Virkona. Once one of the main trade hubs on Liraxa IV, had been submerged for centuries, and lay in eerie silence beneath the murky depths. Under the relentless currents and pressure, the once-proud architecture had long began crumbling. Tall buildings that had once been full of life now resembled tombstones as their dark windows stared out into the deep like empty eyesockets. 

“What happened here?”, asked Keller, his gaze never leaving the display outside the shuttle. “Did people get out?”

Jana shook her head. “It was natural phenomena, but one we were – at the time – unable to predict. By the time the locals noticed the ocean withdrawing, it was already too late for most of them to flee.”

“So it doesn’t only feel like a graveyard. It is a graveyard.”, said Keller darkly. He wasn’t liking this one bit. 

“Certainly looks that way.”, commented Brennan, who had her eyes glued on the ‘ghosts’ that now haunted the ruins. They were strange, alien fish that drifted lazily from here to there, seeming almost grotesque with their sharp, angular features and pale, lifeless eyes. 

The shuttle slowly continued its path, past coral-encrusted statues and once beautiful gardens, and somehow it felt like everyone was holding their breath in an attempt not to drown in the overpowering sensation of dread that hung over this place.

And Jonathan Kellers thoughts spiralled. 

He wondered what it was like for adjacent villages to hear of what had happened. Travelling merchants that returned home only to find that the ocean had claimed everything they had worked for. People with families in the doomed city, unable to bury their loved once’s and find closure.

Then again, to him, closure was a cruel joke. He had buried Ricarda just a few weeks ago, and it hadn’t gotten him any closure. It hadn’t changed the fact that whenever he dreamed, she was still alive, and that whenever he woke, there were a blissful few seconds, just before he opened his eyes, where he could pretend that she still was.

Without him, the conversation in the shuttle resumed. “The temple should be right ahead.”

“I can’t believe we are the first ones to see it after such a long time …”

Jonathan clenched his fists. It was all a game for them, wasn’t it? Would-be scientists who only cared for their discoveries, not for the fact that this had been a city full of people.

He wondered… had it been like that when the incident aboard the Cupertino had been reviewed – upon his request, no less. Had Ricarda been anything else to them than a statistic, her death an undesirable outcome? Did anyone even care about how much she was missed? 

“Jonathan.”, said Brennan quietly. It was the first time she had used his first name. “Is… is everything alright?”

Damn woman. Nothing was alright, and if she wasn’t such an abysmally incompetent telepath and First Officer, she would know that and not ask stupid questions. 

“It will be.”, he said diplomatically, but with nothing of his usual charm.