The Cloaks of Deception

All he cared to remember was "M" meant that the atmosphere was favorable to humans. He also knew that any planet with that many numbers in its title has only been investigated by probes and not humans.

The old man on Jaynovian-10 who sold him these coordinates guaranteed a good find. The old man had worked for the Intergalactic Space Exploratory Commission and before being forced to retire had copied names and coordinates for several promising planets. The old man didn’t want to explore – he merely wanted to sell the names and locations to explorers willing to pay a price and keep their mouths shut. After buying the info, Larden plugged his datapad into the Treasure Hunter’s central computer and reviewed the information. It looked authentic and even more importantly promising. If it hadn’t, Larden would have tracked the old man down and gotten his money back, by force if necessary. Living alone in the deepest reaches of the galaxy makes one rely only on one’s self. Larden had no qualms about killing. He had done it before and would again if necessary.

Larden prepared his ship for re-entry to realspace and buckled himself in. Upon re-entry Larden turned on his scanners for any other ships, friendly or hostile. Pirates were not wholly unknown along major trading routes. However, the odds of anyone else being this deep into space were unlikely. The scan was negative.

He then plotted his course for the planet known as 374-MQ5-36-9 and angled his ship in that direction. Next he turned on the TNQ-550 surface scanner. As the scanner warmed up he reminded himself to run a full spectrum scan. The old man intoned that treasures here may be not as plain to the eye as on other planets. Larden wasn’t exactly sure what the man meant, not that he really cared. If there were any treasure of value he would find it.

As Treasure Hunter settled into her orbit the scanner began its work. The planet’s atmosphere was not unlike Earth except the oxygen was a bit thinner. The land appeared to be more barren with less large bodies of water to be seen from above. Suddenly, Larden’s attention was drawn to the scanner’s display screen. Hundreds of blips appeared across the surface, looking like fireflies hovering above Gualadian Fields in the spring. The TNQ-550 said that the composition was a "Carbon crystalline formations – probability – 85%". Larden had to read this conclusion more than once. "Eighty-five percent?" Larden was ecstatic. Crystallized carbon meant diamonds were a high probability. The scanner also located several probable volcanoes. Were the tales of a diamond-encrusted planet true? Some of these patches of glares seems to be moving, others stationary. "It doesn’t matter," Larden said aloud. "This could be what I’ve dreamed for."

Further scans showed that these glares, diamond or not produced an inordinate amount of reflection from the weak sunshine the planet received. Maybe the planet produced patches of diamonds to keep itself warm. Larden had seen stranger things in his day. He decided to plot a course for landing. Not directly on one of the fields of glares, but close enough to investigate.

Larden landed Treasure Hunter in a clearing one kilometer south of a particularly large field of the glares and prepared to disembark. He always felt a moment of pained exhilaration when stepping onto a new and uncharted planet.