The Second Visit

The sun burned bright and hot against the black vastness of space as a small, pill-shaped spacecraft appeared against its glare. You would need to know what to look for to notice it. Its navigation systems were already locked onto the third planet—the only habitable world in the system.As they drew closer, the ship began searching for the planet’s information network. On their last visit, there had been nothing to connect to, so they had to land. This time, Sol-3 was broadcasting constantly.“Is it just me, or has this Sol gotten hotter?” signaled Maal.There was no way he could possibly know that without checking the historical records, of course, but Maal made the same joke in every system they visited. Small talk transcended space and time.It was a routine check on developing species across the galaxy. Maal and Roche had been assigned to assess how far the inhabitants of Sol-3 had progressed.“Focus, Maal,” said Roche. “Let’s check the criteria and be done with it. We can do the…