The Echoes Inside

Surface scans reveal the planet to be covered in desiccated flatlands - large areas covered in fine, dusty sediment. Analysis shows that the sediment traces are all that is left of extensive tracts of vegetation that must have died and dried out with unnatural speed.

Furthermore, many of the dry patches have crumbled to reveal a vast cave system just beneath the surface. This surveying trip just turned into a spelunking expedition!

Using sonar mapping to plot out the vast subterranean network, it eventually became evident that all the caves are interconnected. We have uncovered a massive web of tunnels that criss-crosses the entire surface of this world.

There have been two additional discoveries of notable importance. The first is that the tunnel system is not a natural formation, but rather has been excavated by some titanic force. The second discovery is even more alarming: seismographic readings prove that something is still burrowing down there.

A single, worm-like creature of gargantuan proportions is responsible for the tunnels dug - or rather eaten - through the crust of …. The process is slowing down, most likely because the giant worm is slowly starving. It is responsible for the dead vegetation: once it fed by burrowing close to the surface and excreting an enzyme that broke down organic matter, which seeped into the soil to nourish the beast.

The worm is not indigenous to …, and as yet we have no clue how it ended up on the planet.

Further scans of the planet's surface picked up a single artificial structure. It appears to be an old, abandoned science outpost of alien design, and it stands alone in a desert of dust and ash.

Speculatively translated research logs speak of a biological terror weapon, one that lies dormant in the soil of a planet until activated. It then begins to consume the whole ecosystem with devastating speed. The unfortunate beings living there see their once-verdant home turned inexorably into a lifeless desolation. One excerpt is particularly ominous: ... the larva seeding project is on schedule, and soon most of the known habitable planets in the galaxy will have a 'sleeper'.