Death Planet.

The control panel flashed with the colors of flashing lights. A deafening alarm screech woke Major Kennet and, in a way, summoned him to the bridge. His second-in-command, Captain Relins, was already there. His uniform unbuttoned, he leaned over the console, trying to talk to someone on the radio. Someone from the ship, because they'd lost contact with the base a good two years ago, and were now "exploring" the universe. They were supposed to return from a research expedition in five years.

"What's going on, Captain?" he asked his subordinate.

"Wait a minute, Major," the officer said over his shoulder. "What...?! I don't understand!" he shouted into the microphone. The radio crackled, and a voice could be heard briefly, but it was so distorted by static that the words were practically indistinguishable.

"Maybe we should switch to internal transmission?" Kennet asked. The captain, puzzled, glanced over his shoulder at his subordinate. Kennet saw that his alarm must have woken him too. The dark circles under his eyes, his disheveled hair, and his raspy voice were all evidence of this.

"Ah, yes. Thank you, Major." Relins pressed a button on the control panel. The button glowed green. The voice coming from the speaker immediately became clearer. A man called out,

"...is Kennet there? Is Major Kennet there?!!" And after a moment, as if from somewhere to the side, "Son, leave that lever!"

"This is Major Kennet. Can I hear you?" the commander said into the microphone.

"Major, we've come across something interesting. Very interesting. Please look at the screen.

" Kennet looked. The screen flickered. After a moment, a bluish-green planet could be seen orbiting a smaller one, probably a moon.

"Have you checked what planet it is?" the Major asked.

"Yes." The speaker replied curtly. The silence stretched on. Captain Relins couldn't bear it any longer.

"So what? Is it classified?" he asked hopefully.

"No." That short answer was enough for a whole speech.

Kennet wondered what benefits this would bring. After two years of searching, they had found an unclassified planet!

For years, the Race had searched the cosmos for planets ripe for settlement. Rich in the resources their planet, which had been depleted for years, centuries even, had been lacking. And now, after all this time, they had found a planet! A planet that hadn't yet been listed in the Race Register! But what good is it if no benefits accrue from this fact?

"Where are we?" Kennet asked the navigator on the bridge.

"What do you mean, where?" The man didn't understand the question at first. "On a ship, the 'Scout,' belonging to the Race."

"Scout"—that's what Major Kennet had named his ship. Back then, Lieutenant Kennet. Twenty-three years ago, when the Council entrusted him with command of the lander, he was drunk with joy. For twenty-three years, he'd tried to repay the Council for the trust they'd placed in him, and in all that time, he'd had no opportunity to do so. Until now. If only it turned out that this planet...! Ah!

"What solar system?" He corrected the question. The navigator was silent for a moment.

"I'm afraid it's somewhere at the end of the universe.

" Relins looked at the major. His gaze expressed a silent question: "Where have you brought us, Major Kennet?" The commander had asked the question himself, but aloud:

"Where the hell are we?" But only silence answered him.

"

Major!" the navigator shouted after a moment. "Something's approaching us.

" "Could it be a spaceship? Aliens?

" "I'm afraid I don't know. Probably not." It looks like an artificial satellite.

The image flickered on the screen again. The planet disappeared from view. In its place was a cylindrical object with two arms covered in some shiny metal.

"What's that?" the major asked.

"Checking." The voice belonged neither to the navigator nor to Captain Relins. The major glanced back. Behind him, a historian first class stood with a computer in his hands. After a moment's silence, he spoke in a flat tone. "That's impossible..."

"What the hell is that? Speak up, it's approaching.

" "Heh..." the historian laughed briefly. "It looks like a satellite. A weather satellite.

" "What does that mean?" Kennet asked stupidly.

"Either it's 'our' satellite that wandered off three hundred years ago, when we still used them, or we're dealing with an alien lifeform. An intelligent one at that." The historian looked up and met the commander's astonished eyes.

"Are we... Are we on collision course?" Another stupid question came, this time from Captain Relins.

"What does that matter?" the Major replied. "If we are, this satellite must be about the size of the control panel next to you. Even if it is, we'll be fine. The Scout is a good ship. Built of strong materials. Plastosteel is very difficult to destroy. If the Scout were made of anything weaker, it would surely be called 'Wreckage: The Race's Cosmic Defeat.'" This innocent joke brought a burst of laughter from the navigator and historian. Relins blushed slightly.

"Okay. Gather the technicians, biologists, and whoever else we need," Kennet said calmly. "We'll enter orbit and observe the object.

"

The "Scout" had been orbiting for three "local" solar cycles. It had been determined that the planet had a suitable mixture of oxygen and nitrogen, allowing for space travel without a spacesuit. The planet was classified as suitable for habitation. But these were only preliminary analyses. It would be months before we were completely certain whether X27BZ73S was habitable. The question remained: "Is there life on X27BZ73S?"

Kennet wondered why on earth there was a Breed weather satellite orbiting X27BZ73S? A three-hundred-year-old Breed satellite! Kennet had thoroughly researched Breed history, even as a teenager, and there was no mention of any missing satellites! If it was a reconnaissance satellite, why hadn't the "Scout" computer recorded the classification of the zone or solar system they were in? "Major, the research team is asking if they can go down to the surface? " "Hmm...?" Kennet muttered. "A reconnaissance team. They're ready. " "And? " "We've been orbiting X27BZ73S for a week now.

" "Do you think that's enough, Captain? And what do we really know about X27BZ73S? " "That it's a planet in the solar system, along with eight others. It has three moons. It's possible it's inhabited by intelligent beings. There's a natural layer of ozone around the planet. " "A week... Okay, we'll go down tomorrow. Is the two-day research team coming? " "Seven. " "Who? " "Me, historians, Level I and II, two biochemists, an astrophysicist, a mathematician, and a psychoneurotic. " "Eight. " "Seven, two... " "Eight, Captain." The major interrupted him. "I'm going too." You're staying. In my absence, you'll be in command of the "Scout." "But, Major... " "Shut up, Relins. I know, that's still one man short of a full eight. XV-2 will also go with the scouting group." " Android..." "Yes, but also a doctor. You didn't think of including a doctor in the research group, that's one of the reasons you're staying, Captain. " " You proud prick!" Relins thought as he left the commander's room. He headed for the bridge, where a group of scientists were observing the planet. "Interesting..." One of them muttered, but as soon as he noticed the captain, he fell silent. "What's interesting?" Relins asked. "This, this... nothing?" The climatologist became flustered. "What's interesting?" he asked again, this time in a tone that brooked no refusal. "This... ordinary... air circulation... Movements of water masses... in the air, nothing interesting. Damn, even them!" Even the crew is hiding something from me .

The space shuttle "Scout 1" could easily accommodate the entire crew of over a hundred people, but compared to its predecessor, the "Scout," it was nothing more than a small vessel.

The shuttle, which could accommodate over a hundred people, was designed to accommodate barely fifteen. The unexpected increase in personnel participating in the expedition was due to Captain Relins. He was the one who rightly emphasized the importance of not leaving the shuttle unattended and of providing security. Thus, the shuttles on planet X27BZ73S were to be guarded by two men, capable of escaping the hostile planet at any moment, as well as controlling the shuttle's numerous external weapons.

Three men constituted the expedition's "guard." This was strictly a regulatory requirement, as every scientist or researcher seeking the rank of "Scout" had to undergo special training, which included: the use of a laser lance, self-defense, and providing aid to the wounded.

To date, such courses have only proven effective a few times in the Race's history, during the conquest of two other, weaker ones.

The shuttle took off with a quiet engine hum. It was possible to completely silence the shuttle, but everyone agreed they preferred not to. This gave them a certain sense of security. They knew everything was under control.

They weren't afraid of what they would find on that planet, named X27BZ73S by Major Kennet, in sector X27. Thanks to psychoneurotics, fear itself had been eliminated from their subconscious.

The shuttle landed with a soft hum. The hatch was opened. What they saw immediately after exiting exceeded their expectations. The plain

,

bathed in morning sunlight, bore no resemblance to their homeworld of Louga. The remnants of any fauna were meager. Stunted bushes, and nothing else. Sand, sun, and bushes everywhere.

They made their way to the rise. From this vantage point, they saw great fortifications rising into the sky. And no sign of life. Only sand, sun, city, and wind.

"Form defensive formation," Major Kennet ordered, taking up position at the head of the column. He set his lance's power level to stun. He gave the same order to his subordinates.

As they entered the first buildings, they were greeted by a deathly silence. There was no sign of life in the city. Buildings, vehicles, and belongings were abandoned as if in a hurry. Crashed vehicles stood here and there, lightly covered with wind-blown sand.

"What are these strange vehicles?" asked one of the biochemists, looking at the vehicle.

The vehicle had four wheels and a large cabin mounted on them. It also had four entrance hatches, devoid of plastosteel visors. It had holes where the visors had been. The cabin looked rather strange. Two seats in the front, made of an unknown material, a wheel, probably used for steering, and three strange levers on the floor.

"How can you move with this?" wondered one of the guards, having settled into the vehicle's cockpit. He tried to reach down with his hands to touch one of the levers. It looked quite comical, but none of them felt like laughing.

One of the historians approached a large hole in the building. At its edge, he saw a strange, transparent substance. He lightly touched it with his spacesuit-gloved fingers. The substance turned out to be very brittle.

"You," he turned to the biochemist standing nearest him. "Take a sample of the substance. Attention!" he said to the crowd. "Let's just check this building and then get back to the shuttle.

" "Major, I have a strange reading on the meter," said the second biochemist. "Look at this."

The Major glanced at the meter. The gauge was going haywire. It was showing some absurd readings.

"Take a soil sample. Get moving!" he shouted to the others. Sam and three guards were observing the area. A moment later, they were returning to the lander in "Scout 1.

"

The lander "Scout" had been in orbit around the planet for over a month, and work on understanding the planet was progressing slowly. The scientists took soil samples and concluded that the soil was contaminated with some radioactive substances. To Major Kennet's delight, it turned out that the radiation was affecting them, but research on the surface could continue in the "Scout" protective suits.

"Major, we found something interesting. " Relins's voice buzzed over the speaker. "Please come to the lab.

" "I'm on my way there," the Major replied, and started toward the room.

When the automatic doors swished open, Kennet found himself in a brightly lit room. The alien lay on a large table. It was dead. Several monitors showed the creature's molecular structure, and several others its structure.

"Look, Major," said the tall biochemist, holding a strange substance found during the first flight of X27BZ73S. "The alien's protective coating is strangely fragile." As he spoke, he placed the tip of the crystalline substance against the coating and lightly cut into it. Kennet remembered that the Race had once used such a material. They called it glass then. But that was over three hundred years ago!

"Why wasn't I informed of this earlier?" Kennet asked, staring at the alien. The alien's skin was strange. Pink, not green like the Breed's. The alien had an odd shape: a cylindrical body, from which two tentacles—or arms—branched at the bottom. The upper part of the body had a smaller cylindrical section, on which the head rested. Right next to the alien's neck, at the edge of the body, grew two more limbs.

"Only today have we been able to determine that glass is a more durable material than the skin of 'object X.'

" "I meant where and when, on the Scout, 'object X' came from.

" "Where...? From planet X27BZ73S. Yesterday, when the research group led by Captain Relins returned," the biochemist replied. "The creature has a strange build." The lower limbs probably served as a means of locomotion, the upper ones... er... as prehensile limbs." The biochemist briefly summarized the results of his one-day research.

"Good. Continue your research, Sergeant." The lab technician glanced at the commander. It was the first time he'd heard the major address him as anything other than biochemist or engineer.

Kennet left the lab and went to the bridge. As usual, three navigators were sitting at the equipment. Relins was gone.

"Where is Captain Relins?" he asked the subordinate seated nearest him.

"How do you mean...?" the other was surprised. "He went to X27BZ73S to investigate the planet for living forms. Because apparently a dead object landed on the "Scout" yesterday.

" "Right. On whose orders did Captain Relins set off?" the commander asked furiously.

"Apparently on your..." The answer was uncertain.

"Please establish radio contact with the captain." I'll wait for the connection in my room.

" "Yes, sir," said the radio operator, who had been listening to the conversation, and began calling Relins on the radio.

When Kennet returned to his cabin, the videophone displayed a message that the connection could not be completed because atmospheric conditions on X27BZ73S prevented connection.

Furious with his subordinate, the commander of the "Scout" went to the laboratory.

"What were the circumstances of death, and where was the object found?" he asked bluntly.

"From what I understand," said the same biochemist the major had spoken to earlier, "in some underground building, constructed from a thick layer of a building material commonly called 'concrete.'

" "'Concrete,' where did that name come from? That's the first time I've heard it."

"X27BZ73S contained many written works that allowed for the achievement of perfection in a chosen field of life. Our linguists have deciphered the alien language system.

" "Did they find anything interesting?"

"Yeah... Many wars, a few monarchs, and a civilization that called itself human." The engineer "sliced" the alien's body with a laser knife. "The funniest thing is that on X27BZ73S there was a strange division of power. There were several hundred rulers at once, each ruling their own sector. The rulers often fought, wanting to gain even a partial control over sectors weaker than themselves.

" "Interesting. Continue...

" "It turns out that civilization, if you can call them that, stopped a few years ago at the level of computers and first space travel.

" "Wait a minute. If we have all this information, why the hell are we stuck orbiting X27BZ73S instead of returning home?

" "Because X27BZ73S is different from the books described on the planet.

" "And..." Kennet didn't understand.

"And the fact that the latest information stated that the ruler of the largest zone, called the United States, had conducted a nuclear test." As a result, life ceased to exist on the planet. In any form. Those plants you mentioned in your report, Major, are fossils. Remnants of rock, more precisely, carved by the wind.

"If the forecasts are to be believed," the engineer continued, "the planet can be colonized, but only in selected climate zones.

" "Does that mean that X27BZ73S doesn't have a stable climate?" Kennet asked incredulously. On their home planet, there was only one climatic season; it rained every other day, and the temperature was around 3 degrees.

"Here, on X27BZ73S, we distinguish two climatic seasons: the Hot and the Cold. In the Hot zone, which analogously follows the Cold zone, X27BZ73S came to life. The temperature rose to between 1 and 5 degrees, depending on the part of the globe. There were even zones where the temperature remained below 0 degrees throughout the entire Hot zone. And in the cold zone, it dropped to minus 5 degrees!

"Damn!" the Major cursed under his breath. "We're waiting for the expedition group to arrive and we'll decide what to do next.

"

Relins listened obediently to the reprimand from the Scout's commander. Insubordination, the theft of the shuttle, disregard for his commander... But Kennet decided to leave Relins in his current position.

Palaneta

X27BZ73S, the Major thought. So close to ours, yet so far away... Such possibilities... Ah! If it weren't for the conflicts between the rulers, the Race would have gained new slaves, and he, Major Kennet, might have become the full commander of the research squadron! And now... Barren soil, contamination that threatens all who don't don protective suits.

And this strange news from the medical laboratory... Captain Relins, something strange is happening to him. And to the members of his last five expeditions. Twenty-seven people are sick. From a disease they, the neurosurgeons, are unfamiliar with. "The strangest thing is," one of the neurosurgeons wrote in one of his reports on the patients' health, "that no traces of viruses or foreign bacteria were found in Captain Relins's body, nor in the bodies of other researchers."

The matter was clarified a few days later, when the first three people died, including Captain Relins. The researchers admitted to traveling on X27BZ73S without protective suits. Only the biochemists and he, Major Kennet, knew about the contamination. And now he was paying for not warning his incompetent deputy.

"

Major, one of the historians of the second rank has discovered something.

" "Bring him to my cabin."

After a long moment, a short, graying man entered the cabin. Kennet greeted him with silence.

"Major, I've reviewed the Race's old conquests and discovered that this isn't the first time the Race has been in this region. Not far from this solar system lies an 'aspirator,' a black hole. The ship Postiraes thoroughly explored this region thirty years ago. I found reports on the aliens, their way of life, and the development of their civilization. They were at the Stone Age level back then.

" "Impossible!" Kennet exclaimed indignantly. "It's impossible for the aliens to have developed at such a terrifyingly rapid pace." "And what happened to the Postiraes?"

"They fell into the 'aspirator.' But before that, they sent a final communication. That's how the Race has their reports.

" "Thank you, historian. You may leave.

" "Major, if I may, I'd like to add one more comment.

" "I'm listening."

"The commander of the Postiraes wrote in his report that the planet was ripe for conquest, but that would take several years. And now we've arrived, and it turns out death lurks there. Perhaps we should send a report to the Council asking what we should do?

" "Good point." The historian left, and Kennet began writing his report. Three days

later

, twenty-four of Relins's explorers were also dead. Five more showed symptoms of the disease. A Breed lander drifted

into

the substarport. The lander was old, worn, and neglected. The harbormaster promised himself that, regardless of rank, the officer would scold him for the way he was taking care of his ship. But to his utter surprise, the ship was identified as Major Kennet's "Scout."

The repair and mooring crew sent to guide the ship to the appropriate dock returned faster than expected.

"Captain, there's some kind of plague out there!

" "What are you talking about, Rusdia?

" "Really?" We brought this from the ship. – He held out the holodisk.

When the Council played the holodisk, Major Kennet appeared before their eyes. His normally green skin was now covered in pinkish-green welts. The Major didn't look his best. A few days ago, the Council received Kennet's report asking what to do, but the answer hadn't been decided yet, until suddenly the "Scout" appeared.

Major Kennet's hologram informed them that he and his crew had perished, killed by Captain Relins's incompetence, and that X27BZ73S had brought death, despite the planet being devoid of life.

After the council meeting, one of the Elders approached the Race Emperor.

"Emperor, I inform you that the "Scout" has returned from its expedition.

" "And what?

" "As expected. Everyone is dead.

" "Excellent.

" "Should we destroy X27BZ73S?

" "No, why? Do you think we have few traitors among the Race?" The Emperor was silent for a moment, then added. "Remind me to commend you for the idea of ​​turning X27BZ73S into a death planet.

" Yes, that was true. There were a lot of them. Most often, they came from distant Race colonies. And X27BZ73S was perfect for eliminating traitors. If the planet itself doesn't kill them, there's a black hole not far away... And that will definitely kill them!"