Pale dunes fill the broad basins below the descent route. Farther east, the sand thins over a vast cracked floor, its plates large enough to hold the shelter and its landing apron several times over. The water cooperative has built along the basin’s rim. Pipes run beneath shaded walkways to a row of measured taps. Each departing vehicle leaves with its tanks marked and its allocation recorded.
One berth has been swept but not occupied. The attendant checks the arrival slate, looks across the basin, and checks it again. A caravan was due before the last change of watch. Its shelter reservation is still pinned above the desk. No cancellation has reached the cooperative, and the crew assigned to unload it have moved their lunch into the shade without putting their tools away.
A driver waiting at the taps offers a recent route recording. It ends at a dune ridge where the surface track disappears beneath blown sand. The attendant sets the recording beside an older map of the cracked basin. Neither shows where the caravan is now. Outside, a worker closes the empty berth’s awning against the rising glare, leaving enough clearance for a vehicle to enter.
Where would you begin looking when the planned route is buried and the alternative crosses the cracked basin?
Actual table rolls interpreted with AI assistance. Prose and artwork reviewed before publication. These discoveries are invitations to play, not fixed setting canon.