By Nathan Warner
Captain Sanders makes a startling discovery in orbit of an unexplored planet
Captain Rachel Sanders couldn't believe her eyes. The immense circular structures drifted gracefully in orbit, passing across the Viewscreen like floating bubbles in an invisible stream - each one a painted landscape of a different world than the planet they were orbiting.
"Take us closer!" she heard herself say, stepping forward to the Con. Lt. Anders nodded and tapped his console, causing the U.S.S. Investiture to pounce on the kilometers ahead. Sanders held back a smile. The Defiant class was always rearing to go!
"Signal Captain Reijel," She added. "Tell him to take point."
"He's already on it, Ma'am," Anders replied, hiding a smile as their "wingman," the U.S.S. Indeed, pulled into view ahead of them, tasting the unknown first.
"Scan the structures again, now that we're closer," Sanders ordered. Almost before she had finished, Lt. Crawley had turned from the science station.
"Sir, we're reading similar energy patterns in those structures to catalogued Iconian technology," he reported.
"Iconian?" Sanders gasped. "You mean they're actually gateways to other places?" Her disbelief was tangible. Every Iconian gateway discovered had been sized proportionally to a humanoid, never on a scale for ships to pass through! This was a historic find!
She stared into the nearest one, which depicted a rich river-delta estuary near what could be an agrarian society.
What were these places the gateways led to? Why had the Iconians abandoned them? And could you get back if once you went through? Questions that needed answers. Answers that Sanders intended to find out.
