C - 01

Thrace was a beautiful planet, the third planet around the star Jumbo. From space, where it looked like a blue gem, one could admire it for periods. From the air, one could admire the mosaic of forests, hills, rivers, lakes, fields, and seas, for khrones. And from the surface of the planet, whether on a mountainstop or within a forest, one could spend entire tides, lapses, an entire lifetime, only admiring it.

That was among the reasons it was colonized. Another reason was to make sure the already colonzied planets wouldn't get too crowded. One of it's moons had already been colonized with a large mine and spaceport, and several viasters had been opened for space travel.

Colonized only a handful of generations before, Thrace was still a relatively unknown world. This was why many scientists flocked to it. The biologists for it's unusually abundant plantlife, not to mention the very peaceful animal life, without any human-threatening carnivores. Yes, and several First Generation cities, some buried underground or in the side of cliffs, some underwater or floating in the sky; they brought a lot of First Generation researchers to the planet.

Long before the Second Generation of humans even knew of space travel, the First Generation had developed a magnificent, peaceful civilization, spread out over dozens of worlds. But when the Second Generation arrived, war broke out, and the Second Generation came out victorious.

The First Generation fled, leaving behind their great cities. The Second Generation tried to learn from their advanced technology, but a lot of the First Generation's secrets remained secrets. Many years passed, Jumbo had been found, researched, found to be a former First Generation world, and soon enough colonized.

'Strange,' Kate thought on her way down from the space station. 'The authorities must know something they're not telling me, if they requested an ISA investigator for a disappearence the local detectives could handle.'

Kate Archer had been sent to investigate the disappearence of Janet Wellman, a barain who had vanished. Wellman had been working at the excavation of a flying city that had crashed into a swamp. The authorities in Grand Crevice, the local community, suspected something serious, it seemed.

Anthill, the latest, and among the most advanced First Generation flying cities found on Thrace, had gotten it's name from the hill it had become. Time had changed the swamp a lot, it had completely dried up. Plants had started growing on the building, but ceased when they lost their main water supply. New plants took over, and eventually, it had been a perfectly round hill. After some time, some of the windows collapsed, and the sand poured in. This led to very interesting cave formations on the hill. it looked like a greenbeige bowling ball with a few too many holes. And it got the name Anthill.

Kate studied the photos, and the sketches of the city based on size, technology type, and comparison to other cities found nearby. She read the files, the dig crew files, the archeological papers on Anthill, she read the tourist brochure, she read everything.

Grand Crevice was a town, centered around Lake Breath. It had an interesting history, a landing pod went astray, caught fire, but it's crew got out, rolled into the lake, and soon stated that they survived. They still drew breath. Thus the name. Grand Crevice was located in Martyr's Land, a small state in the eastern regions of the New Wien continent. That was, although one of the smaller continents, one of the most populated ones. With the exception of small canyon towns.

We'll be landing in five minutes, the catain announced. Get your seatbelts on, and breathe properly. This will be quite shaky, but don't worry. We do this every day.

Kate, although used to flying, both in space and on planets, had a slight fear of routine. Things that were done every day, she reasoned, are the things that most likely will go wrong because people don't pay that much attention to them.

Still, the landing went well, and the 170 passengers straight from the space station landed at the Landing Site. Not only was it both the airport and spaceport of the area, it was also a tourist attraction.

'See the hill where the stray shuttle landed,' Kate read when she got out of the shuttle. 'This way to the slope they rolled down. Crashed Pod Café... Boy, these people probably make a lot of money by repeating the words 'it crashed around here'.'

Miss Archer? a local orderforceman said. The Order Force was basically the same as the police on Earth, only the order force could be hired as guards.

Yes, that's me, Kate replied.

We've arranged for an atv for you, he said, leading her towards the port parking lot.

A what? she asked.

Oh, I'm sorry, he said. An altev. An all terrain vehicle. We just usually use the newcomer term for it.

Kate said. Is there a lot of newcomer activity here?

You make it sound like they were criminals or religious fanatics or something, he laughed. No, not much. But we prefer the newcomer terms, they make the whole thing seem interesting enough for tourists.

Kate said, not having any idea why anyone would find newcomers' terminology that interesting.

Newcomers were those that were born on Earth, but that, through events they weren't in charge of, were sent into space, found by the Second Generation, and joined it. They were newcomers. They were usually very behind in technology, spoke and acted quite violently, lived a more or less reckless life on most areas... Most people found them barbaric. Apparently, some found them interesting.

I believe you already got a map and town info, he said.

I did, yes. By then, they had arrived at her vehicle. It looked like a mixture between a small car, a motorcycle, and a rickshaw. It also looked like something out of the history books, or a documentary on Earth. But apparently, it worked. Just point me in the direction of the town leaders' building.

Just head downtown, and follow the signs. It's at Colony and Landings', you shouldn't have any problem finding it.

Then it's the building just after the park down there?

Well, that building is the databank, it's the following one, he said. But close enough. Enjoy your stay, and try to find out what this is all about. We don't have more than guesses. Also, head down to the south OFS and talk to detective Walker. He's the one handling this case from our side.

Kate said, put the green helmet on, threw her stuff in the back of the altev, and, when she finally found out how to use it, not accepting any help from the orderforce officer, sped down to town.