SCIFI-BABE.COM - Theta Darmun III - A Vast Cemetery beneath a fiery red sky

Theta Darmun III's Forgotten Cemetery.

The first thing that hits you as you stand amid the grave stones and memorials, many of them broken or partially submerged by the encroaching sea, is the sheer size of this place. Stretching as far as the eye can see, they remain as permanent reminders. Of what? That's the question. No one knows! A war? It's possible. War is a common event on many worlds - a universal constant, one might say. It would have had to have been a large one - possibly even global - in its reach. Where are the survivors? There must have been a few or, else, who left these markers?

Theta Darmun III orbits a lone star - one of a dozen in a tight cluster of seven, all of a similar age. It's a 'yellow dwarf' - aging, but not yet on its last legs. There are three other planets. Two orbit inside Theta Darmun III's own, which is elliptical, with a major axis of six hundred and eighty million miles, which is equal to three times the minor axis. The planetary orbit lies at an angle of twenty-two degrees to the plane of the ecliptic, suggesting an extreme, seasonal climate. Both of the inner planets seem to have supported neither an atmosphere, nor life, at any time in their history, which our investigations suggest is between eight hundred million and one billion years. Using the rate of development of life on similar worlds as a template, one is drawn to the conclusion that the clearly intelligent creatures that built this vast cemetery seem not to have had sufficient time to evolve on this world. That must lead to the conclusion that they were not indigenous. So, where did they come from?

The fourth planet is an enigma! Unlike the other three, its orbit is extremely elongated, with a major axis of twelve point eight billion miles, and a minor axis of only eight hundred million. The plane of the ecliptic is forty-seven degrees. Slightly larger than Darmun III, its orbit brings it within one hundred and eight million miles of Darmun III, roughly every one hundred and fifty-seven years. Clearly, it was not formed by the same process that created the other three. It might even have been captured by the star as it passed by. That said, we, the small crew of the survey ship, Mongoose, reasoned that it might be worthwhile taking a look, since, clearly, Theta Darmun III was going to remain silent on the matter.

Catching up with Theta Darmun IV is no easy task, as it travels its orbit at close to three hundred thousand kilometers per hour! And at the time we made the trip, it was well into its outward journey away from its sun. But we overtook it after a few days and lined up for an equatorial approach. At seven thousand miles in diameter and turquoise in color, it was hardly an impressive site; but the closer we got, the stranger it seemed. Devoid of water, its surface crisscrossed with deep fissures and pockmarked with impact craters, this lonely traveller seemed to be the last place in the universe one might find life - primitive or otherwise. But, since the chase had been a fairly long one, we decided to land, anyway, and at the very least document this world for posterity. Imagine our surprise when a loud 'clang' accompanied our touchdown on the surface.

Many times the universe has surprised us: The Miraculous Cycads of Tesselmon, or the magical beauty of Migration spring to mind. But an artificial planet of such an extraordinary size? We just HAD to take a peek inside - assuming that was possible!
Suddenly, a large door began to slide open in the planet's seamless surface, revealing a dark interior, which gradually grew brighter. No other conclusion was possible. We were being inviting inside!

By the time the door had fully opened, the entrance was over two hundred meters wide, revealing a vertical shaft, which obviously went deep into the heart of the planetoid. It took a huge leap of faith to first of all move our ship over the entrance, and then to begin the long descent. I say 'a leap of faith' because we had no idea whether the door would close after we were inside and, if it did, whether it would re-open to allow us to leave. And, yet, the fact that there were no energy readings from the planetoid, and no verbal or visual challenge to our approach, tended to suggest that no one was at home. Mind you, that could have been a ruse! We might yet be descending to an unpleasant fate at the hands of a marauding crew of deep space salvagers; or worse still, cannibals. 'Where's Sashi when you need her?' I muttered as we arrived at a depth of six kilometers inside the planetoid. Her renowned luck would surely have prevented us from becoming trapped.

A second door blocked our path. It opened as we moved closer and closed after we'd passed through.

And, still, the shaft continued on!

At a depth of almost sixty kilometers, we encountered another doorway. It opened in time to permit us to pass through without reducing speed. After we'd cleared the massive doors, we could see the shaft opened out into a large spherical chamber. Vessels of every shape and size were moored to walkways, like yachts in a harbor. We eased alongside an empty berth, which extended flexible grab arms to secure us. An analysis of the atmosphere inside the planetoid proved there was a breathable atmosphere - courtesy, presumably, of the two air locks we'd negotiated - so we exited the ship and began to explore. As a precaution, however, we opted to use breathing apparatus, since not all pathogens - should there be any - can be detected by our analytical equipment. In the light of what we were about to discover, that decision had to rank as foresight!

As we reached one of the huge grills which had clearly been installed to provide for the circulation of the atmosphere, we were subjected to a veritable, ice cold, hurricane. The power consumption of just one of these devices must have been tremendous - and there were thirty of them, spaced evenly around the equator of the chamber! A short distance from the grill was an exit tunnel, lit by two rows of lights in the ceiling. As with the shaft, it seemed to go on for ever! Small, open bodied, cigar-shaped cars were parked, one behind the other on a magnetic track. There were no cars waiting on the adjacent track - presumably the one used to return to the docking area from the interior. As we settled into the front car, a motor whined and it began to move off, accelerating quickly to a brisk pace. It took several minutes to reach its destination. We dismounted and confirmed with a glance that several cars were available to return us to our ship.

After walking a kilometer, through yet another tunnel, we found ourselves in a broad thoroughfare, flanked on each side with rows of dwellings and what appeared to be stores. Most of their display cases were still full and neatly arranged. Trees of varying heights grew in a large, green area, bathed in light from overhead lamps which closely matched that of a yellow dwarf sun, - according to our analysis equipment. Vehicles of all kinds littered the roadway, parked where they had literally stopped moving. There were no signs of life. No noise other than the air conditioners. If you're familiar with the story of the Marie Celeste, you'll understand the scene that confronted us.

And then we found our first body!

It was draped over the wheel of a small vehicle: a humanoid, with the graying, tightly drawn skin of the long dead. Both hands, three fingered with a prehensile thumb, were balled into fists, as if the creature's death had been a painful one. This conclusion was borne out by the way in which the thin lips were drawn into a grimace, with the eyes wide open and staring. As we explored, we found several dozen bodies - all of them showing signs of some terrifying and mysterious death. Overcome with a dreadful foreboding, we retreated to the transport tunnel and boarded the first available car to return to our ship.

Once inside, we sat and took stock of what we'd seen. Clearly the occupants had suffered death at the hands of a pandemic. That brought to mind the cemetery on Darmun III. Were these two events linked in some way? When the two worlds reached their closest distance from one another, were the dead removed from this dying world and buried on Darmun III as a means of disposing of the infected bodies? Was it necessary to keep them in storage until that time? Is that why the disease continued to spread? If so, why not consign them to a swift burial in the frozen vastness of space? It would be the sensible thing to do, after all. Religious beliefs, however, are an act of faith and not easily forsaken, even in times of difficulty. In fact, it is faith that very frequently gives us the strength to deal with, and overcome, adversity. It is what defines our humanity.

If it is indeed the case that a 'close pass' with Darmun III gave these people the opportunity to bury their dead, according to their traditions, who are we to criticize?

On the way home, we wondered whether we should stop off at Darmun III and disinter one of the dead, in an attempt to confirm our theory. But we didn't. It seemed to us that it was far better for the truth to remain unclear, rather than to disturb the rest of someone who was once a child, a sibling, or a parent to one of those that had remained too long on their world to be accorded the same respect.

That said, we vowed to return to the artificial world, sometime in the future, and continue our exploration.