Dust Unto Dust

Three space‑scouters have just dropped their lifeboat onto a barren world and found themselves staring at a towering, black‑metal metropolis that rises out of the dust like a silent monolith. The city’s perfect, oppressive geometry and its uncanny, malignant gleam hint at an advanced civilization long vanished, leaving only cold, unmoving structures and a whisper of wind across the sand. As the explorers—Martin, the cautious leader, Wass with his sharp eye, and the lanky Rodney—step toward the alien streets, the emptiness feels both alien and oddly familiar.

Inside the silent avenues they discover a grid of doors, arches and towering blocks that seem to have been built for beings of a different scale, perhaps even for creatures that crawled. The team’s curiosity battles a growing unease as they wonder what power once lit these halls and why the city has remained untouched for millennia. With only a few hours left before they must return to their ship, they press on, hoping to capture the first pictures of a mystery that could rewrite humanity’s view of the cosmos.