Tech Scavengers [Humorous, Action-Packed Space Opera]

Jeridan kept glancing at the planet, feeling uneasy.

"Negasi, both of us should go down. We need proper firepower in case there's something nasty down there. The S'ouzz can get the ship out if there's any emergency up here."

He said this on the ship-wide comm link so the astronavigator could hear. A single line came up on his screen.

"Affirmative."

Jeridan cocked an eyebrow. That was the most communication they had received from it since they had woken it up.

"Nova, you're with us. You might have some insight into what we see down there."

And I want to keep an eye on you.

His former boss only nodded and joined him as they walked to the shuttle bay. On the way, they met Aurora. Clanking along behind her and filling up most of the corridor came Poopsie. It still disturbed him to see a combat mech painted pink. Somehow, it looked more menacing that way.

"Where do you think you're going?" Nova asked her daughter.

"Down to the planet," the girl replied.

"Oh, no you're not."

"Poopsie will protect me."

"There's no need to go down there."

"Moooom. I'm sick of being on this ship. I haven't been planetside for ages."

"No."

"Come on."

Aurora turned to Jeridan.

"Can't I go, captain?"

Before he could answer, Nova cut in. "I decide that, not him. And stop calling him captain like that's going to change his mind. You never call him captain."

"The planet is like totally dead! What's the danger?"

Nova looked at her daughter a moment, then sighed. "Well, if you're getting space fever, then a breath of fresh air will do you good. I got to say I'm glad to be getting planetside myself. So if Jeridan doesn't have any objection … "

Jeridan shrugged. Nova went on.

"All right, you can go. But Mason stays. He's too important."

Aurora narrowed her eyes, a sharp glint coming to them.

"Don't worry, mom. I won't get in the way of the mission."

Gritting his teeth, Jeridan hurried on to the shuttle. The others followed him.

Once Poopsie had folded itself up inside the storage bay, Jeridan hit the controls and they shot out the back of the Antikythera.

He took them at a steep angle through the atmosphere, the viewscreen glowing red from the heat of entry before turning black to spare their eyes.

He leveled out at 20,000 meters, the viewscreen cleared, and he made a wide circle around the area.

"There it is!" Aurora shouted, pointing at the viewscreen.

And there it was, a large engineering vessel of the Imperium era sitting on a sandy plain dotted with scrub. Judging from what he had seen from orbit, that was the main type of terrain for this planet. Except for a broad belt around the equator where there was no plant life at all. There must have been mineral deposits here to attract settlers to such a barren place.

Jeridan did some quick readings. "Atmosphere breathable without masks. No trace of pollutants. Surface temperature 42 degrees Celsius. Huh. And this hemisphere is in springtime. What's it like in summer?"

"Did you notice how all three cities are way up near the poles?" Aurora said. "I bet nobody lived near the equator."

"I sure wouldn't want to. Hold on."

Jeridan made a low pass over the city. He had found that on other backwards worlds, the remnants of the population often clung to the old cities after the fall of civilization. There were materials and tech to scavenge there, and ready-made shelter. He supposed the people also felt a tie to the once-great centers of population inhabited by their ancestors.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

No one seemed to be inhabiting this city now. He saw no people, no smoke from campfires.

Time had not been kind to the place. Sand covered the streets and plazas. Many buildings were dilapidated and the cluster of skyscrapers downtown had mostly lost their glass and looked ready to fall down. One already had, and was now only a heap of rubble around a stub a few stories tall.

Jeridan supposed that the temperature changes and open terrain of this planet probably led to a lot of sandstorms, and they had scoured what had once been a city more technologically advanced than anything he had ever known into the windblown ruin he now saw.

Nothing moved on the streets. He flew lower and spotted a few small brown avians perched here and there on the rooftops or in the gaping holes that had once been windows. They flapped away at the shuttle's approach.

Jeridan gained some altitude and headed toward the beacon.

The transmission took them over the rest of the city and into the suburbs.

Then they saw it, a long durasteel rectangle made up of several irregularly sized sections resting on two landing pads. Dusty, with a few bird's nests built on top of it, the ship otherwise looked in good shape. Around it were hundreds of low humps in the sand. Jeridan had to increase magnification to see what they were.

Scraps of canvas and bits of wood and steel plates.

That's weird.

Jeridan looked at Negasi.

"Shall we land?"

His friend only nodded.

Jeridan took the shuttle down a few dozen meters away from the old engineering vessel.

After a quick scan to check that there was no potentially dangerous fauna around, he released the storage door to let out of the combat mech.

"I'll handle it," Aurora said, then spoke into a comm trapped to her wrist.

"Poopsie, deploy in your four-legged stance, search the area for hostiles, and then come back to the shuttle."

While the combat mech didn't have an AI, its advanced computer could handle complex commands.

The thing trotted around the area, its sensors scanning the surroundings. The thing moved remarkably fast for its bulk and scampered over the sandy terrain like a racing dog.

Within a minute it returned.

"No hostiles visible," a mechanical voice announced from her wrist.

"I need to change the voice to something prettier," the girl said.

Jeridan hit the hatches for the shuttle.

Heat blasted him as soon as he stepped out. A desiccating breeze wafted in his face. The shushing sound as it blew across the sandy surface and the rustle of wiry bushes were the only things he heard.

Jeridan looked all around. On three sides stretched nothing but flat horizon. Far to the east, beyond the dusty hulk of the old ship, he could see the remains of the city glinting in the harsh sunlight a few kilometers away.

Despite the battle mech's report, Jeridan pulled out his flechette pistol as everyone started to move toward the Brunel.

They came to the first of the countless humps they had seen that surrounded the Imperium ship. Sheets of canvas, bleached by the sun, lay half buried in the sand. There were also large wooden boards, sheets of particle board, and some corrugated steel.

"Shelters," Aurora said, pulling up one of the sheets of canvas and finding some ropes and a tent peg.

Jeridan looked around. Shelters. Hundreds and hundreds of makeshift shelters, now crumpled with time.

"The Brunel must be from the station," Nova whispered. Even she seemed freaked out by this eerie place. "There wasn't any ship docked there when we visited. After the jump gates went offline, they must have come here. It would have taken them a couple of weeks to get this far, and by then everything must have been chaos."

"They stayed for a while on the station, trying to fix everything," Aurora said.

"Why do you say that?" Negasi asked.

"The tent city. The people from town gathered around the ship, the only ship that ever came. People here were starving by the time they came. The crew probably brought everything from the base and were trying to feed everybody."

"But the food ran out," Jeridan said, his throat going dry.

Everyone stared at the field of tents.

"They chose to die with the planet," Aurora whispered.

Jeridan looked around and nodded.

Aurora started sniffling and wiping her eyes.

"Why does everything have to be so messed up?" she moaned.

Jeridan took a step toward her and stopped when Nova came up and hugged her. Aurora quietly wept on her shoulder.

Jeridan and Negasi exchanged a look. This was the first time they'd seen Nova show any real affection for her children.

Feeling like he was intruding, Jeridan headed for the Imperium ship. His feet kicked up sand and once he tripped over the remnants of someone's last shelter. Negasi followed.

They made a slow circuit around the Brunel. It looked intact. They came around to the starboard side where they found an airlock. In front of it were the remains of a bigger structure made of corrugated steel. It had collapsed and was half-covered with sand, but it looked like it had measured about ten meters to a side. Jeridan searched around, didn't see any sign of what it had once been, and turned his attention to the airlock.

Negasi was already at work on it. He removed the old bolts keeping a panel in place, popped it off, and exposed the wiring. Clipping a wire to a handheld power source, he hotwired the circuit and the juice provided by his power source opened the airlock door with a sharp hiss.

Jeridan shivered. No matter how many times he explored Imperium ruins, the first entry into an old place always gave him the creeps.

He kept his gun ready. Negasi drew his too. Both put on head straps with lights.

The inner airlock door was open. They stepped inside.

The interior was gloomy, the air stuffy. They found themselves in an airlock prep room not unlike the one on their own ship. Some spacesuits hung on a rack. Beyond they came to a corridor, their lights revealing nothing but empty space. There was no trace of vermin. This ship had been sealed since the days of the Imperium's fall.

Strange, Jeridan thought. Finding a perfectly preserved Imperium ship has always been a fantasy of mine. Why aren't I jumping up and down with joy?

As if reading his thoughts, Negasi said,

"Seems like small potatoes compared to finding a whole jump gate research station."

"Yeah. We should get on that … " he looked at his friend and grinned. " … once we check this place out."

The old curiosity that had gotten them into this line of work in the first place hadn't disappeared.

They walked down the corridor toward the prow. As they passed an open door to their left, they peered inside.

Their headlamps illuminated the ship's mess. All the cabinets were open and empty. A few boxes lay on the ground, also empty.

They came across a second open doorway a little further on.

When Jeridan and Negasi looked inside, they jumped back and gasped.