"Looks like they’re all intact," Cora said as she finished scanning the chamber and turned back to the team. All of her spouses had joined her, as had Ralissa, Lorkis, Kolya, and Donovan. The rest of Ralissa’s team had stayed on the Jemison to continue going over the data the probes had collected overnight.

"That’s good," Donovan muttered. "Last thing I want is to find more skeletons, especially if these really are children."

"Fortunately, the pods are all sealed and still powered on. Nothing’s interfered with them, as far as I can determine."

"I’m not gonna get too close to them," Donovan said. "Out of the whole group, I’m the most likely to bumble into something I shouldn’t touch."

Kolya laughed and clasped his hand for a moment as she walked past him. She leaned over for a closer look into the window on one of the pods.

"These don’t appear to be cryonic. At least, the kid doesn’t look frozen and the window isn’t frosted up. I wonder how these things work."

"If it could be reverse-engineered," Lorkis called out from the opposite side of the chamber, "it might work wonders for long-range exploration missions. With hyperspace travel, we can cross the galaxy in a few weeks, but other galaxies are still just a bit out of our reach."

Cora flicked a glance at Kolya just as her good eye opened wide and she drew in a slow breath. Cora grinned. Easy, there. Finish exploring our own galaxy before you start champing at the bit to zip off to an entirely different one.

"Hmm." Zilaka leaned over to glance into one of the pods, stepped back quickly, and rubbed her upper arms as if feeling a chill. "While getting up to speed on technological advances since I was abducted, I found some articles on experiments with … oh, what was it called? Faster-than-light propulsion? Started with the letter ’A’?"

"Alcubierre drive." Kolya grinned. "I remember covering it in one of my history classes. They never got it to work."

"Imagine if someone could make it work, and used it alongside the jump engines you already have. What do you think would happen if a ship traveled at FTL speeds while in hyperspace?"

Everyone turned to stare at her. Lorkis gaped for a few seconds longer than the others, and then he grabbed his comm and jotted a few notes into it.

"Huh. That could cut down travel time quite a bit," Kolya said. "Like, traveling to another galaxy in a few months rather than a few centuries."

"Assuming it doesn’t cause a catastrophic explosion that scatters debris from here all the way to Andromeda," Grishnag added with a chuckle.

"It’s definitely worth exploring." Lorkis glanced around at Cora’s crew, flashed a huge grin, and motioned at Zilaka. "You all may have married a genius."

Zee tossed off a sheepish grin and looked away. Ayastal put an arm around her shoulders before walking over to another row of pods, and Nish gave her a quick kiss before slithering up a ramp to the second level.

Cora smiled and walked to the far end of the chamber. There, she found a bank of controls and monitors interspaced with metal lockers and cabinets. Food and supplies, she guessed, or maybe tools for maintenance. She scanned the one directly in front of her and found nothing organic. No food, then, but probably other essentials they’d need whenever they emerged from the stasis pods. If ever.

She found a handle, gave it a gentle tug, and gave up when the narrow door didn’t open. She didn’t want to break anything, especially when doing so could trigger an automated defense system her probes hadn’t detected.

"Poor kids," Syala said softly, and Cora glanced over her shoulder to find Syala staring at one of the pods and toying absently with a lock of her silvery hair. "No adults left to raise them."

Cora nodded and took another slow look around. She spotted an open doorway on the catwalk above, crouched, and leaped up to the rail. She grabbed on, pulled herself over, and stepped up to the doorway. She hesitated, knowing the chamber ahead was filled with more hibernating children. Her probes had spread through this entire section last night and hadn’t found any pods containing adults.

"We’re assuming these are children," Ralissa’s voice echoed from across the chamber. "It’s possible they’re just short … whatever these people called themselves."

"Fair point." Cora doubted it but decided it was best not to jump to any conclusions. "We don’t really know anything about this species yet."

Nishara slid over to her and rested her lower hands on the rail. "I suppose there’s nothing we can do here since we shouldn’t start poking around the controls without knowing how they work."

"True. I’d never be able to live with myself if I accidentally shut one of these pods down and killed its occupant." Cora glanced around the chamber and found everyone making their way toward her and Nish, having apparently reached the same conclusion. She turned to walk into the next chamber. Her probes had mapped out the entire structure, and she’d downloaded the info into her memory. Everyone else had copies on their comms, so they’d all be able to find their way around.

"There are three more chambers like this one ahead," Donovan said, staring at his comm’s screen as he walked forward. "Past those is what looks like environment control systems or power or something similar. Lots of pipes, cables, large equipment, and whatnot. On the other side of that, and back up near the top of the building, is something that looks like a park or an arboretum."

"Oh, I like the sound of that." Syala smiled and hurried over to the ramp leading to the catwalk.

Donovan glanced around. "Hey, where’s Kolya?"

"Up here," Kolya said.

Cora glanced upward, flicked her optics around, and spotted Kolya on the ceiling -- with nothing under her. She’d hooked her left leg around a thick pipe and clamped her left hand onto a smaller one. There was nothing but open air between her and the floor thirty-eight meters below.

"Jesus, Kolya!" Most of the color faded from Donovan’s face and he reached toward her. "What the hell?"

"Take it easy. Just doing what I do." She pulled a flashlight out of a pocket and aimed it into an open panel above her head. "Huh. Found some pipes running under the walls and ceiling. I can feel cold air around them, even from this far away. Probably part of a cooling system for the stasis pods, or maybe for the computer systems running them."

"Makes sense," Dylan said as he joined Cora and Nishara. "Good thing it’s still functioning after thousands of years. If the cooling system failed, everyone in these pods would be screwed."

Donovan took a slow, shaky breath. "Kolya …"

"I’m fine. Don’t worry." Chuckling, Kolya returned the flashlight to her pocket and resumed her course across the ceiling.

"Be careful." Donovan rubbed his free hand over his forehead and gripped his comm in the other. His hands trembled.

"Gonna need some help?" Grish said.

"Nah, I’m fine. I’ve done some rock climbing here and there, and this is actually easier. Lots more stuff to grab onto." Kolya continued on to the wall, climbed down to the catwalk, and brushed her hands off.

Donovan sighed, rushed forward, and threw his arms around her. She laughed and hugged him back.

"Aw, don’t be so dramatic. I do this kind of stuff all the time." She grinned and slid her hands down to rest on his ass. "Not that I’m complaining. I’ll take all the hugs I can get."

He laughed softly, held her for a few more seconds, and finally stepped back. "Sorry. I’m just not a fan of heights, so seeing you way up there, without a rope or anything …"

"Didn’t mean to scare you. This was nothin’, though." She grinned, took his hand, and headed for the doorway. "It’ll be a long walk to the arboretum, so it’ll give me plenty of time to tell you about a few of the really harrowing things I’ve been through."

"Oh," he mumbled. "Wonderful."

***

"Well." Dylan stared across the enormous park and grimaced. "This is kind of a letdown."

The whole park was the size of the small town he’d grown up in, if not bigger, and had probably been filled with grass and trees sprouting from tanks covered with metal grates. From the small hill on which he stood, he could see three huge lake beds. The far end of the park was lost on the horizon.

"Everything’s dead," Syala mumbled, sticking her hands into her pockets and pressing her arms against her sides as if to fight off a chill.

Dylan nodded and put his arm around her. Most of the ground was covered with dirt where there had once been grass, the trees were now leafless husks, and the lakes had dried up.

Grishnag walked over to one of the grates and pondered the empty tank under it. "I’m guessing these were once filled with nutrients that provided everything the trees and other vegetation needed. After everyone died, the stuff eventually ran out or dried up. Even if there was an automated system that replenished it, the supply would run out if there was no one left to bring more in."

"Sounds about right." Dylan swept his gaze over the ground and spotted tiny skeletons here and there, probably this planet’s equivalent of birds and rodents and other small animals. He turned back to the path winding through the remains of the park. In the distance, he found a few benches along the path, one of which had a pair of skeletons sprawled on it. From the way they’d collapsed, he guessed the aliens had sat there, huddled together until they died in each other’s arms.

Just waiting for the end because they knew there was nothing else they could do. Goddamn it.

Metal hands touched his shoulders and he glanced up to find Cora beside him, staring off in the same direction with a sorrowful expression.

"Not exactly the adventure we were hoping for, huh?" She moved behind him, put her arms around him, and let her hands rest against his chest.

"Not quite what I imagined, yeah." He put his hands over hers.

"I’ll make it up to you all, I promise." Cora smiled and rubbed her cheek against his. "When we’re finished with this job, we’ll visit a habitable planet. One that has living trees and animals and people."

"I’d love that," Zilaka said as she took one more look around before pointing her eyes at the ground and sighing. "It’ll be exactly what we need, if all we’re going to see here is more of … this."

"It’s a date, then." Cora smiled at her, gave Dylan another quick kiss, and pointed a thumb over her shoulder. "Guess we should move on, but we can go back the way we came and find a path around this park so we don’t have to walk across all of this."

"Good idea." Zee turned and hurried back to the door. "I’d really prefer not to see any more death and decay."

Everyone muttered their agreement and caught up with her. Lorkis fiddled with his comm for a few seconds and grinned suddenly.

"I’ve found something promising on the map. A couple of kilometers ahead, at the top of the structure, is a huge chamber filled with what appear to be vehicles. If any of them are still functional, maybe we can take one for a joyride."

"Hah!" Grishnag clapped him on the upper shoulder and grinned as she stepped into the outside corridor. "Interesting."

***

"So much for avoiding more depressing shit," Donovan muttered.

Kolya stepped past him, moved aside so the others could enter, and took a slow look around. The room appeared to be a garage packed with several dozen vehicles of varying shapes and sizes, all of them similar to the one she’d glimpsed in the archive holo. None of them had wheels, so she guessed they were aircars or maglev pods.

Dim sunlight flooded the chamber from a rectangular opening in the ceiling large enough for several of the vehicles to pass through at once.

She glanced to the left and found one propped up against the wall as if someone had tried to launch and then crashed. She jogged over to it, gave it a few shoves to test its stability, and when it didn’t budge, she climbed over its rear end and onto its roof. She leaped up and grasped the edge of the open driver’s-side window -- then her fingers slipped off and she dropped to the floor, landing on her ass and rolling over with a grunt. The impact stirred up a puff of dust and dirt.

"Kolya, for fuck’s sake!" Donovan ran over and fell to his knees beside her.

"Ow!" Laughing, she picked herself up and rubbed her ass cheek. "At least it wasn’t another pitchfork."

Donovan heaved a long sigh and stood. Then he coughed and flicked an alarmed glance at the dust cloud.

"Ugh. Just reminded me of those spores."

"Aw, I doubt it’s even remotely like those."

"True," Dylan said as he approached. "More likely, it’s what’s left of the dead aliens. Skin cells and whatnot."

Donovan almost dry-heaved and Kolya paused to give his back a quick rub before jumping back onto the car and dislodging more dust.

Grishnag snorted. "Yeah, that didn’t fucking help."

Chuckling, Lorkis slithered over to the settling dust and scanned it. "No spores. Just your everyday dust and dirt composed of the same things you’d find anywhere else."

"Great, but that just means we’re inhaling dead alien skin." Donovan hunched over almost chucked again.

Kolya giggled and jumped back up to the window. This time she kept her grip, pulled herself up, and peeked inside. What she found was pretty much what she’d expected, another skeleton sprawled across the bench-shaped seat.

"Yep, there’s another dead alien here."

"I can see more in a few of the other vehicles," Ayastal said.

"Can’t say I’m surprised." Kolya flicked her eye around the interior. "The seat doesn’t have a back. I’ve noticed a lot of the furniture around here is built like that."

"Could be because they were quadrupeds," Dylan said. "They might’ve had a different way of supporting their weight."

"Could be." Kolya dangled off the side of the car, let go, and landed on her feet as Syala clopped over to her and Donovan.

"I wonder what happened?" Syala stared up at the open window and crossed her arms over her chest. "The driver died at the controls."

"Panicked, probably," Grish said. "He or she was probably already dying, wasn’t able to think clearly, and tried to escape even though there was nowhere to go."

"And with the vegetation dying off, the air would’ve kept getting thinner." Cora walked over and put her arm around Syala. "It would’ve been especially bad if the atmosphere was originally thicker or had a higher oxygen content than what you’re all used to breathing. If it fell to what you’d consider normal levels, it might not have been enough to keep these people alive. They would’ve become disoriented and irrational, at least until they couldn’t remain conscious any longer."

"Yeah, we’ll definitely need to explore a less depressing place after we’re finished here." Dylan put his arms around her and Syala.

A soft chirp came from Ralissa’s comm. She glanced at its screen, smiled, and typed something. Then she held the comm up for a second.

"Got a text from Zadra. She, Peter, and Mila finished dating the samples the probes collected last night. Said samples are around seventeen thousand years old."

Dylan whistled softly and took a slow look around. "Must have one hell of a reactor, for the place to still have power after that long a time."

"I’m thinking it runs on geothermal energy." Kolya jogged over to the nearest vehicle and examined the door. "Parts of it, at least."

"The probes did find structures that appeared to be reactors in the underground levels," Cora said. "Some of them, if not all, could’ve been tapping into the planet’s interior."

Kolya nodded and returned her attention to the car door. She hadn’t found a handle, but there was a triangular panel roughly where she’d expect to find a handle. She gave it a push just to see if it did anything. A mechanism unlocked with a click and the door slid back.

"Ah-hah!" Grinning, Kolya glanced around the interior, found it empty, and sat. "If we can get a few of these running, they’d be a big help in moving equipment around. Or, if nothing else, we could get back to the rovers without walking several kilometers back the way we came."

"Sounds good." Dylan let out a long breath. "I think I’ve done enough walking for the next day or two."

"So, assuming we can get one of these things running, anybody wanna go for a ride?" Kolya grinned.

Donovan finally pulled himself together and matched her grin. "I’ll go anywhere you’re willing to take me."

"Welcome aboard, then." She giggled and clasped his hand.

In the corner of her eye, Cora turned suddenly and glanced upward. Dylan noticed as well.

"Hey, Cora." He put his hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright? You look …"

"The Jemison’s sensors just picked up another ship."

"Oh, hell." Donovan grimaced. "I hope it’s not the aliens who wiped out the people here."

"No, it’s a Terran ship. Its markings aren’t from any military I’m familiar with, but it’s armed." Cora’s brow plates rose. "They’ve got a hell of a pilot. Their ship dropped out of hyperspace directly into a stable orbit. I’m trying to contact them."

Donovan’s hand turned clammy in Kolya’s palm, and she glanced over at him.

"Try to relax. We don’t know they’re hostile. Could be another science team coming to check out one of the ruins. Maybe the ship they’re on just happens to be armed."

"I don’t know of any other expeditions scheduled for the next few months." Ralissa shrugged. "I’m probably not privy to all of them, though."

"It’s also possible that one was rescheduled," Lorkis added.

"Could also be raiders or scavengers looking for something they can sell on the black market." Grishnag glanced at Kolya and motioned at the vehicle. "You might want to see if you can start that thing up in case we need to get back to the Jemison in a hurry. The rest of us should try the same with the rest of these."

"And if we can’t get any of these working," Nishara said, "we should just head back to the rovers."

Kolya nodded and glanced at Donovan before turning back to the controls. He stared wide-eyed at the sky and sweat had started beading up on his brow. She cocked her head and reached up to pat his shoulder.

"Hey, take it easy."

He glanced at her and tried to cover up his sudden nervousness. "You’re right. Could be anybody."

Something clicked into place in her head. Back on the station, in the hangar, on the way to the Mae Jemison, she’d noticed him glancing around nervously, looking over his shoulder, and at one point turning around to stare at something behind him. She’d thought he was just looking around at the other ships. But now -- he’d hidden it almost quickly enough, but a second ago his expression had been one of near-panic instead of simple surprise at the unexpected arrival.

"You expected someone in particular," she muttered.

"N -- no, I …" He cut himself off and took a few ragged breaths.

"Still scanning," Cora said. "Ship identified. It’s the Relentless. Belongs to a midsize mercenary corporation that often hires itself out to criminal organizations." She scowled suddenly. "They just dropped a shuttle. No, wait -- it’s armed. It’s a gunship." Cora’s glowing red optics locked onto Donovan. "It’s heading straight for the Jemison. I’m still trying to contact them. They’re not responding."

"You know who they are," Kolya said softly to Donovan. A chill rose up through her guts as the realization sank in. "That’s why you were so eager to leave Sevastopol Station. You’re running from someone."

A sonic boom erupted in the distance as the incoming gunship plunged deeper into the atmosphere.

"That’s it, we’re leaving." Cora turned away from the vehicles. "Now."

Next Chapter: Chapter 11: Up a Tree