Fragmented Visions

Culture Shock

 Archaeologist (Second Class) Retik carefully picked its way across the rubble, trying not to catch the fabric of its protective suit on any of the projecting debris. While the archaeologist would not have died from exposure to the atmosphere of this world, it would have had an unpleasant time recovering from the shock to its metabolism. Retik raised a gloved claw to its helmet to wipe away a sheen of dust, then turned its attention to the sensor pod that floated a few metres away.

Retik's companion, Born, leaned over the archaeologist's insectoid frame and grunted in her native tongue. The translation system in the archaeologist's suit paused for a moment before rendering the grunt into something more comprehensible. "Found anything?"

The archaeologist chittered back. "Not yet. I am still waiting for the survey drones to complete their search pattern."

"Why not just wait in the lander? Better than being out here." Bron gestured towards the sky with a shaggy paw. The sky above the mismatched pair was a clear blue, broken only by patches of grey clouds. A bright yellow sun hung in the sky almost directly above them. If it hadn't been for the archaeologist's suit or its companion's furry mantle, the two of them would have been badly burned by the star's ultraviolet-tinged rays.

Retik reared up on its hind legs so it could face its companion eye to compound eye. "I am an archaeologist. I specialise in the study of vanished cultures. How else can I understand their thoughts, their ideas, their memes if I do not see their world as they did?"

Bron turned her fur-covered head from side to side, scanning the area around them. There was rubble everywhere, the pieces ranging in size from small lumps just smaller than a fist to chunks that were larger than the two interlopers combined. Bars and coils of oxidised metal protruded from the rubble, ready to rip and tear at unwary flesh. Nearby ruined structures gave some indication of the origin of the debris. "This hole? Listen, Retik, this was a Class Four civilisation - too stupid to live. What makes this one special?"

The insectoid hummed in frustration: something its translator struggled to convey in its neutral tones. "This one did not wipe itself out in any of the usual ways. The surface radiation is within the normal limits for a world of this type, so no deployment of fission reaction weapons. It was not an ecological collapse. Local biodiversity is low, but not dangerously so. As for measuring the mass of certain fundamental particles ... !" The archaeologist made a sweeping gesture, obviously meant to indicate that the world was still there.

"So? They're still dead."

Retik felt the vibrissae on its thorax begin to stir with annoyance. "Try to get this into whatever passes for the seat of intelligence in your species, Bron. The civilisation that was here did not collapse for one of the standard reasons. Some other catastrophe overtook them. Now, if the Class Ones in the Conflab bureaucracy are worried enough to send us here rather than just open up one slightly-used world for exploitation, then I am worried enough to take this assignment seriously."

Bron eyed her smaller companion with something that might have been contempt. "You're a Class Two, yes?"

"My species is."

Bron uttered a wheezing laugh. "Typical Class Two. Come. We go back to the lander now. I'm tired of this rubble."

The two creatures returned to their vessel, picking their way through the remains of the ruined city. Their craft had landed in an area that was relatively free of debris, but overgrown with moss and stunted plants. Its smooth, conical form looked out of placed in the wild landscape. Once inside the safety of the lander, Retik divested itself of its protective suit, while Bron set about checking the craft's communications logs.

Out of its suit, Retik resembled an overly large, twisted version of a grasshopper. Its carapace was covered in a multitude of short hair-like protrusions, and was topped with a head that had blunt mandibles and large, segmented eyes. Sexually, Retik was a neuter drone. Originally it had evolved as a scout and information gatherer in some nameless hive on a faraway world. Supposedly this gave Retik the perfect temperament to be a cultural archaeologist. Bron, on the other hand, was more fitted to a physical existence. She was descended from arboreal hunters, and her thick pelt concealed a powerfully muscled body. As if that wasn't enough, evolution had granted her species a strong parenting instinct. This made her a near-perfect bodyguard, but even she found the insectile archaeologist's condescending attitude difficult to tolerate. The two of them had been on this deserted world for ten of its diurnal revolutions. Despite the plethora of ruins, their survey drones had only found a handful of cultural objects that had survived whatever had befallen their creators. These artifacts had been placed in stasis cylinders to await the scrutiny of the Conflab's scholars. Meanwhile, they were in the charge of Archaeologist (Second Class) Retik.