The computer logs.

Sergeant Joanna Green sat staring at the computer screen sitting on the desk. The encryption had been fairly rudimentary and it had taken her only a couple of minutes to get into the data files, The colony heads apartment hadn't shown any sign of the struggle the sergeant had witnessed in other buildings and Joanna guessed that the rooms occupant had been elsewhere when the unknown enemy had attacked the fledgling colony. After accessing several files containing progress reports on the colony's construction Joanna found a log titled archeological evaluation and opened it. A digital image of the chief administrator came on the screen. Joanna recognised Dr Lundquist from the briefing data she'd seen en route for the colony aboard the Persephone.

Dr Lundquist was in her mid thirties and was a tall, slim scandanavian with considerable experiance of running field archeology missions. The first few reports repeated what Joanna already had been briefed on. The alien city showed sign of several centuries neglect, but no immediate cause for the site to be abandoned. No remains of the inhabitants had been found in searches of the alien structures. Joanna skipped forward through the reports.

"we're beginning to piece together a more accurate picture of the indiginous culture now." Lundquist was saying. "The civilisation appears to have been very much male dominated, although we believe males made up only around 20 percent of the population. It would appear that each male cohabited with several females and that the number of females each male possessed determined his social rank. I have recorded wall paintings which appear to show conflict with other cities. The main aim of these conflicts seems to be the capture of females."

Pictures of the wall paintings came up on the screen. The aliens looked humanoid, though reptillian with green skin and long tails. The males were usually portrayed sporting huge erect phalluses and were almost twice the size of the females. Though the males were shown wearing armour and other clothing the females were always painted naked. More distubingly many of the pictures showed the females chained or tied. Joanna felt a chill run through her as she saw scenes of bound alien women with huge penises inserted in their mouths, vaginas and even anuses. If the aliens in the wall pictures were the same race as those that attacked the colony, the fate of the missing colonists would be horrific. Joanna skipped forward to the last of Dr Lundquists reports.

"The geological survey team has finished it's analysis of the crater on the southern tip of the continent and confirm the site as being an impact from a meteor. They conclude that the amount of debris thrown up into the atmosphere from the impact would have caused a severe cooling of the planets temperature. The date of the impact coincides with the abandonment of this city and of others we have now located and surveyed. It is probable that in the centuries following the meteor only a thin equatorial strip would have still been habitable. It's possible that a residual population of the aliens may still survive. If so, with temperatures now returning to pre meteor norms these survivors could now recolonise this area."

Joanna shut the computer down and relayed her findings up to the lieutenant.

"Damn the exploration service." The officer swore. "Angel company will have to mount a search and rescue. Conduct a sweep of the area surrounding the colony, that many people moving through the jungle would have to leave a trail. Track down the missing colonists and extract them."