When we first discovered this duplicate Earth – before we returned to the Devron Anomaly and time changed – this planet was completely abandoned -- presumably in the 1960s. At that time, an unknown disease had wiped out the entire population, leaving the ruins of civilization all across the globe. When we explored the planet in person, we found the overgrown crumbling cities, we investigated what was left of the infrastructure buried by centuries of nature, and we saw clear evidence of a disturbing end to the humanity that once lived here.
Today, as we scanned the planet’s surface from orbit, we were unable to locate those same ruins. They no longer appear to exist. The cities are gone; the crumbling monuments have vanished, and we, once again, find ourselves dumbfounded by the very nature and existence of this strange planet. This Earth 2 is not the same Earth 2 we explored a year ago (in our native past). Our current scans do not match the planet we originally discovered.
We did, however, identify a number of localized standing structures – possibly belonging to small communities – in various locations, on multiple continents, all across this Earth 2. Our sensor technology cannot identify individual life forms from orbit, so we are unable to unable to determine if there is habitation, or if those structures were recently abandoned. Orbital photography indicates that the structures appear to be of varying architecture, in various locations, so there may be a variety of cultures in play. We did not capture any images of Human life, and there are no communication signals emanating from any of these communities.
Tomorrow, we will be sending Marine teams down to the surface to recon some of these communities, as well as secure landing zones for our personnel and equipment. Our soldiers will be the first contact we have with anyone who may be living down there.
We came to this planet to continue studying the past, but it appears as though we may need to consider this a first contact situation instead.
-Lieutenant Sam Archer
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November 19, 2367 -- (Devron Timeline w/ Temporal War Reset)