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"You guys okay?" Kolya paused at the rover's door and stared at Corwin, Zadra, and Lorkis as they sat in the passenger compartment. All three of them had been unsettled enough with the discovery of the_Vancouver_'s dead crew, but once they'd returned to the_Jemison_ and viewed the final logs and flight recorder entries ...

"I'll have those images stuck in my mind for a long time," Lorkis muttered. He glanced down at himself and brushed his palms along his arms, as if trying to dislodge more of those spores. Everyone had gone through the most thorough decontamination procedure Kolya had ever seen before passing through the airlock, but she could understand his fear. It was like walking though a spiderweb, clawing it off, and then having phantom sensations of spiders skittering around under one's shirt.

"Same here," Corwin said. "I wish I hadn't watched those logs." He shivered.

Kolya nodded and reached out to take his hand. Some of the Vancouver's crew had been exposed to those spores at some time in the past, and had changed quickly. Ralissa theorized that whatever grew from the spores had traveled along the victims' nervous systems to their brains and taken over completely. A few had escaped exposure, but were killed by the infected while trying to leave the ship. The last survivor had vented the ship's atmosphere in a final attempt to stop what was happening, but no one from the Jemison had continued exploring the Vancouver long enough to determine whether the infected were dead or merely dormant.

The instant Kolya reported her discovery of the bodies with the odd ridges, Cora had snapped, "Evacuate the ship! Immediately!" Ralissa hadn't even argued, and ordered her team back to the airlock.

Viewing those logs and data from the medical staff's examination had been quite enough to convince everyone to leave the ship alone. Ralissa had sent a report back to Galactic Expeditions, including copies of everything they'd taken from the Vancouver's computer core. While waiting for a reply, Cora had offered to land on the planet and explore some of the alien ruins to take advantage of their time here and try to get everyone's minds off what they'd just discovered.

"C'mon, guys." Kolya tried to smile and pointed a thumb over her shoulder. "Time's a-wastin'."

"You're right." Corwin heaved himself off his seat and joined her. "We didn't land and then drive all the way over here just to sit on our asses."

"Now you're talking." She grinned and dropped to the ground. In the distance past the two rovers sat the Mae Jemison. Before deorbiting, Cora had explained that making the ship atmosphere-capable was one of the first things she'd requested for the extensive refit.

Another addition had been a defense grid and weapons systems. Cora hadn't wanted to arm her ship, but Grishnag had insisted on at least a basic weapons loadout, just in case.

Which would come in handy if GalEx asked them to scrap the Vancouver. The derelict could be blasted into pieces small enough to burn up in the atmosphere. The company sure as hell wouldn't need to examine it, given the extensive information copied from the flight recorder, logs, and medical data from the examination of the vines, spores, and infected crew members. Once someone at GalEx saw enough of those files, Kolya hoped they'd be smart enough to destroy the ship rather than act like the greedy corporations in any number of old vids she'd watched.

Kolya turned around and faced the structure ahead of the rover. On approach, it had appeared to be a huge pyramid, but after beginning a cruise around its base, it had turned out to be an elongated building the size of a small town, with six sloping sides. Light glowed faintly from inside hundreds of oblong windows on each surface, through the dust and dirt coating them.

"Interesting. Whatever the power supply is, it's still functioning." The slight chill in the air made Kolya shiver. The planet still had enough trees and other plants to maintain a breathable atmosphere, but the climate didn't exactly make for a vacation spot. The ground for kilometers around appeared to be little more than packed-down dirt with a few clumps of grass and weeds here and there, and the sky was covered in a blanket of dreary gray clouds.

Cora and Dylan hopped out of the driver's compartment and held hands as they walked around to join Kolya and the others. The doors on the other rover opened and Ralissa, Peter, Mila, Grishnag, and Ayastal jogged over to them. Dylan and Cora greeted their wives with a kiss for each and approached the structure. Ralissa and the others joined the other half of their team and fell into step beside the crew.

"Has anyone taken a look around one of these before?" Corwin waved his hand over the enormous building.

"We've had a few scientific expeditions studying ruins on other continents every now and then," Ralissa said, "but nothing recent. And no one's gone anywhere near this particular ruin, as far as I know."

"So we're the first people to step inside in who knows how many hundreds of years." Kolya grinned and reached over to clap Corwin's shoulder with her free hand. "Awesome!"

That brilliant smile of his reappeared, but it was shaky, as if he were still trying to push thoughts of the Vancouver into some dark corner of his mind.

"From what I've read in articles published about the other sites on this planet," Lorkis said, "the ruins were dated to around four thousand years old. So, right here, we're the first people in four thousand years to go inside."

"_Very_cool." Kolya beamed and lifted her arm to drape it around Corwin's shoulders.

They reached the near end of the structure and found a doorway high enough for Ayastal to pass through without needing to stoop over. She chuckled.

"I hope all the ceilings inside are this high. It's not easy to squeeze myself into spaces built for most other species."

"If it's anything like the other ruins on this planet," Peter said with a smile, "you should have room to spare." His boot-covered hooves kicked up puffs of dirt as he hopped onto the raised surface in front of the door. "Either the species who built them were as tall as you, or they just loved having lots of open space around them."

"If this one's like the others," Zadra added, "the doors should slide open when we're close enough."

Lorkis grinned and slithered right up to the door. It opened with a soft whoosh, dislodging a layer of dust covering its surface. He zipped inside with a laugh.

"First!"

Mila shook her head but couldn't help grinning and laughing softly.

"Just hope we don't find any more bodies in there," Corwin muttered, and Ayastal glanced skyward.

"Killjoy." She turned abruptly and arched a brow ridge. "Cora? Are you alright? You look tr -"

"The_Jemison_'s sensors just picked up another ship." Cora's brow plates rose. "They've got a hell of a pilot. Their ship dropped out of hyperspace directly into a stable orbit. I'm trying to contact them."

Corwin's hand turned clammy in Kolya's palm over the next few seconds, and she glanced over at him.

"Try to relax. We don't know they're hostile. Could be another science team coming to check out one of the ruins." Then she noticed his wide-eyed stare and the sweat suddenly beading up on his brow. "Hey, take it easy."

He glanced at her and tried to cover up his sudden nervousness. "You're right. Could be anybody."

"But you expected someone in particular," she said as something clicked together in her head. He'd hidden it almost quickly enough, but a second ago his expression had been one of near-panic instead of simple surprise at the unexpected arrival.

"N - no, I -" He cut himself off and took a few ragged breaths.

"Their ship just dropped a shuttle. No, wait - it's armed. It's a gunship." Cora's glowing red optics remained locked on to Corwin. "It's heading for us. I'm still trying to contact them. They're not responding."

"You know who they are," Kolya said softly to Corwin. A chill rose up through her guts as the realization sank in. "That's why you were so eager to leave Sevastopol Station. You're running from someone."

A sonic boom erupted in the distance as the incoming gunship plunged deeper into the atmosphere.

Cora turned away from the alien structure and motioned at the rovers. "Back to the ship, everyone. We're getting the hell out of here."