"You can now remove your helmet; according to the instruments, the atmosphere is completely compatible with the human body," Eva heard the mechanical voice of her Central AI.

"Alright, do you see any movement from above?" Eva asked, marveling at the massive, perfectly shaped orange cube before her.

"Nothing, and when the robots collected samples, they didn't detect any life forms other than plants," came the confirmation. "I sense uncertainty in your voice. What are you feeling?"

Eva couldn't bring herself to move. Although she had often seen the strange, colorful, and symmetrical cubes from the spacecraft, she didn't expect them to be so mesmerizing up close.

"I think it's just the sight making me uncertain; the colors are so vivid... right, I'm taking off!" The air was average, nothing strange.

"Describe every human sensation you feel and how the place affects you."

"I hear something. Are you sure it's completely silent here?"

"The instruments detect nothing. Can you determine where it's coming from?"

Eva listened and started walking in the direction of the sound. "Yes, it's this way, and it sounds like a song, but I can only hear it faintly... ahh, I know this..."

"There are no sound effects around you."

"So I'm hallucinating. Oh, great," Eva said, but she continued curiously toward the sound. "It's a song by Depeche Mode, Freelove.'"

"What emotions does this song evoke in you?"

"Are you analyzing my brain?"

"Yes, that's why we're here. According to the instruments, we've found a completely habitable planet, just like Earth, except for the cubes. Now we need to analyze the human factor."

"Well, this song reminds me of a boy."

"So, a pleasant memory?"

"Not exactly, because if I remember correctly, this song played when he broke up with me. There was an antique jukebox there, and it was as if someone had set it to play on a loop. It became annoying by the end. The boy's name was Donald..." Meanwhile, she reached the cube from which she believed the sound was coming.

"Donald? That's strange. When you started descending, did you think about this boy or a duck?"

"No, it was just the sound that reminded me. What's strange about it?"

"The cube you're standing in front of, you can't see it from below, but a duck is drawing on top of it."

"Oh... do you think the place connected with my mind, some kind of telepathy?"

"I'm still examining your brain and the cube you're standing in front of, but I don't see any reaction between the two."

"But you don't hear the sound... what if I touch it?" Eva felt an overwhelming urge to stroke the bright, colorful crystalline surface.

"That might not be a good idea," the controller began, but it was too late. As soon as Eva touched the cube, she suddenly disappeared.

Eva found herself face to face with Donald in a bar, passionately talking about the Möbius strip. In a few hours, he would break up with her. But Eva didn't know this yet; she only found the song strange, and the old orange and blue jukebox gave her a sense of déjà vu. Later, this Möbius strip sparked her career in physics and space travel because she wanted to understand what Donald had explained to her back then.

The central AI ran the data repeatedly but found nothing. It waited a few more days, but since there was no sign of Eva, it made the final, irreversible decision to classify the small planet DFGX4573 as completely uninhabitable and particularly dangerous for humans.

//word total: 596