The planet below was a planet of death. The blood reds and deep purples of it's atmosphere obscured its surface. Throughout the clouds lightning pulsed periodically, like the dying heart of a great beast. Near its equator some clouds had parted, but they revealed only patches of shadow and raging fire. In high orbit, the travelers felt the pain and sorrow of this dead world. However, the planet's death had not been one of natural causes, but one due to the inhabitants themselves. This the travelers knew for certain, as they had seen many worlds like this one. Two of them boarded a small craft and departed to the forsaken world below.
Black dust billowed as the transport came to rest on the lifeless earth. The engines shut off, and soon the ash settled silently around the ship. The doors opened, and as the pair of travelers descended to the surface, they turned their eyes briefly to the sky. Monoliths of raging storm encircled them, though they were miles away. Above them was a dark blue void dotted with the faintest pinpricks of starts.
As they looked forward again, they found what they were looking for. A towering city, corroded and ravaged by winds, stood ahead of them. The buildings were spear points cutting into the sky above, and Their mirrored sides were painted by the distant purple winds and silver lightning. They no longer served as shelter for their builders, but stood solemnly, waiting for their inevitable collapse.
After a short walk, the travellers reached the city. As they passed by the cyclopean structures, they observed their cracked and distorted reflections in the glass. They saw mechanical relics strewn across the path, only skeletons now, after years of wind and burning rain. Soon they came into a large open area, and in the center was a structure very different from the rest. It was rectangular in shape, and its flat, matte grey walls were devoid of any windows, patterns, or markings, save the vague outline of an entry point. It was many times taller than the travelers but was shorter than the surrounding buildings. As they approached it, they saw the entrance was sealed with a large blast door, but this did not deter the travelers. They spied a small terminal to the side of it, and the taller of the pair produced a device from its belt pouch. It held it to the terminal, and after a few moments, a light on the center of the terminal lit up green, and then died. The travelers stood motionless for a moment, and then stepped back as the door began to slide slowly to the side. It revealed an entranceway, at the far side of which was a less robust door, opening and revealing a hallway into darkness.
The travelers flicked on their lights and entered the structure. The walls, floor, and ceiling of the hallway where all of grey metal, without any defining features. The opening of the door had let gusts of wind in, now which caused billions of dust motes to dance in the beams of the travelers' flashlights. At the fringes of the light, another door came into view. As the travelers came upon it, one of them retrieved again the unlocking device and held it close to the nearby control panel. As the door retracted and the next chamber came into full view, the travelers stopped. The door opened onto a small platform with a large computer terminal on it. Beyond it was a single gargantuan pillar which stretched down with the room seemingly to infinity. It was nearly the diameter of the entire building and came close to the walls of the chamber. Spaced evenly across the entire surface of the pillar were spherical, blue, glowing objects, each larger than the travelers themselves. The platform that the travelers stood on had a walkway which reached just short of the nearest side of the pillar. As they proceeded out onto it, details came into view. Attached to each object were many hoses and cables, and in other places there were small blinking lights. But as the travelers came to the edge of the railing, another detail became clear, a viewing window. And something could be seen inside. Some disgusting, pale, smooth skinned creature. It was penetrated with wires and hoses like a terrible experiment. The shorter of the pair looked away, while the other moved closer and placed it's four-fingered hand on the glass, staring at the creature, who's eyes darted back and forth behind pale eyelids.