Ethan moved down the corridor slowly, using the light from his rifle to see in the pitch blackness of the ancient, buried ship. Ara stayed close, her crossbow ready, holding the scanner he'd given her.

They came to a door on the left and he wiped at the dust, trying to read the label next to the handle. The metal of the ship was so corroded in places, he could only make out the word LAB.

"Let's see what's behind door number one." Ethan touched the handle and half of it broke off.

"Why is this place breaking?" Ara asked.

"It's old," Ethan said. He pushed at the door and it began to open slowly, rusted metal grinding over layers of dirt. "It's been buried like this for hundreds and hundreds of years. Ground water seeping in, rainwater finding a way down. Just being unused and uncared for will do a lot of damage after this much time." He got the door open enough to step through and aimed his light in first, checking for movement or another opening.

Finding neither, he stepped through and looked around, motioning for Ara to follow.

"Let me have that scanner for a second."

Ara handed it over, then walked to a row of broken glass windows that had once been observation ports into large medical containers. "What is this place?"

"A lab," Ethan replied. He turned on the scanner and moved around the room. "There's nothing moving in here except us, so no beasts," he said. "At least, not in this room."

"So the caves, they are this ship?"

He nodded absently as he looked around the facility. "Probably open ports, or engine compartments. This wreck's been here so long, it became a hillside. Any opening would have looked like a cave, and probably made a great home for creatures of all kinds." He looked at the scanner again, increasing the gain and switching the function to a broader sense. "There does seem to be some power in here, still." He adjusted the readings. "Not enough to really matter, but maybe enough to let us download the ship's log."

"I do not understand," Ara turned to him. "How is it this ship landed on my world, here in the light, and my people did not speak of it?"

Ethan chewed his lower lip for a moment, considering his words.

"Is this one of your ships?" she asked before Ethan could reply. "Did it come from your Earth?"

"Let's keep looking around and see if I can find some answers for you," he said.

They left the lab and moved further down the corridor. Ethan kept hoping he could find a floor plan or some kind of posted route along the walls, but the dust and dirt was caked on so thick, he could barely make out the occasional LAB or PRIVATE QUARTERS sign.

At the end of the long corridor, they found a lift and tube containing a multi-level service ladder. Ethan leaned into the tube and aimed his light up, then down.

"All right, we already know that upper level's floor is rotting," he said as he looked down the ladder. "I need to find the bridge, or the captain's quarters to get some answers." He looked up again. "If I knew what model ship this was, I could guess where they are. Then again, it's so old, maybe not."

Ara looked at the ladder. "Ethan, why does it look like this?"

"Like what?"

She pulled off the headgear and handed it to him. "It looks different."

Ethan put on the lenses and looked closely at the ladder. The night vision could distinguish between layers of dirt, showing them as slightly varying hues of color. When he concentrated on one rung, the hues formed a distinctive pattern.

"Oh shit," he said. He looked up and found no similar markings on the higher rungs. "We're not alone in here." He turned and looked down the corridor they'd just crossed, but found only evidence of their two pairs of footprints. "Okay, so we go upstairs."

Ethan took off the lenses and handed them back to Ara.

"They are beast prints, are they not?"

"Yes, they are. But they look more like giant hands." Ethan reached out and grabbed the rung directly in front of him, testing it for weakening. "These beasts that live in the caves, they have huge hands?"

"They do," Ara replied solemnly. "They have no claws, but very powerful arms and terrible teeth. Very sharp and long."

"Nice," Ethan nodded. "Okay, let me go up first, I'm not sure how stable this thing is. Our friend with the big hands hasn't been up this way, that I can tell." He stepped out onto the ladder. "But the floor up there isn't great. We'll have to move carefully."

"I understand," Ara replied.

Ethan started up the ladder, giving each rung a tug before relying on it. His movements sent dust clouds up all around in a fury, disturbed by unaccustomed movements. If there had been any light to see by, his vision would have been severely hampered by the dust. As it was, only his lungs and eyes protested.

When he reached the top, he pulled up his rifle and aimed the light down the corridor before stepping high enough to get off. Seeing nothing alive waiting for him, he eased himself onto the floor and turned to look down.

"Okay, take it slow but it's pretty sturdy. Just be careful with all the dirt."

As Ara reached out to take hold of the rungs, Ethan saw movement.

"Ara, stand back!"

Her arms vanished back into the corridor, and the massive black figure pulling itself up the ladder from below became visible in Ethan's light.

It paused in its rapid ascent as the light hit its face, then roared up at the source.

Ethan swallowed. The face he was staring at was decidedly ape-like, but there was nothing familiar about the long, terrible fangs or the piercing shriek that shook the walls of the narrow tube and sent more dust scattering.

Ethan fired, hitting it square in the head.

The beast lurched up, covering another three rungs.

Ethan fired again, several rounds. Suddenly the floor shuddered and rocked. He stared down the tube and saw the beast falling, slamming into the sides in a dead fall until it dropped out of sight in the darkness.

Ara stuck her head in the tube then, looking down, then up. "Is it gone?"

"Yes, come up, quickly." He waved for her to get on the ladder, but kept his light trained down her back, to the lower levels.

Ara hurried up the ladder, moving quickly and gracefully up the rungs, then lightly jumped to the floor and pulled her crossbow from around her back. "It was a beast?"

Ethan swallowed, then nodded. "It was something," he said. "I don't see another one."

"They move quickly," Ara said. "In all directions. And they can leap."

"Well that one was doing a damn fine job of climbing a ladder." Ethan took another look down the shaft, but saw only blackness. He swallowed, then looked down the corridor ahead of them. "Okay, let me go first. If the floor's gonna give way, I'll go down first."

"I would rather you did not go down," Ara said, slightly sarcastically.

Ethan made a face in the darkness and started carefully moving down the corridor. "Did Commander Ellis tell you what Colonel Patterson said?"

"No, he did not," she replied. "I remained where you had fallen, and did not hear John Patterson. But I believe whatever has caused the dark cloud, is where John Patterson is waiting."

Ethan nodded as he walked. "The coms aren't working down here. Something about this old ship could be causing the interference. There's a small amount of power here, but it's really not broadcasting, so I doubt that's it."

"How can something this old still be alive?"

Ethan glanced over his shoulder at Ara. "The power source is radioactive. That just means it lives for a very, very long time. But not forever. It's so weak now, we can't even get lights to come on." He continued walking, slowly and carefully, trying to find a door in the darkness. "But if there's enough power still in the system, it will have kept the records intact. With equipment from the mobile and some computers, we could probably learn a lot about this place."

He found a door and didn't even bother trying to see what it was before testing the door handle.

"I would like to learn how my people did not know this was here," Ara said with some frustration.

The door protested, then a rusted hinge crumbled and it tilted sideways, opening up enough for them to both pass through easily enough. Ethan aimed his light in first, scanning around.

"Now, this is more like it." He stepped through the doorway, ducking under the broken door, then motioned for Ara to follow.

"Another lab?"

"Nope," Ethan pulled the hand light off his belt and turned it on, moving the beam around the large, open room. "It's the bridge."

"This is important?" Ara asked. She was gazing around the large room, taking it all in through the night vision lenses.

"It is important, yes," Ethan replied. "I hope." He moved closer to a panel of old computer screens. Not only did they show no indication of power, the screens had all long since been cracked. The insides now home to insects happily feeding off wires and old circuits. He wandered around the large room, wiping off dust and grime wherever he hoped to find words or something to indicate the ship's name, origin, destination, even a year of launch.

After two hours of careful searching, he found nothing.

"It's been stripped," he said with a frustrated sigh. "Completely stripped of anything worth using."

"Surely there could be nothing of value in a thing this old." Ara had stopped looking around an hour ago, and was sitting in the captain's chair.

Ethan shrugged. "Information is valuable," he said. "To know what ship this is, when it left Earth, when it came here, what it was doing, who knew about it." He looked at Ara. "Knowledge is always valuable. Especially knowledge of those who went before you. Your history." He glanced around at the dusty darkness again. "You must study the past so you don't repeat their mistakes."

"But all generations make mistakes," Ara countered.

Ethan nodded. "Sure, but it's better to make your own mistakes, not just repeat those before you. You're learning that now, with your peace. Your people are learning to stop the mistakes made before you, so you can end the fighting."

Ara shrugged. "I fear what we have built may not last as long as we'd hoped."

"Peace is a lot harder," Ethan agreed. "But the results are growth and prosperity." He pointed around the ship. "You see this? This ship, the technology, everything here that made it possible to leave our world and fly through space to another one, they're only possible because we had times of peace." He knew that wasn't entirely true, but Ara had no way of knowing how many advances in science were due to wars and the creation of bigger, stronger weapons.

"I do know this," she said. "So do all of the council. But our people feel strained by this peace." She stood, wiping at the dust covering her pants. "They will not come and live in the gray because it is too difficult to share space with those who were their enemies. And now . . ."

Ethan blinked. "And now, what?"

Ara took a breath, then reached up and adjusted the headgear, wiping sweat from underneath the brow piece. "There is talk of unrest. Those who fear your arrival and mistrust your intentions."

"You didn't mention this before."

She shrugged. "It was just beginning," she said. "And the council hope it is nothing. We welcome your people, Ethan. It is just that --"

"Something this big isn't easy to accept on face value," Ethan finished for her. "We're new, and anything new is frightening at first."

"That is what we have argued," she agreed. "But our people still have fears." She swiped at some more dirt then straightened. "Still, they will learn it is good. That your people mean no harm, and will live here in peace."

Ethan took a breath, then clipped the hand light to his belt again and started for the door. "Maybe we can bring them news of their history, and that will help them see the truth."

"I am not seeing any history here," Ara said as she followed him to the door.

Ethan stepped through the opening and carefully looked in both directions before waving for her to follow. They continued down the corridor, Ethan in the lead and walking slowly in case the floor cracked again.

"Okay, if this is the upper deck, and that was the bridge, I'd put the captain's office right about," He aimed his light along the opposite wall, and found another door. "There."

The handle of the door crumbled under his touch, but the door itself allowed movement once he put his shoulder into it, forcing the rusting metal over layers of dirt.

When it had opened far enough, he stepped through and panned his light around, nearly jumping out of his own skin when the beam struck a massive skeleton in the center of the room.

It wasn't much more than a pile of bones, but the pile was massive, and the bones had been picked completely clean.

Ethan scanned the small room with his light, then waved Ara in.

"It is one of them," she said as she peered down at the bones. "But a long time ago."

Ethan knelt down, touching one of the thick femur bones. "At least a few years, I'd guess." He pointed to the cleaned skeleton. "These bones have been completely cleaned, probably by insects. I don't see any teeth marks anywhere. That would have taken a while." He picked up a rib and the bone nearly crumbled between his fingers. "And this takes a while, too."

With his hand light, he gave the entire set of remains a good look, marveling at the thickness and length of the femurs, the expanse of the rib cage, and finally settled on the skull, which he picked up for a better look.

"Kathryn would love this," he said quietly.

Ara knelt down beside him and touched the skull he was holding, running a finger over the odd ridge on the crown. "Your sister?"

Ethan nodded. "This is her field, biology." He looked at the fangs and whistled. "It's like an ape, but not really." There were four extremely thick, long canines, but the incisors were equally long, thin and razor sharp. The ridge on the crown sported holes that he assumed housed spikes or some type of follicle. He looked at the skeleton. "Is this one average sized, would you say?"

Ara considered the question as she looked it over. Finally, she nodded. "I would say yes. But they look more terrible when alive."

"Yeah." Ethan set the skull down. "I caught a glimpse of that one on the ladder. He didn't go down easily." He stood and looked around the room. "I think this is the captain's office."

It was a small room, compact and efficient in its day, but barren and filthy now. Any furniture that had occupied the room had long since been removed, and there were no data sheets tacked to walls, or log books to be found anywhere. Ethan searched every surface for a name or ship designation, but came up empty.

When he turned back toward the door, his light found the massive gouges lining the inside walls.

"I think our boney friend must have stumbled in here and couldn't open the door to get out." He reached down for the skull again, then held it up to the wall, matching the marks in the metal with the fangs.

"So it died in here because the door would not open again?" Ara asked. "How long ago was it trapped?"

Ethan shrugged as he set the skull back down. "Well, my sister is the expert, but a skeleton that isn't buried can last anywhere between twenty and a few thousand years, depending on the conditions." He looked around the dark room. "It's dry in here, and protected. This thing could have been trapped inside back when the doors still had power. The door would have closed automatically, and it couldn't figure out how to work it."

Ara shook her head. "It is a sad way to die, alone. Even for a beast."

"Yeah, I'd prefer something a bit quicker, myself." He had to suppress a yawn suddenly. "We should see if there's another access ladder."

"What about the door we did not choose?" Ara stood. "The one where you landed?"

"That was an exit," Ethan said. "It would have opened up to the outside of the ship, which is now the hill we climbed. I imagine opening that door would just show us a wall of rock and dirt." He stepped back out into the corridor, carefully checking both directions for any unwanted company before moving forward. "There has to be something here that can tell me what ship this is, when it launched, why it came here."

"Why is this important?" Ara asked. "To know when the ship arrived?"

Ethan paused, glancing over his shoulder at her. "Because I have a theory, Ara, and I'd like to know if I'm even close. I'm pretty sure I am."

"What theory?" When Ethan didn't answer, Ara moved closer and touched his shoulder. "What is your theory, Ethan Griff?"

The floor beneath his feet suddenly groaned with their weight, and Ethan backed up quickly. "I don't think we can go this way any further."

Ara gripped his shirt sleeve. "I would hear your theory," she insisted.

Ethan sighed. "All right." He pointed back down the corridor. "Let's get back to the bridge and see if we can secure the door. We can rest there and I'll tell you my theory."

Ara considered it, then nodded and let go of his sleeve. "I agree."

It took a good thirty minutes and a lot of effort, but they finally got the bridge door back in place and wedged enough to keep it there. Ethan estimated it would at least take a couple of hits before it collapsed, should a beast come knocking, giving them time to react.

Ara had cleaned off a section of the deck floor and pulled some rations and water from the pack. "You have not slept in a long while," she said as Ethan approached and sat beside her.

"Neither have you," he replied.

"So tell me your theory, and then we can rest."

Ethan laughed shortly, then shook his head. "You have to understand, this is just a theory. And I'm not a scientist, so I could be way off."

"You are an intelligent man," Ara countered. "What is your theory?"

Ethan took a breath and leaned back against the old console. "I'm guessing this ship left my planet somewhere between, maybe eight hundred and a thousand years before my ship. It came here, I don't know how its crew knew your world was here, or who sent it, but I'd say it landed here a long, long time ago and they made this world their new home."

Ara shook her head. "But how could they have . . ." She blinked, then furrowed her brow. "You believe my people are from this ship?"

Ethan shrugged one shoulder. "I believe it's possible, yes."

Ara looked down, then flipped up the night vision lenses and looked at Ethan. "But if my people are your people, how is it we are so different?"

"Your eyes, you mean?" He shook his head. "I really don't know. But I can guess the differences are probably the result of some genetic manipulation, to gain an advantage on each side of this world."

She looked puzzled and pulled off the headgear. "So, if this is true, then . . . I do not understand fully."

"Neither do I," he apologized. "It does explain a few things, like how your people are so few in number right now. And how the gray city was built during a time you believe no one lived there." He glanced around the dark bridge, illuminated only by the hand light perched on the floor. "If these people believed more were coming, and they built enough to house a population that never arrived. I just -- I can't understand who they were. There's no record that I know of that a colony ship was ever . . ." His sentence trailed off as his mind searched through the parts of history he'd bothered to pay attention to. "I think there might have been a few, just after light travel was developed, but if I remember my history right, they were never heard from again. Considered lost in space. It was another seven hundred years before the colony program took hold again."

Ara picked at the wrapper of a ration bar. "How is it my people did not know this?"

"I don't know," Ethan admitted. "I really don't."

She nodded as she continued to pick and the wrapper without opening it. "What was your world like? Why did you leave it to come here?"

"Well, long ago, many many years before I was alive, the planet was green and blue and lush and amazing," Ethan said. He rested his head against the console behind him and tried to get into a comfortable position that wouldn't irritate his bruised side. "The oceans were deep and blue and full of life. And the forests were green and teeming with life. And there were birds, millions of them."

"Many birds?" Ara asked wistfully. "You mean, more than one bird?"

"Many different birds," he replied. "Some large, some small. Some brightly colored, others not so much. Some even didn't fly, but they were still birds." He shrugged. "That was all well before my time, though."

"And what of the world in your time?"

He closed his eyes and remembered. "In my time, it was all gone. The birds no longer flew in the wild, only in zoos. And the skies weren't blue anymore, or the seas. All the ice was gone. The world was dying. That's why we had to leave. Our planet was all used up and unable to keep us alive."

"But it was not your people who murdered your world," Ara said slowly, as if contemplating her words as she said them. "It was the peoples before you." She looked at Ethan. "And if you are correct, that means it was my people. The two peoples here, on my Urth."

"Not exactly," Ethan countered. "If they left that long ago, the world hadn't died yet. It was suffering, yes, but if your people -- if the people who flew this ship here are your people -- then they left like we did, to find a new world and a better life. To not repeat what our ancestors had done before us."

Ara tossed the ration bar back into the pack, then moved her crossbow around and rested it on her legs. Leaning sideways, she curled up against Ethan's unbruised side and let out a long, tired sigh.

"It is too much to consider without sleep."

Ethan put an arm around her shoulders and nodded slightly. "I agree."

He had no intention of sleeping. His rifle was in his lap, loaded and ready, and the bridge door was wedged well enough to give them proper warning if a visitor happened to climb to their level, but he knew better than to fall asleep.

When the com unit woke him, he nearly jumped out of his skin.