Distant aunt Mazia talked over the communications array, complaining about the constant werring vibration she could feel going on in the ground beneath, and that no one could pin point where exactly it was coming from. There were a couple more communications from her about it and then nothing! All contact had been lost, but not just with her, everybody from Hetrea. After many more futile attempts at communication, deep concern had now arisen at Hetrea's sister colony. A council was summoned to ascertain the fate of their distant cousins on Hetrea. It had been determined that the ship Asa and her grew of scientists depart at once for Hetrea.

Mean while Astro scientists continually looked through their telescopes but couldn't make out through the haze where the planet had once been. Some terrible catasphere had occured, but no one could fathom what. The large orb like ship Asa set off for Hetrea with her crew. Sublight space distorted around her wake fields as she went, the light of the stars buckled and shimmered around her.
When the team had arrived this is what they found and the account of two university survivors.

The lead scientist and navigators couldn't make out anything through the thick clouds of hazy dust and debri where Hetrea once orbited. They said something was there gravitationally according to the readings but it was no longer consistent with the planet they knew. The thick haze only registered two large gravitational bodies where there used to only be one. The chief navigator said she couldn't be sure if she could navigate the ship through the clouds to land Asa.

Sensors indicated large meteor like bodies were floating in what appeared to be a large electro static cloud of debri, some of the objects as large as hills and even mountains. "We would be flying down to the surface of Hetrea blind, and we don't know what's down there to greet this ship when we try to land" she said. A decision had to be made, the ship began its descent into the hazy storm ahead. The readings from the ships sensors didn't make any sense the scientist who glared at their readings dumbfounded. Was the surface now either solid or liquid. Either way they had to ascertained what was now the fate of Hetrea and her people.

The ship was heavily damaged on re-entry, taking battery from heavy debri, when she neared something seemed to be the ground, again she was being bombarded from falling debri from the shy. She was a tough science ship, but she wasn't made to navigate hell, which was what Hetrea had appeared to become. The navigator tried to find the ancient city of Mu with it's half mile high towers and levitating platforms. The great city of many ancient wise ones and scholars all with their families in their millions. Asa flew over a flattened rock beach where the city should have been, they couldn't find the city, it just wasn't there anymore. According to the scans in the haze it was as though some giant had scoped up the whole city with the land around it, violently shook it all about, flipped it all up side down and threw it back on the ground.

Asa and her grew could do nothing more but to continue the search, there were no survivors. The constant banging on the ships hull from falling meteorite was already fraying nerves, and the whole atmosphere aboard was of one of horror. The captain of the ship changed course to a new heading, a massive heat signature on the western horizon. As the ship approached, the horror worsened. The ship and her grew scrambled in vain for any indications of life, some communication from below, a structure left standing , anything. It was as though everything had been utterly pulverised. The constant violent Earth quakes below made it impossible for Asa to land.

6 hours flight time and Asa now hovered over an intensely white hot sea of molten lava, stretching as far as the eye could see, the sensors struggled to detect its edge. The planet was heamorraging molten lava, it had bleed out into space. The crew looked on at the scene of pure fiery hell before them. Meteorites fell from reddened ashy skies exploding a vast fiery sea below, lighting storms roared in every direction whilst pyraclastic tornadoes swirled about the waves of molten sea. Everyone on board Asa was shocked into utter silence and disbelief. Millions had once lived here, and now every one of them had perished in this catasphoic event.

The on board scientists had determined that significant amounts of the planets inner molten crust was now this massive molten lake they saw before them, Hetrea was bleeding from the inside out. "What has happened here" the captain demanded, the chief scientist stammered coming forward, "Our readings suggest what ever caused this terrible event has shrunk Hetrea by about one quarter, the crust of Hetrea has been shattered. We don't know where that mass has gone, we think the rest of that one quarter is floating in that electro static cloud we just passed through". "What" the response of an angered captain "what in the heavens could cause that?" "We don't know" responded the glazed eyed scientist. Asa could not land here for sure.

After some days collecting data, Asa changed course again for the last time, to a point furthest from the blast zone to see if any survivors could be found. This was a day journeys over painful sites of what had once been thriving cities and towns, now either turned to rock deserts or simply replaced with oceans. It rained continually slowing Asa's flight capabilities significantly, she was an orb like ship and ill equiped for these extremes. Hurricane winds never before experienced on Hetrea tugged and pulled at the craft, Hetrea had suddenly become a strange new violent world.
"Come and see this" one of the scientist shouted, through one of the viewing screens.

A giant angry orb could be seen terriffyingly blocking out huge potions of the sky, it was red and swallon and pulsed as it spone on its axis, cracked and glistening red, bubbling all over. "Oh great lord Zanu! Great mother of Tani!" people gasped on deck at this maleviolent site, and others rushed from behind to see what was now before them, "settle down people, we have a job to do, back to your stations" said the captain, but even the captain strong in stature trepidated in his voice, this was truly a sight of terror, awe and wonder.

They had finally found the point furthest from Hetrea and here some semblance of ruins like buildings. Bewildered people crambled through the wreckage searching for survivors and buried loved ones. Asa set down.

A survivors account

The Asa crew sort in vain to find any officials or scientist to ascertain the events on the ground leading up to the catasphohic event. Mostly they were only citizens, as what few officials there were had died. Eventually two female student scientist from the local university had been found wondering through the ruins. In their account of the events they said. Most of the students where at university when the event occured and died in the rumble. They only survived because they were on field studies that day and weren't in the vacinity of any buildings.

“Oh great mother, what has happened to thee, the ground suffenly shook violently, we were on a boat when we were suddenly tossed off it and thrown high in either direction into the lake. That's what saved us. The water rose all around us like a great wall, as though a child has tossed the whole lake into the air from a bowl. When we had climbed out, everything everywhere was gone, flattened. All we could hear was great mother Hetrea screaming and groaning in terrible pain, the ground shook violently for many days and nights. Then came the rain of rocks from the sky and slowly the sky started to blacked with ash. Nights became freezing, and the air heavy to breath. We sheltered where we could, but could find no officials to tell us of what happened.

She said there had been some kind of despute amongst the science council and that it had been split. Had the council of scientists turned their back on us, coming to blows and declared war on us all, on each other? We returned to the university, but nothing remained, and therefore couldn't find any communication device to contact any of the other towns. We could hear reverberations going backwards and forwards beneath our feet, in Hetrea herself.

Before what befell us, I think one of the chiefs of news said one of the scientist had fallen out with the others, they said his ambitions were suiting his own vanity and that it would lead to the eventual destruction of us all. The council cast him out, they said he had become angry and vengeful because he could not maketh the people to do his will. Non had heard from him for many a sun seasons since, he dissappeared and so forgotten. Do you think he brought this upon us?