Taking place many years before the First Pass, "The P.E.R.N. Survey" opens with an Exploration and Evaluation team arriving to investigate the third planet in the Rukbat System; their numbers halved by accidents on the four planets investigated prior. After sending probes to assess the planet - and noting an odd pattern of circles on the planet's surface - three of the four surviving team members; Shavva, Ben and Liu - leaving behind Castor; who has a broken leg - travel to the surface to conduct a ten day survey.