians have been thinking of developing this planet and one of their survey teams spotted something that attracted their interest. So... we've been invited to come and have a brief look. - before the Trucanni come in and take over...”

He pointed to his assistant.

"Elveren and I are from the Sirian Metropolitan University. We're here at the invitation of the Rymerian government because there's a treaty between Sirius and Rymeria."

"Marcus here has been studying the Dorian's World Mystery for his entire academic life, and has probably written more on the subject than any other person."

Marcus shook his head.

"That's not quite right sir, I will need to publish another four thousand six hundred and thirty one words before I will have been quite as prolific as Magbar Fulcit of Derebrus Four, who..."

"Well, I'm sure this trip will help you with that record," said Androbos, realising that another lecture was about to begin. "Doctor Moorfier, has also written articles on the issue, focussing on the terraformation period and what that might tell us about the origin of human settlement here."

"Two articles, I believe," said Marcus interrupting. "Her paper on grass hybrids was quite interesting, but I think her work on soil analysis was highly derivative..."

"Okay," said the Professor firmly as Moorfier glared at the younger man. Androbos was thankful that he would only have to hold this team together for a few days. They talked for a while longer before each of them gave their apologies and headed for bed.