Chapter 14: Baglogi

“This is strange. Where is everyone?” said Jem.

“I can not detect any vessels or signs of life. No signals on any frequency. Continuing to scan,” said Ship.

“That’s not right. Where are the defence patrols? They should have challenged us by now,” said Jem. She pressed buttons on a console to zoom in on various areas of the system. I sensed this wasn’t what she had expected.

“How long since Ship was last here?” asked Koluna. There followed a pause.

“Ship, please answer Koluna’s question,” said Jem.

“I left the Baglogi system about two thousand Ori years ago. The initial crew provided a viable gene pool for generations. Unfortunately, each successive generation had less viable options. We lost some crew to attrition. It became harder to sustain crew numbers until it was just two and then one,” said Ship. Jem looked at me. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. It seemed Ship saw the organic crew as a component necessary for the mission. We might have to make adjustments to Ship’s programming soon.

“Ship, during the last two millennia, something happened to this system,” I said.

“Based upon initial scan results, it would appear so.”

“Ship, why did you not return to the Baglogi system before now?” I asked.

“A return directive was not within the mission parameters. No crew ever ordered me to return before now. Beyond that, I have no information,” said Ship.

“You might have returned sooner, before you ran out of crew members. If you did, you’d have suffered the same fate as whatever happened here,” I said.

“Ship, please continue to scan for life signs and vessels. Also, expand your search to include wreckage, and on planets check for ruins,” said Jem.

“Confirmed,” said Ship.

We drifted further on into the system, our eyes glued to the tactical display for anything. Eventually, Ship spoke up.

“Perhaps I might make a suggestion?” asked Ship.

“Go ahead Ship,” said Jem.

“All attempts to communicate have failed to yield results. It seems our network of satellites is no longer in existence. I suggest I create replacement satellites to restore the network infrastructure. It may help us in our search of the system,” offered Ship.

“I agree with your suggestion. Please fabricate and deploy replacement satellites. Keep me updated to your progress,” said Jem. “Meanwhile, Brian and I will take a shuttle to the former Baglogi home world. Brian, please find some good locations for us to explore. Koluna, you will remain aboard Ship as our backup. Monitor for trouble both within and out of the system. Alert us of trouble and be ready to rescue us if need be.”

We each had our orders. I pulled up scans of the fourth planet and looked for sites to examine. We were still some distance out, with limited details. We weren’t close enough to launch the shuttle. There was no sign of artificial light from the planet. I checked out the shuttle and the equipment we would need.

We already had things tidy to prepare for the return home to a welcome by Jem’s people. I returned to the main bridge. Jem was sitting in a chair by the tactical display. Koluna was elsewhere.

“Captain, the shuttle is prepared for departure. As yet, I’ve identified no sites of interest on Baglogi-4. Perhaps we can move to the side facing the planet. Then I might find locations of interest,” I said. The lack of a welcome clearly disturbed her. I resorted to a more formal interaction until I knew better how to respond.

“What happened??” said Jem. I didn’t know the answer, so I kept quiet. I stood to one side, waiting for her. A few minutes passed, then Jem stood and hugged me tightly. I hugged her back and waited.

“I expected more than this. My home planet is empty,” she said.

“We will figure it out. Maybe they moved on somewhere. We need to find out where,” I weakly suggested.

A while later, Ship announced we were within range of Baglogi-4 for the shuttle launch. Jem and I boarded the shuttle and left to explore the planet. Ship continued on, to deploy satellites throughout the system. We would rendezvous later, after we had each done our respective tasks.

I piloted our shuttle into a low orbit to get better scans of the surface. Soon we’d crossed from night to day. The planet’s surface was now illuminated by their sun. There were signs of ruined cities, but no recent activity. We decided on two places to explore, and I piloted us to the first location. The atmosphere was mild and posed no threat. Within an hour, we were on the surface at our first location.

The sensors aboard the shuttle indicated the air was breathable, and the weather warm and clear. I also ran a detailed bio scan, in case it was a virus that had wiped out the former inhabitants. Once confirmed safe, we exited through the airlock and we were standing out in the open on the planet surface. This planet that was once the original home world of her species. As we stood there, I speculated Jem was probably the first Baglogi to return home in centuries.

Our first location was once the centre of a large city. It was in ruins, long ago destroyed. I found no animal tracks, but there was vegetation. There was lots of dust and debris. Whoever did this was thorough. And it was clear they did it a long time ago.

There were no tracks save our own, so no animals or predators. This place seemed long dead.

Jem took the lead, and I followed close behind. We wandered around, looking for clues about what had happened. I recorded some images, scans and collected samples for later analysis. There was no structure over one story in height, and no doors intact. I was certain no one had visited for centuries.

And it was so quiet. It was disturbingly quiet. There was little wind. The only disturbance was us. We walked along what could have been some kind of main street, leaving a trail of footprints in the dust. I guess backtracking to the shuttle would be easy. Throughout this all, Jem had hardly made any noise. Our normal banter was subdued, as if we were in a temple.

A lot of the ruins were rock or some kind of concrete. Anything else must have either rusted away or deteriorated until it was dust. The weather had done a good job of erasing evidence of a once-great space-faring civilization. I took more samples and packed them away in containers. Perhaps Ship can help do an analysis of these samples. It’s certainly not my area of speciality.

We spent a few hours at this location, walking around the streets, examining what little remained. As we got tired, we worked our way back to our shuttle. We re-entered the airlock into the shuttle and collapsed into our seats.

“That is so depressing. Something bad happened here, but it happened so long ago. There’s nothing I can do. I feel so helpless. This was once a thriving society. Now it’s ruins,” said Jem. After all the silence outside, I found her talking strange.