MORE THAN AN ECHO (Sequel to Second Coming)
Prologue

Ages ago near the third planet of an insignificant star, a duo of ancient probes approached the blue world. The crafts were automatons. Both were programmed long ago to search out certain types of environments. This planet matched the parameters of their search. The probes entered the atmosphere.

After scanning the continents, skies and oceans, the crafts responded to receiving an adequate reading. This world would receive the marker. Having moved to a much lower orbit, each probe opened its portals and released the microscopic seeds. For several orbits, the crafts shared their gift. The scanning of the planet continued as the visitors completed their sacred duties.

This world was rich in resources. Life abounded everywhere. The planet hosted burial grounds to mighty creatures which roamed the continents and had long since been forgotten by the flow of time’s stream.

Small land mammals and some ocean creatures displayed promising features which the marker might compliment. Only the great trek of time would reveal.

The probes moved on leaving the planet, their task completed. Scans were directed beyond the outer layers of this star system. They searched for more fertile worlds. As the duo moved away from the blue planet they slipped into pulse drive velocity and soon appeared to be nothing more than faint points of light moving through the starry sky.

Now many ages later, a small craft from that third planet of an insignificant star enters the final system of its long journey. Though the starship is traveling at tremendous speeds, to a distant observer it appears to slowly drift, rotating towards its programmed destination.

The other vessel had reached the coordinates earlier and has been scanning the smaller craft as it approaches. The incoming vessel is sound and secure. All technological systems are functioning properly. The biological units are in stasis, as expected.