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My suspicions had been confirmed. The sign with the three circles. I also found it in some scrap settlements on the planet Microtech. In Astor’s Clearing, Dunboro and even in my friends’ settlement in the Moreland Hills. And not only that. Just like in the scrap settlements on the planet Hurston, there were steel cables with rings hanging from them above the entrance to the settlements on Microtech.

I learned nothing about the meaning of the rings or the sign. As always, Maria was very reticent with information. She said that I already knew enough and that I should live in the present instead of digging into the past.

Just as I was about to make myself comfortable in the Moreland Hills, I received a sign of life from Alaska. My relief was huge. I had feared that Alaska had gotten into trouble because of his research on the original settlers of Stanton and had not been in touch for so long. I immediately arranged a meeting with Brubacker. The scribbler was not yet convinced. He wanted more evidence before he published the scandal with Stanton’s first settlers in his newspaper. Perhaps the scientist Alaska could convince him.

*

Because of the explosive nature of the story, we met in a secret hiding place. It was a musty room full of cardboard boxes, electronic waste and beer bottles behind cargo containers on the cargo deck of the Baijini Point space station. Brubacker and Alaska exchanged facts, clues and suspicions.

“Professor Hyperion doesn’t want to go public with this,” explained Alaska. “He fears negative consequences for the Scientific Union. It’s common sense that there were settlers in Stanton before the official discovery, but they don’t talk about it openly.”

“And what about you?” asked Brubacker. “Do you believe that the settlers were forcibly expelled by the UEE? Do you want to investigate the matter and make it public?”

“It’s mostly circumstantial evidence, but my research clearly points to it. The important thing is that the Scientific Union is not mentioned in this context.”

“We need to take another look at an old settlement like this,” Brubacker finally said.

“You know how our last trip to such a settlement turned out. Your spacesuit was riddled with bullets,” I reminded Brubacker.

“You’ll make sure you’re safe.”

“I don’t have any weapons with me. We’d best go to the settlement on the moon Wala. When Alaska and I were there, there were no Nine Tails in the settlement. Maybe we’ll get lucky. Otherwise, this is going to be one hell of a short trip.”

As we were leaving the hideout, Alaska asked. “What was that room? Is it part of the cargo deck workers’ union?”

I had to laugh.

After Brubacker had bought himself another helmet, we set off on Alaska’s Zeus. I was glad that Brubacker had his own spacesuit with him this time, but he didn’t seem to be fully equipped. Brubacker was babbling something about his helmet being stolen. But maybe the old slob had just misplaced it. But this time I’d better keep my mouth shut. I didn’t have anything with me except the clothes I was wearing. I had to rely on the equipment that Alaska had in his Zeus.

After a short flight, we landed directly at the ruined settlement. We were lucky, it was daytime. However, the light only shrouded the moon in an ashen gray, pale light. Visibility was limited. Scattered across the gray surface of the moon were dilapidated walls and ruins of old buildings with metal structures attached to them. In between were rusted silos and containers. The settlement seemed quiet and deserted. But just as I stood up from the co-pilot’s seat, I saw a Nine Tail.

“Damn it, we’re not alone.”

“I have a gun in the closet,” Alaska said.

“I already took it,” I replied.

“Then you can take out the Nine Tails,” Brubacker urged me.

“I’m not a mercenary. I usually have someone from TYR with me for that sort of thing. Maybe we can manage to sneak past them. If they notice us, we’ll have to retreat.”

We crouched down at the Zeus airlock. The bulkhead opened with a hiss. Dust and sand pelted against the visor of my helmet. I instinctively closed my eyes. When I opened them again, I noticed a URSA rover standing 50 meters away in front of some old silos.

“The rover could be helpful. If we can reach it undetected, we have a chance.”

With a short leap, I jumped down from the airlock and landed thuddingly on the stony ground. Ducking, I ran to the silos and took cover behind them. Next to the silos, a collapsed wall led closer to the rover. I crawled on all fours behind the wall. It was only 15 meters to the rover. I carefully looked over the wall and straight at a Nine Tail. It was running towards the rover, with two more behind it. I suddenly dropped to the ground and hoped he hadn’t seen me.

I lay huddled on the ground between the stones for several seconds. Nothing happened. Only the gray dust was driven across the surface of the moon by the wind. Then I risked another look. The Nine Tails were moving away from the rover again. I quickly jumped to the rear of the rover in a few steps and pressed the button to open the rear ramp. It didn’t move. My hand hammered on the button again. Then the hatch went down with a squeak. As I climbed into the Rover, I heard Alaska on the radio.

“Leave the ramp down. I’m coming.”

Without paying any further attention to the open rear ramp, I climbed into the driver’s seat in the cockpit. I could still hear the ramp closing with a squeak, but I was focused on closing the vehicle briefly. Then someone climbed into the passenger seat next to me. It was Alaska. As soon as he sat down, the laser repeaters on the roof of the Rover began to thunder.

“Got two of them. Move back a bit. Then I’ll have a better view.”

After the rover backed up a few meters, the guns started thundering again. Another Nine Tail disappeared in a gray cloud of dust and sparks.

“Are you all right?” asked Brubacker over the radio.

“The archaeologist is doing archaeological excavations,” I replied. “He’s digging up the whole ground.”

Almost a little embarrassed, Alaska said. “I’m surprised at myself.”

Once we had driven through the entire settlement and secured everything, Brubacker joined us. He looked at me strangely.

“What is it?” I asked in an annoyed tone.

“Zero, honestly, it’s not like you to be so brutal. You even ran over a pirate head-on at the last settlement.”

“They’re Nine Tails!”

“They’re humans too!”

“But people who shot down my friends. Next time you want me to toast the Nine Tail over your gunned-down body with a whiskey?”

Brubacker said nothing more. Together we began to search the settlement. Like the others, it consisted of the ruins of old concrete buildings to which rusty structures had been added with planks and steel. Eventually, Brubacker found a round shaft containing technical equipment. An old, destroyed geothermal plant. He looked around for a while and then said.

“Damn, that really looks like a classic bombing.”

Brubacker was right. There was rock everywhere that had melted and then solidified again. Large and small pitch-black boulders that had been exposed to intense heat.

“There you have the proof,” I said.

“It all fits my theory perfectly,” Alaska added.

Suddenly, Brubacker jumped into the shaft and crawled into some holes. Alaska and I stood at the edge and watched, stunned.

“Uh, Bru. I don’t have a medivac rover with me.”

Brubacker was undeterred and kept crawling around in the hole. When he came out again, he said.

“Let’s take another look at the settlement itself.”

We trudged through the old ruined walls, found crates of stolen goods and food. We also found the sign with the three circles again. The paint was pale and had penetrated deep into the reinforced concrete. It was as old as the wall itself. This was clear proof that the sign had not been painted on later, but dated back to the time of the first settlers. Then we found more artifacts and a medal from the sixth platoon. Finally, Brubacker said.

“We can search around for a long time now. But I don’t think we’re getting any smarter and we have everything we need.”

“You mean you’re going to publish an article about the scandal with the first settlers of Stanton?” I asked Brubacker.

“It’s a lot of speculation, but there’s always a bit of risk. And my journalistic instincts have rarely deceived me. It will be a circumstantial article, but yes, I will publish it.”

Back on board, Bru and Alaska took a closer look at the artifact. I couldn’t get the sign with the three circles out of my head. Old and washed out in the ruins of the first settlers and freshly applied in the scrap settlements. I couldn’t shake the thought that the inhabitants of the scrap settlements were the descendants of the first settlers.

*

A few days later, Brubacker published the newspaper article about the scandalous, violent expulsion of the first settlers from Stanton. Settlers who wanted to live in freedom and independently of the UEE, but who stood in the way of the UEE’s quest for power. The cat was out of the bag. What would happen now was unclear. Probably nothing. But that didn’t matter to me. It wasn’t up to me. It was important for me not to look away, not to remain silent and to make such injustices public so that everyone could form their own opinion. NEVER SILENT!

Brubacker’s perspective: https://sternenwanderer.org/jahr-2954#S24