Lightship

by Stephan Besik

  The last portion of the visual stream showed the other long side. The angle wasn’t as good as the first view. The angle of view was higher to avoid the even taller terrain of uphill ground and tall greenery. There was more interest on the back side, though. Behind the structure on the uphill side was a bit of level ground, on which stood a number of stone rectangles. The image flipped momentarily to a high-angle view from the downhill side of the structure, in which could be seen engravings facing the back of the structure. The visual perspective changed slowly and magnified the head-on view of the markers, but then jumped to move slowly along the back of the structure as it had the front.

  “Holy Mother, those look like grave stones, don’t they? And the structure looks completely intact. No broken windows, and the doors at front and back appear to be closed!”

  The young female nodded. “Yes, Coordinator. I saw nothing to indicate any damage to the exterior at all.”

  “Let’s go through the streams again. Stop the video near the center of each wall, please.”

  She restarted the V-stream and stopped it when they were close to the center of the first wall, which seemed to be the front of the structure. They went through the four sides of the building again, slowly, looking for structural damage and openings. While the high angles made ground-level checking difficult, there wasn’t much in the way of deterioration to be seen.

  The Controller did her best to get magnified views of windows and doors. “Our angle is awkward,” she said. “Really not able to get much of the bottoms. The seams on the edges of the doors look tight, though, don’t they? And every one of the windows is intact.”

  “Yes. The place is in remarkably good shape. Let’s take another look at the stones on the uphill side of the building.”

  The Controller rolled the stream forward, searching for the isolated views of the stones behind the structure. While there was some deterioration, the markings appeared to be almost entirely intact.

  “Those markings are quite distinct. My guess is our language people will love these images.” He thought for a moment. “Let’s look at the other three streams. Next oldest to most recent, please.”

  “Yes, Coordinator.”

  There wasn’t much more to see on the more recent visuals; they offered slightly different viewing angles and different times of daylight. There was nothing new to contradict their original impressions.

  “The structure is almost perfectly preserved. And with the apparently intact door seals and unbroken windows, it’s possible the contents are intact, too. I think this warrants a priority message to the Chief.”

  He nodded approvingly to the young female. “Thanks for your help, Controller. I think we’ve found a treasure in this forest.”

  With everything going on and priority messages filling her message box the Chief of Research didn’t get to the Coordinator’s priority message for a couple of Ship’s day cycles. By the time she got to it, four recently formed and as yet unassigned explorer teams had already sent in priority alerts containing proposals and bids for access to the new site.

  With her message box making her feel more bureaucratic by the day, she decided she wanted to see what all the excitement was about. Admittedly the Coordinator knew his business and wasn’t one to send up an unwarranted priority flag. She was sure there was support for his alert. She hadn’t seen anything but reports for the last ten-day, however, and it would be nice to see some actuals of the planet again. She pinged the Coordinator.

  “My apologies for not getting back to you earlier. My message box is overflowing with messages flying priority flags. I think I’d like to see this new site. Can you arrange a viewing?”

  “Yes, Chief. I worked with one of our junior Controllers. She knows the idents of the V-streams compiled by the assigned Intelligence. It was flagged by the Intelligence as priority, but I have the same problem. The surface teams are sending up requests and data faster than we can process them. I’m sure we could interrupt the Controller for a moment or two. The oldest stream seems to be the best. A review shouldn’t take much time out of your day.”

  “All right. Arrange it, please. Set a red flag on an invitation when you are ready. That will get the invitation through all of the other not-so-priority priority communications.”

  As it turned out, the Chief didn’t meet with her Coordinator. His Controller simply sent her a procedure and ident for the relevant V-stream. During a short block of her free time she executed the procedure, watching as the composite V-stream presented the various observation angles once more.

  The site was everything her Group could hope for. It was also going to be a lot of work.

  The structure was almost completely intact, and still sealed. This was a unique problem in and of itself.

  It was hard to believe that any structure was intact after a thousand years, but the place must have been built with survival in mind. While the grounds had become overgrown and exterior things like gardens, perimeter walls, outdoor spaces and pools had fallen into disrepair or crumbled away, the main structure itself appeared to be in very good shape. Windows were still intact. They were tall and narrow, embedded deep in slanted walls, protected from wind, weather and flying objects. The walls were composed of some sort of manufactured stone; all were still standing. Even the doors appeared intact and might still be locked.

  Then there were the stones behind the building that might be grave stones. Those would be worth further investigation by themselves. There were simple markings on each stone. They could provide another key to the local language and numbering system. If there had been nothing else to see at the site it would be worth a detailed examination. As it was the structure might be a real find if the interior was as well protected as it looked.

  It was clear to the Chief that this was a special location; so far it was the first apparently intact structure that the Research Group had found. She reviewed the proposals from the four unassigned teams that had seen the V-stream and selected one to make a visit to the site. Then she took on the deficiencies of the staffing.

  The Chief of Crew Engineering wasn’t happy.

  “I’m trying to run the Ship, and my people have just spent the last year expanding crew quarters to accommodate all the early wakeups your Group has requested. We’ve had to add a fusion reactor and a massive upgrade of infrastructure to make sure we could feed and house all the new arrivals brought up out of cold sleep to help solve this bio problem your people found on the planet. Now you’re grabbing engineers I need to keep things running up here for your research teams down on the planet. I’m already short staffed. You’re asking for the same people I need to expand Ship infrastructure. I can’t continue to send Crew engineers down to your teams and still keep the Ship running. Can’t you get people out of the Community that are still in cold sleep?”

  The Chief tried to look woeful and understanding at the same time. “I understand, but my Group was not staffed to deal with a place like this. There hasn’t been a discovery like Planet Three since we’ve been interstellar. We just didn’t think we’d have a need for so many engineers. All of the engineers in my group are down on the planet, and I still don’t have enough. I’m going to see about waking people up, but where do I put them once they’re up? I can’t just send them down to the planet without some acclimation and orientation time here.”

  The Chief of Engineering understood the problem, and Research wouldn’t be talking to him if she had a choice. “Look, see if you can get some people revived, and I’ll talk to Operations about finding space for them. I think we’ve got enough room in the new expansions for at least a few more awakened. If that doesn’t work, I might be able to find a junior engineer that I can shake loose for a while. You’re not going to get anyone with a lot of experience, and it won’t be for very long, but it’s the best I can do. And it will probably be only one from my staff- two at the most.”

  Research looked very grateful. Her greatest concern was the team headed to what she was t
hinking of as the Forest Site. An additional engineer would help with that problem; it just wouldn’t satisfy requirements she knew would have in the immediate future.

  Still, she nodded in appreciation. “Thanks, Chief. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”

  It wasn’t much, but it was something.

  **

  The team assigned to investigate the structure was headed by an archeologist Three. Under normal circumstances the team would be ideally suited to resolve the archeological problems presented by a planet left behind by some other intelligent species. Of course, these were not normal circumstances. Not only was the Research Group short of engineers to help secure shaky structures all over the planet, but Chief was dreadfully short of cultural analysts too. She probably could have done without some of the archeologists.

  The principle researcher at the Forest Site, the Archeologist Three gave the presentation concerning the opening of the site to a group of senior researchers. The Chief of Research was in attendance as well.

  “Our first objective, of course, was to get into the structure. As you know from the preliminary assessment, the building was virtually intact, and doors and windows sealed.”

  “After a few days of struggle, thanks to the Engineer Five assigned to us, we managed to get the downhill doors open in the structure. Members of my team could hardly contain their excitement as they encountered furniture and artwork from the old culture. They started recording immediately. I cautioned everyone not to touch anything- the first exploration was record only. I had no idea what might happen if someone touched a thousand-year-old artifact.

  “While furnishings were enormously fascinating, I put my people in search of ancient records. That was our first priority. If we could find and interpret those, we might well discover hard data about the extinction of the old culture.

  “We weren’t entirely sure what to look for in the way of artifacts, so we halted our exploration and took the time to access some cultural histories and some historical fiction from our own culture of five hundred years past. While the information from Homeworld was not exactly what was needed, it gave the team a start. We found images of archaic computing devices and a variety of physical data storage media in our archives, some of which predated ancient electronics. There was also a great deal of information on the ancient Homeworld technologies, which we thought might be very helpful to us as we attempted to access any old records we might find.

  “While part of the team absorbed images and data about devices they might have seen in our own culture’s earlier days, two members of the team carefully explored the rooms. Another archeologist explored the immediate vicinity of the structure.

  “Two major finds were made immediately- the mummified remains of two of the inhabitants of the structure, and what appeared to be a graveyard for a small number of the natives. I gave the internal explorers a few minutes to make recordings, and then ordered the area to be sealed to prevent the remains from degrading. The interior of the building had been sealed for centuries, with very little degrading moisture in the air. Once the building was opened, humidity would soon become a problem. The room was closed, but additional steps had to be taken to minimize the humidity as researchers worked. We managed to seal off the space containing the native remains to minimize both humidity and airflow after the recordings were made, but additional steps had to be taken to minimize the chance of further degradation of the remains. As it turns out, Research had a number of dehumidifiers in inventory. We requisitioned a couple of units and got them up and running inside the building.

  “The outdoor explorer made a detailed recording of the probable graveyard. The stone markers were very basic, with a minimum of symbols on them. The markers themselves may be quite valuable, in that they might provide valuable keys to the language of the planet. It’s somewhat less certain about the value of any bodies that we may find. That assumes, too, that the stones actually mark a small interment area for the dead of this civilization.

  “Images of the stones have been added to the inventory of simple texts that our linguists and cryptographers have available to them as they identify languages and interpret symbols for the extinct civilization.

  “One of the difficulties on Planet Three is that we believe that there were many distinct languages, a likely result of a lack of global cultural unity. It does appear that there were a few dominant languages, but it is likely that there were at least three to six dominant languages. On the whole, though, it may be that there were still hundreds of languages in use before the mass extinction.”

  The Chief of Research suppressed her reaction to the excitement of the lead archeologist on the Forest Site. It was both humorous and pleasant to see one of her old scientists on an emotional tear because of the finds they had made. By now the word had gotten around the Group informally that what appeared to be a virtually intact residence had been found, including mummified remains, a small graveyard, and best of all, dozens of artifacts that appeared to be ancient data storage devices. She had heard a little, but this was her first formal briefing.

  Her Archeologist Three continued his presentation.

  “The site would be of immense value even if all we had found were the well-preserved remains of the inhabitants. But we’ve found everything from pre-electronic documents to fairly advanced miniature storage devices. Unfortunately we lost a few of the devices as we tried to access their data, and I’m not sure we will be able to use the pre-electronic documents.” He looked momentarily sad. “Two of the document collections crumbled immediately when one of my people touched them.” But his excitement returned quickly. “The data devices, though, it looks like we can get in to them! Once we get enough of the native texts to analyze things should go very quickly.”

  One of the Group’s senior researchers asked a question. “What will your priorities be as you explore the data?”

  The lead arch motioned uncertainly. “I think we will be pursuing two major lines of research. First, I think we will want to find out as much about the extinct species as we can. Physiology, appearance, culture. Forms of communication, of course. We have to understand their writings, their symbols, if we are to interpret their data.

  “Once we understand their forms of communication, we will be looking for and analyzing historical documents, from the last records of the civilization back as far in their history as we can find data for. That includes artistic works. Performances of any sort, visual and audio communications. We must learn as much as we can about these people, to understand how their world ended and why.”

  Three Years since Planetary Orbit

  The Chief joined the virtual meeting with the senior members of her cultural analysis team. The senior analyst began his presentation.

  “By any measure, our most important discoveries on Planet Three have been a variety of electronic and physical documents that provide us with accounts of the behavior of the inhabitants of the planet. Most of these accounts provide historical context going back for at least twenty years prior to the apocalypse that destroyed the civilization. Some of the electronic documents we have found are histories that appear to cover events over centuries. The historical record also contains a variety of fiction, including dramatizations, in audiovisual form.

  Perhaps of most importance, we have discovered a small number of accounts, both on electronic and various other forms of physical media, of conditions during and immediately after the global war.

  “These are the only materials presently in possession of our interstellar Community that provide insight into the psychodynamics of an extinct culture. This is due, of course, to the fact that the extinction of this civilization happened so recently. As most of you know, virtually none of the cultural remnants on other planets are little more than shadows of the behavior of prior civilizations. Most of what we know about other species is archeological and paleontological in nature. The advanced age of most remnants, virtually all of which are five thousand years old or older, me
ans that very little is left or usable.

  “Our expedition is now in possession of devices, artifacts, and data that are of immeasurable value to our Community. For the first time in our history, there is the possibility that we may begin to understand the actions of the beings who created and inhabited the now lifeless civilization we have encountered. We can now move beyond the theory and guesswork to which we have been limited by the extreme rarity of data.

  “The first storage devices found on Planet Three were discovered about a year after Research Group staff arrived on the planet. Unfortunately, some of the electronic devices were destroyed as Research team members, in cooperation with microcircuitry specialists from the Ship’s crew, attempted to understand the internal workings of the devices. There were also some devices in which data were lost as team members attempted to decrypt the contents of storage devices.

  “As for visual artifacts, some were destroyed as staff attempted to retrieve materials. Many of these artifacts turned to dust when they were disturbed. After a number of these instances my staff implemented procedures designed to preserve as many of these delicate artifacts as possible. Wherever possible, symbols on physical visual media were recorded as soon as they were discovered, to prevent loss in case the artifacts were accidentally destroyed.

  “While much of the information that we now have available to us is cultural in nature, enough data of historical interest are available to provide a rough picture of the actions that led to the all-encompassing global conflict that ultimately resulted in the extinction of the civilization of Planet Three. Up to now, virtually all of our understanding of the demise of advanced species has been of the most general nature, based on little more than the analysis of wrecked artifacts, ruins of structures, bones, and ecosystem anomalies left behind by dead civilizations. With the data from Planet Three that we now have, we have begun to model psychodynamic profiles of the culture that are based on facts, rather than mere theories.