A gust of wind swept through, stirring dead leaves and dust from the bushes beside the road and carrying them onto the smooth pavement with a soft rustling sound.
"Cleaning Robot 003 at work. Pedestrians, please keep clear... Cleaning Robot 003 at work. Pedestrians, please keep clear..." The cleaning robot's broadcast sounded at just the right moment, accompanied by the faint hum of an engine.
This was a colony. Nearly all the buildings were made of modular metal units, generally no taller than three stories. A fairly sizable town had taken shape here, with everything one might need. Holographic advertisements still flickered on both sides of the streets, and lights remained on inside many buildings.
Even though it was already noon here.
The sign of a bar, which stated that it operated from local evening until dawn, was still blinking. Its automatic door kept opening and closing, its motor letting out a low whine.
Looking closer, they found that a bar stool commonly used inside had been tossed into the doorway. It was this stool blocking the door that caused it to keep opening and closing.
The automatic door continuously emitted a faint alarm, urging staff to clear the obstruction as soon as possible, but no one paid it any attention.
The streets were completely empty. No speeder vehicles or starships passed through the sky. This was utterly at odds with the usual prosperity and bustle of this mining colony.
A burnt smell wafted out from a restaurant nearby. Communicators, handbags, and even shoes lay scattered across the ground. The broadcast from the cleaning robot that had been preparing to sweep the streets continued to play, but it never went over to clean—the robot had already been destroyed, its entire body reduced to fragments, leaving only its sensor-equipped head still