After auto-firing its breaking rocket, the ship swung into a nice stable orbit around the rogue planet just outside its atmosphere. As was our practice when something important was going to happen, we gathered at the command station to watch the planet rotate under us.

“COMA, launch an atmospheric probe.”

“Yes, Ryan.”

The whooshing sound of the probe’s launch echoed around the crew compartment. After firing its breaking rocket, the probe plunged into the rogue planet’s atmosphere. Within minutes, data and images began to pour back to the command station computers.

“Wow!” Alisha exclaimed. “The stratospheric winds are over a thousand kilometers per hour and the temperature at forty thousand meters is minus fifty degrees Centigrade.”

“That’s going to make the trip down a wild one,” James said.

“The good news is that the lander can handle winds over fifteen hundred kilometers per hour.”

“The tropospheric winds are not as bad,” Alisha said. “But, they’re still above three hundred.”

“There’s less than one percent oxygen and three thousands of a percent of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,” Marie said.

“That means that there is very little if any life as we know it on this planet.”

“The probe has leveled out at a thousand meters and has dropped a beacon,” Marie said. “The readings indicate that the pressure is slightly more than two atmospheres, the temperature is forty degrees Centigrade and the wind is from the South at twenty kilometers per hour.”

“That’s going to cause a problem,” I said.

“What do you mean?” James asked.

“We’ll have to breath air at higher than normal pressure, which means that we’ll have to decompress before we return to normal air pressure. As you know, this is the problem that scuba divers experience if they don’t ascend slowly when they return to the surface.”

“They get the bends,” James said. “I forgot about that.”

“Why is it so hot there?” Alisha asked. “Forty degrees Centigrade is a hundred and four degrees Fahrenheit. If the concentration of carbon dioxide is so low, it should be cooler.”

“It could have something to do with the fact that the atmosphere is so dry,” James said. “The low amount of moisture would make the surface desiccated.”

 “What those strange looking plants?” Alisha asked. “They’re waving around in the wind but they don’t look like anything I’ve ever seen.”

“Their spectral scans show no signs of chlorophyll,” Marie said. “They do indicate high concentrations of silicon with traces of gallium and germanium.”

“That sounds like the recipe for a semiconductor,” Alisha said. “What do they grow here? Transistors?”

“What the hell is that?” Marie said, pointing at the screen.

James’ eyes grew large. “Holy metropolis, Batman, that looks like a city.”

“That ‘city’ is a hundred kilometers wide,” I said.

“It looks like the structures are made from glass and metal,” Alisha said.

“The scans indicate that the transparent material is mostly quartz and the metal is titanium and zirconium with several trace elements, including gold.”

“I don’t see any movement,” I said. “Maybe this is an archeological remnant of the civilization that once thrived here.”

“It looks too well preserved to be ancient,” James said. “But, it could still be old because the dry atmosphere would preserve it.”

“With very little oxygen and almost no moisture, most things would be preserved,” I said.

“What’s next?” James asked.

“We have to determine the safety factors,” I said. “COMA, launch a bio-probe.”

“Yes, Ryan.”

The probe launched and entered the atmosphere. After several minutes, it began to relay data back.

“This planet has a strong magnetic field,” Marie said. “It’s strength is 420 micro Tesla.”

“Wow!” I reacted. “That’s an order of magnitude larger than Earth’s magnetosphere.”

“How is that possible,” James asked. “The planet’s rotation is only slightly faster than Earth’s.”

“It must have a more active iron core,” I suggested.

“That would lead to more volcanic activity, but so far we haven’t seen any evidence of that.”

“The probe is not indicating any unusual radiation,” Marie said. “In fact, it’s lower than Earth’s ambient radiation levels.”

“That could be the result of the strong magnetosphere,” I said.

“The probe has reached the ground,” Marie said. “It has initiated its bio assay scan mode.”

“I would be surprised if there are any pathogens on this planet, given the conditions,” James said. “My guess is that it’s sterile.”

“If that’s the case, where did the people who built this city originate from?”

“You’re assuming that the species evolved like we did,” James said. “That may not be the case here.”

“So far, the bio scans are coming up negative,” Marie said. “There is no evidence of bacterial life.”

I shook my head. “This planet is more mysterious than I had imagined. It appears to be sterile, yet we see evidence of an advanced civilization . . . “

“Which no longer exists,” James added.

“I’m moving the probe over to a small lake near the city,” Marie said. “We may as well check out the water.”

“My guess is that it’s also sterile,” James said.

“So far, your guesses have been right on the old nail head,” I said. “But, it sure doesn’t explain anything.”

“It might make sense if this planet evolved artificial life,” James said.

“How is that even possible?” I asked, squinting at him. “Artificial life would presume an intelligence creator.”

“Isn’t that what we consider God?” James said.

“I was thinking more in the line of an intelligent race.”

“You think that God doesn’t understand electronics?” James said. “There are many paths to evolution of intelligence. Our problem as humans is that we only know one path.”

I smiled. “Yeah, I get your point.”

“The probe has reached the lake,” Marie announced. “The water is denser than normal water, but not as dense as heavy water.”

“Interesting,” I said. “You were right about the deuterium, James.”

“So far there are no signs of pathogens or life of any kind,” Marie said. “At least not life we are familiar with.”

“Okay people, we’ll give the probes more time to do their thing, but I say we go down tomorrow.”

“I can’t wait,” Marie said.

“We’re in agreement,” James said after getting a brief smile from Alisha.

“I think we had better get a good night’s sleep,” I said. “Tomorrow could be trying.”

They returned concerned looks. What I had just said was an understatement.