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• Part 20 - Patrick Van Oosterwijck

  Patrick Van Oosterwijck • 09/01/2016 at 16:56 • 0 comments

  Lee awkwardly brought himself to a halt in front of the door to captain Myles’ quarters. He wondered how long it would be before he would become just the slightest bit more graceful in low gravity. Straightening himself, he took a deep breath and pushed the door chime.

  “Come in”, the answer came through the door. As he entered the quarters, he saw the captain sitting at a small table with two chairs, a data pad in his hands. Lee was surprised to see that the quarters weren’t much larger than his own. His quarters of course were shared by four people, but still. Maybe the military budget wasn’t infinite after all.

  “Ah, Mr. Cossat”, the captain said on seeing him enter. “What news?” He motioned to the chair across the table and Lee sat down.

  “Well, the transmission device is coming along nicely, captain. But that’s not really what I’m here for.”

  “What are you here for, Mr. Cossat?”

  “It’s about Kenta. If you know she’s still alive, why aren’t you sending a rescue party? Who knows what’s happening to her? She might have survived the attack, but she might be dying out there right now for all we know! Long term exposure on the surface of this planet is dangerous.”

  “I know that Mr. Cossat. But Ms. Adams is a highly trained professional who is capable of dealing with situations like this. At the moment...”

  “But captain,” Lee started to interrupt. The captain raised his hand to stop him.

  “Let me finish. At the moment, we cannot send a rescue party. We are dealing with an alien encounter and there are protocols we have to follow. I would prefer to have Ms. Adams up here as well, but my hands are tied. I cannot send a shuttle to the planet under these conditions.”

  Lee let that sink in for a while. “You have protocols for alien encounters? Does this happen a lot?”

  The captain chuckled. “No, it doesn’t happen a lot. To my knowledge, this is the first time that a military ship has run into this situation, and I actually had to review the regulations to bring myself up to speed with these protocols again. They were established after the artifacts were discovered on Procyon III, but as far as I know, this is the first time they’re being implemented.”

  “So if these protocols are untested, wouldn’t it make sense for you to have some leeway and be able to use your own judgment, since you’re the one actually dealing with the situation?”

  “They do allow me some leeway. But very smart people came up with them and I don’t intend to go breaking them if I don’t have a very good reason to do so.”

  “Kenta’s situation isn’t a good enough reason?” Lee countered.

  The captain made a face. “I don’t know Kenta’s situation, and that’s part of the problem.” He sighed and looked down at his pad. “Here’s another part of the problem.” He turned the pad around so Lee could look at it. It showed a fuzzy image but he couldn’t really tell what he was looking at. “What is it?” he asked.

  “The alien vessel had been steady in its established behavior of sending bursts of coherent light toward the planet. Then half an hour ago, the light bursts increased in intensity and became more focused, and it kept going steady for about 10 minutes. During that time, we noticed this happening on the planet.” He pointed at the fuzzy picture. “It was as if the vessel was somehow whipping up a very local dust storm.”

  “Extraordinary,” Lee said. “Where was this happening?”

  “Pretty much right on top of Hab-4,” the captain replied. “A very small area too, definitely smaller than a square kilometer.”

  The captain continued. “Now if I was Kenta, I would have headed toward Hab-4 after the attack on Hab-3, since it would be the closest source of supplies. I don’t know if she was there or not when...

  Read more »

• Part 19 - shlonkin

  shlonkin • 08/26/2016 at 13:33 • 0 comments

  It was getting dark when Kenta's transport reached the outlying buildings of Hab-4. They were only hazardous materials storage and power facilities, but they were a beacon of hope to Kenta. She drove on, slumped over the steering wheel breathing shallowly. She felt so weary. It took all of her strength just to control the transport, but the sight of something other than drab dust perked her up. She followed the line of markers leading to the central habitation area where all the supplies she would need were waiting.

  The wheels skidded to a stop just centimeters from one of the short buildings. Kenta fell back in her seat. "Oops." she whispered, shutting down the vehicle. She looked over toward the building's entrance and sat gazing at the dimly lit sign next to the door. This storage should be filled with water, food and medical supplies, yet she couldn't seem to pull her tired muscles up out of the seat. She tried to focus, but managed little more than to raise her arm and reach helplessly toward her goal. Her frustration turned to anger, fear, desperation. Her mouth opened to shout, but only a rasping breath came from her parched, numb throat.

  She slowly swung her head in despair and felt her body sway side to side. She shook harder, rocking herself back and forth. With one final effort she managed to swing her body out the side of the transport and tumbled head first onto the forgiving sand.

  When she opened her eyes Kenta was laying on the floor of the storage building. Toppled containers and pouches covered the floor around her. Several hydration pouches were emptied or leaking their vitamin laced electrolye into a puddle on the floor. She had no memory of crawling across the sand or operating the door controls. She stared up at the lights on the ceiling and wondered at the intensity of her will to survive. The attack on Hab-3 seemed like a distant memory and she wasn't sure how many days it had been since then. Gradually her thoughts came together and she started to evaluate her position. She was still weak, sore and painfully hungry, but her mind was clear and she was regaining control over her body.

  Kenta rolled over onto her hands and knees and gazed around at the containers. One of the toppled boxes was labeled "dehydrated nutrient packs" followed by a list of nutritional information and ingredients. These were the food blocks she had been consuming daily for years, but never had anything seemed so delicious as she tore off the thin plastic wrap and stuffed one into her mouth. She scooped up a half empty drink pouch from the floor and squirted the contents into her open mouth. The food immediately softened and took on the familiar, slightly chewy texture. She ate another, then a third in the same manner. Strength slowly returned to her limbs while she sat on the floor, back propped against a stack of containers, sipping her drink.

  "What now?" she spoke aloud. Her momentary relief was interrupted by the memory of what had happened and her urgent need for a plan of action.

• Part 18 - shlonkin

  shlonkin • 08/09/2016 at 14:08 • 0 comments

  The old hauler stood dark and silent, its landing struts completely buried from years of dust storms. It was an autonomous craft that was not designed with life support in mind. Before any of the terraforming research crew came to Alderamin IV it arrived filled with equipment, vehicles, food and water. Now it was a huge, cavernous shell upon which all of Kenta's hope for survival rested. But those threads of hope were growing thin as her search for drinkable water turned up nothing.

  "Damn this stagnant beast!" Kenta shouted, slamming her fist against the central control console. She started giggling at her own words. The dehydration was becoming severe enough that she noticed her behavior getting strange. She stopped and tried to pull her thoughts together to reevaluate her options, but it was hard to concentrate. At times she just blanked out for a moment and had to start the whole train of thought over from the beginning.

  "I'm alone. I need water. Hab-4 is 15 clicks, too far. There's no water here... I'm tired." She muttered to herself. Then something awoke deep inside Kenta. A survival instinct. Something from her training that seemed so long ago. It welled up inside her and she grasped at the feeling, pushing all other thoughts from her mind.

  "Positive space. What you have, not what you lack. What you can do, not what you can't." she recited, her voice growing louder. "I'm alive. I have the hauler." She looked down at the small pile of supplies gathered at her feet. "I have a scanner. Hab-4 is..." She closed her eyes tight and shook her head. "I'm wasting time here. I need to go now." She knew it was a hopeless venture, walking the 15 clicks to Hab-4 in her condition. She would not survive the trip. But she knew she was no more likely to survive standing still and if she were going to die on this desolate planet at least she would go out fighting. Mustering what determination she could she scooped up the scanner, utility knife, light and face mask and turned toward the hatch. She stopped for a moment and a slight grin crept onto her face. She turned back to the console and punched in the command to open the main cargo doors. "Might as well go out the big door."

  Kenta walked into the massive cargo hold, squinting in the bright light that shone in the huge open doors. But she stopped suddenly a few steps into the room. Her eyes grew wide. In the far corner of the hold, just inside the open doors sat a light transport vehicle. She started walking, then running toward the wheeled vehicle, designed for transporting cargo to the nearby habitats. She felt giddy and laughed as she swung herself into the driver's seat and flicked the startup switches. The instruments lit up and Kenta's eyes searched frantically for the battery gauge. There it was, 64% charge. She threw her head back and shouted into the empty cargo hold, tears welling up in her eyes. Laughing, she chastised herself for wasting moisture like that.

  The transport rolled down the loading ramp onto the soft ground and set off to the North-East. It would still take hours to get to Hab-4 and the thought of what she would do once she got there hadn't even entered her mind, but now there was hope. Kenta clung to that hope with fierce determination.

• Part 17 - Patrick Van Oosterwijck

  Patrick Van Oosterwijck • 08/04/2016 at 17:49 • 0 comments

  Several hours had passed and Lee's idea was starting to take shape. With some assistance from Jim, he had been working on converting a laser welder into something that could produce computer controlled pulses of diffused coherent light, in hopes they could attempt communication with the alien vessel.

  Just minutes ago, captain Myles had entered engineering and since then he had been talking in low tones with Daynes, sneaking glances toward Lee several times during the conversation. Now he was walking up to where Lee and Jim were working.

  "Good morning, gents", he said. "Captain," Lee responded, as he awkwardly attempted a military salute. He noticed Jim next to him belatedly trying to do the same thing. Myles chuckled. "I know you guys are wearing military outfits and I pulled you onto a military ship, but I understand you have had no military training whatsoever. So civilian courtesy will do just fine," he said. Lee smiled. "Thanks captain, I do believe that will make things easier."

  "So, Daynes has filled me in on what you two are working on here. Do you think it's a good idea to draw that thing's attention? Up to now it has completely ignored the Hammer and Pleiades Station, and I consider that to be a good thing. It has assumed a high orbit around the planet and keeps sending out those bursts of coherent light at regular intervals."

  "Does it seem to be aiming that light in any particular direction?" Lee asked.

  "Indeed it does. It keeps the side that is producing the light bursts directed toward the planet."

  "Interesting," Lee muttered. "That does make it seem like its presence here is related to the planet, not us." He thought for a moment, then continued. "I don't know if drawing its attention is a good idea or not, sir. That's up to you to decide. But I thought having the ability to send a signal might be useful, if you decide at some point that it is prudent to do so."

  "Agreed," the captain nodded. He stood for a while in silence. Then he looked up, as if he had made up his mind.

  "I thought I'd fill you two in on the situation on the surface," he said to them. "Hab-3 is destroyed beyond repair. There's no doubt that it was a willful act. We found traces of military explosives and most of the casualties died of bullet wounds. We don't know who is responsible for the attack though. They were very thorough in leaving no identifiable traces."

  Lee let that sink in for a while. He kept thinking about the conversation he'd had with Jim. "Do you think FWC is responsible, sir?" he finally asked.

  The captain let out a sigh. "I don't know, Mr. Cossat. Like I said before, we suspect there's something going on with them, but we don't know what and have very little evidence against them. It could just as well have been a competitor."

  Lee looked down and swallowed hard. Not meeting the captain's gaze, he asked "How many bodies were recovered, sir?"

  "Sixteen."

  He looked up sharply.

  The captain smiled. "The only person not accounted for is Kenta Adams." He saw relief wash across Lee's face. "I'm glad about it as well," he added.

  Now the relief on Lee's face gave way to confusion. "You know Kenta, sir?"

  "Of course I do," the captain answered, a mischievous grin creeping onto his face. "I'm the one who sent her."
  

• Part 16 - shlonkin

  shlonkin • 07/29/2016 at 15:53 • 0 comments

  A loud alarm pulled Lee from his much needed slumber. He sat up instantly, adrenaline pulling his reluctant muscles off the thin bunk. His eyes darted between the three others who shared the sleeping quarters while his mind shook off the haze of sleep. Two of them were already up and pulling on their light environment suits, simplified space suits that would keep them alive in the case of a hull breach, but weren't designed for long term space exposure. Taking the cue Lee slipped his feet into the legs of his own suit and, trying to mimic the actions of his clearly more experienced roommates, pulled on the rest of the suit. It was snug, but light and didn't restrict movement much. The helmet was folded up behind his head and its activation tab hung off his chest. A strong tug on the tab would release the spring loaded mechanism and the helm would shoot up over his head and snap into place in an instant.

  "Get up, Jim." he called to the bunk above his where the other member of the room sat rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

  "What is it?" Jim asked.

  "I don't know." Lee said snapping the thin collar closed around his neck. "But I get the feeling it's not bedtime."

  One of the soldiers stopped on his way out the door and looked back at Lee, thinking for a moment.

  "Uhh, you two should get over to engineering. Someone will give you orders there." he said, then spun around and flung himself down the corridor. Lee noted how he used his hands, grasping the thin rail that ran along each wall, to maneuver and gain momentum rather than depending on the reduced friction of his feet. Lee followed suit, setting off in the opposite direction.

  The chief engineer of the Hammer, a short, serious woman names Daynes, stood mesmerized in front of a large display. Without taking her eyes off the screen she waved Lee over. He walked up next to her and looked at the display for a few seconds.

  "What's that?" Lee asked hesitantly. Finally breaking her eyes away, Daynes gave Lee a bewildered look.

  "Beats me. I've never seen anything like it." she said turning her attention back to the screen. There amidst a jumble of sensor readings and ship status displays was an image of a large object against a starry background, an external view. The object looked like a huge, dark sphere with a wide tube roughly half its diameter protruding from both sides. The figures on the display showed the tube to be roughly 200 meters in diameter. It was big enough for the Hammer to fly through with ease. The surface of the entire object was smooth. The only visible features were a cluster of small protrusions just above the tube.

  "A ship?" Lee guessed.

  "It's big enough to be a small station, but I've never seen a design like that and it won't respond to any of our hails. But the real interesting... There it is!" she said excitedly, pointing at the screen. For about a second one of the protrusions flickered with a bright red light.

  "That's what the alarm was for. That's coherent light. Like a laser. But it's diffuse and not very intense." Daynes stared blankly at the display, deep in thought. "I think it's some kind of signal. It flickers on and off in repeating patterns about once a minute, but they don't have any structure I can recognize and they're too short to contain much information."

  It was Lee's turn to sink into thought. The two of them stared silently at the display while the rest of the ship's crew hurriedly prepared for emergency procedures.

  "Coherent light." Lee muttered to himself. "Diffuse, coherent light." He suddenly looked over at Daynes.

  "Optical frequency signal?" Lee said. "Does this ship have an optical frequency comm system?" Daynes eyes grew wide as she turned slowly toward Lee.

  "No." she replied. "I've never seen an optical comm on a ship."

  Lee took a deep breath and a grin crept onto his face.

  "Then I guess we're gonna have to improvise." he said.

• Part 15 - Patrick Van Oosterwijck

  Patrick Van Oosterwijck • 07/26/2016 at 18:00 • 0 comments

  Kenta woke up with a start. Where was she? She was laying on a hard surface. It was dark and she felt horrible. Her lips were dry and she was incredibly thirsty. Then it started to come back. The attack on the habitat. Her escape, running for her life through the dust storm, for hours. Or days? She still didn't know how exactly she had managed to make her way to the old hauler, but she had somehow done it.

  She got up to a crouch and felt her way around. She found her face mask, laying on the floor. The only thing she had been able to bring with her. A good thing too—she would never have made it through the storm without the mask's air filter. Her body ached all over. She noticed the wind blowing outside, but it seemed calmer now. The storm was settling down. Feeling along the bulkhead, she found the lighting control and activated it. A dim glow lit up the hallway, the main hatch to one side. In the other direction, the hallway led into several cramped service compartments that provided maintenance access to the ship's systems.

  “Now what?” she thought. “It's not as if I can survive in here for long.” But first things first. Getting water was top priority. Was there any water in this old bucket that was never intended for human habitation in the first place? When she had come here before, she had always brought what she needed with her. She started checking the cabinets along the wall. No water in sight. Plenty of tools though. And a scanner! An old model, and the power cell was drained. She checked some of the other power tools and found one with a compatible cell. After swapping them, the scanner powered up.

  She started to form a plan. Hab-4 was another 15 clicks north-east of the hauler. There would be years worth of supplies in its stores. She had never been there, but the scanner could help her find it. She'd never make it without water though! She was already dehydrated, the trip would be too much. She slumped against the bulkhead and closed her eyes. “C'mon, not the time to give up now”, she berated herself. “There must be something I can do. But I'm running out of time fast.”

• Part 14 - shlonkin

  shlonkin • 07/17/2016 at 14:53 • 0 comments

  Lee let out a deep sigh and slumped his weary body into a modestly padded chair across from Jim. He had been aboard the Hammer for two days now and they had found plenty of work for him to do. He had just spent four hours crawling through maintenance shafts inspecting and tuning various parts of the ship. It wasn't an unpleasant job. He grinned widely upon gaining full access to the hyperdrive system manual, and had already improved the performance of the planetary analysis sensor array. But it left him little time for asking questions, and his mind was still filled with them.

  "You know, the more I ask about what I'm doing here the less I seem to understand." Lee said staring blankly into the drink pouch in his hand. "But I guess I'm lucky to be here." he looked up at Jim who gave an empathetic nod.

  "They're all gone down there now. Everyone. As far as I know we're the only ones who got off the planet alive." Jim replied solemnly. "It's like they were rounding us up, transferring everyone from the six habs into three and five so they could... wipe us out in two swift strokes."

  "You think the company did it?" Lee questioned.

  "I have no proof. Only theories. I've had quite a while to think about it here. There isn't so much work for a planetary chemist on this ship."

  Lee took a long drink from the pouch and leaned over the table. "Why?" he asked in a low voice. "What could they possibly gain from completely destroying their own operation?"

  "But you see, they didn't completely destroy it." Jim also leaned over the table and matched Lee's tone. "The other four habs are still there. They're unmanned, but they're still functioning, so the company maintains exclusive rights to the whole planet."

  They were interrupted by a loud beep from the food rehydrator signaling that Lee's meal was ready. Lee hesitantly got up to retrieve it.

  "Like I said, the more I ask the less I understand." he said pulling a thin tray from the machine.

  "There's a lot more to Alderamin IV than it seems. Chemically that place is full of mysteries." Jim said getting noticeably excited talking about his field of research. "The atmospheric oxygen levels seem completely stable. And the sand that covers the surface is way too chemically uniform. I mean on a global scale, completely homogeneous."

  Lee scooped some of the formless but surprisingly tasty food into his mouth. "Artificial?" he asked with mouth full.

  "On that scale? Impossible. Even if it were there's still the question of 'Why?'" replied Jim.

  "That seems to be a recurring question here." Lee said scooping up another bite.
  

• Part 13 - Patrick Van Oosterwijck

  Patrick Van Oosterwijck • 07/17/2016 at 05:20 • 0 comments

  Seated in a recliner, inside his office on board the space yacht “FWC Rainmaker”, Bruce Mulligan swept aside the holodisplay in front of him and picked up his glass of wine. Savoring the bouquet for a few seconds, he took a sip, got up and walked to the large window. Outside, the quantum fluctuations of superlight were producing their usual psychedelic light show. A source of fascination to first-time superlight travelers, the fluctuations had long since lost their magic for him. He could activate the window's holoview if he wanted to and conjure up any scenery he wished. But he preferred reality over illusion. He always had. A clear view of reality kept you grounded. It was a main key to success. His success.

  He pondered the reality of the status updates he had just been reviewing. As usual, there was good and bad. Overall, things were going well. His mercenaries had successfully wiped out the last terraforming habitat on Alderamin IV, giving him an excuse to get over there. He had already provided a vid statement to the press, expressing his deep sorrow at the losses and promising to launch a full investigation in person as to what exactly had happened. In less than a week, he'd arrive at the planet. Then he'd be able to launch the real investigation he had been planning ever since his company had submitted its ridiculously low bid for terraforming that hideous ball of dust 4 years ago.

  There was one thing that had fascinated him from the moment he had read the first prospector reports released by the Space Expansion Agency 1 year before that. Here was a planet without any appreciable plant life, virtually no animal life, and yet, it had an atmosphere with enough free oxygen to make it habitable. Sure, there had been early plant life, but most of it had been wiped out by gamma ray bursts billions of years ago. On other planets that at one point had oxygen in their atmosphere such as Mars, the atmospheric oxygen would eventually always oxidize whatever it could find until there was none left. Only plant life, through photosynthesis, was known to be able to release this oxygen back into the atmosphere. So what was doing this on Alderamin IV, when there was hardly any plant life?

  If he could figure that out, he might learn the key to real, serious terraforming. Nothing like the pathetic slow processes that were the current state of the art. It was a gamble, but his gut feeling told him it was well worth the effort to try. It had never failed him yet.

  There were a couple of minor issues and concerns. The mercenaries had reported that all but two of the last habitat's crew had been accounted for. It was a minor concern. They had set off several explosions during the attack and it was not like they had been in a position to carefully search the rubble. It was imperative that they clear out before the local navy presence would get wind of the attack. It had to look like an FWC competitor had been responsible. He had made sure to set up the deal through several intermediaries, but better safe than sorry with anything that could be traced back to FWC. Then there was the air of suspicion toward FWC that his inside man in the navy had reported. He'd have to work on that one. Play the role of victim well.

  Setting down his empty wine glass, he walked to the door of his office. Time to get some rest. It had been a good day.

• Part 12 - Julius (Mr. Seeker)

  Julius (Mr. Seeker) • 07/14/2016 at 09:07 • 0 comments

  A loud alarm started to yell, together with a female voice: "Fire. Fire. This is NOT a drill. This is NOT a drill. Fire. Fire." Kenta ran for her life to get herself dressed. She knew that if she could not get herself dressed soon, her friends would certainly get in trouble. After she finally put on the mask and calmed herself, she began to press buttons on the panel next to her to see what is going on. "You stupid Lee" she muttered, "what did you do?". She looked at the screen, before realizing what was happening. It was not a fire, it was not Lee, but someone who started a massacre.

  The monitor in front of her showed dead bodies, riddled with bullet holes. When she changed her viewpoint, someone could be seen walking. She tried to adjust the camera, before realizing that they were army soldiers. Kenta almost started to vomit. "They are going to kill me too" it spooked in her mind. "And what about Lee? Did he manage to escape?" No time to think. She had to get out, fast. Luckely the airlock was nearby, but it would certainly raise suspicion and certainly raise an alarm. Other plan. The robot... Lets create a distraction. Kenta pressed a couple of buttons, and 2 joysticks protruded out of the wall. "Hope it works" she said to herself.

  The little robot came to life. Designed to mimic human behavior and outfitted with an advanced AI, the robot was capable of doing things that were considered too dangerous for humans. She steered the robot around the lab and out in the hallway. "Come on... Come on..." Kenta did not want to waste any time. Suddenly one of the soldiers came around a corner, weapon drawn at the robot. "Shit", Kenta said. She quickly turned on the AI-part of the robot. "Hello Sir, can I help you with something?" The masked soldier lowered his gun, and said "false alarm, its just a robot" to someone who was out of the robot's view. "Keep looking. There are still some people that haven't been accounted for. Also, check out the west lab. The scanner picked up a heat signature over there." The masked man walked away. "Can I help you with something?" said the robot to the masked man, who pushed him aside. When the masked soldier came to the west lab, he noticed the two joysticks protruding out of the wall. Kenta had disappeared.

• Part 11 - johnowhitaker

  johnowhitaker • 07/09/2016 at 08:21 • 0 comments

  As the door to the command center swung open, a huge figure spun around an extended a hand. "Call me Myles - you must be Lee Cossat. It's a pleasure to meet you."

  "..." said Lee, gasping as his knuckles ground together under the pressure of an iron grip.

  "Sorry about that" said Myles, reducing the pressure and then freeing Lee's hand. "You know Lee, you really have those Future Corp goons pissed! You have no idea how many strings I had to pull to get you on my ship and out of their hands."

  "I regret causing you trouble captain. But if I may ask, aren't you and Future Worlds Corp working together out here? From what Bart Fullerton said, it sounded like they wanted me to take this posting so they could keep tabs on me". Lee was thinking rapidly, trying to process all the new and conflicting information he was receiving.

  "Bart may have a fancy title, but he's relatively low on the food chain." explained Myles. "He's not actually a bad bloke, just does what he's told. It's the higher-ups that really hate you, and if they had their way you'd probably be floating out in space waiting for your air to run out. See, the Service and FWC are still friends on paper, but we've been smelling something fishy for some time now and our investigation has made some of their execs very uncomfortable."

  "But why would they want me dead?"

  "Because you ask too many questions. And because you spoke to me." The voice came from behind Lee, and it was one he hadn't expected to hear ever again - Jim Mullagan, from Hab 5, whom Lee had assumed dead.

  It turned out that Jim's questions about the explosion at Hab 3 had indeed set him in the sights of Future World Corp, and they had arranged a little 'accident' for him. But, through a combination of luck and skill, he had managed to survive and escape as a stowaway on the Hammer. Outside the command room, only a handful of people knew that he was alive. And now he was working with Myles, trying to figure out what FWC was really up to out here in the middle of nowhere.

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