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FOUR

Stardate 4757.6 (1309 hours)

An emotional being might say that he “disliked” the rain. But for Spock, it was a matter of efficiency: a dry, still environment presented fewer obstacles than one where vision was limited, and even his sensitive hearing was impaired by constant noise. The landing party pressed forward in the pouring rain, into the alien town.

Spock had landed the Hofstadter next to a large, flat building, interposing the structure between the shuttle and the source of the wind. He left Ensign Saloniemi to work on analyzing the graffiti sent over by the captain’s team, and assigned Petty Officer Emalra’ehn to stay with him for protection. Spock had then set out into the rain with Commander Scott, Lieutenant Jaeger, Doctor M’Benga, and Lieutenant Kologwe.

Their destination was a tall, spindly structure 310 meters ahead, not as impressive as the needle-like towers the Columbus had discovered in the other city. Scans revealed it to be 55.7 meters high and 20.6 meters wide at its base, tapering to 3.1 meters at the top. Its façade lacked the rough surface of the other buildings. Instead, it was covered in tiles of a reflective and slightly translucent material that looked like glass, even through the rain.

Once the landing party gained access, they would attempt to locate the source of the energy reading. This was the only sign of active technology they had thus far encountered. Could it have something to do with Yüksel’s disappearance? Unknown, but even a single dormant computer with an active information store could prove invaluable.

The group moved along an extensive, straight stretch of road, made from a concrete-like substance that was covered in cracks with plants growing out of them. The conspicuous absence of vehicles on the roadways led Spock to theorize that the worldwide disappearance of the Mu Arigulon sentients had occurred in a relatively ordered fashion. Had the circumstances been chaotic, there would be abandoned vehicles.

The buildings were widely spaced, and the wind buffeted the landing party as it swept across the flat surface. Engineer Scott reeled, his poncho protecting him from the water but not the wind, but he managed to draw even with Spock.

“Mister Spock!” he shouted to make himself heard above the howl of the wind. “I want to know how come we havna seen any bodies? The sensors dinna pick up anything, there’s no trace of remains anywhere.” Wiping the rain from his eyes, Scott continued. “If there had been a planetwide catastrophe at some point, surely there’d be bodies still lying where they dropped.”

“Indeed, Mister Scott. I have been considering the same questions. So far, I am not able to offer any theories.”

“I just hope that whatever took them didna take Yüksel.” The engineer fell silent and continued to walk beside Spock.

“What happened to the population depends on how fast the atmosphere became toxic,” Lieutenant Jaeger explained. “It takes time for anything to spread over an entire planet. If they had enough time to think of measures to save themselves, that could explain why they’re gone.”

“What caused the toxicity?” Lieutenant Kologwe asked.

“There are a number of possibilities, but I think the natives did it to themselves,” Lieutenant Jaeger answered.

As they had seen during their orbital survey, the inhabitants had spread out across the face of the planet. Even though the native flora had begun to reclaim what had been taken from it, the scars left by extensive deforestation were still plainly visible. However, Spock could not rule out natural disasters such as volcanic gases, solar flares, or asteroid impacts.

“It must’ve been very bad,” M’Benga said. “We can consider ourselves lucky that the air’s breathable now.”

Jaeger nodded. “For us, it is. There’s no telling if the same would be true for the natives.” He wiped a hand over his face, futilely. “For all we know, they’d have to wait another two or three centuries before they could live here again.”

“Idle speculation will not help us in our search for answers, Lieutenant,” Spock