Fragments 1: Devolution Landing

What happened?

The team who had discovered the site were not archaeologists, but they had tried to do their best. They had spotted anomalous signs of metal as part of their geological survey and had investigated further, finding clear traces of something significant under two low ridges. They had carried out a closer examination and then cut two trenches to see what lay beneath.

They were construction workers rather than professionals - Rymeria didn't have many trained archaeologists - but they had looked up a few textbooks and done their best. Androbos was quite impressed with their efforts.

They were introduced to a man called Glas Orboros who was the site foreman - an earnest and business-like man in his forties. He seemed pleased to see them and took time to show them what the local team had managed to do so far.

None of the results had been sent off-planet yet, so this was the first chance that Androbos had been given to look at what the Rymerians had discovered. They had a few small objects that had been recovered from the site, but the visitors were more interested in the detailed images which had been taken by the survey team's aerial scanners.

They passed the printouts between them with sighs and gasps. Marcus turned one sheet around several times before he was happy with the angle. Everen popped her pocket pad out and began to take notes.

Perracheck only looked at the charts briefly and was the first to break the silence.

"It's a shipwreck, yes?"

"Mmmm...." mumbled Androbos as he examined one of the images more closely.

Orobos pointed out a detail on the sheet.

"As you can see, we also have a mass grave, which we haven't excavated. We thought it might be a good sign that there were survivors left who were able to dig it?"

Androbos nodded.

"Yes, I think you're right there," he said. "They would have wanted to do that fairly quickly to avoid disease, particularly if they wanted to use the wreckage as a shelter..."

"It's a big ship though," said Perracheck. "I don't think I've seen many quite that big. You'd think someone would have missed it?"

"It's a Gooding 34X Supercruiser," said Marcus in response. "They were built by the Interplanetary Martian Union during the Colonial Wars of Independence. Three hundred of them went into action at the Battle of Renard's Drift in 3637 where they were defeated by much smaller and more manoeuvrable colonial ships, after which the Union abandoned large battleships in favour of lighter vessels. The designer was an R.A. Bunnett, who..."

"Thanks Marcus, I get the picture," he interrupted with a smile. "So what's it doing out here?"

Androbos beat the young martian to reply - just.

"After the wars ended, the surviving warships were parked in huge orbital scrap heaps where they were either sold for parts or bought by groups of colonists, who used them to head out into deep space looking for new planets to settle."

Mor Morfier picked up the story.

"There were already a huge number of planets that had been terraformed by seeding ships - or rather there were lots of worlds where automated terraformation equipment had been set in motion. The existing colonies had many problems - overcrowding, continuing violence, political oppression, and so on... so there were lots of people willing to take the risk and buy one of these old wrecks and set off for a new adventure. Often, they had nothing to lose and everything to gain."

"And these ships were perfect," said Androbos as he continued to look at the scan results. "They were large, rugged and cheap. They could also be crash-landed into planets, which helped cut costs and provided a source of raw material for settlers."

"Sounds risky?"

"Oh, it was," Androbos replied. "But it was also an inexpensive way of getting out from some difficult situations and starting again. Colonists would pay a minimal sum each, but end up with chance of gaining an entire world."

"Interesting... So does this answer the puzzle?"

Marcus tutted.

"Not really," he replied with annoyance. "Although it does fill in some major gaps. We now know the terminus ad quo and the terminus ad quem of the arrival, and we know how the colonists touched down, as it were, but it raises many more questions, that we will need to investigate. Do you want me to list them for you?"

"That's okay doc," Ran said hastily. "I'm sure I'll find out."