Page 248 - The Chronicles Ser2 (6-10)

A crater could be seen; and a collapsed stadium led to the conclusion that some disaster had
befallen the settlement. They would know more when they landed.

It was a different situation for the Untharan settlement. Although it too appeared deserted;
there were signs of recent activity. Tracks of some kind of vehicles led to a large set of blast doors for
an underground bunker. Unusual for Untharan habitation practices. They landed the craft in a
nearby pasture. This was a bit of a misnomer; as this huge expanse was almost as big as some small
countries. Automated farming equipment was scattered all over the place; some of it in a severe
state of disrepair. T’luha and her team headed over to the
huge blast doors. The opening mechanisms seemed to
have been used recently.
“These look like larger versions of the gates found on
She’brakda so… There should be… Ah!” T’luha said as she
searched for a panel. There were three of them two
seemed to be inactive. The third wasn’t. “The symbols are
different but I’d bet the principle is the same” she said
and touched the symbol that replaced the cartouche on
the She’brakda panel. It glowed and emitted a sequence
of tones.
“That sounded like a piece of Mozart; a piece called K545 I
think” exclaimed Tuulk “let me try. He’s one of my
favourite ancient Composers” he practically pleaded.
T’luha stepped aside and let the ensign try his hand. He
pressed the symbol again and listened to the sequence of
notes. “Assuming the buttons represent the semitones of
an octave this should be the next sequence” he said and
played some notes. There was a chime; a loud clunk and
the sound of the opening mechanism starting up. It
sounded like huge gearing then a hiss and the huge door swung up and over like a garage door.
Inside was dark and the vague shape of large machines could be made out. Dimly at first interior
lighting flickered into life and brightened.
The machines were huge transporters. Something heavy and large had been brought in here and
there were signs that it had been dragged to a large set of retractable gates. These turned out to be
the means to access a large goods elevator. Again there were signs it had been used recently.
“The basic scans show that smear to be some kind of blood; unknown species” Ger’hun a biologist
said. They proceeded to a stairwell with more caution.
“Whoever is here must have decided to live an underground existence” Tuulk stammered.
“You may well be right. I’ve just received the aerial scan images from Midas’ team” Leeson said. He
had changed his mind at the last minute and had joined T’luha’s team. “They show a large crater in a
mid-city block area and a damaged stadium. Looks like some kind of meteor impact or gigantic
explosion rocked the city and its surroundings. Some of the large towers have signs of their
foundations having been damaged. One is leaning at about twelve degrees off vertical” he added
and showed them a projection of the images.
“That might explain a lot of things. Keep your eyes and ears open. Move on” T’luha ordered…

… Midas and his team had opted to “dock” their craft to a tower on the Island. Everywhere
there were signs that the buildings had not been used in decades; probably even longer.
“There’s some traces of radiation; but nothing near harmful levels” a Tech said
“There are more of the same symbols and script that we think is Hurabash. What’s that over there?”
said Glenna Trove as she spotted a flat metallic and enamel object. She picked it up and wiped the
layers of dust from the surface. It looked like some kind of Identity badge. “Weird; reminds me of
the Shield Identity Badges used by The Force back home on Kelgar” she added.