Ruins

With a blinding flash, the universe flickered out of existence for a moment, then reformed in front of Captain Jag. A new orange sun glowed on the ship's main screen, that no human had seen before.

Jag loosened his grip on the armrests of his chair, many sizes too big for him. “Status!” he barked.

“We have arrived at our target, but I'm afraid the hyperdrive is non functional,” said Syl, waving his metal arms in exasperation. “I don't think we'll be able to do another jump.”

“Damn this Titan tech,” growled Jag. He ran his fingers through his long black hair and sighed. “So much for our survey mission.”

He stood up and looked around the bridge. Jag preferred to stand. He loomed a clear head over his crewmates.

He could see the fear and despair in their faces.

Second officer Kwinn looked at him coldly with her unflinching green eyes. She said, “We should have tested the ship more. This is what you get for flying across the galaxy in a heap of old junk. And now we're stuck here.”

“Sometimes Kwinn, I'm sure you're just waiting to attack me for any mistake.”

“It's my job to question you,” smiled Kwinn.

“I get that. I appreciate it. But you don't need to act so keen for the Captain's chair. You know as well as I do that these old Titan ships are our only transport across the galaxy. Sometimes they break. Too often. If only their makers were still around.”

Kwinn did not answer.

“Continue on our path,” Jag ordered. “Can we still make it to the Titan base on the target planet?”

“Yes, Captain,” said Syl. “Thrusters are still functional. Estimated arrival time in two days.”

______________________

The red dusty planet loomed large below. Its atmosphere glowed violet as they descended.

Jag looked at the expanding barren desert on the screen.

“It's a dead world,” he said.

“Scans show no natural life on the planet,” said Syl. “No water.”

Suddenly the ship shook with a bang.

“Sorry, Captain,” said Syl. "One of the thrusters is dead."

“Can you get her down?” said Jag.

“Yes, Captain, I think so. We should be able to land at the base as planned, but we won't be able to take off again.”

“Let's hope the base has ships, or it'll be our grave.” He tried not to think about what would happen if there was no way off the world.
______________________

They landed beside a vast ruined grey dome surrounded by deep sand dunes. There were no clouds in the maroon sky. The sun glowed brightly but brought little warmth.

Captain Jag ordered a full security squad to accompany the bridge crew to approach the spiked structure. They wore their safety suits and disembarked.

“Looks like an ancient dome,” said Kwinn. “The architecture is similar to that on Ross 128.”

Jag ignored her and said, “Zang, there is a door on the near side. Proceed with caution.”

He watched as the squad neared the gigantic structure. Two crewmen reached the side of the wall and one of them stretched up to press something on the outside. The door opened and revealed a large airlock, twice as high as any of the guards.

Most of the ground party - twenty-three strong – filed into the chamber. Two guards remained outside to watch.

The inner partition of the airlock was entirely dark. Commander Zang ordered the outer door closed, and set four men to point their weapons at the inner door while it opened.

The outer door slammed shut and a breeze filled the chamber. The doorway to the interior lifted slowly. Jag realised that the inner walls were transparent, but a black slime covered them so they appeared opaque. The slime dripped from the rising door, and a primeval howl rang out from inside.

A mouth poked into the airlock, drool dripping from its sharp teeth. The huge jaws gripped the head of a man. The others fired at the beast but too late to save their comrade.

“Dogs!” yelled Zang. “Titan dogs! Fire at will.”

Bullets sprayed the hungry animal and it fell dead, spouting red blood over the floor. The crew carried on firing at the other animals outside. The lean beasts waited with hungry yellow eyes, until two of them were shot down, then the others fled.

Tentatively the humans stepped out of the airlock into the gigantic interior. The dogs could be seen in the distance, scurrying into the shadows.

The dome was as high as a thirty storey building, and a mile wide. Shafts of ghostly grey daylight illuminated the interior from windows high in the roof. To the left, black structures covered one half of the dome, but the right half was an empty space. In the distance, they could clearly see winged vessels.

“Zang,” said Jag. “We have to make our way to those ships. Do what is necessary.”

“Yes, Captain,” replied the Commander.

Zang ordered his troops into pairs, who ventured ahead of the main group cautiously.

They crept slowly towards the centre of the enormous chamber. With every step a puff of dust blew up from the floor. There was a putrid eggy smell.

Gunfire rang out behind Jag.

“Bugs!” yelled someone. A crewman was firing at beetles with pincers who covered the walls of the dome, scuttling among the black goo. They were as large as Jag's forearm.

“Hold your fire,” barked Zang. “Those are no danger to us.”

“I had wondered what the dogs ate,” said Kwinn. “Now I wonder what the bugs eat.”

They neared the cluster of ships parked in the dome. The nearest one was a small craft. Further along a large silvery angular ship showed the clear outline of a hyperdrive engine. Jag ordered that they board it.

At that moment the dogs attacked again. Two charged from the right, and another two from the left. Zang's tactics proved sound as his pairs of gunners mowed down the large creatures, as tall as Jag.

One of the gunners fell dead with a hole in his suit.

“Sorry,” yelled a crewman from near to Jag. “I meant to hit the dog.”

Zang approached the shooter. “Crewman Bekel, you are disowned of your gun.” He grabbed his weapon. “You will be disciplined later.”

Jag was nearby. “Give him his gun back,” he said. “It was a mistake. We need every man we have. Put him in the front line. Let him redeem himself if he can.”

“Yes, Captain,” said Zang. He bowed his head revealing the deep scar on top of his shaven head.

Bekel appeared shaken and took back his gun apprehensively, but rushed forward enthusiastically when Zang ordered him to.

They reached the craft and Syl opened the door. Most of them piled on board. Zang left a small guard outside.

“It looks different from our ship,” said Jag.

“Yes,” said Syl. “I think I can power it up. I'll say one thing for these Titan ships, they all have similar controls, and very easy to learn too. In their culture anyone could be a pilot.”

Lights shone throughout the cabin. In front of Syl a wall of red icons illuminated.

“Ah,” he gasped. “This one has a broken hyperdrive. I may be a cyborg but I feel the disappointment too.”

“Damn,” said Jag.

“Curious,” said Kwinn. “I often wondered why the Titans use red lights for danger like we do. But they breathe oxygen too, and their blood cells are red – as we saw from their dogs.”

“What worries me more is how the dogs survived when the Titans themselves all died,” said Syl.

“The latest theory is that another alien species wiped them out entirely, using a biological weapon to destroy them while leaving their structures intact. We should be more scared of bumping into them than a Titan.”

“Thank you, Kwinn,” said Jag. “Fascinating analysis as always. If this ship is not going to fly then we'll have to find another. There were more outside. Zang!”

“Yes, Captain,” said Zang.

They left the ship, while Zang organised his troops into scouting pairs again. A stray dog attacked them but was gunned down before it got near.

“Come on, who knows how many dogs are out there,” said Jag.

Another hyperdrive ship lay a few minutes walk away. They embarked and the engines appeared to be working.

“We have liftoff,” cheered Syl as he teased the craft's thrusters. “The hyperdrive is functional too. We should be able to get home.”

“Not yet,” said Jag. “The dome is closed and airlocked. There must have been some way for the Titans to fly their craft out of the dome, but we don't know what it is. I'd guess they had a ship airlock.”

“But we haven't seen anything like that,” said Syl.

“Then we need to keep looking. In the meantime, if this thing can fly then let's fly it around the dome instead of going on foot.”

“Yes, Captain.”

Once all the crew had boarded the craft, Syl manoeuvred it slowly around the vast building. There did indeed appear to be a ship airlock in the roof near the north side but no obvious way to open it. They guessed that the control panel would lie inside the black buildings to the south.

Captain Jag ordered that they land at the centre of the dome near the buildings. They disembarked and soon found a large door, covered in black slime. After wiping away the goo, they entered.

It took them a long time to find the control room. It was only thanks to Syl's knowledge of Titan tech that they could find it at all. More dogs attacked while they searched but were shot down.

The control room contained a large panel covered in cryptically labelled buttons, and a window facing the dome's open space, although it was opaque with black slime.

“This button opens the airlock from the inside,” said Syl. “And this one closes the inner airlock and opens the outer one. Which means someone has to stay behind to operate it while we fly outside.”

“I have just the man for the job,” said Captain Jag. “Zang, can Bekel push a few buttons? Of course we'll help him get out afterwards.”

“He will.”

______________________

Soon the ship rose up through a large aperture in the dome and into the maroon sky. It landed by the eastern entrance where they had first entered, not far from their broken ship.

“Move everyone into the new ship,” ordered Jag. “This Titan colony has been a waste of time, it's just another death trap.”

“At least we learned that,” said Kwinn. "And the brains at Research will be interested to see our recordings." Jag frowned back at her.

Zang sent a small squadron into the dome, and Jag joined them. They waited inside the dome near the airlock. After a few minutes, the exhausted figure of Bekel could be seen racing towards them. Behind him, two dogs were rapidly gaining on him.

The gunners shot the dogs dead, and Bekel reached the airlock, collapsing to his knees and weeping.

“Let's get off this damn awful planet,” said Captain Jag. “And if the new ship doesn't have a brig, make one and put Bekel in it.”