Slowly Hermes accelerated out of the orbit of the dead planet. Changing it's trajectory it made for a pass around the star at the center of the solar system.
The crew had not been idle during all this time. Detailed analysis of the debris and the recovered bodies was underway. The anatomy of the squid-species was carefully explored cross-referenced to the data previously acquired. Some very interesting discoveries where made during this process.
"That is not making sense, why are the differences so big?" Sarah asked, skeptically looking at the output of the scanner array that was arranged around one of the boxes containing a body. One of the screens was showing a comparison of the DNA-analogue of the dead squid to the sample they had found in the database.
"The time involved is not insignificant, try to keep that in mind." Maja answered.
"It is only a couple of years, that should barely be noticeable." Sarah countered.
"In human terms, that would be correct. This is an entirely different species. What is true for us could be completely wrong for them." Maja finished.
"Point taken. It still is a significant difference. To me one that is a bit too large to feel natural."
"That might be." Maja pointed out something on the scan. "Can you zoom in on this area?"
The screen showed an enlarged picture of the area where the eyes would be according to the database.
"Would you look at that." Maja exclaimed.
"Still normal?" Sarah teased.
Without an answer Maja studied the details of the scan as it continued to show more and more details of an implant of some kind.
"Do you see this?" Maja pointed to some fine connections branching out from the implant.
"I think we should do a much more detailed scan of the whole body." Sarah agreed.
"We should also do a detailed scan of the other bodies for comparison." Maja concluded while working the controls.
Serge and Tony where sweating profoundly. Not only was the piece of machinery they where manhandling onto the scanner platform heavy. It was also oddly shaped, making it unwieldy and very difficult to handle.
"What do you think this is?" Serge asked his brother.
"No idea. Could be pretty much anything. Coffee machine? Engine exhaust." Tony answered while he initiated the scan of the artifact.
"Or a toilet." Tony countered.
"Lets take a scan and see what we find out." Serge stated.
All around them the scientific crew was working on the artifacts with different pieces of equipment, often supported by the crew of the Hermes.
After long hours the Hermes passed the threshold and it's scanners where no longer blocked be the solar radiation and it got it's first look of its next destination. What the scanners revealed was not what the crew on the bridge was expecting.
"This readings are off, that is strange." Smyke mumbled from his console.
"What do you mean strange?" Dr. Schmitz checked his console. "That is strange. Are you sure these readings are accurate?"
"We checked the sensors yesterday, everything was fine." Smyke answered.
"I don't understand how this is possible." Dr. Schmitz exclaimed.
"Care to enlighten us?" The captain interjected.
"Right. The data from the planet is not showing the ice ball we expected. The planet seems to have a very large ocean with a single landmass making up about 30% of the surface area. It is in large parts covered by a single lake." Smyke answered, displaying an image of the planet on the view screen.
"Atmosphere?" The Captain asked looking at the blue orbit on the screen.
"70% nitrogen, 22% oxygen, 3% carbon dioxide - perfectly breathable. And no sign of radiation, at least not from this distance." Smyk answered with a smile on his face.
"Take us into orbit, I want a full scan of that planet. Any life signs?"
"The sensors show some signs of life in the ocean, scattered all over it. Hardly anything on the landmass. I can't seem to get a clear reading of the central lake." Smyke reported.
"What do you mean? No life signs?"
"No. I'm not reading anything. The sensors show a large body of water, that is all. The odd thing they show just water, nothing else."
"Odd indeed. Any signs of activity on the planet or in orbit? I think they used to have an orbital station here? We should at least see some debris." The Captain inquired.
"So far nothing. But at that distance the resolution might not be high enough if the debris small enough." Smyke answered.
"How long until we reach orbit?"
"Four hours." Joe answered from the navigation console.
"Set us into a scanning orbit so we can take a closer look." The Captain ordered.
"Prepare a set of cubesats, let's put them to their intended use." Smyke nodded and went busy.
As the Hermes slowly moved closer to the planet it gathered more and more details of it. At the same time the large lake that covered large parts of the only landmass remained a complete void, deepening the mystery of the planet.
Once a stable orbit had been achieved the cubesat launcher was activated and the first satellite was launched. Over a time of several hours twelve satellites very launched into orbit, forming an interconnected web of sensors that provided much more details than what Hermes would have been capable on its own.
Slowly but steady the void of the lake began to clear away.
"That is amazing." Smyke uttered.
"It is. How long until the scans are complete?"
"At this rate about two hours."
"Alright. Let's see what we have here."
The small meeting room was packed, every seat was taken although Dr. Schmitz was standing next to the view screen that showed a picture of the planet orbiting below the ship.
"Alright, let's hear it Dr. What have you found?" The Captain asked.
"Very good. The planet below us is the same planet we have previously seen in the database files. It looks like the ice was largely melted, resulting in only small pole caps and otherwise creating a planet wide ocean."
The view screen changed to display the only landmass on the planet.
"The only landmass is quite substantial, it makes up about one third of the planets surface area. It is turn covered by a large lake, it roughly covers about 40% of it."
The screen changed again, displaying a number of maritime life forms.
"The ocean itself is home to a multitude of life forms. So far we have found a whole host of different species, ranging from as small as amoeba to as large as about 8 meters long."
"No sign so far of anything that looks like on the squids." He answered the unspoken question from his captive audience.
"There are substantial amounts of algae and something that looks very close to what we know as see weed. All comparisons are of course very crude as these life forms have little to nothing in common to what we know from earth."
The screen changed again to the landmass overlaid by a listing of different plants.
"So far we failed to find any sort of fauna on land. It is covered with some kind of grass analogue, as far as we can tell. Nothing that would resemble something like a tree or anything like it. The grass has an uniform height of about one meter all over the landmass."
The screen zoomed in on the lake.
"Now to the most amazing part, the central lake. First scans showed only pure water and nothing else. More detailed scans showed a host of new information."
The screen switched and showed a structure. A large dome surrounded by several smaller domes connected by tubes.
"There is a very faint radiation signature coming from several of the smaller domes. We managed to detect what looks like life signs!"
Zooming out a bit the screen displayed regular structures surrounding the central domes.
"This looks almost like a farm!" Sunblast blurted out.
"Agreed. We see definitive signs of agriculture or aquaculture. We only see evidence of small sea creatures in the inner lake. That might be related to the fact that it is a freshwater lake, rather than the salt water in the ocean."
The view screen zoomed in on one of the fields, isolation some larger creatures floating above it.
"We believe that we have found some survivors." Dr. Schmitz said, smiling broadly.
"Is there a way to contact them?" The Captain asked.
"We have identified something that looks like a transmitter array on top of the central dome. We have not tried hailing them."
"Is this even possible? How deep down are they?" Joe asked.
"About 400 meters. Our communications can reach them without problem." Sunblast stated.
"As they have build a base with a communication array in this depth I think it is safe to assume that their communication equipment is capable of working in this setting." Schmitz paused for a moment.
"The problem is that we're not reading any energy signatures. Not even a faint one."
"Are they in hiding or out of power?" Sunblast asked.
"We don't know. Taken into account that we had problems scanning the lake and finding them in the first place I'd say they're hiding."
"Did you find any explanation for this?" The Captain asked.
"Not yet, no. could be a natural phenomenon, could be some kind of camouflage." Schmitz answered.
"Alright, let's try and find out. Try to contact them." The Captain ordered.
"What about the planet itself, is it capable of supporting human life?"
"As far as we can tell, yes. We need to check in much more detail, test the soil, the water and the whole biosphere. We can't do that from orbit." Dr. Schmitz answered.
"Alright. Let's see if they have a problem with visitors." The Captain closed the meeting.
The small bridge was manned by the usual crew plus Dr. Schmitz and Pet'l. The Captain sat down in her central chair and ordered with a heavy voice. "Mr. Smyke, hail them."
"Sending hailing signal." Smyke responded.
Tense moments passed without anything happening.
"No response." Smyke reported.
"Any reaction at all?"
"The sensors don't show any change so far." Pet'l answered.
"Try again. Send a basic first contact greeting."
"Sending, now."
"We're losing sensor resolution." Pet'l reported.
"Still no answer to our hails." Smyke chimed in.
"Doesn't look like they want to talk." The Captain stated.
"Maybe we should leave them be." Pet'l proposed.
"Nonsense. We don't pose any threat to them. There's no reason not to talk." Schmitz exclaimed.
"That might be true for humans. These are not humans."
"Don't worry Dr., we're not leaving yet. Get the testing expedition ready, I want to know how viable the planet is."