The planet PX-34 is covered with the scars of orbital bombardment. Its terraformed buildings have mostly turned to glassy slag, with bits of scaffolding jutting out. It's not completely dead--some carapaced insects scuttle across the ground, and the croak of an avian lifeform can be heard in the distance.
The coordinates specified a general location planetside, and all three of them are on the lookout within that radius, their handheld scanners configured to detect anything similar to the previous object. Rittenhouse steps through the ruins, gripping the scanner in his claw, primed for something to happen.
Old instincts die hard, and Rittenhouse finds himself observing the marks on the buildings. Primitive wide-scatter weaponry, probably plasma, judging by the melting patterns. That part of his programming hasn't been accessed since his days in the Jovian Army, but it resurfaces from time to time--battlefields tend to cause that, even if they're ancient ones.
He's losing traction. As he bends down, preparing to change his treads to something more suitable, the scanner starts pinging.
Some digging and chipping away at the debris with his pick attachment reveals a container externally identical to the previous one, buried several meters below the surface. Rittenhouse cracks it open. The object inside is a carving of a building. It's Early Settler period architecture, the kind of soaring spire that ancient humanoids considered the height of modernity.
The circular waveform encoding is easily mapped for playback. Rittenhouse readies his Inglese directory and sets his speakers to external broadcast. It seems only right that a message that survived eons and wars and the glassing of the entire planet should be played out loud.
"--modelled after the cities of Earth," the voice says. "We hope that the person who finds this capsule will bear witness to the success of our initial foray into terraforming..."
The voice continues for a time, enthusiastically detailing the plans for the colony, as well as the speaker's faint memories of Earth. The predominant sentiment is one of hope. Hope that this settlement will be better than Earth, hope that their terraforming efforts will bear fruit, their vision of a new period of peace and prosperity in human history...
supported by 112 fans who also own “Object_03 (& Materia)”
I'm quite into this album, really liking all the influences so far. Sounds hypnotizing, and is amazing for late night listenings. Surrealistic H. Sapiens