Peculiar Patterns

The mysterious patterns observed across …'s surface are trails made by huge automated harvesters that gather their crops by shredding the lush greenery. Our scientists speculate that the entire world once served as the breadbasket of a powerful space-borne nation.

The rich soil and advantageous climate make … perfect for agriculture and a scan of the planet's flora indicates that every single plant on it is edible. The worn-down state of the harvesters and droves of rotting vegetable flesh suggest it has been years since anyone last collected its yield.

The sinuous patterns swirling across …'s surface are gone and so, as if through magic, is the lush vegetation that formerly covered the planet. Not a single leaf, straw or flower remains. But our scientists think they may have pieced together the puzzle.

The ample presence of droppings and carcasses of arthropoids have led them to believe that the planet briefly played host to a swarm of ravenous spaceborne insects that passes from world to world stripping entire planets of food.

The oceans of … are almost completely covered in a fine network of algae that move in symmetrical patterns, independently of the water's shifting currents. The intricacy and regularity of its motion suggest the algae have been programmed with purpose beyond that of survival.

Science Officer … speculates that the network may in fact be a primitive wetware computer and the movement patterns its interface. Regrettably we have no means of decoding the patterns at this time.